Luxury cruise ship strands 200 passengers on global voyage due to fuel costs

A US cruise ship on an around-the-world voyage that touted its cabins as floating homes suspended its three-year journey in Cambodia due to fuel costs, forcing hundreds of passengers to disembark.

The MV Odyssey was marketed as a voyage to the seven continents, combining long-term living at sea with global travel.

Its operator had offered to “make the Odyssey your permanent home”, with the purchase price of a suite for the lifetime of the vessel starting at around 230,000 dollars (£172,000).

The vessel had been scheduled to leave Belfast in May 2024, but was delayed for months due to unexpected repairs. It eventually set sail in October, heading for France.

For now, it is docked at the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville on the Gulf of Thailand, with no certain departure date.

The ship has been carrying 203 passengers, mostly Americans, along with 156 crew members, according to Cambodian officials. It has a 650-passenger capacity.

Its Florida-based operator, Villa Vie Residences, said monthly fuel expenses per cabin that historically averaged 1,800 dollars have reached an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 dollars in parts of Asia due to the war in Iran.

The company said it sought to reduce fuel consumption by slowing the itinerary and spending more time in port, but was unable to offset the surging costs.

Traffic has been curtailed in the Strait of Hormuz since the war in Iran began, squeezing supplies of all kinds of petroleum-based fuels, especially in Southeast Asia, and sharply increasing prices.

Villa Vie Residences said in a statement: “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.

“The company is working with residents to co-ordinate disembarkation and identify temporary living arrangements,” it said.

Passengers, however, said they received no support and had to make their own arrangements after being given seven hours’ notice on Tuesday to disembark. Some were devastated and expressed hope a new company could rescue the venture so life at sea can continue.

Paul and Lynn Montoya, a retired couple from Wyoming, said they bought a window cabin and had expected to sail for years. They boarded the ship 17 months ago in Panama.

Mr Montoya praised the concept of residential cruising but said the shipowner lacked the expertise to make the business financially sustainable.

While rising fuel costs had been cited publicly as the reason for the suspension, he said the company had already been struggling. Changes to itinerary, unreliable internet access and declining food quality had pushed many residents to leave the ship in recent months, he said.

Mrs Montoya said residents were repeatedly asked to contribute additional money for fuel and other expenses, including a fresh call to raise funds for fuel to get out of Cambodia. She said the crew members were also not paid.

“We were tired of every two to four weeks being asked for money for fuel, money for everything,” she said.

“We had hopes, but they just kept sinking further and further into the hole through mismanagement.”

The company could not immediately be contacted for comment.

Yet for some, even the financial and logistical turmoil couldn’t outweigh the extraordinary experience of travelling the world and living at sea.

Carol Larson, 69, and her sister Crystal Lavering, 72, occupied separate cabins aboard the ship for 18 months. The siblings, from California, described the suspension as heartbreaking, and hoped the cruise would be resurrected.

“I hope there is a movement for the residents to buy the ship and I am hoping that goes through because it’s a dream to live on the ship and I don’t want it to end,” Ms Larson said.

Ms Lavering said her health improved during her time on the ship, and that she didn’t need to use a cane to walk anymore: “You come to this ship to live … it’s just sad that it’s all over.”

Ms Larson bought her cabin for 120,000 dollars, paid in instalments, in addition to monthly maintenance fees, under a plan that had promised the possibility of living aboard for up to 15 years.

She said she blamed US President Donald Trump for the ship’s woes as fuel costs spiked due to the Iran war, in addition to poor management, but she said she didn’t regret her investment.

“Because it was a start-up 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,” she said.

The ship arrived in Sihanoukville last Friday and was scheduled to depart on Wednesday, according to a statement from Long Dimanche, the deputy governor of Preah Sihanouk province.

He said it was now expected to refuel and depart Cambodia on Saturday, but the ship’s operator has not yet publicly confirmed any date.

Built in 1993 and operated under different names by several cruise lines over the years before being becalmed by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Odyssey was bought by Villa Vie Residences in 2023.

The Odyssey is not the first cruise ship Sihanoukville has hosted in crisis.

In February 2020, the MS Westerdam was allowed to dock in Cambodia after being turned away at five ports in other nations because of fears of Covid-19, which just a month earlier had started to spread from China. It carried 1,455 passengers, more than 600 of them American citizens.

After being stranded at sea for two weeks, Cambodia’s then-Prime Minister Hun Sen allowed it to dock for what he said were humanitarian reasons. Cambodia won plaudits as passengers were welcomed ashore and arrangements were made for them to fly home.