September 12, 2024

Resident origins demographics - by Basia

One of my favorite residents is Basia I love her BLOG and she has some great content. I am sharing the work she recently put together on where all the Residents are joining the Ship from. This data reflects the 306 Residents that were signed up, as of the end of August 2024.  VVR just announced once we set sail, we will actually be sold out or rooms! I'm excited to see how the data below changes.  My number one concern when deciding to do this was how I would mesh with the other residents, since I am doing this totally on my own. I can happily say to date, I am very happy with the mix of people and pleasantly surprised at the larger number of solo travelers over couples. The common travel dreams, we all share is our bonding element. The comradery I have already experienced, in our brief trips to the Canaries and Liverpool, has reinforced that I made the right choice for my retirement dreams.

THE ART OF COCONUT CREAM - AMERICAN SAMOA

By Patricia Patrick • December 18, 2025
Making coconut cream is such a big part of the Samoan culture I feel compelled to share the 4 step process we were so nicely shown. Every Samoan young and old takes part in this tradition, it is an intrigue part of their everyday lives.

PAGO PAGO, TUTUILA ISLAND, AMERICAN SAMOA

By Patricia Patrick • December 17, 2025
The tour today was focused on the National Park but we also got a lot of insight into American Samoa's history and current day life. Our guide was Nini and she is a college student studying accounting and finance and works as a part-time guide.

NATIONAL PARK OF AMERICA SAMOA, TUTUILA ISLAND

By Patricia Patrick • December 17, 2025
Today we took the National Park of American Samoa Tour. It's a unique park - the only one south of the equator and where the U.S. Government doesn't own the land. Efforts to establish the Park go back to mid 1980 over concern about the decline of fruit bats and wanting to protect the tropical rainforests. On October 31, 1988 Congress established the NP of American Samoa. In 1993, a complex arrangement for a 50 year land lease years with seven villages and the Samoa government was signed. We got lucky with our tour - we were expecting an open air bus, but because we were a small group, we got a plush air conditioned van!