Woman spent retirement savings on ‘endless’ cruise that ran out of money before she even boarded
A woman revealed how she handed over thousands from her retirement fund to live her life at sea — only to watch her funds dry up before she even stepped onboard.
Lisa McKay says she was so close to moving onto the luxury residential cruise ship Villa Vie Odyssey when she realised that passengers were being told to disembark at Cambodia after the cruise line ran out of money to afford the voyage.
On 27 October, more than 200 passengers were told to pack their bags at the port stop of Sihanoukville, as the US ship company announced 'fuel costs' as being the reason it can no longer operate.
Initially, the cruise departed from Northern Ireland's Belfast in 2024 to begin its three-and-a-half year round-the-world voyage, but two years later and it has had to halt its excursions.
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Despite being touted as an 'endless' cruise that people all over sold their belongings to move onboard to live life at sea, things aren't looking good.
"Extraordinary increases in fuel costs have placed our current operating model under unsustainable financial pressure," Villa Vie Residences said in a statement, with its founder, Mikael Petterson telling Business Insider he feels 'awful' about the situation.
But with hundreds of passengers stranded in Cambodia, McKay shared with ABC News that her dream has turned into something utterly 'devastating'.
"This was going to be my trip of a lifetime," McKay said, and divulged she spent $63,500 (£33261.30) before she could step foot on the boat, and now she won't be able to.
"I don't have that money to waste and lose. It's just been devastating, absolutely devastating," she said.
McKay, a former Brisbane, Australia, schoolteacher, said she used her superannuation (retirement savings) to pay for the trip via a direct bank transfer, and was supposed to board at Kuala Lumpur in November.
She went onto claim that she began to get wary about the cruise finances in the lead up to her voyage due to reading reviews online.
From there, she said she brought up her worries with a booking agent, who ABC reports said in messages to McKay that she 'wouldn't be working for them if [she] thought they were in trouble' and if the ship could no longer operate, the 'company would arrange another ship.'
However, McKay isn't sure what's next for her now the cruise line isn't operating.
"My chances of getting my money back [are] very, very slim," McKay said. "Travel insurance doesn't cover boutique ships."
In the end, the cruise founder blames war on the failed voyage.
He said: "Nobody that's tried residential cruising has succeeded, and we've gone further than anyone else.
"But I think we would have been absolutely fine - and we would have seen this through - if there was no Iran war."
"I'm the villain in the story, but I'm doing everything I can to support the residents on a solution," he said.
Topics: Travel, Australia, World News, Cruise Ship
Britt Jones