Florida woman who sold everything for dream three-year cruise around the world is banned from ship after private WhatsApp chat leaked

A Florida woman who sold everything for a $350,000 dream cruise around the world says she has been banned from the ship after her private WhatsApp messages were leaked.

Jenny Phenix, 68, a divorced mother of two, has liquidated her businesses and assets and is living out of a suitcase in preparation for the first voyage of the three-year Villa Vie Odyssey. told the Telegraph.

But due to the ongoing delays, Phenix vented her frustrations to fellow passengers in a WhatsApp group, saying the ship would no longer be docking in Miami, where she planned to pick up her remaining belongings for the remainder of the cruise.

She also worried that renovation work on the massive ship would continue after it left Belfast, Ireland, and that she would have to use a temporary cabin as the cabin she had booked was still being used by the crew.

These messages were apparently shared with the owners of Villa Vie Residences, the ship’s operator, in which she was told that her contract for the voyage had been cancelled due to “conduct that damaged the morals of the community.”

Chief Operating Officer Kathy Villalba told her: “We have received over a dozen formal complaints from residents regarding your continued complaints and negativity. This behavior has had a significant impact on the morale and well-being of other passengers.

“Given the overwhelming feedback, we must permanently terminate your contract to ensure the well-being and satisfaction of our community,” Villalba wrote, according to the Telegraph.

Phenix said she was stunned by the announcement.

“I was never rude or disrespectful and I never engaged in personal attacks,” she insisted. “These were private conversations — I didn’t post anything on social media platforms.”

She added that she was not the only one angry that the first trip kept being postponed.

“The frustration among residents grew with each delay,” Phenix said. “I was often one of the most outspoken people when it came to asking important questions.”

‘Many residents thanked me personally because I had spoken on behalf of the entire group.’

Phenix had based all her plans on the three-year cruise after another houseboat, Florida-based Life at Sea, went bankrupt and owed her $30,000.

She waited until Villa Vie bought the former Fred. Olsen ship Braemar before signing.

Phenix then put down a deposit for the round-the-world voyage and decided onboard whether to spend between $120,000 and $350,000 on a cabin or join the company’s Endless Horizon program, which allows passengers to cruise for the rest of their lives starting at $300,000.

In May, she flew to Southampton, England, for a trip to 425 destinations in 147 countries.

“We were informed of a slight delay, but it didn’t appear to be anything major. And of course, travel plans and hotel reservations had been made months in advance,” Phenix said.

However, the cruise line announced that the ship would depart for Belfast on May 30. During a dry dock at the Harland & Wolff shipyard, infamous for building the ill-fated Titanic, more problems came to light.

Because the ship was laid up for four years during the pandemic, its certifications expired. Instead of being able to renew its certifications, Villa Vie had to start from scratch.

CEO Mike Petterson explained to CNN that the problems arose when DNV – the company that carries out the certification – asked for documentation of previous repairs to the vessel, which Fred. Olsen did not provide.

He claimed that other work had been recommended in the past but never completed, such as replacing a bearing. DNV will not let Villa Vie sail without this being done, even though the ship has been recertified several times since the recommendation was first made in 2003.

And because Villa Vie has no documentation of a repair on a 2007 engine, a new repair had to be performed and documented.

During these repairs, eager passengers were stranded in Belfast, while Phenix recently returned to her home state after joining the final leg of another world cruise: Royal Caribbean’s four-month voyage on the Serenade of the Seas.

She says her deposit for the Odyssey was partially refunded, but she still doesn’t understand what happened.

“I can’t even begin to explain how emotionally and physically devastating this has been for me,” Phenix said. “It took weeks before I could even talk about it and even explain it to my kids.

‘It’s still very difficult for me to talk about it, because I had the same dream as everyone else on that ship, and they took it away from me, seemingly without thinking about it.

“I will have to stay with my daughter until I come up with a whole new plan for my life,” she added.

But Petterson said Phenix “violated multiple terms and signed a nondisclosure agreement.

“The founding residents agreed to uphold her suspension and we intend to respect that decision,” he said. “We have no further comment on the ongoing dispute.”

The other occupants are expected to leave next week, after the Odyssey has completed sea trials. According to Petterson, the sea trials went well.

“Everything was good. We got everything,” he told CNN.

He said the company had been given “a number of important points” regarding “adjustments” that needed to be made, including staff training, but these would not prevent the ship from being certified and departing.

“All outstanding cases will be dealt with over the weekend,” Petterson said, noting that the final step is to get permission from the Coast Guard, which he hopes will happen in the coming days.

In the meantime, the company has announced it will stop paying residents’ $500,000 monthly hotel bills, saying the costs have become “unsustainable” after spending more than $2 million in four months.

According to Petterson, residents are then compensated with shipboard credit of up to $200 per day.