U.S. retirees’ dream turns into nightmare after Florida-based cruise operator folds over war-time fuel prices
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Lynn and Paul Montoya were stranded on Friday in Sihanoukville, a coastal port city in southwestern Cambodia also known as Preah Sihanouk and Kampong Saom. Paul Montoya, 68, and Lynn Montoya, 64, who have lived in Colorado and Wyoming, were among the 203 passengers who had been living aboard the Villa Vie. The retirees said they sold their cars and their home to pay $179,000 for a cabin on the residential cruise ship, also known as MV Odyssey, to visit 147 countries in 3.5 years. “They have run out of money, that’s why they couldn’t buy fuel. They have even had difficulties paying the crew on the ship, which even makes it more difficult, so we are really not expecting any money back,” Paul Montoya told Reuters. War-time fuel prices in Asia put the Pembroke Pines-based operator’s budget “under unsustainable financial pressure,” the company announced in a statement on Tuesday. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz during the war with Iran have impacted fuel supply. There were red flags bef