Passengers Who Sold Their Homes for a $120K ‘Perpetual Cruise’ Are Now Stranded in Cambodia

Randy Cassingham thought he was embarking on the adventure of a lifetime—a never-ending cruise that would take him around the world and across multiple continents. That was the promise of Villa Vie Residences’ Odyssey cruise, set to visit 147 countries and 425 ports over a period of 3.5 years. Passengers had three options: They could rent a villa through the Odyssey’s “rent-to-own” program starting at $3,499 a month, which allowed passengers to join the cruise at any point along the way. Or they could purchase a five-year residency on the cruise ship starting at $59,999. The final option was a permanent residency—good for the life of the cruise ship—which started at $119,999, with villa suites going for as much as $439,999. Villa Vie is still advertising these cabins as available on its website. Cassingham was among many passengers who sold their belongings—including their homes—for the chance to live aboard a cruise ship for the rest of his life. “We were planning on being on for, you know, forever,” Cassingham told the Times Radio. “They were guaranteeing that this ship would last 15 years and I think it was in good enough shape that it could have. And that was our plan. We were ...