Passengers, stranded after their ‘never-ending’ cruise ship voyage around the world was abruptly curtailed in Sihanoukville, have reacted positively to their enforced stay in Cambodia.
Villa Vie Residences’ 650-passenger ship, Odyssey, is currently moored in Sihanoukville after the cruise company suspended operations citing “extraordinary” fuel costs.
Around 200 passengers are now stranded in Sihanoukville while the company works on “disembarkation plans” and “temporary living arrangements.”
Passenger Holly Hennessey said that the ship’s passengers had earlier been asked to consider paying a fuel surcharge as global prices soared, and that their itinerary had been “severely curtailed.”
Some people decided to disembark and travel on land, she said.
“It was not on my bingo card of places where I’d be spending a lot of time,” Hennessey told the BBC from Cambodia.
“We’re all in different hotels; there are several shipmates in the hotel that I’m in. We’re just waiting,” stating that “Cambodia’s not the worst place to hang out.”
Passengers Lanette Canen and Johan Bodin said Villa Vie Residences’ chief executive told them at 6am on Tuesday they had to leave by 2pm.
“Even then, we were still hoping a miracle investor would come through,” they said. “Although there were signs that this would happen, we still felt disbelief when it became real. We were heartbroken. It felt like our dream had been crushed.”
“There have been a lot of hugs and tears as residents support one another and process what has happened.”
Canen and Bodin added that the location in Cambodia was “a difficult place to disembark” because of the distance to a major international airport.
Villa Vie Residences said fuel costs have risen sharply in the regions where the company has been operating.
On an equivalent per-cabin basis, monthly fuel expense that historically averaged approximately $1,800 has recently reached an estimated $6,000 to $8,000 in parts of Asia.
The company added that it cannot pass increases of that scale on to residents, and the resulting shortfall has placed its current operating model under unsustainable financial pressure.
Villa Vie Residences recognises the difficult and disruptive period for residents and crew members, and is working to support those affected as plans develop.
“Since the conflict began in late February, we have taken significant steps to reduce fuel consumption, including slowing the itinerary and spending more time in port. Those measures have not been enough to offset the extraordinary increase in fuel costs, and 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 and crew, while we work toward restructuring and recapitalisation over the next 60 days. That work is ongoing, and no outcome is assured.”
The Odyssey, a 24,344-gross-tonne vessel with eight decks and capacity for up to 650 residents, was marketed as a way to live at sea while circling the globe, with calls at more than 425 destinations in 147 countries and over 100 islands.
It left Belfast on October 3, 2024, to begin what the company called a continuous world voyage.
As recently as October 20, its published schedule still promoted a 3.5-year itinerary confirmed through to November next year, with a preliminary second circumnavigation running to August 2030.
That plan included a stay in Cambodia with stops in Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Seychelles, Madagascar and Africa.
