Villa Vie’s Odyssey sailed the short distance from the Harland & Wolff Shipyard to the Belfast cruise terminal on Monday evening, where approximately 100 guests boarded the ship after a near five-month delay to the start up residential cruise line project.

A now highly modified world cruise itinerary is next, with the ship expected to dock in Brest, France, as its first port of call.

The vessel could depart as early as Tuesday, sail to Brest, and the cross the Atlantic to Bermuda and the Bahamas.

CEO Mike Petterson said in a video posted to social media on Monday that the ship had received full clearance by DNV, the ship’s class society he had previously said in a CNN interview was enacting a double standard on certifying the ship compared to when it operated as Fred. Olsen Braemar prior to the pandemic.

“It’s been such a rollercoaster, it’s been hard to explain. We’re here and we’ll be sailing away shortly,” Petterson  commented.