Hundreds of 'never-ending' cruise residents are left homeless in Cambodia after being given just HOURS to leave the ship
The Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship, whose passengers paying up to £260,000 for permanent residency were told to disembark in Cambodia with no clear refund plan.A cabin suite aboard the Villa Vie Odyssey. Residents had been paying around £70 a day for rent, utilities and food on what was sold as a permanent floating home.
Lanette Canen and Johan Bodin, both 56, sold their windshield-replacement business to pay $100,000 for a cabin on Villa Vie Odyssey plus $3,500 monthly fees — only to be told at 6am Monday they had to be off the ship by 2pm. The Florida-based operator, Villa Vie Residences, blamed the Iran war's closure of the Strait of Hormuz for driving monthly fuel costs per cabin from $1,800 to as much as $8,000 in parts of Asia. The ship was carrying 203 passengers, mostly Americans, and 156 crew when it docked in Sihanoukville — a port city notorious as a hub for Chinese casinos and scam operations.
Cancer patient Randy Cassingham, a former NASA employee, says Villa Vie 'did absolutely nothing' to help passengers find hotels.
Cabins on the 15-year round-the-world voyage cost up to $440,000; one resident told fellow passengers she had 'sold her house' to be on board.
The company has given itself 60 days to restructure, warning 'no outcome is assured'.
