For two years, the Villa Vie Odyssey was home to hundreds of people who had sold their houses, given away their belongings and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the promise of living permanently at sea while sailing the world.
On Sunday, the ship arrived in Singapore with no residents aboard and was promptly placed under arrest.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said the vessel had been detained “pursuant to a court order” at the Changi General Purpose Anchorage, off the city-state’s eastern coast. “The crew onboard are reported to be well, and arrangements for their welfare and well-being are being managed by the vessel’s creditors,” the authority said. “There are no passengers onboard.”
Court records list Helmsman LLC, a Singapore law firm, as the solicitor that brought the action, but they do not name its client or the nature of the claim. Villa Vie reportedly owes a supplier in the region about $500,000, though that debt has not been confirmed as the basis for the arrest. Mikael Petterson, the company’s founder and executive chairman, told CBS News that a lender had taken possession of the ship after Villa Vie fell behind on payments, and was now paying for its crew, fuel and basic operations.
The arrest is the latest turn in the unraveling of an unusual experiment in the cruise business. Rather than selling vacations measured in days or weeks, Florida-based Villa Vie Residences sold cabins as long-term homes, offering residents the chance to buy or rent a room aboard a ship on a continuous voyage around the globe. Some residents paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their cabins, and thousands more each month.
The voyage came to an abrupt halt in late October. On Oct. 27, during a stop in the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville, the company’s chief executive, Kathy Villalba, announced that Villa Vie was suspending operations, blaming a surge in fuel prices caused by the war with Iran. The next day, the ship’s 203 passengers were ordered to disembark, with about seven hours to pack. Many were retirees, and some had sold their homes to move aboard.
“I sold my house, gave away my surfboards and bikes and showed up in Belfast with two duffel bags and a backpack,” one former resident told The Globe and Mail.
The Cambodian government stepped in to help stranded passengers with accommodation and food. Some residents remained in Sihanoukville in the hope that the voyage would resume. A group of former residents tried to organize a purchase of the ship to restart the cruise under new management. As many as 169 pledged support, according to The Maritime Executive, but they were unable to find financing.
On Nov. 4, the Odyssey left Cambodia with about 50 crew members and no passengers, bound for Singapore.
The trouble may have been building for months. CBS News reported that internal company documents included an Aug. 4 warning that operations could halt. Residents told reporters that the company had increasingly turned to its earliest buyers, known as “founders,” for financial help, and eventually asked other residents for money as well.
The Odyssey’s journey was troubled from the start. Built in 1993 and formerly operated by Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines as the Braemar, the ship spent months in a Belfast shipyard undergoing repairs before it finally set sail in October 2024. The planned itinerary was to last three and a half years. Passengers later complained of maintenance problems and canceled port calls.
Under Singapore law, the ship’s owner can still settle the claim or contest the arrest to win the vessel’s release. If neither happens, the creditor can ask the court to order a judicial sale, in which the ship would be appraised and auctioned to pay the debt. Some reports suggest Villa Vie intends to seek bankruptcy protection in the United States; the company has not publicly confirmed this.
For now, the Odyssey sits at anchor in one of the world’s busiest ports, a floating home with no one left to live in it.
