Cruise ship forever home empties as fuel costs triple

Ship leaves Cambodia with no residents

The Villa Vie Odyssey sailed from Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on Wednesday with only crew aboard. Its lender has taken possession and now pays for crew, fuel, and upkeep.

Fuel costs jumped from $1,800 to $8,000

Villa Vie Residences said monthly fuel cost per cabin climbed from one thousand eight hundred dollars to between six thousand and eight thousand dollars after the Iran war sent oil prices soaring.

203 residents forced to leave the ship

A Cambodian official counted two hundred three passengers and one hundred fifty six crew. Most residents were American. The ship is reportedly bound for Singapore, where it could eventually be auctioned.

Residents sold homes for life at sea

The Odyssey was meant to circle the globe every three and a half years.A four year stay cost three hundred nineteen thousand nine hundred ninety eight dollars for two people sharing a cabin.

Residents given eight hours to leave

On October twenty seventh, residents were told they had roughly eight hours to leave.The ship was seven hundred fifty four days into its planned voyage.

Couple sold business to live aboard

Lanette Canen and Johan Bodin, both fifty six, sold their business and moved aboard, documenting the trip on YouTube.They heard about financial trouble two months before being told to leave.

“I felt really drained the last two months … you get beat down, and then the next day or two, like: oh boy, we have hope, we have investors, we have this coming, and then the next two days, you get beat down again.”

Founder blames Iran war for collapse

Founder and executive chairman Mikael Petterson called himself the villain in the story but maintains the Iran war sank the business. He told Business Insider the company would have survived without it.

“I think we would have been absolutely fine and we would have seen this through, if there was no Iran war.”

Company has sixty days to restructure

Villa Vie has given itself about sixty days to restructure and raise new money. The company says no outcome is assured, and Petterson has told NBC News that a Chapter eleven filing may be necessary.