A U.S. cruise ship that promised to take passengers on a three-year journey dropped anchor in Cambodia and told all passengers to collect their belongings and debark, evicting them from their ocean-bound homes.
Villa Vie Residences, which has since suspended operations, says fuel cost increases were behind the move and it’s looking for ways to recapitalize. Historically, it said, the per-cabin monthly fuel expense has averaged $1,800. Recently, though, as the ship has sailed through Asia, that price has soared to $6,000 to $8,000.
“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,” Villa Vie said in a statement.
The company added it’s trying to identify temporary living arrangements for displaced passengers and crew. It will not, however, cover people’s travel costs out of Cambodia, Bloomberg reports.
Time to go
Passengers reportedly found out about the trouble via an internal messaging board, according to Travel Gossip.
A message from Villa Vie CEO Kathy Villalba, sent around 7:00 a.m., said the ship had been “unable to secure the fuel necessary to continue operations [and] as a result, the Odyssey will enter a temporary layup this afternoon, with crew remaining onboard to maintain the vessel and its essential systems. All residents must disembark by 2 p.m. today.”
The ship, which set sail in 2024, had a capacity of 650 passengers, but just 200 or so passengers were on board at the time. (It never operated at full capacity.) Villa Vie had advertised the ship as a long-term or even permanent residence. The starting price, according to the company website, was $59,999, though some suites went for as much as $229,999.
Villa Vie had planned to commission a second residential cruise ship in 2029, but the fate of that vessel is unclear.
“Our focus now is on supporting residents, crew and employees while we work toward restructuring and recapitalization over the next 60 days,” the company said in its statement. “That work is ongoing and no outcome is assured.”
Villa Vie had promised passengers that its ship would stop at 425 ports across 147 countries, spending between two and seven days in each port. All food and drinks (alcohol is included during meal hours) were part of the price, as well as WiFi and medical visits. Housekeeping and laundry service was done twice per week, each with no additional cost.
Villa Vie was the second company to propose a cruise ship home for remote workers. In 2023, Life at Sea Cruises announced a three-year voyage, but then canceled the journey weeks before it was scheduled to set sail, revealing it had no ship on which to house passengers.
That left people stranded in Turkey, many of whom had canceled leases, sold their homes or rented out those homes.
Chris Morris is a US based veteran journalist with more than 35 years of experience at many of the biggest digital news outlets. In addition to his activities as a writer, reporter and editor, Chris is also a frequent moderator and speaker at major conferences, including CES and South by Southwest.
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