Residents Who Bought Homes Aboard Villa Vie Odyssey Are Stranded in Cambodia
by Jerome London · Thought CatalogUpdated 2 minutes ago, October 28, 2026
Residents of Villa Vie Odyssey had about 7 hours to leave their floating homes in Cambodia after the company said it couldn’t secure fuel. The October 26 notice told them to disembark by 2 p.m., while crew would stay aboard to keep essential systems running.
The residential cruise ship is laid up in Sihanoukville. Cambodian deputy governor Long Dimanche said it arrived from Thailand on October 23 with 203 guests from 15 countries, mostly Americans, and 156 crew. Its next destination was supposed to be Vietnam.
Some residents have flown out. Others are waiting in local hotels. Founder Mikael Petterson says Villa Vie is covering accommodation and local transportation, but won’t pay for flights out of Cambodia.
For cabin buyers, the ship was a home purchased for a life of continuous travel. Advertised purchase prices ranged from about $120,000 to $440,000, with monthly fees of roughly $2,000 to $10,000.
Renting was also an option. The itinerary promised a repeating 3.5-year journey through more than 400 ports in nearly 150 countries.
Pamela Reckamp, 59, who rented aboard with her husband and left earlier in October, recalled a meeting where another resident said she’d bought a cabin in August without being told about the financial trouble. Reckamp quoted her as saying: “I sold my house. I sold my car. I bought my home on this ship.”
Villa Vie announced the suspension on October 27 and outlined 60 days to restructure and seek new funding. No financing agreement had been completed, and the company warned that “no outcome is assured.” It hasn’t announced whether cabin owners will receive refunds or credits.
The company blames fuel costs following the Iran war’s start in late February. It estimates that monthly fuel expenses per cabin, previously averaging about $1,800, have reached $6,000 to $8,000 in parts of Asia. Villa Vie says slower travel and longer port stays haven’t closed the gap, and it can’t keep absorbing the losses.
There were earlier appeals for cash. In April, the company sought a $3 million emergency loan from residents, offering 12% to 24% interest with repayment due after 12 months.
Whether it raised that money is unknown. Residents reported a fuel surcharge in May.
Reckamp also said that during a September stop in Vietnam, an official asked cabin owners to help raise $1 million, warning that the ship had about 4 days of operation left before the lights and air-conditioning would shut off.
Petterson now proposes an additional charge of about $500 per person each month, plus a fuel surcharge while prices remain high. He’s seeking financing to get the ship moving again, but there’s no guaranteed restart.
The voyage had already survived roughly 4 months of repair and certification delays in Belfast before departing around the end of September 2024. Some residents had moved their lives there to wait for it.
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