U.S. cruise ship suspends around-the-world voyage due to fuel costs

Sihanoukville, Cambodia — A U.S. cruise vessel connected an around-the-world voyage that touted its cabins arsenic floating homes suspended its three-year voyage successful Cambodia owed to substance costs, forcing hundreds of passengers to disembark.

The MV Odyssey acceptable sail 2 years agone connected a voyage to the 7 continents marketed arsenic combining semipermanent surviving astatine oversea with planetary travel. Its relation had offered to "make the Odyssey your imperishable home," with the acquisition terms of a suite for the beingness of the vas starting astatine astir $230,000.

For now, it is docked astatine the Cambodian larboard of Sihanoukville connected the Gulf of Thailand, with nary definite departure date.

The vessel has been carrying 203 passengers, mostly Americans, on with 156 unit members, according to Cambodian officials. It has a 650-passenger capacity.

Its Florida-based operator, Villa Vie Residences, said monthly substance expenses per compartment that historically averaged $1,800 person reached an estimated $6,000 to $8,000 successful parts of Asia due to the warfare successful Iran. The institution said it sought to trim substance depletion by slowing the itinerary and spending much clip successful port, but was incapable to offset the surging costs.

Traffic has been curtailed successful the Strait of Hormuz since the warfare successful Iran began, squeezing supplies of each kinds of petroleum-based fuels, particularly successful Southeast Asia, and sharply expanding prices.

The mean terms for a gallon of diesel substance the time earlier the warfare started, Feb. 27, 2026, was $3.76, according to AAA, and was $6.52 precocious past month, an summation of $2.76.

"We person been incapable to proceed carrying the resulting operating losses," Villa Vie Residences said successful a connection issued Tuesday. "Passing the afloat summation connected to residents is not a realistic solution. Our absorption present is connected supporting residents, crew, and employees" portion it tries to restructure.

"The institution is moving with residents to coordinate disembarkation and place impermanent surviving arrangements," it said.

However, a blogger who has been connected the cruise, Randy Cassingham, wrote online that "the institution has done perfectly thing to help: we couldn't adjacent locomotion retired of the port, truthful determination were shuttle buses that dropped america successful the mediate of town, Sihanoukville, Cambodia."

"They didn't adjacent springiness america a database of hotels, fto unsocial assistance america get determination oregon wage for them," Cassingham said connected his website. The institution could not instantly beryllium contacted for comment.

The vessel arrived successful Sihanoukville past Friday and was scheduled to depart Wednesday, according to a connection from Long Dimanche, the lawman politician of Preah Sihanouk province. He said it was present expected to refuel and depart Cambodia connected Saturday, but the ship's relation has not yet publically confirmed immoderate date.

Built successful 1993 and operated nether antithetic names by respective cruise lines implicit the years earlier being sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic successful 2020, the Odyssey was bought by Villa Vie Residences successful 2023.

Its existent cruise, primitively intended to past 3 1/2 years, began successful October 2024 successful Belfast, Northern Ireland, wherever the vessel had been refitted. A 2nd cruise had been tentatively scheduled to extremity successful August 2030.

The Odyssey is not the archetypal cruise vessel Sihanoukville has hosted successful crisis.

In February 2020, the MS Westerdam was allowed to dock successful Cambodia aft being turned distant astatine 5 ports successful different nations due to the fact that of fears of COVID-19, which conscionable a period earlier had started to dispersed from China. It carried 1,455 passengers, much than 600 of them American citizens.

After being stranded astatine oversea for 2 weeks, Cambodia's then-Prime Minister Hun Sen allowed it to dock for what helium said were humanitarian reasons. Cambodia won plaudits arsenic passengers were welcomed ashore and arrangements were made for them to alert home.