CEO says plan is to file for bankruptcy after ending luxury never-ending cruise

More than 200 passengers, mostly Americans, are stranded in Cambodia after the operator of a luxury U.S. cruise ship that was on a continuous around-the-world voyage ran out of money due to skyrocketing fuel costs.

Villa Vie Residences, the Florida-based operator of the MV Odyssey, said the war with Iran quadrupled fuel costs and forced it to suspend operations on Tuesday.

CEO Mikael Petterson told CBS News in a phone interview Wednesday that Villa Vie Residences was paying an average of $700 a ton for fuel before the war broke out in late February. Since then, it has been paying anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 per ton.

The Odyssey uses between 700 and 800 tons per month in fuel, Petterson disclosed.

“When you divide it over 300 people on board, it’s just backbreaking,” Petterson told CBS News. “And this has been going on for nine months. We’ve tried to do everything we can do.”

In a statement, Villa Vie Residences said the per cabin fuel costs rose from an average of $1,800 per month before the war to between $6,000 and $8,000.

The company was unwilling to pass those rising costs on to its passengers, Petterson said.

The Odyssey launched in October 2024 for a continuous around-the-world journey. At the time, passengers could become residents of the ship by purchasing a permanent cabin for several hundred thousand dollars. Some sold their homes to do so. At the time, they were given a 15-year minimum guarantee of residency aboard the Odyssey.

The Odyssey attempted to counter the spiking fuel prices by slowing down its itinerary and spending five or six days in each port “hoping that things would come to a close in the Middle East,” Petterson said, but it wasn’t enough.

“For us, when our monthly expenses go up from $400,000 to $2 million, where are we going to get the $1.6 million?” Petterson asked.

The Villa Vie Residences CEO said that the ship ran out of money as it searched for a financial partner, and the plan is now to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

“We’ve borrowed money, we’ve stretched our payrolls as far as we can, and we’re at a point where it’s just at a breaking point where we need capitalization,” Petterson said.

Passenger Benjamin Schatz thought the MV Odyssey would be his forever home.

“Honestly, right now, I’m in denial and in shock, and I’m heartbroken,” Schatz, a retiree, told CBS News.

CBS News met Schatz in April 2025 for a story featuring Villa Vie Residences. At that point, he had been living on the ship for about one year. On Wednesday, he was given just hours to pack up his life and leave.

Said Schatz: “There are people now who are homeless and who have very little money and don’t know what they’re going to do.”