The founder of the failed “endless cruise” that left passengers stranded in Cambodia this week has acknowledged his role in the collapse, describing himself as the “villain” and apologising to those affected.
About 200 passengers were given only seven hours to pack and leave the scheduled stop in Sihanoukville after operator Villa Vie Residences announced that it had “suspended operations.”
The 200-metre (656ft) Odyssey departed Northern Ireland in October 2024 on what was intended to be a continuous global voyage. Residents could rent cabins for a holiday or purchase one for life, with prices reaching $440,000 (£330,000). Some passengers reportedly sold all their possessions to finance the investment.
Mikael Petterson, who founded Villa Vie Residences in 2023, has now addressed the company’s collapse.
“I feel awful,” he said on Wednesday. “I’m the villain in the story, but I’m doing everything I can to support the residents on a solution.”
His comments came as passengers described the distress and uncertainty they had experienced, accusing the company of effectively abandoning them in Cambodia without meaningful assistance or communication.
Villa Vie blamed soaring oil prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East, saying the voyage could no longer continue within its existing budget.
In a statement issued this week, the company said average monthly fuel costs per cabin had risen from about $1,800 (£1,354) to an estimated $6,000 (£4,516) to $8,000 (£6,021) in parts of Asia.
A drone captures the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship docked at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port in Cambodia
Villa Vie Residences CEO Mikael Petterson speaks with passengers preparing to board the Villa Vie Odyssey at Belfast Port’s Cruise Ship Terminal in September 2024
Passengers disembark the Odyssey on Wednesday after it docked at Sihanoukville port in Cambodia’s Preah Sihanouk province
Mr Petterson said the sharp increase in fuel costs had created a “cascading effect” that undermined the cruise’s financial viability.
He attributed the pressure in part to US President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran in February, saying the disruption had sent oil prices higher by affecting supply routes, reducing provisions and damaging energy infrastructure.
“Nobody that’s tried residential cruising has succeeded and we have gone further than anyone else,” he told the Axel Springer Reporters Network. “But I think we would have been absolutely fine and we would have seen this through, if there was no Iran war.”
The founder said he had been negotiating with a potential investor and was waiting for a cash injection when the plans fell apart, leaving the company without a workable path to survival.
The development followed repeated requests for additional money from passengers during the voyage to help meet rising fuel bills. In April, the company asked residents to provide a collective loan of $2.2 million (£1.6 million).
Passengers told the Daily Mail that the money has not been repaid.
“We have not received any payments,” Lynn Montoya told the Mail. “On July 31, they told us we would get a payment in the next three days. But two days after we were told there was no money.”
Former Villa Vie Odyssey residents return to the ship on Thursday to retrieve their belongings after being forced to disembark in Cambodia
Paul Montoya and his wife Lynn said they had been “investing in a dream” when they committed to spending at least four years travelling the world aboard the Odyssey
Despite already handing over millions of dollars, the company called on the residents – and their retirement savings – again a few months later.
‘Residents started donating to keep us on our journey,’ Mrs Montoya said. ‘In September, the company asked for $1.5million (£1.1million) and then $360,000 (£270,049) this past week while we’ve been stranded in Cambodia.’
The grandmother believes the requests for money were strategic and came when the ship was docked at different ports, leaving the residents to feel vulnerable and ‘coerced’ into giving up their money.
‘We felt manipulated and when that happened time after time, it began to wear us down and frustrate us,’ Mrs Montoya, who sold the couple’s house to fund the trip, said.
‘We’d arrive at the port and six hours before we were meant to leave they would say, “Oh, we can’t leave. We haven’t got the money.”
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‘Everybody then felt pressured to come up with these funds. We joked that we felt we were being held captive.’
Questions naturally began to arise as conditions on the ship began to deteriorate, despite donations having been made specifically to pay for fuel.
‘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 in a statement.
Villa Vie asked 22 residents for a collective loan of $2.2million (£1.6million), Mrs Montoya said
‘It started becoming apparent that the company is in significant debt – and we started losing a lot of our services,’ Mrs Montoya described.
She added: ‘Our internet was interrupted several times so we weren’t able to check our bank accounts or pay bills, or call home.
‘Our TV service then went down and so more questions started being asked. But despite this the company asked us again for money for fuel.’
Meanwhile, food quality deteriorated and crew members started disclosing to residents that their payments had been stalled.
This prompted residents to again shell out, although this time voluntarily, to financially support crew members ‘whose pay began being affected in August’.
‘We were able to give 128 crew members at least $100 (£75) each,’ Mrs Montoya said.
The turmoil came to a head this week when the hundreds of travellers were given just hours to pack their bags and disembark.
According to Long Dimanche, deputy governor of Preah Sihanouk province in Cambodia, 203 guests and 156 crew had arrived at the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville, where they were left behind by the cruise.
This came after the company asked for more money and received a further $360,000 (£270,049), the grandmother said – but the majority of residents declined to donate.
‘Most people said no, we will not give you anymore money,’ Mrs Montoya said. ‘We’re not going to do it.
‘I honestly believe that they believed people would give up their money again and they would just continue this.’
Permanent residencies on the cruise cost between $120,000 (£90,000) and $440,000 (£330,000), with cabins costing £3,500 per month to rent.
The request for money was followed by an official notice at 8am on Tuesday telling the travellers to disembark, which they must do by 2pm.
‘We were unsure whether we needed to take everything or just an overnight bag. We were told our cabins would be double locked so we packed enough supplies for 14 days,’ Mrs Montoya said.
‘But some people walked off the ship with 12 pieces of luggage.’
The group of around 200 stranded residents were then shuttled off in groups and dumped in the centre of town.
Villa Vie said it was ‘working with residents to co-ordinate disembarkation and identify temporary living arrangements’.
Mr Petterson acknowledged the current doomed situation his clients are in, who had been promised an endless cruise with stops at more than 400 ports and an ‘around-the-world’ trip every three and a half years.
The founder admitted to Business Insider they were ‘counting on me to make the decision here, and there’s nothing else I’m focused on’.
READ MORE: Inside the ‘never-ending cruise’ that dumped its passengers in Cambodia: ‘It got worse and worse. Crew begged us for money. We gave them $450k after they pressured us’