Stranded in Cambodia: Residential cruise ship collapses mid-voyage, leaving 200 passengers without homes

On Tuesday, 203 passengers — most of them American retirees who had sold their homes or paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the promise of living permanently at sea — were given seven hours to pack up their cabins and disembark in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, a port city on the Gulf of Thailand. The MV Odyssey, a residential cruise ship operated by Florida-based Villa Vie Residences, had run out of money.

The immediate cause was fuel. Villa Vie Residences said monthly fuel costs per cabin, which had historically averaged $1,800, had surged to between $6,000 and $8,000 in parts of Asia following the outbreak of the war in Iran in late February. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has been curtailed since the war began, squeezing petroleum supplies across Southeast Asia and sharply driving up prices. According to CBS News, the company was paying roughly $700 per ton of fuel before the war; it has since been paying $2,000 to $3,000 per ton. The Odyssey burns between 700 and 800 tons per month.

When you divide it over 300 people on board, it's just backbreaking. And this has been going on for nine months. We've tried to do everything we can do.— Mikael Petterson, CEO, Villa Vie Residences

For us, when our monthly expenses go up from $400,000 to $2 million, where are we going to get the $1.6 million?— Mikael Petterson, CEO, Villa Vie Residences

In a statement issued Tuesday, Villa Vie Residences said: "We have been unable to continue carrying the resulting operating losses. Passing the full increase on to residents is not a realistic solution. Our focus now is on supporting residents, crew, and employees" while it tries to restructure. Petterson told CBS News the plan is to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The Odyssey launched in October 2024 from Belfast, Northern Ireland — where the 1993-built vessel had undergone an extensive refit — on what was marketed as a 3½-year voyage to all seven continents. Villa Vie had offered buyers the chance to "make the Odyssey your permanent home," with suite purchases for the lifetime of the vessel starting around $230,000. The Boston Globe reported that the top-tier options were priced between $119,999 and $439,999, with fixed monthly fees ranging from $3,500 to $11,000. A "lifetime" prepaid contract with no monthly fees cost $350,000. The ship had a capacity of 650 passengers but was carrying only 203 when it docked in Sihanoukville last Friday, along with 156 crew members.

The gap between capacity and actual occupancy was itself part of the problem. Petterson acknowledged to the Boston Globe that the budget assumed a fully booked ship. Sales dropped after the Iran war began, he said. The company had also lost time and money — and customer trust — when the inaugural cruise was delayed for months while the ship underwent repairs to pass inspection in Belfast. When the company attempted to add a $1,500 monthly fuel surcharge, Petterson said, seven in ten residents declined to pay it.

For passengers, the collapse was not entirely without warning signs — but the abruptness of the end was still a blow. Paul and Lynn Montoya, a retired couple from Wyoming who had boarded the ship 17 months earlier in Panama, said residents had been repeatedly asked to contribute extra money for fuel and other expenses in the months leading up to the suspension.

We were tired of every two to four weeks being asked for money for fuel, money for everything. We had hopes but they just kept sinking further and further into the hole through mismanagement.— Lynn Montoya, passenger

Paul Montoya said that while rising fuel costs were cited as the reason for the suspension, the company had already been struggling — with itinerary changes, unreliable internet access and declining food quality pushing many residents to leave the ship in recent months, according to ABC News.

The company's statement described efforts to coordinate disembarkation and arrange temporary housing for passengers. But passengers described a different reality on the ground. Blogger Randy Cassingham, who had been aboard the cruise, wrote that "the company has done absolutely nothing to help: we couldn't even walk out of the port, so there were shuttle buses that dropped us in the middle of town, Sihanoukville, Cambodia. They didn't even give us a list of hotels, let alone help us get there or pay for them," according to CBS News.

According to the Boston Globe, Villa Vie announced by Wednesday that it would assist with onward travel and was arranging a charter flight back to the United States early the following week, at approximately $1,100 per person.

Among those stranded was Benjamin Schatz, a retiree who had told CBS News in April 2025 that the Odyssey was his forever home. On Wednesday he was among those given hours to leave.

Honestly, right now, I'm in denial and in shock, and I'm heartbroken. There are people now who are homeless and who have very little money and don't know what they're going to do.— Benjamin Schatz, passenger

Joel Grieff had purchased an "Endless Horizons" lifetime prepaid contract for $350,000, promising permanent residency with no monthly fees. He boarded October 1 and spent 26 days aboard before operations were suspended. "Basically, I paid $13,461.53 per day for my 26 days," he told the Boston Globe.

Not everyone was bitter. Sisters Carol Larson, 69, and Crystal Lavering, 72, of California, had each lived in their own separate cabins for 18 months. Larson, who had paid $120,000 for her cabin, expressed hope that residents might join forces to purchase the ship and continue the voyage.

Because it was a startup company, I believe that it was a risk. From the very first day, I said to myself that if it lasts a year, I can walk away and feel like I got my money's worth … I still feel that way. I feel blessed to have been part of the experiment of residential cruising.— Carol Larson, passenger

The Odyssey is not the first residential cruise venture to collapse. The Boston Globe reported that a three-year cruise offered by Miray Cruises in 2023 unraveled amid delays and operational mishaps, leaving prospective passengers out hundreds of thousands of dollars. Petterson, Villa Vie's founder, was also involved in the Miray venture. According to the Boston Globe, the only financially successful residential cruise ship currently in operation is The World, which runs on a private co-op ownership model under which passengers pay millions of dollars to own apartments aboard the vessel.

Villa Vie said it would focus on restructuring and recapitalization over the next 60 days, with a skeleton crew of six remaining aboard to maintain the ship. "That work is ongoing, and no outcome is assured," the company said. Petterson told the Boston Globe that without a new investor, the ship would ultimately be sold, with the proceeds distributed among creditors and cabin owners according to outstanding liabilities. The Odyssey had a confirmed itinerary running into November 2027, and the company had planned a second residential cruise ship to enter service in early 2029 — though the suspension statement did not address that vessel, according to The Independent.

Why it matters — The Odyssey's collapse — driven by a geopolitical shock that tripled fuel costs overnight — exposes the fragility of startup residential cruise ventures and leaves more than 200 people, many of them retirees who made the ship their permanent home, suddenly homeless abroad.

Sources differ on Confirmed end date of the Odyssey's itinerary: November 2027 (confirmed itinerary) (independent.co.uk) vs August 2030 (second cruise tentatively scheduled to end) (abcnews.com)

Reported by thehill.com, abcnews.com, cbsnews.com, independent.co.uk, foxnews.com, deccanchronicle.com, bostonglobe.com, wsgw.com