Villa Vie halts its round-the-world residential cruise in Cambodia over fuel costs, sending about 200 residents ashore

A cruise ship that sold cabins as permanent homes at sea has stopped its round-the-world voyage in Cambodia. Villa Vie Residences, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, company that runs the Villa Vie Odyssey, announced on Tuesday, Oct. 27, that it had “suspended operations in Cambodia” while it tries to cope with what it calls “extraordinary increases in fuel costs” and weighs “restructuring and recapitalization alternatives” (company statement). About 200 passengers left the ship in the port city of Sihanoukville, according to a provincial official quoted by AFP and to the BBC (CNA; BBC).

The company puts the problem in plain numbers. On an equivalent per-cabin basis, it says, monthly fuel expense that historically averaged about $1,800 has recently reached an estimated $6,000 to $8,000 in parts of Asia (company statement). “The company cannot simply pass increases of that scale on to residents, and the resulting shortfall has placed its current operating model under unsustainable financial pressure,” the statement says (company statement). Villa Vie says that since the conflict began in late February it has slowed the itinerary and spent more time in port, but that those steps did not offset the rise, and it warns that it cannot promise any particular outcome from the 60-day restructuring effort (company statement; Cruise Industry News). CNBC calculates the jump from $1,800 to $8,000 as a 344% rise (CNBC).

Passengers had little warning, by their own and officials’ accounts. Long Dimanche, deputy governor of Preah Sihanouk province, said residents received just seven hours to pack and leave during a scheduled stop, AFP reports via CNA (CNA). Two passengers, Lanette Canen and Johan Bodin, told the BBC that the company’s chief executive informed them at 6 a.m. on Tuesday that they had to leave by 2 p.m. that day, local time (BBC). Long Dimanche said in a statement, as quoted by AFP: “The sudden order to disembark has left many retirees and remote workers homeless thousands of miles from their home countries” (CNA). He said some passengers took flights out while others stayed in the city, and that the ship itself would refuel and leave on Oct. 31 (CNA).

The company says it works with residents to coordinate disembarkation and find temporary living arrangements, and it describes “a difficult and disruptive period for residents, crew members, and employees” (company statement). Founder Mikael Petterson told Bloomberg, in an interview carried by The Straits Times, that Villa Vie covers lodging and local transportation but has not provided money for passengers to leave Cambodia (Bloomberg via The Straits Times). He said the company now proposes an extra $500 a month on top of a fuel surcharge for as long as prices stay high, that its monthly operating costs have climbed about 50% to $3 million, and that it seeks financing so the ship can depart “quite quickly” (Bloomberg via The Straits Times).

Residents describe a mix of grief and resolve. Canen and Bodin told the BBC that passengers had known for some time about the company’s money troubles and that a potential investor had come aboard for due diligence without a deal (BBC). “We loved our two years on Odyssey—the adventures, the places we visited and the friends we made along the way,” they said, adding that they plan a few days in Sihanoukville before travelling to different parts of South East Asia (BBC). Another passenger, Holly Hennessey, told the BBC that residents had earlier received a request to consider a fuel surcharge, that the itinerary had shrunk sharply, and that she intends to wait in Cambodia in case the Odyssey sails again (BBC). Randy Cassingham, a passenger who writes a cruise blog, wrote that the order to leave followed a “cascade of problems” and said the company had done “absolutely nothing to help” stranded passengers, according to AFP via CNA; the company’s statement says it works to support those affected (CNA; company statement).

The Odyssey never ran like a typical cruise. Residents rent, own or rent-to-own cabins, according to The Straits Times, and the ship left Belfast, Northern Ireland, in October 2024 for what the company called a continuous voyage around the world (Bloomberg via The Straits Times; BBC). The BBC says permanent residencies cost from $120,000 to $440,000, with cabins also for rent from $3,500 a month; Bloomberg puts the lowest price just under $130,000, with monthly fees of $2,000 to $10,000 (BBC; Bloomberg via The Straits Times). The nearly 200-metre ship can carry up to 650 passengers, the BBC and CNBC report; Cassingham wrote that the number of residents peaked at around 350, according to CNA (BBC; CNBC; CNA). Its departure from Belfast faced months of delays while the ship underwent repairs, the BBC reports; Cassingham put the delay at four months, according to CNA (BBC; CNA).

The route ahead had looked long. The ship had planned to reach Phu Quoc, a Vietnamese island, later this week, then continue to destinations including India, South Africa, Brazil and Australia before docking in Gibraltar in August 2030, CNBC reports (CNBC). In 2026 it had stopped at ports from Tonga to Australia and had expected to end the year in India, according to Bloomberg (Bloomberg via The Straits Times).

Fuel prices explain much of the squeeze, according to Bloomberg. The Odyssey burns marine gasoil, which reached $1,321 a tonne in Singapore, the world’s largest bunkering hub, almost double its price before the Iran war, according to the data provider ClearLynx, as cited by Bloomberg (Bloomberg via The Straits Times). Bloomberg adds that high jet fuel prices helped bring down Spirit Airlines in the spring and that Royal Caribbean reported on Oct. 27 that elevated oil costs weighed on an otherwise strong quarter (Bloomberg via The Straits Times).

What comes next depends on money the company has not yet found. Villa Vie says it will give further updates as material developments occur (company statement). Kelly Kosmin, who sailed some segments before leaving the ship in Australia in March, told Bloomberg she would happily pay the extra $500 a month and the fuel surcharge to return; she had planned to rejoin in Sri Lanka in early 2027 (Bloomberg via The Straits Times).