Crew members of the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship, which remains stuck in Cambodia after its ‘never-ending voyage’ came to an abrupt halt in Sihanoukville, said they are stranded without pay.
Some of the 150 crew members say that they haven’t been paid in over a month and have also experienced previous late payments.
Speaking to NBC, a worker from India said, “We were getting to know the financial condition was not good. That’s why we are getting paid late.”
Payments had been delayed for three months, he said, and he hasn’t been paid since September.
The worker and two other crewmembers who spoke anonymously with NBC News, all of whom work for a third-party contractor, said they wanted to remain on board working as the ship travels to another port, where it might be easier than Sihanoukville, as it is at least three hours from Phnom Penh, for them to make their way home.
Sources state the ship will soon set sail to Singapore, where it could eventually be auctioned off.
Mike Petterson, the company’s founder and executive chairman, said, “This is a 30- to 90-day process, and, during that process, we have time to get a restructure done”; however, the company remains optimistic that a solution can be found.
At the weekend, the lender took over the ship’s operational costs, and passengers were told to remove all their belongings from the ship before it became inaccessible.
“They now have the responsibility to pay the crew, fuel and the operations of the vessel and safekeeping of the vessel,” Petterson said.
“They would be willing to work with a funded plan; they’re not out of negotiations, it’s not like you get your car repossessed and you can’t get it back.”
A group of residents attempted to buy the ship from the company after a lender denied them funding, according to sources who spoke with CBS News.
The effort had received pledges from 169 residents who were willing to put more money into the project.
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.
Cabin prices ranged from $59,000 to $439,000, along with monthly fees.
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.
