Villa Vie Odyssey leaves Cambodia without its 200-plus passengers after fuel costs halt operations

Passengers ordered off in late October

The Florida-based owner, Villa Vie Residences, halted operations of the Villa Vie Odyssey in late October and ordered passengers off the vessel at the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville. More than 200 people had paid tens of thousands of dollars to live aboard for years, and some had bought or rented cabins as permanent homes. The company blamed fuel prices pushed up by the war in Iran, saying they made running the ship prohibitively expensive. According to the company, monthly fuel costs per cabin had risen from about 1,800 US dollars to between 6,000 and 8,000 US dollars. The ship had left Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 3 October 2024 on a planned route covering 147 countries and more than 100 islands, with the trip intended to run until the end of 2027.

Passengers' final days aboard

A couple who spoke to the BBC said they had known for some time that the firm was in financial difficulty and had hoped an investor would be found. They were told at 6 am that they had to leave the ship by 2 pm the same day. One passenger said travellers had been asked to consider paying a fuel surcharge, and that the route had already been cut back considerably. On Tuesday, 3 November, passengers returned to collect their last belongings, and many said they did not expect to come back aboard. Shirine Thomas, an American from North Carolina, spoke to Reuters shortly after collecting her final personal items.

“There are still many things on the ship that I wish I could take with me.”

Ship sails without passengers

The vessel left Sihanoukville early on Wednesday, 4 November, with about 50 crew and no passengers, according to Taing Sochitkrishna, head of the city's tourism department. He said around 100 passengers were still in Cambodia, while most others had flown to destinations elsewhere in the region. The Cambodian Ministry of Tourism confirmed the departure in a statement and said it was still assisting an unspecified number of passengers who remain in the country. Tracking websites and some passengers pointed to Singapore as the destination, and the CruiseMapper portal projected an arrival there on Saturday, 7 November. The ship's final destination has not been confirmed by the owner.

Owner silent as the ship's future stays unclear

Villa Vie Residences did not respond to emails or phone calls seeking comment, and it has offered no new information since suspending operations. Mary Ann Demsar, a 67-year-old former teacher from Ontario, said she had received no word from the operator on whether the voyage would carry on, and that her only information came from Cambodian officials. Her frustration was plain in her words:

“We don't get any clear indication from the owners of Villa Vie as to what is happening.”

The couple who spoke to the BBC wrote on Facebook that they did not know what the future held, while thanking the vessel for the time they had shared. Whether the Odyssey will return to passenger service remains unknown.