Villa Vie Halts MV Odyssey Voyage in Cambodia as Fuel Costs Reach $8,000 Per Cabin

A cruise ship selling lifetime stays at sea stopped its global voyage in Cambodia this week because fuel prices became too expensive to absorb.

Villa Vie Residences, the Florida operator of the MV Odyssey, reported that the cost of diesel per cabin per month has risen from a historical average of $1,800 to between $6,000 and $8,000 in parts of Asia. The ship is docked at Sihanoukville on the Gulf of Thailand with 203 passengers, most of them American, and 156 crew members aboard, according to Cambodian officials. The vessel can carry 650 passengers. AAA data shows the average price of a gallon of diesel reached $6.52 late last month, up $2.76 from $3.76 on Feb. 27, 2026, the day before the war in Iran began. Villa Vie Residences said traffic has been curtailed in the Strait of Hormuz since that conflict started, limiting fuel supplies in Southeast Asia.

Villa Vie Residences said slowing the itinerary and extending time in port did not offset the higher costs. The company said in a statement issued Tuesday that it has been unable to keep covering the resulting operating losses and that passing the full increase to residents is not workable. The company said it is coordinating disembarkation with residents and identifying temporary housing.

Randy Cassingham, a blogger who had been on the cruise, wrote on his website that the company did not assist passengers after they left the vessel. He said shuttle buses dropped passengers in the middle of Sihanoukville and that no list of hotels was provided. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his account.

The Odyssey arrived in Sihanoukville last Friday and was scheduled to depart Wednesday, according to a statement from Long Dimanche, deputy governor of Preah Sihanouk province. He said the ship was expected to refuel and leave Cambodia on Saturday, though the operator has not confirmed a date. The voyage, which began in October 2024 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was designed to run 3 1/2 years across seven continents. Villa Vie Residences bought the vessel, built in 1993, in 2023 and marketed suites starting at around $230,000 for the lifetime of the ship.

Sihanoukville has hosted ships in distress before. In February 2020, Cambodia allowed the MS Westerdam to dock after five other ports refused it entry over coronavirus fears. The ship carried 1,455 passengers, including more than 600 American citizens, and had been at sea for two weeks.

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