Lynn and Paul Montoya were told they had to leave their home this week, but they couldn’t drive to a friend's house or go stay with family. The couple was docked in Cambodia during a continuous voyage aboard the residential cruise ship Villa Vie Odyssey when the crew announced that passengers had to disembark because the ship would discontinue its voyage.
They weren't told how long they’d be gone, so the pair packed around two weeks' worth of clothing, vitamins and medications, leaving the rest behind.
“It's our home, so it would kind of be like trying to pack up your whole home in seven hours,” Lynn, 64, told USA TODAY.
Villa Vie Residences, the company behind the cruise, suspended operations, citing high fuel costs in an Oct. 27 news release.
"Fuel costs have risen sharply in the regions where the company has been operating," Villa Vie said in the release. "On an equivalent per-cabin basis, monthly fuel expense that historically averaged approximately $1,800 has recently reached an estimated $6,000 to $8,000 in parts of Asia. 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."
The Montoyas, who sold their home in Wyoming to spend their retirement on the ship, are among many residents suddenly without a place to live as their years-long trek was cut short by nearly half.
“We're technically homeless right now,” Lynn said.
‘It blew up in my face’
Starr Davis had already left the ship by the time it stopped sailing. The 58-year-old decided to do her own land tour around Southeast Asia, return to the U.S. to see family, and meet back up with the vessel in Phuket. “And it blew up in my face,” she said.
She said it wasn’t a total shock.
Villa Vie’s journey had a bumpy start. The Odyssey began its planned 3½-year cruise – with the intent tocircumnavigate the globe every 3½ years – in October 2024 after multiple delays.
The voyage was originally set to start in May of that year, but faced setbacks as its planned departure approached.
Villa Vie founder Mike Petterson told USA TODAY in August 2024 that the company had "been quite humbled by the scale of what it takes to reactivate a 30-year-old vessel from a four-year layup. After the lapse of all certifications of class, we are now considered (a) new ship where all machinery and equipment must work as if new." The Odyssey previously sailed as MS Braemar for Fred Olsen Cruise Lines before Villa Vie purchased it in 2023.
Davis, who previously lived in Florida and retired shortly before the trip began, said it had largely gone smoothly since the vessel set sail.
In spring 2026, however, the company asked residents to commit to one-year loans with interest paid back monthly, according to Paul Montoya, 68. He estimated that he and Lynn loaned Villa Vie $100,000, but said they have not yet received any repayment.
During a late July meeting with ship management, the company told residents that it needed to raise around $1.5 million to continue operating, according to Davis. Passengers made donations, including Davis, who declined to give specific figures but said it was a “very minuscule” amount.
Around the same time, Villa Vie announced plans to expand its fleet with a second ship, noting that more than 85% of Odyssey’s available residences had been sold.
The Montoyas, who have documented their trip on their YouTube channel, initially paid $179,000 for their cabin, along with about $6,000 in monthly maintenance fees. Davis chose a pay-as-you-go option for her cabin, though she declined to share how much it cost. Neither the Montoyas nor Davis has learned whether passengers will receive refunds.
According to the most recent figures on Villa Vie’s website, permanent residency started at between $119,999 and $439,999, depending on the room type, with five-year-residency and rental options also available.
“I mean, all of us drank the Kool-Aid enough to want to keep it going,” Davis said. “There was hope for an investor to come on board and take over and save us. But literally, it was just, do you want to shut the lights out now, or do you want to make a donation to keep going?”
In the weeks that followed the July meeting, she noticed that the ship was lingering longer in ports and appeared to be bunkering fuel less frequently. Villa Vie noted in the news release that it had spent more time in port in an effort to reduce fuel usage, among other steps.
Onboard supplies seemed to be dwindling, too. “We’d kind of joke that we were getting slim pickings as far as the buffet went,” Davis said. “So you could definitely see that everything was reduced.”
More “cash calls” followed, including one as the ship approached Hạ Long Bay in Vietnam. “They're like, oops, we can't afford to dock here. We need to raise $159,000 in order to dock,” she recalled. “People gave that money. They were doing creative fundraising.”
Paul Montoya said the ship typically carried around 300 residents, but that it had lost “more and more people that just were not certain that it was going to go on” in recent months.
Petterson told CBS News this week that the company plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Montoyas are staying in a hotel in Sihanoukville and plan to travel to Phnom Penh and Kuala Lumpur while they await answers about the Odyssey’s fate. Passengers may return to the ship during certain hours, but the couple has not yet returned.
Villa Vie said in the news release that it was working to find temporary living arrangements for passengers while assessing options for restructuring and recapitalization. The company did not immediately respond to inquiries about the Montoyas’ or Davis’ experiences.
Davis brought two suitcases with her “most important” items when she left, and doesn’t know when or if she’ll be able to get the rest of her belongings from the Odyssey. However, after downsizing from an 1,800-square-foot apartment to a roughly 120-square-foot cabin, she said, “One of the big lessons I've learned is that things aren't as important as you think they are.”
She plans to fly back to the U.S. in the coming days and figure out her next steps from there. Despite the abrupt halt, she’s grateful for her travels to more than 60 countries over the past couple of years.
“That is pretty phenomenal, and what an amazing adventure,” Davis said. “So you know, I hate that this is the way it ended, but if this is the end, I really and truly can't complain.”
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'We're technically homeless': Residential cruise ceases operations
