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What a way to go. Toasting your partner with a never-ending supply of cocktails poolside on top of a cruise around the world.
Some sold their homes looking to spend the rest of their lives on a final holiday of a lifetime onboard the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise.
Others shelled out $450,000 for a luxury suite and the opportunity to see more than 425 destinations in 147 countries over three and a half years.
But the ‘endless’ Villa Vie Odyssey had been cruising the world for just 755 days when it came to an abrupt halt in Cambodia.
Funding problems saw prices being slashed on luxury suites, coupled with fuel shortages and too few passengers on board, Captain Emanuele Giudice had no choice but to boot them all with less than 24 hours’ notice.
The ship was forced to ask passengers for cash to keep them afloat and then started making more desperate fuel stops after monthly fuel expenses rocketed from $1,800 per cabin to $8,000.
The captain explained: ‘Unfortunately, due to the shortage of fuel, we needed to shut down one generator, chiller, non-essential lights. And this, of course, would have created discomfort to the residents, which we don’t want that.
(Picture: AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
‘So we kindly asked the residents to get off the ship because our fuel situation was critical.’
(Picture: REUTERS)
Onboard the Thistle Restaurant promised, locally sourced meals from every port, the Neptune Lounge as the place for ‘top-tier entertainment’, a pool deck, gym, spa equipped with a sauna and a functioning nail salon.
(Picture: Randy Cassingham with permission from ResidentialCruising.com)
Paul Montoya, 68, and his 64-year-old wife Lynn told the Daily Mail how they shelled out $450,000 (£337,840) in total, with more than half of that coming in unexpected costs on top of the $179,000 (£134,366) theypaid for their lower-end cabin.
The company even asked 22 residents for a collective loan of $2.2million (£1.6million) so they could steam ahead.
‘We have not received any payments,’ she said. ‘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.’
‘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.’
Randy Cassingham, who has been blogging his experience aboard the ship, said the company has done ‘absolutely nothing to help’ stranded passengers.
He said: ‘We couldn’t even walk out of the port, so there were shuttle buses that dropped us in the middle of town, Sihanoukville, Cambodia, the end. They didn’t even give us a list of hotels, let alone help us get there or pay for them.’
He also hit out at the media depiction of it being a 5-star luxury ship.
The adventurer, who was receiving cancer treatment in Thailand, said: ‘The cabins were small and sparse, but that was OK: cabins were really our bedrooms and a place to shower.
‘The living area was spacious, with lounges and restaurants to meet and talk. But it wasn’t “luxury” — it was promoted, after all, as “affordable” and it was, until the company started begging for money.’
‘The “luxury” crowd would not have considered the ship anywhere near a 5-star experience.’
On his own treatment, he said: ‘Between drugs and radiation I have very limited energy and stamina. It was easy to be on the ship where I could go and lie down in my own bed whenever needed; other kinds of travel are difficult.’
Residents run the full spectrum of the darker moods, from anger to resentment to bewilderment to “What am I going to do?” Many feel betrayed: how could they leave such a safe and easy-to-deal-with place like Thailand to drop us in Cambodia?’
‘A few are shell-shocked because they spent the majority of their nest-eggs to be here, and don’t know how or where they’ll live. A few in that situation have chosen to stay in Thailand or Vietnam because of the lower cost of living.
‘Cambodia is certainly not a bad place, but it’s not the first choice of anyone I’ve spoken to. All want to go somewhere else.’
Mikael Petterson, Villa Vie’s founder and executive chairman said: ‘I’m the villain in the story, but I’m doing everything I can.
‘Nobody that’s tried residential cruising has succeeded, and we’ve gone further than anyone else.
‘But I think we would have been absolutely fine — and we would have seen this through — if there was no Iran war.’
