CEO says plan is to file for bankruptcy after ending luxury never-ending cruise that left hundreds stranded
Villa Vie Residences is filing for bankruptcy after its luxury around-the-world cruise was forced to suspend operations due to surging fuel costs. Over 200 passengers are currently stranded in Cambodia as the company struggles with financial insolvency.
Why it matters
The situation illustrates the severe impact of geopolitical conflicts on global supply chains and the vulnerability of long-term travel business models to sudden cost spikes.
More than 200 passengers, mostly Americans, are stranded in Cambodia after the operator of a luxury U.S. cruise ship that was on a continuous around-the-world voyage ran out of money due to skyrocketing fuel costs. Villa Vie Residences, the Florida-based operator of the MV Odyssey, said the war with Iran quadrupled fuel costs and forced it to suspend operations on Tuesday. CEO Mikael Petterson told CBS News in a phone interview Wednesday that Villa Vie Residences was paying an average of $700 a ton for fuel before the war broke out in late February. Since then, it has been paying anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 per ton. The Odyssey uses between 700 and 800 tons per month in fuel, Petterson disclosed."When you divide it over 300 people on board, it's just backbreaking," Petterson told CBS News. "And this has been going on for nine months.
Headlinne story · 7 newsrooms
Cruise Ship Residents Stranded in Cambodia After Fuel Costs Surge
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Also covering this story
3 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
Residents on the doomed Villa Vie Odyssey cruise describe the first 24 hours after being kicked off in Cambodia
Fuel costs jump from $1,800 to $8,000: Cruise ship residents forced ashore in Cambodia
Cruise ship residents stranded in Cambodia as fuel costs soar - Honolulu Star-Advertiser
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