3year

Meredith Shay, a former flight attendant from Florida, sold her flat so she could go on a three-year cruise that was cancelled at the last minute. But she has not been deterred

What would you do if you’d sold your home to buy a holiday that was cancelled at the last minute?

For most of us, the answer probably wouldn’t be to book a near-identical but slightly longer holiday just two years later. Meredith Shay, however, has done just that. “I’ve just signed on for five years,” the Floridian retiree told the Mirror.

Back in 2023, Meredith was preparing to embark on the Life at Sea cruise, widely touted as the longest sailing in commercial cruise history, when she received terrible news. The company told passengers that it had no working ship, so the upcoming sailing was cancelled. That meant no sailing for hundreds of customers who poured their life savings into the venture and had prepared to leave their lives on land behind.

“I did sell my house. I put everything into storage, moved out of my apartment. I was about to sell my car. But I am not a ‘woe is me’ person. There is a song over here, ‘dust yourself off and try again’. That is what I’ve done,” she explained. “I had a 12-hour pity party, then said, ‘okay, you’re free. Do something’. No encumbrances at all.”

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The former flight attendant has been renting in Florida since then. Come next June, her flat will become “the world’s most expensive storage container”, and Meredith will fly to Manila to start sailing the world. For five years straight.

She will do so on the Villa Vie Odyssey, which is run by some of the same people behind Life at Sea and has been sailing since earlier this year. Signing up is a leap of faith for Meredith for multiple reasons.

She counts herself lucky to have received a full refund of close to $500,000 following the first cruise. Others didn’t pay on credit cards and haven’t been able to recover all their money. The Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship has also had problems. It was due to depart from Northern Ireland last May, but issues with its rudder stocks meant its guests were marooned in the city for more than four months. It was there for so long that shipmates Angela Harsanyi and Gian Perroni had time to meet, fall in love and then marry on the banks of Belfast’s River Lagan.

This time around, Meredith’s room, a fancy eighth-floor suite for five years, cost her $159,000, with $7,999 a month homeowner fees bringing the total to around $630,000 (£469,000). When she first booked, the total was $520,000 for three years, all in.

Meredith admits that booking again hasn’t been worry-free.

“Sure, I’m worried, but why not? I can’t live my life in fear. Nobody likes to lose money, but they’ve been out now for a good period of time; they’ve overcome earthquakes, typhoons, and the captains really know what they’re doing. I already have friends on Villa Vie.”

When asked if she intends to spend the rest of her life at sea, Meredith explained: “My life is full of regrets, and I don’t want this to be one of them. I will be five years older, and I’m very healthy now. But one never knows.”

The Mirror contacted Villa Vie, whose founder Mikael Petterson explained what happened to the Life at Sea cruise. He said: “Yes, some of the Villa Vie team were initially involved with Life at Sea. Some of us, including myself, helped build the brand and sales team, but realised after just two months of working with Miray (the parent company of Life at Sea) in Turkey, it would be impossible.

“The ship we saw in April was just not what they had portrayed to us. We had to make the difficult decision to leave the project in May of 2023, where we refunded all customers and announced the project was over. Miray, in turn, decided to take over, double down on the promises, but as we predicted, was not able to deliver the ship as promised in November 2024.”

He added: “We do feel terrible for the customers who lost their money in the pursuit of the dream life we are now able to deliver through Villa Vie Residences.”

Miray has been contacted for comment.

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The museum, which recently underwent a three-year makeover, has been awarded the 2026 Council of Europe Museum Prize

A small UK museum has been named the best in Europe.

The London gallery Young V&A, a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum in West London, has been awarded the 2026 Council of Europe Museum Prize. The council’s prize has been awarded for almost 50 years, and is given to the museum judged to have had the biggest impact on the understanding of European cultural heritage, human rights and democracy.

Some of its best-used interactive displays include the Spinning Sand Wheel, sensory areas, dress-up zones, and iconic toys like Pikachu and the classic Amstrad CPC 464 Computer. Its three main galleries, Play, Imagine and Design, are suitable for visitors of all ages. Even babies can join in thanks to colours, textures and shapes that are put at their eye-level.

Young V&A, which reopened in 2023 after a three-year period of refurbishment, was selected by the Council of Europe’s Culture Committee at a meeting on Tuesday, 2 December, in Paris. The judges commented on how it balances playfulness and education, while exploring real-world themes such as sustainability and empathy.

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From February a brand new exhibition at the museum will delve into the magical world of Aardman at the Young V&A, showcasing everything from Wallace & Gromit to Morph, Chicken Run, and Shaun The Sheep. Featuring over 150 exhibits – including previously unseen models, sets and storyboards from Aardman’s vaults – the exhibition will launch in February, marking the studio’s golden jubilee.

Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends will be the third showcase at the Young V&A in Bethnal Green, East London, which was formerly known as the V&A Museum of Childhood. The exhibition will offer a behind-the-scenes look at stop-motion animation, revealing how Aardman’s beloved characters are brought to life. It will also feature interactive activities for kids, such as character design and creating their own live-action videos.

Visitors can feast their eyes on early character sketches, concept art, puppets, props, scripts, and set models from Aardman, alongside optical illusion toys and early examples of stop-motion animation from the V&A’s collection.

Notable exhibits include development sketches for Morph, initial character concepts for Wallace, a hand-drawn storyboard from the train chase scene in 1993’s The Wrong Trousers, and never-before-seen items like the duo’s motorbike and sidecar from last year’s Bafta-winning film, Vengeance Most Fowl.

Wallace & Gromit, the brainchild of Nick Park from Bristol-based Aardman Animations, has garnered four Oscars and numerous Baftas over the years. Alex Newson, chief curator at the Young V&A, explained: “Aardman quite literally began on the kitchen table, when two young school friends started experimenting with animations at home.

“Even though Aardman is now one of the most successful animation studios in the world, its films still have the same handcrafted feel. It is this ‘thumbiness’, as they refer to it, that makes the films so charming and well-loved. “This is also what make the story so great for children. While Aardman’s films are now made by large and highly skilled teams it’s also possible for anyone to have a go at making their own stop motion films at home with minimal equipment and experience.”

The showcase will be open from February 12 to November 15 next year.