In brief
The residential cruise ship MV Odyssey, managed by Florida‑based Villa Vie Residences, departed Sihanoukville at 12:25 a.m. after refueling, carrying 203 passengers who had been stranded since October 27. Rising fuel costs—plotting monthly expenses per cabin from around $1,800 to $6,000–$8,000—forced the company to suspend operations. Cambodia’s tourism director confirmed the exit while the ship’s future itinerary remains undecided.
The MV Odyssey, a residential cruise ship that had stranded 203 passengers in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, departed the autonomous port at 12:25 a.m. on Wednesday after refueling, a local official said.
Senior tourism director Tang Sochetkresna told Xinhua by telephone that the vessel left with a partial crew, the remaining members having already flown out of the country. He added the ship’s next destination is unknown.
The cruise had arrived in Sihanoukville on Oct. 23 from Thailand and forced all passengers to disembark on Oct. 27 because the operator had no money left for fuel. Interior Minister Sar Sokha said the General Department of Immigration issued tourist visas to the stranded passengers of 15 nationalities shortly after they left the ship.
Villa Vie Residences, the Florida‑based owner, announced it had suspended the ship’s operations as fuel prices surged. The company said monthly fuel costs, which historically averaged about US$1,800 per cabin, rose to an unsustainable range of $6,000 – $8,000 in parts of Asia and blamed the root of the crisis on an earlier 2026 downturn.
Facebook posts from a verified travel network account also report that the Villa Vie Odyssey was halted in Cambodia because of soaring fuel costs, forcing 203 passengers to abandon their floating homes. The same page noted that the crew consisted of 156 members.
After the early‑morning departure, the crew and any remaining passengers are expected to await further instructions from the company and Cambodian authorities, while the intended itinerary for the ship’s originally planned three‑and‑a‑half‑year circumnavigation of the globe remains unconfirmed.