Residential cruise suspends voyage in Cambodia as fuel costs soar

A residential cruise ship has suspended its round-the-world voyage in Cambodia and ordered passengers to disembark, saying soaring fuel costs have made it impossible to keep sailing under its current arrangements.

Florida-based Villa Vie Residences said Tuesday that it was working to find “temporary living arrangements” for people aboard the Villa Vie Odyssey. The company plans to spend the next 60 days pursuing restructuring and new financing, but warned that “no outcome is assured.”

“Passing the full increase on to residents is not a realistic solution,” the company said. It said slowing the itinerary and spending more time in port had not offset the rise in fuel costs. According to the BBC, the operator said its monthly fuel cost per cabin in parts of Asia had climbed from $1,800 to as much as $8,000.

The BBC reported that about 200 passengers were aboard when the order to disembark came, citing the company’s founder. The ship can accommodate up to 650 residents. It was not clear where in Cambodia passengers left the vessel.

The Odyssey departed Belfast, Northern Ireland, in October 2024 for what the BBC described as a continuous voyage around the world. Its planned 3½-year itinerary covered nearly 150 countries, according to the ship’s website. Repairs delayed its departure and kept passengers in Belfast for months, the BBC reported.

Residents could buy or rent cabins. The BBC reported that permanent residences were priced from $120,000 to $440,000 and rentals started at $3,500 a month. Villa Vie said earlier this year that the ship was 85% sold, according to NBC News.

For some residents, the announcement came with little time to prepare. Randy Cassingham, who runs ResidentialCruising.com, wrote in a blog post that a company official posted a notice on the ship’s message board shortly after 7 a.m. Monday. It said the Odyssey was entering a “temporary lay up” and everyone had to disembark by 2 p.m., according to his account. Cassingham called the shutdown the result of a “cascade of problems” that he said he would detail later.

Pamela Reckamp, who rented a cabin with her husband and left the ship this month, told NBC News that she had heard warnings about its finances. At a meeting in early September, she said, a company official asked cabin owners to help raise $1 million so the ship could leave Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Without the money, Reckamp recalled the official saying, the ship had about four days before “the lights will go off and the AC will go off.”

A lawsuit filed last year by a company that bought a cabin for $469,000 accuses Villa Vie of fraud and of misrepresenting its financial stability, NBC News reported. The company denies the allegations. The case remains ongoing.

Global oil prices have risen since the war with Iran began earlier this year, disrupting fuel supplies. Villa Vie said it was now focused on supporting residents, crew and employees as it works through the shutdown.