“Imagine waking up every day to a new horizon.” Thus, with a suggestive, powerful, sexy phrase, in 2024 the company Villa V Residences announced one of its most ambitious services: an ‘infinite’ cruise that allows its passengers to circumnavigate the world for years, visiting ports on luxury ships. It looked so good that some people sold their homes to pay for a cabin on the ship, which is available for rent (from $3,500 per month) and for sale, starting at $120,000.
That adventure-tourism dream started in Belfast two years ago and for a while it seemed to go from strength to strength. The problem is that the operator did not take into account the huge impact on Iran’s war and fuel costs.
What happened? Passengers on the residential cruise Villa V Odyssey operated by the Villa V Residence Company saw how their dream of circumnavigating the globe turned into a nightmare with an uncertain ending.
Suffocated by rising oil prices and the daily cost of ships, US-based shipping companies have decided to stop sailing to Cambodia and offload passengers. About 200 people are stranded there who paid for a very different experience: making a luxury cruise ship their home, traveling to more than 150 countries and waking up to “a different horizon” every day.
Why is that? To understand this, we must remember the proposal of Villa V Residence. A few years ago the company began to achieve an “unprecedented” milestone, in the words of its CEO, Mikael Pettersson: “Launching the first line Residential cruise Affordable.” The idea was simple: make cruising a permanent “lifestyle,” not just another way to vacation.
To achieve this, the company acquired a 196 meter long boat with a capacity of 650 people, fitted it out and marketed its cabins. The proposal that received the most media attention had an ambitious three-and-a-half-year tour, about 1,300 days during which passengers would visit 147 countries and more than 425 different destinations. However, the company allowed the cabins to be owned and converted into permanent homes.
And what is the problem? Profitability The Villa V Residences proposition was attractive enough to catch the interest of buyers who dreamed of circumnavigating the globe or spending their retirement at sea. And it makes sense. The ship has a swimming pool, gym, dining room, activities… even travel or co-working spaces.
You can rent a suite for $3,500 a month. Or if you wanted to go a step further and buy a cabin, rates from 120,000 to 400,000 were within your reach. A woman recently admitted to selling her house and car to pay the money. It is not known how much the company studied the profitability of the business, but one thing is clear: it did not count an unexpected event, such as the outbreak of war in Iran, which threw off its calculations.
Did it affect you that much? It seems so. The company cited a “drastic” increase in fuel costs that complicated its operations. To be more specific, he confirmed that the monthly cost per cabin so far has been around $1,800. Now there are regions in Asia where the bill reaches around $6,000 or even $8,000. To try to minimize the impact of this huge increase, Villa V has made several decisions in recent months, but without success.
“Since the start of the conflict, at the end of February, we have taken important steps to reduce fuel costs, including reducing speed or increasing the length of stay in port. This was not enough to compensate for the abnormal increase in costs and we could not continue to estimate the resulting operational losses,” explained the firm, which gave itself 60 days to find a financial solution. Of course, he cautions: “There is no guarantee of a definitive outcome.”
And passengers? They had to abandon ship. This was explained by Randy Cassingham, one of the residents of the Odyssey, who said on his blog that he learned about the end of the trip on Monday morning, when a cruise worker posted a note on the notice board. The Reuters agency clarified that the passengers (203, and 156 crew members) disembarked in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, where everyone had to decide their next move. wait go back home Or find another way to continue your journey. The same agency indicated that the ship will leave Cambodia on Saturday after refueling.
The truth is that this is not the first unexpected incident that the passengers of the Villa V Odyssey had to deal with. In 2024, at the start of their tour, they were stranded in Belfast for several months, in another episode that attracted worldwide media attention. In total their journey lasted 756 days. The question remains whether this is the end of the adventure or whether the operator will find a way to resume it.
Picture | Villa V Accommodation
In Xataka | And
