Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleA cruise ship built around the idea of living at sea indefinitely has suspended operations, and its residents have been told to get off in Cambodia. The operator, Villa Vie Residences, blames fuel prices, according to an interview broadcast by NPR World on Weekend Edition Sunday.
Less than seven hours to leave
Randy Cassingham, who had been on board for a little over two years, told NPR host Ayesha Rascoe that the company’s CEO posted a message on the ship’s internal message board. It asked everyone to be off the vessel by 2 o’clock the same day. By his account, passengers had a little less than seven hours of notice.
Cassingham said Cambodia was roughly the 65th country on the journey. He and his wife have been staying in a hotel on land since Tuesday.
Fuel prices and a earlier warning sign
The company told passengers that fuel prices had risen three to four times after the war in Iran began, making it impossible to continue.
Cassingham disputes that this was the whole story. He said the company had been in financial trouble from the start. He pointed to August 1, when the ship was in Singapore and, he said, the company did not have enough money to buy the fuel needed to leave. Residents each contributed several thousand dollars to cover it.
“It’s not a good sign when the captain’s passing the hat,” he told NPR.
Money lost and an uncertain future
Residents bought their cabins. Cassingham said he and his wife paid $379,000 for theirs, with a guarantee of at least 15 years of sailing. They got about two years, and he does not expect to get anything back for the cabin.
He said he still considers the experience worthwhile, though he would not have paid that much had he known it would last only two years. He described a lifestyle he and his wife valued because they liked to travel but disliked airlines and airports. On a ship, they could move from port to port, sleeping and waking up in a different country.
The couple sold their house and two cars in Colorado before boarding. Cassingham said they do not yet know where they will go next.
A coalition of residents is exploring whether they could take over operation of the ship. Cassingham said he and his wife plan to stay in Cambodia while that is worked out, and that they might start again.
“We don’t know where, we don’t know when,” he said, but he expects to find something else to do and continue the adventure.
Source: NPR World
Harnaik Singh Rathor is the Founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of StudioX News Canada, Canada's multilingual digital news network serving multilingual diaspora communities across Canada. With a background in media production, public relations, and multicultural communications, he founded StudioX Film and TV Corporation to bridge the gap between mainstream Canadian media and the country's diverse immigrant communities. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), RTDNA Canada, CPRS Vancouver, NEPMCC, and the Canadian Freelance Union (Unifor). Based in Surrey, British Columbia. | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harnaiksinghrathor/ | Muck Rack: https://muckrack.com/harnaiksinghrathor | Email: editor@studioxnews.ca
