(Nov 10): The Villa Vie Odyssey, a residential cruise ship whose around-the-world voyage was thrown into doubt by soaring fuel costs and funding strains, has been arrested in Singapore.
The vessel was placed under arrest by a Singapore court order on Nov 8 and is anchored in the city-state’s port waters, information on the Singapore Courts website shows. There are no passengers aboard, while the crew are reported to be well and their welfare is being managed by the vessel’s creditors, the Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement.
Court records name Helmsman LLC as the arresting solicitor but don’t disclose who it represents or the reason for the claim. Helmsman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg News.
The arrest adds to the uncertainty facing hundreds of people who paid to live at sea, and puts fresh scrutiny on Villa Vie Residences’ model of selling long-term cabins for continuous travel. Some residents paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for rooms and thousands of dollars more each month, only to see the voyage stall as the company sought fresh funding.
The latest setback follows a chaotic stretch in Cambodia, where about 200 residents were ordered to leave the Odyssey in Sihanoukville after Villa Vie said higher fuel costs made it harder to keep sailing. The company said it was considering a financial restructuring and looking for new funding.
For some residents, the ship’s departure from Cambodia already felt like the end of their life aboard. Johan Bodin and Lanette Canen, a couple who had been living on the Odyssey and documenting their journey on social media, watched the vessel sail away.
“That’s our lady, our life, our dream, our hope,” Bodin said in a YouTube video. “It was actually harder watching the ship leave than it was for me leaving the ship,” Canen said.
The Odyssey began its world voyage in October 2024 after months of delays. It later faced complaints over maintenance, cancelled port calls and rising costs, even as Villa Vie continued to market years of travel to destinations in Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and Australia.
Uploaded by Chng Shear Lane