Couple kicked off on ‘endless’ cruise said crew 'begged for money'
A couple who say they sold their belongings to move onto a cruise ship that recently halted operations, also claim they felt 'pressured' to hand over money to the cruise line before it cut the voyage short.
The Odyssey's Villa Vie Residences’ 642-foot ship was something Paul and Lynn Montoya thought would be 'endless' after allegedly spending $179,000 (£133, 612) for their own cabin on the global cruise.
However, just 17-months into their voyage, residents were told to disembark in Cambodia.
Now, the pair are claiming there were signs that the ship wasn't operating at its best, and claim they had been asked to allegedly ‘raise $1 million’ so that they could leave Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, and much more.
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According to Villa Vie Residences, it had ‘suspended operations in Cambodia as the company works to address extraordinary increases in fuel costs and evaluate restructuring and recapitalisation alternatives’.
But when speaking to LADbible, Lynn and Paul said there had apparently been ‘trouble for some time’.
“They've changed itineraries, we've lost our internet because of non-payment to Starlink, food levels went down dramatically over the last few months,” he claimed of the ship.
They also allege the crew asked residents for money ‘a number of times’ so the journey could continue, with the pair claiming they forked out $6,000 a month for maintenance.
Most recently, the pair had an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, where Lynn reportedly said they ended up paying $450,000 (£337,840) in total, which is more than double than they'd paid for the cabin.
The pair claims the company asked 22 residents for a collective loan of $2.2million (£1.6million), which Lynn described as being under the terms that it'd be paid off via monthly instalments.
However, she claims they 'have not received any payments.'
She continued: "On July 31, they told us we would get a payment in the next three days. But two days after we were told there was no money."
She added that there was allegedly another incident where funds needed to be raised, as she said 'residents started donating to keep us on our journey,' claiming: "In September, the company asked for $1.5million and then $360,000 this past week while we've been stranded in Cambodia."
The grandmother added that because the alleged calls for funds came when the ship was docked, 'we felt manipulated and when that happened time after time, it began to wear us down and frustrate us.'
She claimed: "We'd arrive at the port and six hours before we were meant to leave they would say, 'Oh, we can't leave. We haven't got the money'.
"Everybody then felt pressured to come up with these funds. We joked that we felt we were being held captive."
Lynn alleged to the outlet: "It started becoming apparent that the company is in significant debt - and we started losing a lot of our services."
She added: "Our internet was interrupted several times so we weren't able to check our bank accounts or pay bills, or call home.
"Our TV service then went down and so more questions started being asked. But despite this the company asked us again for money for fuel."
However, despite it all, Paul told LADbible: “You know, I don't think you go into it saying that it's going to fail. But if it was an 18-month trip, it would have been marvellous too. We got to see a lot of wonderful places.”
Lynn added: “I think that this experience has been great, even if this is the final straw and it’s done.
“We’ve had the chance to meet incredible people around the world and see incredible places that we never thought we would ever see.
“Yeah, it’s sad [and] it’s a shame that we've invested this money, but what we've gotten out of it has been incredible.”
The LADbible Group contacted Villa Vie Residences for comment.
Topics: Cruise Ship, Travel, US News, Money
Britt Jones