Luxury cruise ship that left Ireland two years ago strands passengers in Cambodia
Passengers on the luxury residential cruise ship Odyssey are stranded in Cambodia after Villa Vie Residences suspended operations due to a 300% surge in fuel costs. The company is providing lodging but has not funded travel home, leading to a dispute over additional fees.
Why it matters
This highlights the vulnerability of long-term residential travel models to global energy price volatility and geopolitical instability.
Passengers on a luxury residential ship that set off from Belfast two years ago to tour the world were unexpectedly stranded in Cambodia after the cruise company suspended operations, citing “extraordinary increases” in fuel costs .
Villa Vie Residences is “working with residents to co-ordinate disembarkation and identify temporary living arrangements”, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
While the company is covering lodging and local transportation, it hasn’t provided funding for passengers to depart Cambodia, where the 650-passenger Odyssey is now moored, Villa Vie founder Mikael Petterson said during a telephone interview. About 200 residents were on board when the company was forced to ask them to disembark, he said.
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