Villa Vie Odyssey accidents and incidents

Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship
Rating:

Former names
MS Braemar (Fred Olsen), MS Crown Dynasty (Crown Cruise Lines)

Length (LOA)
196 m / 643 ft

  Ship Wiki

CruiseMapper's Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship accidents, incidents and law news reports relate to a 970-passenger vessel owned by Villa Vie Residences (Small Cruise Lines). Our Villa Vie Odyssey accidents page contains reports made by using official data from renown online news media sources, US Coast Guard and Wikipedia.

Here are also reported latest updates on cruise law news related to ashore and shipboard crimes still investigated by the police. Among those could be arrests, filed lawsuits against the shipowner / cruise line company, charges and fines, grievances, settled / withdrawn legal actions, lost cases, virus outbreaks, etc.

  • redesigned/stretched by Lloyd Werft (Bremerhaven Germany) in 2009
  • deaths - 2016 (1 pax)
  • Coronavirus - 2020 (1 passenger, 4 crew)

During its service history, the Braemar cruise ship was operating under the names Cunard Crown Dynasty (1993-1997, constructed for the Crown Cruise Line, but operated under charter by Cunard Line), Crown Majesty (1997, bought by the Majesty Cruise Line), Norwegian Dynasty (1997-1999, owned and operated by NCL-Norwegian Cruise Line), Crown Dynasty (1999-2001).

December 2020Other Incidents

In mid-December 2020, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines canceled Braemar ship's 2021-2022 program. The winter program was based on Caribbean fly-cruises (from the UK) and homeporting in Havana Cuba.

Starting on December 7, 2021, with the 30-days Transatlantic crossing (Southampton to Havana), the program included two ex-Cuba itineraries.

14-day "Uncrowded Caribbean Islands with Havana" itinerary, prices from USD 3280 pp

Date / TimePort
06 JanDeparting from Havana, Cuba
09 JanKingston, Jamaica
11 JanWillemstad, Curacao
13 JanBasse-Terre, Guadeloupe
14 JanBasseterre, St Kitts Island
15 JanPhilipsburg, St Maarten
20 JanArriving in Havana

14-day "Cultural Caribbean Discovery" itinerary, prices from USD 3350 pp

Date / TimePort
20 JanDeparting from Havana
22 JanCozumel, Mexico
23 JanBelize City
26 JanPuerto Limon, Costa Rica
28 JanCartagena, Colombia
30 JanKingston, Jamaica
03 FebArriving in Havana

Followed a 14-day relocation voyage from Havana to Bridgetown (prices from USD 3420 pp)

Date / TimePort
17 FebDeparting from Havana
21 FebKingston, Jamaica
24 FebPhilipsburg, St Maarten
25 FebSt Johns, Antigua
26 FebBasseterre, St Kitts
27 FebCastries, St Lucia
28 FebSt Georges, Grenada
01 MarPort-of-Spain, Trinidad
03 MarArriving in Bridgetown

For summer 2021 (May 11 through November 23), the ship had scheduled a total of 20 itineraries, all of which were Southampton roundtrips to Norway, Canaries, Iberia, Mediterranean-Adriatic, also 5-day mini-cruises to Antwerp (Belgium) and Amsterdam (Holland).

March 2020Cruise Illness / Virus Outbreaks

(Coronavirus) On March 9, 2020, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines via online statement announced that 2 passengers from the previous Braemar Caribbean cruise were diagnosed with COVID-19 (Coronavirus) after returning home. Neither of them presented any influenza-like symptoms prior to the voyage or whilst onboard and didn't visit the ship's Infirmary for medical assistance. On the current cruise (14-day Western Caribbean and Central America, itinerary February 27 - March 12), the ship reported a total of 5 people with flu-like symptoms.

The patients were quarantined receiving treatments from the ship's medical team. The Captain kept all passengers and crew fully informed of all developments. The ship activated the standard for Norovirus outbreaks procedures, including suspension of the self-service buffets and increased sanitation.

As scheduled, on March 10th, the vessel docked in call port Willemstad (Curacao) and sent the collected tests of 6 people (experiencing flu-like symptoms) ashore to be tested for Coronavirus. While in Port Willemstad, the vessel was denied passenger disembarkation. All pre-purchased shore excursions were fully refunded. At 11 pm (March 10) Fred Olsen published that 5 of the 6 tests (1 passenger and 4 crew) returned Coronavirus-positive.

Fred Olsen stated that the results are provisional and subject to final confirmation from a Holland-based laboratory. The ship left Curacao and continued to Barbados (Bridgetown). To all passengers (682) and crew (381) were provided free of charge phone calls and free WiFi Internet. On March 12 was denied docking in Bridgetown. The ship continued to Freetown (Barbados) where was also blocked from entry.

On March 11th, Fred Olsen officially cancelled the next-scheduled Braemar cruise (booking code M2006) - 16-day Transatlantic crossing from Bridgetown to Southampton (itinerary March 12-28). The 30-day B2B (back-to-back cruise) from La Romana to Southampton (itinerary Feb 27 - Mar 28) was planned to end in Barbados on March 12th. After the vessel was denied entry and passenger debarkation in Bridgetown, it continued towards Freetown Barbados (where was also blocked from entry) then continued towards The Bahamas (its flag-state) with planned docking in Nassau and return flights to the UK.

On March 13, The Bahamas Ministry of Transport officially denied the vessel docking and passenger disembarkation in any Bahamian port. BMA (Bahamas Maritime Authority) announced that the ship will be allowed to enter the Bahamian waters and provided with all the needed humanitarian assistance, including provisions (food, water, medical supplies, etc), fueling and wastewater services.

The ship remained anchored approx 25 mi (40 km) off Nassau (New Providence Island) after 20 passengers and 20 crew (including a physician) displayed flu-like symptoms and were quarantined. The UK's FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) is currently negotiating with other Caribbean countries to allow docking and debarkation. If unsuccessful, the ship had to make a 10-day Transatlantic crossing to England.

At noon on March 17th, CruiseMapper's Braemar tracker showed the vessel navigating at speed 8 knots (9 mph / 15 kph) along Cuba's northern coast and near Havana. Later, "out of humanitarian concerns" Cuba accepted the vessel and allowed debarkation in Mariel (approx 25 mi / 40 km west of Havana). A total of 667 British tourists were flown back to the UK (London Heathrow Airport) from Havana via British Airways charter flights. The first flight left at 6 PM on March 18.

A total of 28 passengers and 27 crew remained quarantined on the ship after showing flu-like symptoms. For them was planned a separate (3rd) flight to MoD Boscombe Down (military aircraft base near Amesbury, Wiltshire England / west of London).

Next table shows the affected itineraries as ports and dates.

DatePort
27 FebDeparting from La Romana, Dominicana
28 FebSanto Domingo, Dominicana
02 MarCozumel, Mexico
03 MarBelize City
06 MarPuerto Limon, Costa Rica
07 MarColon, Panama
08 MarCartagena, Colombia
10 MarWillemstad, Curacao
12 MarBridgetown, Barbados
13 MarCastries, St Lucia
14 MarBasseterre, St Kitts
15 MarSt Johns, Antigua
16 MarPhilipsburg, St Maarten
23 MarPonta Delgada, Sao Miguel Island, Azores
26 MarLa Coruna, Spain
28 MarArriving in Southampton, England UK

The accident started with an 85-year-old female passenger (British) who was first diagnosed with COVID-19 after MS Braemar docked in Cartagena Colombia (March 8). The elderly woman was allowed to disembark.

02 January 2016Crew / Passenger Deaths

On January 2, 2016, a helicopter was called to medevac a 30-year-old female passenger but was stood down as she died on the ship. The incident occurred during 28-day Transatlantic repositioning cruise (itinerary Dec 10 to Jan 7), one-way from Tenerife (Canary Islands) to Bridgetown (Barbados). On this voyage, due to bad weather, the ship skipped 2 call ports – Funchal (Madiera, Dec 19) and Tenerife (Dec 22-23).

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