Villa Vie Residences promised residents the world. The company's cruise ship, the Odyssey, kept circling one border of it during finances worsened, services deteriorated, and prosperity calls mounted.
"We were going in a smaller and smaller circle," stated Claude Sadovsky, who joined the Odyssey whenever it archetypal set sail from Belfast in September 2024. "I signed up for a earth cruise, and I was in purgatory."
By first October, Sadovsky was disappointed adequate alongside the itinerary changes that he remaining the container and returned to his residence in Maui. For Starr Davis, who additionally joined in Belfast in 2024, it was the changeless appeals for energy prosperity that got her to jump container in delayed September. "I got so ill of all the prosperity calls," she said.
For those aboard the Odyssey in its final months, the crisis grew so acute that several passengers began fundraising for squad members, residents told Business Insider.
The financial distress culminated in the ship's abrupt halt in Cambodia on Tuesday, whenever passengers were stated eight hours to group up their belongings and leave. While the speed of the end came as a daze to some, residents stated signs of difficulty had been growing.
"The container was fair a force cooker," Davis said. "You know, 'Are we going to exist?'"
In an discussion alongside Business Insider on Friday, Villa Vie Residences cofounder and administrator chairman Mikael Petterson confirmed the business had made cost-cutting changes. "There were itinerary changes," he said. "Of way there were."
He stated the changes aboard the Odyssey — residence to a "never-ending" cruise for imperishable residents who bought cabins for $119,999 to $439,999 — were driven by rising energy expenses and logistical challenges.
"When you're the archetypal one doing something, of way you're going to create a ton of mistakes," he said.
Petterson stated approximately 88% of Villa Vie is owned by residents; the remainder is owned by the founders, administration team, and him. A disadvantage of that construction is that residents were the ones turned to whenever prosperity got tight, he said: "When there's prosperity needed, residents are naturally called upon since there's no personal equity. There's no big owner."
"When things didn't go as planned, it was a twice whammy," he added.
"That is what made Villa Vie Residences so strong, yet so weak."
Villa Vie Residences CEO Kathy Villalba did not react to multiple requests for comment from Business Insider. In a now-deleted apology to residents, Villalba stated Villa Vie was motionless speaking to possible investors and "holding onto any anticipation remains." Columbia Cruise Services, Villa Vie's operational partner, did not answer to multiple requests for comment.
The round-the-world path started shrinking
Villa Vie had marketed the three-and-a-half-year voyage as a circumnavigation alongside additional than 425 port calls throughout 147 countries.
For the duration between October 2024 and October 2026, its initial itinerary listed 275 ports in 69 countries and territories, or 54 sovereign nations.
Read additional concerning the Villa Vie Odyssey:
As energy expenses rosy following the onset of the war alongside Iran and Villa Vie's financial pressures worsened, the business increasingly pared downward its route: It canceled stops, slowed the container at sea, extended stays in ports, and revisited destinations to conserve energy and decrease functioning costs.
To see how plans changed, Business Insider compared itineraries the container issued at four distinct times: its first itinerary from October 2024; its November 2025 itinerary, which showed anywhere it went in 2024 and 2025; one from January 2026 showing changes before the war; and an October 2026 itinerary showing this year's stops. We additionally reviewed messages Villalba and Petterson sent to container residents at assorted points complete the former three months.
We established that during the container visited 54 nations between October 2024 and October 2026, it missed several territories and called at lone 198 ports — 28% small than initially planned. Across the two years, our difference of the itineraries showed the container spent nearly two small months at sea than initially scheduled.
Petterson blamed the skyrocketing price of fuel: "We had no choice," he said.
Business Insider's inspection shows the Odyssey additionally made itinerary changes before fuel prices rose, including in Australia and New Zealand. Residents stated those appeared to be for reasons another than energy costs.
Planning about an ever-changing itinerary
For several residents, the path changes turned an around-the-world voyage into one lengthy bout of déjà vu. "We have revisited several of the identical ports countless times in the final multiple months," Angela Nuran Gokturk, 65, said.
Messages from Petterson and Villalba to residents demonstrated how fuel, financing, and functioning expenses immediately shaped the ship's route.
In a communication to residents on the ship's inner messaging phase on August 1, Villalba stated they would cancel a halt in Brunei and sail immediately from Singapore to Nha Trang in southernmost Vietnam "to conserve energy and decrease functioning costs."
On August 7, Petterson stated in a memo that the container had "aggressively reduced costs" and "redesigned itineraries to expend additional period in harbor and consume small fuel."
In a communication on September 6, Villalba stated the Odyssey would broaden its remain in Ha Long, Vietnam, by one or two days, depending on "fuel preparedness and funding." What was meant to be a three-night remain became a 10-night layover, the revised itinerary shows.
Residents stated the route changes made it difficult to scheme flights and excursions in advance. "People stopped trying to create plans since things could alter exactly inside a few days," stated Sally Stunkel, 75, who joined the container in February.
During the remain in Ha Long, Stunkel joined an eight-person excursion to China, but the collection had already booked flights to among the Vietnamese stops that was afterward cut from the itinerary. They had to buy new tickets to rejoin the container at its revised next port.
"We spent additional prosperity trying to chase the ship, basically, to the next harbor so we could afterward commission again," she said.
Singapore became a reiterate stop: The container stopped there three times between May and July, spending 16 days there in total, according to the October 20 itinerary.
Stunkel stated the one alter that disappointed her most was the elimination of Japan and South Korea from the itinerary. In March, the ship's community itinerary showed it was expected to sojourn 19 ports in Japan and South Korea, between June 26 and August 19. In April, the itinerary was updated to alternatively display stops in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Brunei during that period.
Stunkel stated she had bought a cabin on the cruise in part since it was scheduled to visit Japan complete the summer. She stated she was "extremely disappointed" by the change, adding, "Japan is my No. 1 bucket catalog destination."
Onboard services akin dining and net were hit
Some onboard services were additionally disrupted.
In a memo to residents on September 10, Villalba stated that since the container had small residents on commission and small personnel available, dining assistance would be consolidated. An on-board restaurant, The Palms, would temporarily close, during dawn meal and lunch would be served buffet-style. Dinner would be a blend of à la carte and buffet. Davis stated residents would gag whenever they went to meal that it was "slim pickings."
Internet and TV services additionally suffered. Two residents stated the net had rotate into spotty and unreliable. In a September 7 memo, Villalba stated she had paid an outstanding balance and that net assistance was being restored.
Paul Montoya, 68, stated the net issues particularly affected digital nomads living and operating on the ship. Some would have to get off at harbor to discover a nearby inn alongside net access, he said.
Davis stated air conditioning on the container was throttled up or downward pending energy needs, adding, "Everything was concerning preservation fuel."
Petterson, who did not live on the container and stated he was not closely engaged in its regular operations, stated the business took measures to preserve prosperity that went beyond conserving fuel.
"We were cutting rear anywhere the residents would awareness it the least, and that balance sometimes was difficult," he said.
Residents were often asked to assistance keep the container moving
Management made repeated requests for residents to assistance shield Villa Vie's costs.
In April, Villa Vie offered residents an "Emergency Loan Investment Opportunity," asking them to contribute tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to the business at involvement rates of 12% to 24%, according to a letter viewed by Business Insider.
Petterson stated the petition netted about $2 myriad that helped the container last for a few months.
From April onwards, Gokturk stated it was "cash call following prosperity call."
Gokturk and her hubby did not act in the debt program, she said, but they contributed to afterward appeals, including a voluntary energy surcharge. "It became exhausting since it was constantly, 'Hey, we need additional money. We need additional money. If we don't get the money, afterward we're not going to be capable to sail,'" Gokturk said.
The doubt affected the mood aboard the ship. "It became very, extremely difficult," she said.
Stunkel stated the prosperity calls felt "incessant." She continued, "We felt akin they were fair leaching us out of any we had to keep the container moving until the final imaginable moment."
Four residents stated that whenever they heard that personnel had gone unpaid, they organized a fundraiser for the crew. Montoya stated residents collected concerning $12,000 in prosperity exterior the ship's café and distributed it to workers in $100 bills.
There were multiple times in the final brace of months whenever fee due to the squad was delayed, Petterson said, including by three weeks this month. He stated as of about Wednesday, the squad had been paid. An employee in the Florida agency stated personnel had received a partial payment, and that commissions hadn't been paid in months.
Petterson stated the business had been doing everything it could to keep the container afloat. The business had tried to create the energy surcharge mandatory but realized the residents' contracts didn't authorize for it, so it became voluntary. Some residents contributed to the surcharge, during others bought additional discounted cabins through the VIP program.
He stated he had spent July looking for exterior investment. By August, the circumstance was dire. A possible agreement alongside Oneil Khosa, the erstwhile CEO of Margaritaville's cruise line, cut through final week. They were out of time. Business Insider was unable to attain Khosa for comment.
In the days since the Odyssey's journey came to a halt in Cambodia, passengers have expressed a range of emotions. Some are heartbroken that their aspiration withdrawal came crashing to an end; others are hopeful the container volition sail again. One passenger stated a collection of chap passengers is operating on a "Hail Mary" attempt at purchasing the ship.
Petterson stated the concentration is on a recapitalization, adding, "Preferably we need an operational partner that can arrive in alongside a stronger hand and a bigger pocket."
Several residents stated that notwithstanding how it ended, they don't regret the experience. But Sadovsky, who remaining before the Odyssey came to a halt, stated the voyage he idea he had bought had rotate into unrecognizable by the period he disembarked.
"There was no logic for me to remain since I wasn't being exposed to new places anymore," he said. "I was revisiting the identical old places, and I'd fairly be home."
Additional reporting by Amanda Goh.
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Joshua Nelken-Zitser is an award-winning equal at Business Insider’s London agency covering the affordability of contemporary life.Through features, investigations, on-the-ground reporting, and As Told To essays, he explores the changing disbursal of important existence milestones, what group choose to expend on whenever they can’t oversee everything they want, and how they modify as traditional markers of achievement rotate into small attainable.Joshua previously spent five years on the news desk, reporting from the US, across Europe, and the Middle East. In 2025, he moved to the endeavor array to shield wealth, spending, and person culture.In 2024, he received the Axel Springer Award for Change — Journalistic Piece of the Year and was highly commended at the British Journalism Awards for an inquiry into state-subsidized gender-transition surgeries in Iran.His debut publish (TRAUMA BONDS: How Generational Trauma Shapes, Divides and Connects Us) will be published by HarperCollins in January 2027.Got a tip? Email [email protected]. You can additionally prosecute him on X or Instagram.
Pete Syme is an aviation newsman for Business Insider, based in London.He writes concerning all things connected to the industry, from aviation safety and CEO interviews to route reveals and airplane tours. Pete additionally uses data for industry analyses and to visualize breaking news events.Before joining Business Insider in 2022, he graduated alongside an MA in Newspaper Journalism from City, University of London, and a BA in English from the University of Exeter.
Kelsey Vlamis is a elder newsman for Business Insider, anywhere she covers endeavor and tech news. She additionally writes endeavor stories concerning travel, luxury, and culture. Previously, she covered the environment, outdoors, and indigenous issues.Her characteristic narrative "Disaster at 18,200 feet" received awards from the New York Press Club and the North American Travel Journalists Association, as fine as honest citation from the Society of American Travel Writers. She has additionally received an American Journalism Online Award for her safety on missing and murdered Indigenous group in Wyoming.She's appeared on CBS, NPR, NBC, and another outlets to conversation her reporting. She earlier worked on the earth news array at the BBC in London and received a master's in reporting from Northwestern University.She can be reached by email at [email protected] or via the encrypted-messaging app Signal at kelseyv.21.
