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.

BLUE MOUNTAINS - AUSTRALIA

By Patricia Patrick • March 1, 2026
I had always heard the Blue Mountains of Australia are like the Grand Canyon , not to be missed. Well, not sure I agree, but they are pretty, especially when you can see through the fog. I did an early morning tour with Terri and Angela and we just burst out laughing at first scenic overlook, after almost 2 hours of driving. White fog is all we saw, our guide offered to show us a picture he had on his camera!

GATSBY AT SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE - AUSTRALIA

By Patricia Patrick • March 1, 2026
Once we had our dates secured for Sydney , a bunch of residents scanned the offering at the Opera House to find what might be available to us. We lucked out that they had brought back their sellout show from last year of the Gatsby at The Green Light . Kind of a Cirque du Soleil meets sexy nightclub with Gatsby characters. Over 80 of us bought tickets to Gatsy, with another 30 buying tickets to Hansel & Gretal. A big night out for us Ship Folks!

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE TOUR, AUSTRALIA

By Patricia Patrick • February 23, 2026
I love a good architectural tour and even though I did this one last time I was here, the story is so interesting, I decided to do again. Plus they are always updates and changes in operations at the Sydney Opera House . This tour didn't disappoint - I saw new theater spaces and gained new insights to the story of it's construction from concept in 1958, to it's opening in 1973. The drama that played out for Danish architect Jorn Utzon , who won the commission out of 300 submissions and never got to seen the final building.He was fired by local politician, in election year, when project was grossly over budget and schedule. The building is an engineering marvel and I love so many of the details!