{"id":3474,"date":"2026-10-29T11:03:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T06:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3474"},"modified":"2026-10-29T11:03:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T06:03:48","slug":"cruise-ship-residents-left-stranded-in-cambodia-after-fuel-prices-soar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3474","title":{"rendered":"Cruise ship residents left stranded in Cambodia after fuel prices soar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Hundreds of people permanently living aboard a \u200btouring cruise ship were forced to disembark in Cambodia this week after the vessel\u2019s operator said \u200cfuel price increases from the Iran war<\/a> had made operations prohibitively expensive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Villa Vie Odyssey had been cruising the world for at least 755 days as one of only a handful of ships that offered passengers the opportunity to rent or buy long-term or even permanent \u200bresidences on board.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the ship\u2019s owner, Villa Vie Residences, announced it was suspending operations and disembarking \u200bthose passengers in Cambodia while working to find them temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n

Monthly fuel expenses that historically \u2060averaged approximately $1,800 per cabin have recently reached an estimated $6,000 to $8,000 in parts of Asia, Villa Vie Residences said in \u200ba statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company cannot simply pass increases of that scale on to residents, and the resulting shortfall has placed \u200bits current operating model under unsustainable financial pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Villa Vie Residences did not immediately respond to questions. The Odyssey can house 650 people but its rooms, including \u201cvilla suites\u201d that cost $440,000, were still being filled. An inside villa on the vessel costs $120,000.<\/p>\n

There were 203 passengers and 156 \u200bcrew members on the ship, said Long Dimanche, deputy governor of Preah Sihanouk Province.<\/p>\n

Some passengers had already departed on \u200bflights, while others were waiting in the port city of Sihanoukville, he told media.<\/p>\n

The ship is scheduled to refuel before leaving \u200cCambodia on \u2060Saturday, he added.<\/p>\n

Social media videos by residents showed uncertainty and disappointment as they heard the news. Others said they would relish the extra time to explore Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

Randy Cassingham, who lived on the Odyssey with his wife and who writes about his lifestyle on ResidentialCruising.com<\/a>, said that Florida-based CEO Kathy Villaba posted a message shortly after 7am in \u200bCambodia telling residents they had \u200buntil 2pm to \u2060disembark and to coordinate with staff if they were unable to remove all their belongings in time.<\/p>\n

It was not entirely surprising, he wrote in a post on his website.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt \u200bwas a cascade of problems piling up on one another, from the business model \u200bto mistakes by \u2060management to the mentioned crisis in fuel cost and availability, and more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since the Iran war began in late February, the company had taken steps to reduce fuel consumption, including slowing the itinerary and spending more time in port, but \u2060those \u200bmeasures were not enough to offset the \u201cextraordinary\u201d increase in fuel costs, Villa \u200bVie\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been unable to continue carrying the resulting operating losses,\u201d it added. The company would seek to restructure and recapitalise over \u200bthe next 60 days, though no financing has been finalised.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of people permanently living aboard a \u200btouring cruise ship were forced to disembark in Cambodia this week after the vessel\u2019s operator said \u200cfuel price increases from the Iran war had made operations prohibitively expensive. The Villa Vie Odyssey had been cruising the world for at least 755 days as one of only a handful of ships that offered passengers the opportunity to rent or buy long-term or even permanent \u200bresidences on board. On Tuesday, the ship\u2019s owner, Villa Vie Residences, announced it was suspending operations and disembarking \u200bthose passengers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}