Cruise ship MV Odyssey stranded in Cambodia after 'soaring fuel costs'

A luxury cruise ship on a three-year, round-the-world voyage has been forced to suspend the trip in Cambodia due to rising fuel costs, operators have said.

The US vessel MV Odyssey set sail from Belfast in October 2024 - after months of delays forced many guests into unscheduled extended stays in Northern Ireland.

The cruise ship touted its cabins as floating homes and the trip was scheduled to feature more than 400 stops.

But the vessel docked early at the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville in the Gulf of Thailand on Friday, forcing hundreds of passengers to disembark.

Monthly fuel costs per cabin have risen from an average of $1,800 (£1,355) to around $6,000 to $8,000 (£4,518-£6,023) in parts of Asia due to the Iran conflict, according to the ship's Florida-based operator, Villa Vie Residences (VVR).

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The company said in a statement on its website: "Extraordinary increases in fuel costs have placed our current operating model under unsustainable financial pressure.

"We are working with residents to coordinate disembarkation and temporary living arrangements, and are supporting residents, crew and employees as we evaluate restructuring and recapitalisation alternatives over the next 60 days."

MV Odyssey was carrying 203 passengers, mostly Americans, who paid upwards of $230,000 (£173,000) for a berth.

There were also more than 150 crew on board, according to Cambodian officials.

Travellers were offered the chance to "make the Odyssey your permanent home" on a trip advertised as an opportunity to combine long-term living at sea with global travel.

Sea traffic has been reduced in the Strait of Hormuz since the war in Iran began, squeezing supplies of all kinds of petroleum-based fuels, especially in Southeast Asia, and sharply increasing prices.

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VVR said it was trying to find temporary accommodation for voyagers, but a blogger who has been on the cruise, Randy Cassingham, wrote online that "the company has done absolutely nothing to help: We couldn't even walk out of the port, so there were shuttle buses that dropped us in the middle of town".

"They didn't even give us a list of hotels, let alone help us get there or pay for them," Cassingham said on his website. Sky News has approached the company for comment.

(c) Sky News 2026: Cruise ship MV Odyssey stranded in Cambodia after 'soaring fuel costs'