Former Villa Vie Resident Describes Life Aboard Odyssey Before Cambodia Stranding

Sharon Lane's new home in Orange County, California, is sparsely furnished. She sold most of what she owned last year, because she expected to spend the next 15 years living aboard a ship. At 78, the retiree had not planned on living on land again, let alone in Orange County. She let a crew from NBCLA into the place to describe what life on the ship had become.

The ship is The Odyssey, a 642-foot residential cruise liner owned and operated by Florida-based Villa Vie, which promised a luxurious life at sea. On Tuesday, the company halted operations in Cambodia and left about 200 passengers stranded. Its stated reason was soaring fuel costs.

Lane says the decline was visible well before that. Within 15 months of moving aboard, she noticed less food being served, fewer ports being visited and more time spent idling. "We were literally floating out in the ocean, not spending gas to propel ourselves in any one direction or the other," she said.

Health problems forced her off the ship in August. By then, she says, she already understood the operation was struggling to pay its way. She alleges that operators asked passengers to pay additional fuel fees several times over the past several months. Her reaction, she recalled, was to ask how they dared. She said friends aboard could not afford the extra charges. They had sold everything they owned, live on Social Security, and did not have high-end jobs during their working lives.

She also describes meals shrinking on some days. According to Lane, there were stretches from lunchtime to almost 7pm when the ship put out cookies and nothing else. She said that was not enough food, and that staff were upset about passengers taking food and hoarding it in their rooms. "You don't feed them. What do you expect?" she said.

Villa Vie has not responded to NBCLA's calls and emails. In a statement posted on its website Tuesday, the company said its monthly fuel expense, which historically averaged about $1,800, has recently reached an estimated $6,000 to $8,000 in parts of Asia. It said it cannot simply pass increases of that scale on to residents. It added that it is working with residents to coordinate disembarkation and identify temporary living arrangements.

Lane disputes how that help has played out. She says friends still aboard have told her they are getting no assistance from the company. "Despite what the owners said to media, they were not given help, any coupons for hotels," she said. Her own cabin, she says, cost more than $200,000 for 15 years or the life of the ship. She is now working with her insurance company. Of the experience, she said it feels like being given the bum's rush: on one level she is sad, and on another, angry.

Villa Vie says it is working toward a restructuring over the next 60 days, but no financing has been finalised. What to watch is how the roughly 200 stranded residents are disembarked and housed, and whether anyone who paid for a place aboard sees money back.