Florida-Based Villa Vie Halts Its Multi-Year World Cruise in Cambodia Over Fuel Costs, Stranding About 200 Residents

Villa Vie Residences, a Florida-based company that sold cabins on a cruise ship as permanent homes at sea, has suspended its multi-year round-the-world voyage in Cambodia. It blamed fuel costs that soared after the Iran war began. About 200 residents, mostly Americans, were ordered off the Villa Vie Odyssey at the port of Sihanoukville with seven hours' notice on Tuesday, Oct. 27, the Associated Press reported. Many are now looking for hotels in a country they had planned only to visit. Passengers said they got no help from the company and had to arrange their own lodging.

What the company said

In a statement Tuesday, Villa Vie said it could no longer absorb its losses. "We have been unable to continue carrying the resulting operating losses," the company said, according to the AP. It said passing the full cost increase on to residents was not realistic. The company said it was focused on supporting residents, crew and employees while it restructures, and that it was working with residents to coordinate disembarkation and find temporary housing. Trade press reports said the company plans to try to restructure and raise new capital over the next 60 days, with no outcome assured. The ship is in a temporary lay-up with crew aboard to maintain it.

The company could not be reached for further comment, CBS News reported.

The fuel squeeze

Villa Vie said its monthly fuel expense per cabin had historically averaged about $1,800. In parts of Asia it has recently reached an estimated $6,000 to $8,000. The company said it tried to save fuel by slowing the itinerary and spending more time in port, but that did not offset the increases.

The AP tied the spike to the Iran war, which began in late February. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has been curtailed since then, squeezing petroleum supplies, especially in Southeast Asia, and driving prices sharply higher. The same shock has reached Florida drivers and businesses. CBS News, citing AAA, reported that the average U.S. diesel price rose from $3.76 a gallon on Feb. 27 to $6.52 in late September.

Stranded in Sihanoukville

The Odyssey arrived in Sihanoukville last Friday and had been scheduled to leave Wednesday for Vietnam. It is carrying 203 passengers and 156 crew members, according to Cambodian officials. The ship can hold 650. Long Dimanche, deputy governor of Preah Sihanouk province, told the AP the ship is now expected to refuel and leave Cambodia on Saturday. The operator has not publicly confirmed any date, and it was unclear where the ship would go or whether any residents would be aboard.

Randy Cassingham, a blogger who was living on the ship, disputed the company's account of helping residents. He said passengers were not allowed to walk out of the port, were put on shuttle buses and dropped in the middle of town without hotel lists or other help, CBS News reported.

Paul and Lynn Montoya, a retired couple from Wyoming who boarded in Panama 17 months ago, told the AP the company was struggling before fuel prices jumped. Paul Montoya said the owner lacked the expertise to make the business sustainable. He said itinerary changes, unreliable internet and declining food quality had already driven many residents away. Lynn Montoya said residents were repeatedly asked for extra money for fuel and other costs, including a recent request to pay for fuel to leave Cambodia, and that crew members had not been paid. She said the ship "kept sinking further and further into the hole."

Not everyone was bitter. Sisters Carol Larson, 69, and Crystal Lavering, 72, of California, who lived in separate cabins for 18 months, called the suspension heartbreaking and said they hoped the venture could be revived, perhaps by residents buying the ship. Larson paid $120,000 for her cabin in installments, plus monthly maintenance fees, under a plan that promised up to 15 years aboard. She blamed both the fuel spike and poor management, but said she did not regret the investment and felt blessed to have been part of a startup that she knew was a risk.

A troubled voyage from the start

The Odyssey was built in 1993 and sailed for several cruise lines under other names, most recently as Fred. Olsen's Braemar, before the pandemic idled it in 2020. Villa Vie bought it in 2023 and marketed cabins as long-term homes on a ship that would visit all seven continents. Lifetime suites started at about $230,000. A 2024 report by WKMG, datelined Fort Lauderdale, described the company as a Florida cruise line offering shorter "Tour La Vie" packages starting just under $40,000 a year.

The voyage started late. The ship spent about four months stuck in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2024 while a refit ran long. Some future residents waited in Belfast in the meantime, while others took company-subsidized trips around Europe. It finally left Belfast in early October 2024 on a voyage planned to last about three and a half years, with a second cruise tentatively set to end in August 2030.

What it means for Floridians

The operator is a Florida company, and the project was pitched from here as an alternative to life on land. The AP did not say how many of the residents are Floridians. For anyone who bought a cabin, the most pressing questions are the ones the company has not answered: whether money paid for long-term cabins will be refunded, and what happens to residents' belongings still aboard. Neither the AP nor CBS reported any refund terms. The suspension also shows how far the fuel shock from the war with Iran has spread, from Florida gas pumps to a single aging ship in the Gulf of Thailand.

What's next

Villa Vie says it will spend the coming weeks trying to restructure and recapitalize. Some residents told the AP they hope a new company will step in to rescue the venture. Cambodian officials expect the ship to refuel and depart Saturday, but the company has not confirmed that or said where it would sail. Until then, about 200 people who sold homes or moved their lives aboard are looking for a place to stay in Sihanoukville, and for answers from a Florida company that has yet to give them.