“It was great, for a while,” he said by phone from his Sihanoukville hotel.
Villa Vie Residences’ Odyssey cruise ship passengers sit on an EV vehicle at a hotel in Sihanoukville, Preah Sihanouk province, on October 28, 2026. Photo / Tang Chhin, AFP
“My wife and I really enjoy travelling. But we really hate airports and airlines. This was a way that you could unpack once, you can sleep in your own bed every night and wake up in a new place every few days.”
Despite being left in Cambodia, Cassingham said he had no regrets and would get back on board if the cruise restarted. She said “money aside, it was a fantastic adventure”.
Operator Villa Vie said that the per-cabin monthly fuel expenses had gone from an average of US$1800 ($3194) to an estimated US$6000 to US$8000 in parts of Asia.
“The company cannot simply pass increases of that scale on to residents, and the resulting shortfall has placed its current operating model under unsustainable financial pressure,” it said.
Carol Larson, a 69-year-old from California, said that she initially paid US$120,000 for her cabin – not including monthly maintenance fees – and a voyage that was meant to last 15 years or the life of the ship.
But after just a year and a half, she and a friend were now “stranded” in Sihanoukville.
She faulted the US President and his war in the Middle East, as well as cruise management.
“I put most of the blame on Trump, but there was some probably not financially good bookkeeping,” Larson said.
Still, she said, the journey was “well worth it”.
“I am so blessed to have been part of the experiment of residential cruising.”
‘Something going wrong’
The 200m ship arrived from Thailand on Friday carrying 203 guests and 156 crew, according to Long Dimanche, deputy governor of Preah Sihanouk province.
He said in a statement that some passengers took flights out while others remained in Sihanoukville, adding that the ship was due to refuel and leave on Saturday.
Villa Vie Residences’ Odyssey cruise ship passengers Randy Cassingham and his wife Kit Cassingham (left), and Jeff Wetherell and his wife Barbara Figiel (right) wait at a hotel in Sihanoukville, Preah Sihanouk province. Photo / Tang Chhin, AFP
Barbara Figiel, 62, who says she has been on around 70 cruises, and her husband went aboard the Odyssey in December 2024.
“I’ve always said, ‘Oh, when I retire, I want to live on a cruise ship,’” Figiel said.
The former UN employee said she jumped at the chance to travel at a slow pace and be part of a community at sea.
But in the last four months, she said “we knew something was going wrong because they kept on asking us for more and more and more money”.
“But it came to a point that how much money can you give to save a sinking ship?”
“I don’t think we’ve been scammed,” she added. “We’ve been given a great lifestyle, but they underestimated the costs.”
Cassingham accused the company of doing “absolutely nothing” to help stranded passengers, saying they were driven into the centre of town and left without even a list of hotels.
Villa Vie did not respond to an AFP request for comment, but said in its statement it was “working with residents to coordinate disembarkation and identify temporary living arrangements”.
– AFP