A residential cruise ship halted operations in Cambodia on Tuesday amid soaring fuel costs, leaving passengers in limbo after the U.S. company that operates the vessel ordered them to disembark.
In a news release, Florida-based Villa Vie Residences said it was working to identify “temporary living arrangements” for people aboard The Odyssey, a 642-foot cruise ship that launched from Belfast three years ago and promised passengers “an unparalleled lifestyle of luxury and exploration” as it toured the planet.
Cabins on The Odyssey were for sale or rent.
According to the company, the ship can accommodate 650 residents, but it isn’t clear how many were on board Tuesday or where in Cambodia they disembarked.
An executive with the company, Mikael Petterson, declined to provide additional details in an email to NBC News. Earlier this year, in a release announcing the company’s second residential cruise ship, Petterson said The Odyssey was 85% sold.
In Tuesday’s release, the company said it had taken significant measures aimed at reducing fuel consumption, but those steps had failed to offset the spike in costs.
“Passing the full increase on to residents is not a realistic solution,” the company said. “Our focus now is on supporting residents, crew, and employees while we work toward restructuring and recapitalization over the next 60 days. That work is ongoing, and no outcome is assured.”
Randy Cassingham, a resident on the boat, wrote in a blog post that he learned his journey was over after a company official posted a note on a message board for the ship shortly after 7 a.m. local time Monday.
The Odyssey was entering a “temporary lay up” period — indicating the vessel would no longer be used — and everyone had to disembark by 2 p.m. that day, the message stated, according to Cassingham, who runs ResidentialCruising.com and did not immediately reply to an interview request.
Cassingham attributed the development to a “cascade of problems” that he would detail later.
Pamela Reckamp, who rented a cabin on the Odyssey with her husband and disembarked earlier this month, said in an interview that she wasn’t surprised that the ship’s journey was over.
Reckamp, 59, recalled attending a meeting in early September where a company official asked cabin owners to help them raise $1 million so they could leave Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.
“She said, ‘If we don’t get this money, we have about four days of the ship running,’” Reckamp recalled. “‘Then the lights will go off and the AC will go off.’”
When the ship’s financial issues were raised during another meeting a few weeks later, Reckamp recalled, a woman stood up and said she’d bought a cabin in August and hadn’t been made aware of the issues.
“I sold my house,” Reckamp recalled the woman saying. “I sold my car. I bought my home on this ship.”
Reckamp said she felt terrible for the residents and staff, who she said were lovely.
“We dodged a bullet,” she added.
Villa Vie Residences did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.