CEO says plan is to file for bankruptcy after ending luxury never-ending cruise that left hundreds stranded

October 28, 2026 / 8:31 PM EDT / CBS News

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…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/world/