Their home was a cruise ship. Now the residents of Villa Vie must leave | Today’s news

(Bloomberg) — For the past two years, Lanette Canen and Johan Bodin have used social media to chronicle their lives aboard the cruise ship Villa Vie Odyssey, which was en route around the world until it ran out of fuel in Cambodia.

Now their dream journey is over. The couple are among hundreds of residents shocked by the order to disembark the ship in Sihanoukville, where the vessel is stranded because it cannot afford fuel, the price of which has quadrupled since the start of the Iran war, according to Villa Vie Residences.

“Lanette is not happy to get up, but we have six hours to pack – in Cambodia, in Sihanoukville,” Johan said in a YouTube video on Tuesday, revealing that Odyssey was ordering all passengers to disembark by 2pm that day.

“I don’t want to leave,” Lanette said.

About 200 residents were on board the 650-passenger ship at the time the disembarkation was ordered, Villa Vie founder Mikael Petterson said in a phone interview, adding that the company was prepared to cover accommodation and local transportation, but not travel costs from Cambodia.

The company “recognizes that this is a difficult and disruptive time for residents, crew members and employees,” it said in a statement.

The Odyssey’s travails are a microcosm of the damage done to companies by America’s war on Iran, which sent Brent crude past $115 a barrel this week. It also raises questions about Villa Vie’s investment model: the company sells permanent residence cabins for prices ranging from $130,000 to $440,000, plus monthly fees of $2,000 to $10,000, according to its brochure.

Odyssey began her world voyage in October 2024 and her arrival in Cambodia follows port visits in Thailand. The company was due to head to Vietnam next, although its website outlined ambitious long-term travel plans to destinations as far afield as Casablanca and the Caribbean, along with Greenland, Madagascar and Melbourne.

But as fuel prices rose, talk of an impending crisis began.

In the two months leading up to the order, Lanette and Johan say residents were repeatedly told the company was short on cash, then hoped investors or other solutions were on the way. When these plans failed, the cycle began again. Lanette describes the experience as “emotionally draining,” and the couple says residents were divided over how to save the ship.

Petterson said residents were reluctant when asked to contribute fuel for the ship’s departure. Villa Vie proposed an additional $500 per month plus fuel surcharge and sought financing.

The company said fuel costs have risen from a historical average of about $1,800 per cabin per month to as high as $8,000 in parts of Asia. Fuel has pushed monthly costs to $3 million, and Villa Vie is considering a financial restructuring and seeking new funding within the next 60 days.

But for now, many of Odyssey’s investors and passengers remain in Sihanoukville, a one-time boomtown where crime syndicates have seized empty resorts, casinos and apartments for use as industrial cyber scams during the pandemic.

The subsequent nationwide crackdown shut down hundreds of illegal operations, drove 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 underwater complexes lining the coast, lined with rows of shuttered Chinese restaurants and half-built concrete towers.

“It is a blessing for Sihanoukville,” said Ayub Yulianto, general manager of Novotel Sihanoukville Holiday Resort. “The province has suffered from this rather negative perception, so having cruise ship people in Sihanoukville will hopefully have a positive impact.”

The Odyssey itself never operated at full capacity, according to resident Randy Cassingham, who documented his time aboard on his blog, Residential Cruising, where he posted an announcement about the disembarkation.

“I think we probably peaked around 350 and at the end there were around 200 still active,” Cassingham said in an Oct. 27 update in which he criticized Villa Vie for doing little to help stranded passengers.

“The cabins were small and sparse, but that was okay: the cabins were really our bedrooms and a place to shower,” he said. “But it wasn’t ‘luxury’ – after all, it was advertised as ‘affordable’ and it was until the company started begging for money.”

For some people who were considering buying a cabin, news of the Odyssey’s stranding confirmed their decision to wait. One Reddit user said the aunt planned to sell her house to buy him, 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, on a “non-stop” round-the-world cruise, according to the company’s website. Johan said he and Lanette hoped to live aboard for 15 years or more, and that they cherished their two years at sea, but worried about people who had recently joined or invested their savings and pension.

Holly Hennessy travels the world aboard the Odyssey with her cat, Captain, and chronicles their journey on a Facebook page called Captain the Cruising Kitty. Her posts depict their unexpected life ashore, with the captain in bed at Sihanoukville’s Independence Hotel, where Jacqueline Kennedy once stayed, and driving around town in a tuk-tuk.

“We’ve had several months to expect this; most of the ship’s crew have made it to the reception site,” Hennessy said. “Although it’s still absolutely heartbreaking.

–With assistance from K. Oanh Ha, Philip J. Heijmans, Erich Parpart, Satid Sutipanya, and Shadab Nazmi.

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