For the people who sold their houses to live at sea, the world tour ended at a dock in Sihanoukville. Villa Vie Residences, a company from Florida, has halted the voyage of its ship Odyssey in Cambodia and told everyone aboard to move ashore, giving them until 2 p.m. to leave.
Life aboard looked nothing like a holiday package. Residents bought, rented or rent-to-owned their cabins, with entry prices just under $130,000 while the largest suites went for about $440,000, and monthly charges of $2,000 to $10,000 came on top. The ship, with room for 650 people, left Belfast in 2024 on what was billed as a three-and-a-half-year trip across all seven continents Its schedule had it closing out 2026 in India.
The operator blames fuel. It says its bill has jumped by more than 300% since the US-Israeli war with Iran began in late February, with costs per cabin climbing from roughly $1,800 a month to between $6,000 and $8,000 in parts of Asia. Sailing more slowly and lingering longer in port did not close the gap, and the company said loading the full increase onto residents was “not a realistic solution”.
Founder Mikael Petterson said Villa Vie is paying for lodging and local transport but not for flights out of the country. The ship is now laid up while the firm spends 60 days seeking restructuring and fresh capital, adding that “no outcome is assured”.
Warning signs had been visible for a while. Pamela Reckamp, a former tenant who moved off the ship earlier this month, said that in September cabin owners were urged to chip in $1 million just to get the vessel out of Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.
