A residential cruise ship halted operations in Cambodia on Tuesday amid rising fuel costs, leaving passengers in limbo after the U.S. company that operates the ship ordered them to disembark. In a news release, Florida-based Villa Vie Residences said it was working to identify “temporary living arrangements” for people aboard The Odyssey, a 642-foot cruise ship that set sail from Belfast three years ago and promised passengers “an unparalleled lifestyle of luxury and exploration” as it toured the planet. According to the company, the ship can accommodate 650 residents, but it is not clear how many were on board Tuesday or where in Cambodia they disembarked. A company executive, Mikael Petterson, declined to provide additional details in an email to NBC News. Earlier this year, in a statement announcing the company’s second residential cruise, Petterson said The Odyssey was 85% sold. In Tuesday’s statement, the company said it had taken significant steps aimed at reducing fuel consumption, but that those measures had failed to offset rising costs. Global oil prices have soared since the war with Iran began earlier this year, disrupting the global flow of fuel. Earlier this month, oil prices rose to their highest levels since this spring. The Odyssey will dock at Harland & Wolf’s ship repair facility in Belfast Harbor, Northern Ireland, in 2024. Peter Morrison/AP“Passing the entire increase to residents is not a realistic solution,” the company said. “Our focus now is to support residents, crew and employees as we work toward restructuring and recapitalization over the next 60 days. That work is ongoing and no outcome is assured.” Randy Cassingham, a resident on the ship, wrote in a blog post that he learned his trip was over after a company official posted a note on a message board about the ship shortly after 7 a.m. local time on Monday. everyone had to disembark by 2 p.m. that day, the message said, according to Cassingham, who runs ResidentialCruising.com and did not immediately respond to an interview request. Cassingham attributed the development to a “cascade of problems” that he would later detail. Pamela Reckamp, who rented a cabin on the Odyssey with her husband and disembarked earlier this month, said in an interview that she was not surprised that the ship’s voyage was over. 59, recalled attending a meeting in early September where a company official asked cabin owners to help them raise $1 million to get out of Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. “She said, ‘If we don’t get this money, we’ll have about four days of sailing the ship,’” Reckamp recalled. “’Then the lights will go out and the air conditioning will go off.’” When the ship’s financial problems were raised during another meeting a few weeks later, Reckamp recalled, a woman stood up and said she had purchased a cabin in August and had not been informed of the problems. “I sold my house,” Reckamp recalled the woman saying. “I sold my car. I bought my house on this boat.” Reckamp said she felt really bad for the residents and staff, who she said were lovely. “We dodged a bullet,” he added. Villa Vie Residences did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening. In a lawsuit filed last year, a company that purchased a cabin on The Odyssey for $469,000 accused Villa Vie Residences of fraud, alleging the ship’s operator misrepresented its financial stability. The company’s business model was not financially sound, the lawsuit alleges, “but rather precarious.” The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages of more than $100,000. Villa Vie Residences denied the allegations in the lawsuit, which is ongoing. Other staterooms on the ship were available for much less money. Although 85% of the ship was sold, the company said in 2024, prospective residents could still “secure their dream home starting at just $119,000.” “When we launched Odyssey, we set out to prove that residential cruising was not only possible, but sustainable,” Petterson said in July.
