An American cruise ship MV. Odyssey docked at the autonomous port of Sihanoukville, in southern Cambodia, on Thursday October 29, 2026.
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Heng Sinith/AP
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia — A U.S. cruise ship on a round-the-world voyage presenting its cabins as floating homes has suspended its three-year voyage to Cambodia due to fuel costs, forcing hundreds of passengers to disembark.
The MV Odyssey set sail two years ago on a voyage to all seven continents marketed as combining long-term living at sea and global travel. Its operator had offered to “make the Odyssey your permanent home”, with the price of purchasing a suite for the life of the ship starting at around $230,000.
For the moment, it is moored at the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville, in the Gulf of Thailand, without a precise departure date.
The ship was carrying 203 passengers, most of them Americans, as well as 156 crew members, according to Cambodian authorities. It has a capacity of 650 passengers.
Its Florida-based operator, Villa Vie Residences, said monthly fuel costs per cabin, historically averaging $1,800, have reached between $6,000 and $8,000 in parts of Asia due to the war in Iran. The company said it was seeking to reduce fuel consumption by slowing the route and spending more time in port, but was unable to offset the rising costs.
Traffic has been reduced through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war in Iran, which has reduced the supply of fuels of all kinds, especially in Southeast Asia, and led to a sharp rise in prices.
“We have been unable to continue to sustain the resulting operating losses,” Villa Vie Residences said in a statement released Tuesday. “Passing the entire increase onto residents is not a realistic solution. Our focus now is on supporting residents, crew and employees” during the restructuring.
“The company is working with residents to coordinate disembarkation and identify temporary living conditions,” she said.
The ship’s passengers hoped to sail for years
Passengers, however, said they received no help and had to make their own arrangements after being given seven hours’ notice on Tuesday to disembark. Some were devastated and hoped a new venture could save the business so life at sea could continue.
Paul and Lynn Montoya, a retired Wyoming couple, said they bought a window cabin and had been looking forward to sailing for years. They boarded the ship 17 months ago in Panama.
A couple passengers from an American cruise ship, the MV Odyssey, Paul Montoya, left, arrive for an interview with his wife, Lynn Motoya, at the Independence Hotel in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
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Heng Sinith/AP
Paul praised the residential cruise concept, but said the shipowner did not have the expertise to make the business financially viable. Although rising fuel prices were publicly cited as the reason for the suspension, he said the company was already struggling. Itinerary changes, unreliable internet access and declining food quality have caused many residents to jump ship in recent months, he said.
Lynn said residents have been repeatedly asked to contribute extra money for fuel and other expenses, including a new appeal to raise funds so fuel can flow out of Cambodia. She added that the crew members were also not paid.
“We were tired of being asked every two or four weeks for money for fuel, money for everything,” she said. “We had hopes, but they continued to fall deeper and deeper into the hole due to mismanagement.”
The company could not immediately be reached for comment.
For some, adventure was a risk worth taking
Yet for some, even the financial and logistical turmoil could not make up for the extraordinary experience of traveling the world and living at sea.
Carol Larson, 69, and her sister Crystal Lavering, 72, occupied separate cabins on the ship for 18 months. The siblings, originally from California, described the suspension as heartbreaking and hoped the cruise would be resurrected.
A sister passenger on an American cruise ship, the MV Odyssey, Carol Larson, 69, left, arrives for an interview with her sister, Crystal Lavering, at the Independence Hotel in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
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Heng Sinith/AP
“I hope there will be a movement for residents to purchase the ship and I hope that happens because it’s a dream to live on the ship and I don’t want it to end,” Larson said.
Lavering said her health improved during her time on the ship and she no longer needed to use a cane to walk. “You come to this ship to live…it’s just sad that it’s all over.”
Larson purchased his cabin for $120,000, paid in installments, plus monthly maintenance fees, under a plan that promised the ability to live aboard for up to 15 years. She said she blamed U.S. President Donald Trump for the ship’s woes, as fuel costs had soared due to the war in Iran, in addition to mismanagement. But she said she doesn’t regret her investment.
“Since it was a start-up, I think it was a risk. From day one, I told myself that if it lasts a year, I can go back and feel like I got my money’s worth… That’s still how I feel. I feel lucky to have been a part of the residential cruise experience,” she said.
The cruise started in Northern Ireland in 2024
The ship arrived in Sihanoukville last Friday and was due to leave on Wednesday, according to a statement from Long Dimanche, deputy governor of Preah Sihanouk province. He said it was now scheduled to refuel and leave Cambodia on Saturday, but the ship’s operator has not yet publicly confirmed a date.
An American cruise ship, the MV Odyssey, docks at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, Cambodia, Wednesday evening, October 28, 2026.
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Heng Sinith/AP
Built in 1993 and operated under different names by several cruise lines over the years before being becalmed by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Odyssey was purchased by Villa Vie Residences in 2023.
Its current cruise, initially planned to last 3 and a half years, began in October 2024 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the ship had been refitted. A second cruise was tentatively scheduled to end in August 2030.
The Odyssey is not the first cruise ship that Sihanoukville has welcomed in crisis.
In February 2020, the MS Westerdam was allowed to dock in Cambodia after being turned away at five ports in other countries due to fears over COVID-19, which had begun spreading from China a month earlier. It carried 1,455 passengers, including more than 600 American citizens.
After being stuck at sea for two weeks, Hun Sen, then Cambodian Prime Minister, allowed it to dock for what he said were humanitarian reasons. Cambodia was praised as the passengers were welcomed ashore and arrangements were made for them to return home.
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