Hundreds of cruise passengers left stranded as fuel costs halt 3-year voyage

A U.S. cruise ship on a three-year global voyage has suspended its journey because the cost of fuel to power the vessel is too high, its operator said, causing hundreds of passengers to disembark.

The MV Odyssey set sail on its three-year journey two years ago and was billed as combining maritime living with global travel. The purchase price for a suite on the vessel starts at $230,000, according to the Associated Press.

The ship is currently docked at Sihanoukville, a Cambodian port in the Gulf of Thailand, and has no set date for departure.

The ship, which is operated by Villa Vie Residences, had 203 passengers on board when it decided to halt its journey, most of whom are Americans, along with 156 crew members, according to Cambodian officials, the AP said. It has a 650-passenger capacity.

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The operator wrote in a press release that the cost of operating a single cabin had increased significantly since the cruise first set sail.

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“Fuel costs have risen sharply in the regions where the company has been operating,” it said, noting that monthly costs per cabin had skyrocketed from USD $1,800 to an estimated $6,000 to $8,000. It attributed the problem to the war in the Iran.

Traffic has been reduced in the Strait of Hormuz since the war in Iran began, straining supply chains of all kinds of petroleum-based fuels, especially in southeast Asia, and sharply increasing prices.

The cruise’s Florida-based operator said the circumstances had led to “unsustainable financial pressure,” and that passing off the rate increase to its residents was untenable. Since the conflict began, the company had sought to minimize fuel consumption by reducing the ship’s itinerary and spending more time in port, but was unable to offset the surging costs, the statement says.

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Those living on board will be provided temporary accommodations by the operator, the company said.

Passengers told the Associated Press that they had not received support and were left to make their own arrangements after being given seven hours notice on Tuesday that they would have to disembark.

Paul and Lynn Montoya, a retired couple from Wyoming, told the U.S. news agency that they purchased a window cabin and had expected to sail for years after boarding the ship 17 months ago in Panama.

Paul said the company had been struggling to run the ship for some time, with intermittent internet access and a drop in food quality creating circumstances that had forced many residents to leave the ship in recent months.

Lynn said residents were repeatedly asked to contribute additional money for fuel and other expenses, including a fresh call to raise funds for fuel to get out of Cambodia. She said the crew members were also not paid.

“We were tired of every two to four weeks being asked for money for fuel, money for everything,” she said. “We had hopes, but they just kept sinking further and further into the hole through mismanagement.”

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Others said that logistical failures did not outweigh the experience of travelling the world and living at sea.

Carol Larson, 69, and her sister Crystal Lavering, 72, occupied separate cabins aboard the ship for 18 months. The siblings, from California, described the suspension as heartbreaking, and hoped the cruise would be resurrected.

“I hope there is a movement for the residents to buy the ship and I am hoping that goes through because it’s a dream to live on the ship and I don’t want it to end,” Larson said.

The cruise line said it was aware of the problems passengers were facing.

“Villa Vie Residences recognizes that this is a difficult and disruptive period for residents, crew members, and employees, and is working to support those affected as plans develop,” it continued, adding that over the next 60 days it will work on a recapitalization plan, but that no outcome is “assured.”

— with files from the Associated Press

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