{"id":900807,"date":"2026-10-31T07:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T07:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/900807\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T07:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T07:26:09","slug":"california-sisters-among-the-stranded-in-cambodia-after-cruise-halts-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/900807\/","title":{"rendered":"California sisters among the stranded in Cambodia after cruise halts operations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two California sisters are among the 203 passengers, mostly Americans, stranded in Cambodia after a Florida-based cruise company abruptly suspended its months-long residential cruise, citing \u201cextraordinary\u201d fuel costs, according to a report from the Associated Press<\/a> and statements from the company. <\/p>\n

The Villa Vie Residences ship, which had promoted a \u201cnew model of global living at sea,\u201d offering long-term cruising, \u201csuspended operations in Cambodia as the company works to address extraordinary increases in fuel costs and evaluate restructuring and recapitalization alternatives,\u201d according to a statement<\/a> from the company earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The Fort Lauderdale-based company said that it faced \u201cunsustainable financial pressure\u201d as fuel costs had jumped by about $5,000 a month per cabin for travel throughout Asia \u2014 from around $1,800 a month to up to $8,000 a month in recent weeks \u2014 and \u201cpassing the full increase on to residents is not a realistic solution.\u201d <\/p>\n

Diesel fuel prices in the U.S. have jumped from an average of $3.68 a gallon a year ago to $6.32 on Friday, according to the AAA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The cruise company said it was working with customers to coordinate temporary living arrangements, but the Associated Press reported that many disembarked passengers said they had received little or no support after the sudden end of the cruise \u2014 one that many planned to be on for up to 15 years. <\/p>\n

The MV Odyssey set off two years ago from Belfast, urging people to \u201cmake the Odyssey your permanent home,\u201d with the price of a suite for the lifetime of the vessel starting around $230,000. <\/p>\n

Carol Larson and her sister, Crystal Lavering, both from California, were among those forced off the ship this week. Larson told the Associated Press she had paid $120,000 in installments for her cabin, in addition to monthly maintenance fees. Her sister purchased her own cabin. Larson said she was promised the possibility of living aboard for up to 15 years. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven though we put a lot of money into it, I am not at all sad that I did it,\u201d Larson, 69, told the Associated Press. \u201cIt was such a wonderful opportunity. If things worked out better, if there wasn\u2019t the war [with Iran]… and oil prices going sky high, I think it is an industry that really could bloom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larson said she blamed President Trump for the ship\u2019s financial challenges due to the U.S. initiated conflict with Iran, which has dramatically squeezed petroleum shipping from the Middle East. <\/p>\n

Sharon Lane, now living in Orange County, told NBC LA<\/a> that she had been aboard the cruise for months but left in August for health reasons. But before that, she had noticed the ship struggling with finances, asking passengers to pay additional fuel fees or cutting back on food. In the last week, she said she\u2019s heard from friends that the company isn\u2019t helping them find temporary hotels or flights.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know the phrase giving the bum\u2019s rush? That\u2019s what it feels like to me,\u201d Lane, 78, said. \u201cOn one level, I\u2019m sad. On another level, I\u2019m angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two California sisters are among the 203 passengers, mostly Americans, stranded in Cambodia after a Florida-based cruise company…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2724,28,16084,377278,29529,377276,3426,6309,377277,8208,16598,8617,162600,2830,1975,2394],"class_list":["post-900807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-associated-press","tag-business","tag-cabin","tag-california-sister","tag-cambodia","tag-carol-larson","tag-company","tag-cruise","tag-high-fuel-cost","tag-month","tag-operation","tag-price","tag-ship","tag-u-s","tag-week","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}