About 200 passengers—including one cancer patient—were left stranded and without housing after their luxury cruise’s planned three-year voyage around the world was cut short when the ship ran out of fuel in Cambodia.
The MV Odyssey is currently docked at the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville. Operated by Florida-based Villa Vie Residences, the vessel began its journey two years ago, promising residents visits to all seven continents and lifetime suites priced from roughly $230,000.
Villa Vie said it can no longer absorb the cost of fuel, which it claims has quadrupled since the war in Iran began.
Randy Cassingham, a passenger who has been documenting life aboard the ship online while undergoing cancer treatment, said the company “has done absolutely nothing to help” residents secure accommodation. He said he now plans to return to Thailand to be near his doctors.
“I’ve taken two several-week breaks from the ship in Thailand for cancer treatment. Between drugs and radiation, I have very limited energy and stamina,” Cassingham wrote on his blog.
“It was easy to be on the ship where I could go and lie down in my own bed whenever needed; other kinds of travel are difficult,” he added.
Cassingham said Villa Vie has arranged shuttles between the ship and the town because passengers are not permitted to walk through the cargo port. However, he said, the company “did not even give us a list of hotels to choose from.”
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“They have absolutely not offered to pay for that lodging, full stop,” he said.
The ship can accommodate 650 people, but it currently carries 203 passengers—most of them Americans—and 156 crew members, according to Cambodian officials.
The vessel originally left Belfast in October 2024 for a 3.5-year voyage.
Villa Vie said it attempted to conserve fuel by slowing the itinerary and spending additional time in port, but those measures failed to offset costs that surged after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“We have been unable to continue carrying the resulting operating losses,” Villa Vie Residences said in a statement issued Tuesday. “Passing the full increase on to residents is not a realistic solution. Our focus now is on supporting residents, crew, and employees” as the company works to restructure.
“The company is working with residents to coordinate disembarkation and identify temporary living arrangements,” it said.
With Post wires
