Joel Greiff, 57, was new to the Villa Vie Odyssey. He had boarded the residential cruise container on October 1 and kept his belongings to a minimum.
Traveling ray came in helpful whenever all passengers were abruptly told to depart the container on Tuesday in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, amid what administration has described as an oil-price crisis.
"I unpacked in an hr and I packed rear up in an hour," Greiff told Business Insider.
Villa Vie Residences, which operates the cruise, stated it had to shut the container down since of the spiking cost of energy amid the Iran War. On Wednesday, founder Mikael Petterson told Business Insider the prices were part of a "cascading effect" that brought the container to a standstill.
"I'm the villain in the story, but I'm doing everything I can to assistance the residents on a solution," he said.
Greiff is among the many Odyssey passengers who have to fig out what to do next, now that their floating mobile home is abruptly no longer so mobile. In interviews alongside Business Insider in the days since residents were told to disembark, they shared reactions that range from heartbreak and despondence to gratitude for the fine times on commission — and a buoyant hopefulness that the container volition sail again.
Villa Vie Residences marketed the Odyssey as a "home at sea." It offered five-year residency packages starting at $59,999, imperishable residency packages starting at $119,999, and a multi-cabin "Home Suite Home" choice starting at $229,999.
Passengers were promised a manner of uninterrupted journey about the world, stopping at additional than 400 ports in complete 140 countries.
Jim and Chris Guld are no strangers to a existence in motion. They spent 14 years living in an RV and traveling about the US before settling in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They run Geeks on Tour, a small business that offers tech training for travelers.
When they sold their townhouse to move aboard the Odyssey in April 2025, they kept a small camper van alongside a companion near Gainesville.
"It was going to be our lifeboat in case, first on, the Odyssey didn't pan out," Jim Guld, 72, told Business Insider.
That "lifeboat" is motionless waiting in Florida. The brace is in Cambodia.
Read additional concerning the Villa Vie Odyssey:
In a notice on its website, Villa Vie Residences stated it was assisting coordinate residents' disembarkation and impermanent accommodation. But the Gulds stated that was not how their departure unfolded.
"We established our own hotel," Guld said. The business provided a shuttle, but he stated it dropped them at "a park in the center of town."
At smallest the brace had a long-planned trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand, to appearance onward to. They anticipate to continue traveling afterward, visiting places that should have been next on the Odyssey's itinerary, specified as South Asia and Africa.
"We don't scheme on going rear to the States anytime soon," he said.
Claude Sadovsky paid concerning $100,000 in December 2023 for his division on the Odyssey. He told Business Insider he had remaining the container concerning three weeks before the shutdown.
The former doctor, 69, stated he had started to awareness the cruise was no longer delivering the round-the-world experience he had signed up for.
"It started out great," Sadovsky said. "Early on, I recall dining meal alongside a group, and I looked at them and said, 'I really think this is value twice what I'm paying.' As period went on, that emotion benevolent of dissipated," he said.
As additional ports were dropped and the container revisited places he had already seen, Sadovsky remaining in first October and returned to his flat in Maui, Hawaii.
"I was amazed we made it as far as we did. And I was continually prepared for it to end," he said. "I'm benevolent of amazed we made it two years, to be honest."
For now, he's blessed to expend several period rear home, although he stated he'll regard returning if the cruise operators find a way forward, "especially if they could get it rear anyplace near to whenever it archetypal started."
"I really enjoyed that part of it," he said.
The news has remaining others trying to stitch their aspiration existence rear together.
That includes a collection of residents trying to lift adequate prosperity to buy the ship, stated a 68-year-old inhabitant named Paul Montoya: "If there is any choice for us to move ahead, we benevolent of think that would be the lone way."
"It's a Hail Mary," he added. For now, he and his spouse scheme to caput to Malaysia for several medicinal check-ups, and afterward to Singapore. After that, their plans are vague, but he stated they'll remain in the area "with the anticipation that things could alter alongside the ship."
"It breaks my bosom to think that this may be over," stated Angela Nuran Gokturk.
She stated she, her husband, and another passengers "are consenting to do any we can that makes financial sense, of course, since we desire to create this continue."
"This was our retirement," she said. "This is what we wanted to do for the remainder of our lives, and it really was a aspiration lifestyle."
'I would do it again'
Dwight and Sheila Greene of Fort Worth, Texas, weren't on the container whenever it halted operations. They spent the former duration traveling about Cambodia and Thailand on their own schedule.
The Greenes, who run a Facebook leaf called "All Over the World alongside Dwight and Sheila," stated they had made a habit of hopping on and off the container to expend additional period in places they wanted to explore.
"We use it akin an airplane carrier," said Dwight, 64.
On Wednesday, the brace flew to Singapore, anywhere they'll be boarding a different, preplanned, 11-day cruise on Friday.
Dwight stated their Royal Princess cruise was because of end in Singapore on November 10, about the period whenever the Villa Vie Odyssey's first itinerary was expected to come back to Singapore.
"I thought, 'Oh, this is perfect. They'll arrive, we'll arrive, and we'll fair alter ships,'" Greene said.
That motionless is the plan, he added. Most of their belongings are motionless in their cabin. The Odyssey's latest travails have remaining them undaunted.
"If you told me this was going to happen, I would do it again," Greene said. "I would expend the identical money. I would do it again in a heartbeat, since that's how rewarding it has been for Sheila and myself."
As for Greiff, the Odyssey newcomer, he's staying in a inn near the container during assisting another residents collect their belongings. His next stage volition be to obtain a train to Kampot, Cambodia. He's already established a location to rent there and expects to expend a few weeks settling in, checking on the position of his Cambodian visa and getting a local SIM card. Longer term, he's considering Chiang Mai, Thailand, as a potential base.
One item is clear: He doesn't scheme to come back to Florida. He used to own a condo and a car there, but he's sold both.
"I can live in Asia for $2,000 a duration and live extremely well," he said. "It would be extremely difficult in the United States."
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Business Insider tells the stories you desire to cognize concerning the earth of business, technology, and finance
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Amanda is an award-winning elder newsman at Business Insider's Singapore bureau.Her reporting explores how group navigate important existence transitions, including occupation changes, relocation, and retirement, alongside a particular concentration on the experiences of those living in Asia. She additionally writes concerning travel, culture, wellness, and relationships.She earlier worked as a author and video manufacturer at a satisfied promotion agency in Singapore. She graduated from the University at Buffalo alongside a BA (Hons) in Sociology.
Alexandra is a manner and civilization publishing company at Business Insider, based in Singapore, anywhere she covers how group live, work, and lift families abroad.Her projects examine earth movement and identity, from foreign workers navigating existence in the US to adults taking gap years to rethink their careers and first-generation Americans seeking chance abroad. She’s particularly curious in the trade-offs rearward big existence decisions, and how they form work, money, and family existence complete time.Before joining Business Insider in 2023, Alexandra was the editorial director at a journey media company, anywhere she led magazines and digital platforms for global airlines. She was earlier publishing company in chief of Time Out Singapore.After expanding up in New York, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, and London, she has been happily settled in Singapore for 17 years.Got a narrative concerning living, working, parenting, or construction a existence abroad in APAC? Reach out below or on Instagram.
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.
