A US cruise ship suspends a global voyage in Asia due to fuel costs,
stranding 200 passengers
[October 28, 2026] By
SOPHENG CHEANG
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (AP) — A U.S. cruise ship on an around-the-world
voyage that touted its cabins as floating homes suspended its three-year
voyage in Cambodia due to fuel costs, forcing hundreds of passengers to
disembark.
The MV Odyssey set sail two years ago on a voyage to the seven
continents marketed as combining long-term living at sea with global
travel. Its operator had offered to “make the Odyssey your permanent
home,” with the purchase price of a suite for the lifetime of the vessel
starting around $230,000.
For now, it is docked at the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville on the Gulf
of Thailand, with no certain departure date.
The ship has been carrying 203 passengers, mostly Americans, along with
156 crew members, according to Cambodian officials. It has a a
650-passenger capacity.
Its Florida-based operator, Villa Vie Residences, said monthly fuel
expenses per cabin that historically averaged $1,800 have reached an
estimated $6,000 to $8,000 in parts of Asia due to the war in Iran. The
company said it sought to reduce fuel consumption by slowing the
itinerary and spending more time in port, but was unable to offset the
surging costs.
Traffic has been curtailed in the Strait of Hormuz since the war in Iran
began, squeezing supplies of all kinds of petroleum-based fuels,
especially in Southeast Asia, and sharply increasing prices.
“We have been unable to continue carrying the resulting operating
losses,” Villa Vie Residences said in a statement issued Tuesday.
“Passing the full increase on to residents is not a realistic solution.
Our focus now is on supporting residents, crew, and employees" while it
tries to restructure.
“The company is working with residents to coordinate disembarkation and
identify temporary living arrangements,” it said.
However, a blogger who has been on the cruise, Randy Cassingham, wrote
online that “the company has done absolutely nothing to help: we
couldn’t even walk out of the port, so there were shuttle buses that
dropped us in the middle of town, Sihanoukville, Cambodia."
[to top of second column] |
A U.S. cruise ship, the MV Odyssey, docks at the Sihanoukville
Autonomous Port in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, Wednesday, Oct. 28,
2026. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
 “They didn’t even give us a list of
hotels, let alone help us get there or pay for them," Cassingham
said on his website. The company could not immediately be contacted
for comment.
The ship arrived in Sihanoukville last Friday and was scheduled to
depart Wednesday, according to a statement from Long Dimanche, the
deputy governor of Preah Sihanouk province. He said it was now
expected to refuel and depart Cambodia on Saturday, but the ship's
operator has not yet publicly confirmed any date.
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 bought by Villa Vie Residences in
2023.
Its current cruise, originally intended to last 3 1/2 years, began
in October 2024 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the ship had
been refitted. A second cruise had been tentatively scheduled to end
in August 2030.
The Odyssey is not the first cruise ship Sihanoukville has hosted in
crisis.
In February 2020, the MS Westerdam was allowed to dock in Cambodia
after being turned away at five ports in other nations because of
fears of COVID-19, which just a month earlier had started to spread
from China. It carried 1,455 passengers, more than 600 were American
citizens.
After being stranded at sea for two weeks, Cambodia's then-Prime
Minister Hun Sen allowed it to dock for what he said were
humanitarian reasons. Cambodia won plaudits as passengers were
welcomed ashore and arrangements were made for them to fly home.
——
Associated Press writers Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and
Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
