In November 2024, days after Donald Trump won a second term, a cruise company launched a four-year package for Americans who wanted to be somewhere else. This week the ship found somewhere else. It's a port in Cambodia, and it isn't leaving.
I've covered a lot of exiles. This is the first one that ran out of gas.
Here's what's real, per the BBC, AP, CNBC and The Straits Times. The Villa Vie Odyssey left Belfast in October 2024 on what its Florida-based operator, Villa Vie Residences, sold as a "continuous voyage around the world": three and a half years, close to 150 countries. Cabins for permanent residency ran from about $120,000 to $440,000, according to the BBC, with rentals from $3,500 a month.
On Tuesday, more than 750 days in, the company suspended operations in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Its statement says the monthly fuel cost per cabin in parts of Asia went from about $1,800 to as much as $8,000. Passengers told the BBC they were informed at 6 a.m. that they had to be off the ship by 2 p.m.
Eight hours' notice. Most hotels give you longer than that to check out, and they don't even float.
The company had already tried slowing the itinerary and "spending more time in port." That's a cruise line cutting costs by cruising less, which is like a restaurant saving money by serving less food. It kind of worked. They're now spending all of their time in port.
Founder Mikael Petterson told The Straits Times the company is covering lodging and local transport, but not tickets out of Cambodia. The company is also floating a new $500 monthly fee on top of a fuel surcharge as long as prices stay high. Earlier, residents had balked at paying extra just to get the ship out of the harbor.
So the business plan for a floating home is now: pay rent on the ship, pay extra for the ship to move, and stay in a hotel because the ship won't move.
Here's the part that writes itself. Back in 2024, the company's CEO told Fox Business the four-year "Skip Forward" package was the "perfect product for those who said they'd leave the country if 'XYZ' wins the election." Four years was the pitch. The ship made it two. Turns out the fastest way to outlast a presidency at sea is to bring enough fuel.
To be fair to the passengers, the BBC says many have formed real friendships and plan to stick together on land. That's lovely. They wanted a community far away from American politics, and now they have one in Cambodia, waiting on an investor.
On the sewer scale, I give Villa Vie four rats out of five. One rat for selling a four-year escape with a two-year fuel budget. One rat for the 6 a.m. eviction. One rat for charging a surcharge to leave a harbor you parked in. And one rat for a company that was stranded in Belfast for months before it ever sailed, then finished the trip stranded somewhere else. The ship never truly left. It just got stuck farther away.
And here's your bill: regular gas averaged $4.23 a gallon on Oct. 29, per AAA, up from $3.04 a year ago, and nobody is offering you a pickleball court to make up for it.
This article is satire. The Demorat is a parody news site; real facts are drawn from the linked sources, and jokes, invented scenes, and fictional characters are not real.
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