FOR the past two years, Lanette Canen and Johan Bodin have used social media to chronicle their lives on the Villa Vie Odyssey, a cruise ship that was on an around-the-world trip ... until it ran out of fuel in Cambodia.
Now, their dream voyage appears over. The couple is among hundreds of residents shocked by an order to disembark the ship in Sihanoukville, where the vessel has been stranded because it can’t afford fuel, which Villa Vie Residences claims has as much as quadrupled in price since the United States-Iran war began.
“Lanette’s not happy that she’s getting up but we have six hours to pack our belongings – in Cambodia, in Sihanoukville,” Johan said in a YouTube video earlier this week, when he disclosed the Odyssey was ordering all passengers to disembark by 2pm that day.
“I don’t want to leave,” said Lanette.
About 200 residents were aboard the 650-passenger ship when disembarkation was ordered, Villa Vie founder Mikael Petterson said in a telephone interview, noting the company is set to cover lodging and local transportation, but not the cost of travel out of Cambodia.
“(The company) recognises that this is a difficult and disruptive period for residents, crew members, and employees,” it said in a statement.
The Odyssey’s travails are a microcosm of the damage caused to businesses by the US war on Iran, which this week sent Brent crude over US$115 (RM469) a barrel. It also raises questions over Villa Vie’s investment model: the company sells cabins for permanent residency at prices ranging from under US$130,000 (RM529,971) to US$440,000 (RM1.79mil), plus monthly fees of US$2,000 (RM8,154) to US$10,000 (RM40,770), according to its brochure.
Troubles along the way
The Odyssey began its world voyage in October 2024, four months later than scheduled after dry-dock repairs and certification delays, Cruise Fever reported. Its arrival in Cambodia followed port visits in Thailand. The company was next scheduled to go to Vietnam, though its website outlined ambitious long-term plans for travel to destinations as far-flung as Casablanca in Morocco and the Caribbean, along with Greenland, Madagascar and Melbourne, Australia.
The voyage had faced setbacks before the fuel crisis. Cruise Fever also reported that the ship failed a health inspection by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention when it visited a US port around the middle of 2025, including issues around its potable water system.
Residents posted complaints on Reddit and travel blogs as well about WiFi, heating and air-conditioning, maintenance issues and cancelled port calls.
Fuel costs added to the strain.
In the two months before the order, Lanette and Johan say residents were repeatedly told the company was short of money, then given hope that investors or other solutions were on the way. When those plans fell through, the cycle began again.
Lanette describes the experience as “emotionally exhausting”, and the couple says residents were divided over how to save the ship.
Petterson said residents had balked at a request to contribute toward fuel for the ship’s departure. Villa Vie proposed an extra US$500 (RM2,038) a month, plus a fuel surcharge, and was seeking financing.
The company said fuel costs had risen from a historical average of about US$1,800 (RM7,338) per cabin a month to as much as US$8,000 (RM32,612) in parts of Asia. Fuel pushed monthly costs to US$3mil (RM12.22mil), and Villa Vie is considering a financial restructuring and seeking new funding over the next 60 days.
“There’s some speculation that the ship may come up with enough money to buy fuel to get to Thailand,” said Holly Hennessy, who has been travelling the world on the Odyssey with her cat, Captain, narrating their journey on a Facebook page called “Captain the Cruising Kitty”. But even if that happens, “... the problem is still there. They’re going to have to come up with a sustainable approach,” she said.
Jim and Chris Guld, who like to be known as “Mr and Mrs Geek”, are planning to visit Thailand before returning to the Odyssey, hoping that the cruise may resume. Their cabin cost US$170,000 (RM693,000) for 15 years plus US$5,000 (RM20,382) per month, according to Jim, who reported Villa Vie had recently made cash calls on passengers, some of whom declined to pay, to try to fund its fuel needs.
A forgotten destination
For now, many of the Odyssey’s investor-passengers remain in Sihanoukville, a one-time boomtown that during the pandemic saw criminal syndicates seize empty resorts, casinos and condos for use as industrial-scale cyber-scam compounds.
A subsequent nationwide crackdown shut hundreds of illicit operations, driving out victims and syndicate bosses by the thousands, but Sihanoukville remains a ghost of its former self. A recent visit revealed padlocked casinos and abandoned scam compounds lining the coast, flanked by rows of shuttered Chinese restaurants and half-built concrete towers.
“It’s a blessing for Sihanoukville,” said Ayub Yulianto, general manager of the Novotel Sihanoukville Holiday Resort. “The province has suffered from this rather negative perception, so having the cruise people in Sihanoukville hope- fully creates a positive impact.”
The Odyssey itself never operated at full capacity, according to resident Randy Cassingham, who documented his time aboard the vessel on his “Residential Cruising” blog, where he posted the disembarkation notice.
“I think we probably peaked at around 350, and there were around 200 still active at the end,” Cassingham said in an Oct 27 update in which he criticised Villa Vie for doing little to help the stranded passengers.
“The cabins were small and sparse, but that was OK: cabins were really our bedrooms and a place to shower,” he said. “But it wasn’t ‘luxury’ – it was promoted, after all, as ‘affordable’ and it was until the company started begging for money.”
For some people who had looked into buying a cabin, news of The Odyssey’s stranding confirmed their decision to wait. One Reddit user said an aunt had planned to sell her home to buy one, but put the plan on hold after family members raised concerns.
Several users also questioned whether the ship’s business model could work without a steady stream of new cabin buyers and payments from current residents.
The ship originally left Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a “continuous” voyage around the world, according to the company’s website. Johan said he and Lanette had hoped to live aboard for 15 years or more, and that they valued their two years at sea but worried about people who had joined recently or invested their savings and retirement income.
Hennessy said Captain is “loving” Sihanoukville’s Independence Hotel, where Jacqueline Kennedy once stayed, but uncertainty over where they will go next makes it hard to plan. “Until we know exactly what’s happening, I can’t even begin to apply for the exit paperwork for an animal,” she said.
While residents had months to anticipate the possibility of leaving The Odyssey, the news was still painful.
“I can’t begin to really convey how incredibly cool it was to live on a ship and be a global citizen,” Hennessy said. “The memories are priceless.” – TASSIA SIPAHUTAR and RANDY THANTHONG-KNIGHT/Bloomberg
