在海上经历了两年风暴般的生活后，这艘注定失败的“永无止境”的邮轮的创始人上周曾有一个计划，以维持该船的财务状况。
After a stormy two years at sea, the founder behind the doomed "never-ending" cruise had a plan last week to keep the ship's finances afloat.
通过他的公司“别墅人生”住宅公司（Villa Vie Residences），米凯尔·佩特森（Mikael Petterson）曾承诺一种新的生活方式：人们可以花六位数购买一艘名为“奥德赛号”（Odyssey）的豪华邮轮上的509间客舱之一，并在余生中乘船环游世界。
With his company, Villa Vie Residences, Mikael Petterson had promised a new way of life: People could spend six figures to purchase one of 509 cabins on a luxury cruise ship called the Odyssey, and sail around the world for the rest of their lives.
现实却截然不同。意外的机械故障导致该船的起航推迟了数月。一些乘客对他们的客舱感到不满。随后，伊朗战争导致燃料价格飙升。居民们开始纷纷弃船。一场财务漩涡由此开启，并最终将这艘船吞没。
Reality was different. Unexpected mechanical problems delayed the ship's launch for months. Some passengers were unhappy with their cabins. Then the war in Iran sent fuel prices soaring. Residents began to jump ship. That began a financial whirlpool that sucked the ship under.
佩特森在接受《商业内幕》采访时表示，价格飙升是一场“多米诺骨牌效应”的开始，这导致“别墅人生”于周二关闭了“奥德赛号”。该公司通知住在船上的乘客在几小时内离开该船。
The price surge was the beginning of a "cascading effect" that led Villa Vie to shut the Odyssey down on Tuesday, Petterson told Business Insider. The company told passengers living aboard to leave the ship within hours.
“尝试住宅式邮轮的人没有一个成功过，而我们已经比任何人都走得更远，”身为“别墅人生”创始人兼执行主席的佩特森说，“但我认为，如果没有伊朗战争，我们本可以一切顺利——并且我们本能坚持到底。”
"Nobody that's tried residential cruising has succeeded, and we've gone further than anyone else," said Petterson, Villa Vie's founder and executive chairman. "But I think we would have been absolutely fine — and we would have seen this through — if there was no Iran war."
佩特森表示，直到上周，他还在与潜在投资者进行谈判，并期待获得新的资金注入。他说，当这笔交易告吹时，公司已经别无选择。现在他正在考虑申请破产。他说，他理解为什么居民们会说他们感到震惊和心碎。
Until last week, Petterson said, he was in talks with a potential investor and was expecting a new infusion of cash. When the deal fell apart, he said, the company was out of options. Now he's considering bankruptcy. He said he understood why residents said they felt shocked and heartbroken.
佩特森周三在接受电话采访时说：“我感觉糟透了。他们指望我在这里做出决定，这也是我唯一关注的事情。我是这个故事里的恶棍，但我正在尽我所能为居民们提供一个解决方案。”
"I feel awful," Petterson said in a phone interview Wednesday. "They're counting on me to make the decisions here, and there's nothing else I'm focused on.
“别墅人生奥德赛号”（Villa Vie Odyssey）本应于2024年5月从贝尔法斯特起航。但它当时还不具备适航条件。“别墅人生”住宅公司对这艘已有30年历史的船只进行了改装，并以11.9999万美元至43.9999万美元不等的价格出售永久客舱。
I'm the villain in the story, but I'm doing everything I can to support the residents on a solution." The Villa Vie Odyssey was supposed to set sail from Belfast in May 2024. But it wasn't yet seaworthy. Villa Vie Residences had retrofitted the three-decade-old ship and sold permanent cabins at prices ranging from $119,999 to $439,999.
该公司的宣传向居民承诺了一场永无止境的巡航，停靠400多个港口，每三年半环球航行一周。购房者放弃了陆地上的生活，计划在一座配备泳池甲板和水疗中心的豪华水上酒店里度过余生。机械故障——包括这艘老旧船只的舵出现问题——导致该船滞留于干船坞，使得部分乘客在贝尔法斯特困了数月之久。彼得森接受《商业内幕》采访时表示，为该船启航做准备的成本比“别墅生活”公司（Villa Vie）的预期高出1500万美元。
The company's pitch to residents was an endless cruise with stops at more than 400 ports of call and a global circumnavigation every three-and-a-half years. Buyers uprooted their landbound lives with plans to live out the rest of their days on a luxury floating hotel with a pool deck and spa. Mechanical problems — including issues with the aging ship's rudder — kept the ship in dry dock, leaving some passengers stuck in Belfast for months. Preparing the ship for launch cost $15 million more than what Villa Vie had expected, Petterson told Business Insider.
一旦登船，一些乘客对他们的住宿条件感到不满。去年有两名乘客提起诉讼，称该船的居住舱室和设施并不像承诺的那样。其中一人还抱怨安装在他舱室上方的匹克球场产生的噪音。“别墅生活”公司对这些索赔提出了异议，并表示该公司已履行了合同条款。两起诉讼目前均在进行中。彼得森表示，这艘船在海上的前一年半是“一项巨大的工程”，面临着财务挑战，但该公司已经制定了一项计划，使运营现金流在2026年第二季度前实现收支平衡。
Once onboard, some passengers were unhappy with their accommodations. Two passengers sued last year, claiming that the ship's living quarters and amenities weren't as promised. One of them also lamented the noise from a pickleball court installed over his cabin. Villa Vie has disputed the claims and said it honored the terms of its contracts. Both lawsuits are ongoing. Petterson said the ship's first year-and-a-half at sea was "a ginormous undertaking" beset by financial challenges, but the company had put in place a plan for the operation's cash flow to break even by the second quarter of 2026.
接着，在2月底前后，美国和以色列对伊朗发动了一场战争。燃料价格飙升。“奥德赛”号使用的是船用轻柴油，即MGO。“别墅生活”公司此前为“奥德赛”号的燃料支付的费用通常约为每公吨600或700美元，彼得森说。根据行业出版物《船舶与燃料舱》的数据，到了3月，新加坡的MGO价格飙升至接近每公吨2000美元。彼得森表示，与大型邮轮公司不同，“别墅生活”公司没有吸收更高价格的规模优势。
Then, in late February, the United States and Israel launched a war in Iran. Fuel prices surged. The Odyssey uses marine gas oil, or MGO. Villa Vie had typically paid around $600 or $700 per metric ton for the Odyssey's fuel, Petterson said. By March, the price of MGO in Singapore had soared to nearly $2,000 per metric ton, according to data from Ship & Bunker, a trade publication. Unlike larger cruise lines, Villa Vie didn't have the scale to absorb the higher prices, Petterson said. "They're able to hedge and take away some of that risk, but we're too small of a company to do that," he said.
“他们能够进行对冲并消除部分风险，但我们是一家太小的公司，无法做到这一点，”他说。
Have you spent time on the Villa Vie Odyssey as a cabin owner, renter, or staff member? If you have a story to share, get in touch with us at jzitser@businessinsider.com.
4月，Villa Vie希望住客协助改善其财务状况。据《商业内幕》查阅的一封信件显示，该公司请求住客向Villa Vie提供贷款，并提供12%至24%的利率。Petterson表示，Villa Vie还调整了船只航线，取消部分港口停靠以延长燃油供应。他说，一些住客因此感到“恐慌”，将船舱转售给其他想要登船居住的人。这反过来又让Villa Vie的销售团队更难推销船上剩余的空置船舱。
In April, Villa Vie wanted residents to help shore up its finances. The company asked residents to loan Villa Vie money, offering them interest rates of 12% to 24%, according to a letter viewed by Business Insider. Villa Vie also changed the ship's itinerary, canceling stops at some ports to stretch its fuel supply, Petterson said. Some residents got "scared," Petterson said. They sold their cabins to other people who wanted to live aboard. That, in turn, made things more difficult for Villa Vie's sales team, which was still trying to find buyers for the remaining vacancies on the ship, he said.
“奥德赛号”的乘客以美国人为主；其中一些人是内容创作者。在Substack帖子和YouTube视频中，他们记录了这艘船环球航行约两年间的经历，有也有。一些旅游博主和社交媒体发帖者指责Villa Vie的管理层导致运营陷入财务困境。Petterson表示，负面舆论让招揽更多乘客变得更难。
The Odyssey's passengers were mostly Americans; some of them were content creators. In Substack posts and YouTube videos, they posted about their experiences, some positive and some negative, for the roughly two years that it sailed the world. Some travel bloggers and social media posters blamed Villa Vie's management for the operation's financial troubles. The negative publicity made it harder to bring more people aboard, Petterson said.
Petterson说，到6月初，燃油价格下跌，Villa Vie的形势有所好转。他表示，“奥德赛号”已售出85%的单元。Villa Vie宣布计划推出另一艘住宅式邮轮，规模更大、配置更优于“奥德赛号”。随后在7月，美国与伊朗的冲突升级。燃油价格飙升，公司前景再度陷入低谷。
By the start of June, fuel prices were falling and things were looking up for Villa Vie, Petterson said. The Odyssey had sold 85% of its units, he said. Villa Vie announced plans to launch another residential cruise ship that would be bigger and better than the Odyssey. Then in July, fighting between the US and Iran expanded. Fuel prices jumped, and the company's prospects plunged again, he said.
Petterson表示，随着燃油价格持续高企，Villa Vie与Margaritaville邮轮公司前首席执行官Oneil Khosa展开谈判，寻求其注资并加入成为运营合作伙伴。他说，上周谈判演变成“一场谁也不肯退让的较量，最终两败俱伤”，谈判破裂。Khosa未立即回应置评请求。Villa Vie宣布，“奥德赛号”将暂停运营，本周该船停靠在柬埔寨西哈努克港。
As fuel prices remained high, Villa Vie entered into talks with Oneil Khosa, the former CEO of Margaritaville's cruise line, to inject cash and join as an operational partner, Petterson said. Last week, the negotiations turned into "a game of chicken that just blew up in everyone's face," he said. Talks fell apart. Khosa didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Villa Vie announced that the Odyssey was suspending operations while it was docked this week at the port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia.
彼得森表示，柬埔寨的船用柴油（MGO）价格目前为每吨2200美元，在马尼拉甚至更高。乘客告诉《商业内幕》网站，他们仅被给予八小时的时间下船。62岁的芭芭拉·菲格尔自2024年12月起与伴侣一同住在“奥德赛号”上，她和伴侣当晚晚些时候以及第二天又回到船上收拾行李。“我止不住地哭，”她说。
The price of MGO in Cambodia is now $2,200 per ton, Petterson said, and in Manila, it is even higher. Passengers told Business Insider they were given only eight hours to disembark. Barbara Fiegel, 62, who had lived with her partner aboard the Odyssey since December 2024, returned to the ship with her partner later that evening and the following day to pack their belongings. "I couldn't stop crying," she said.
彼得森表示，该公司可能会进行法院监督下的重组，这将允许管理层继续掌控公司，或者公司可能不得不进行清算。“我们目前确实没有财务能力维持正常运营，”他说，“因此我们要保护资产并将其封存，直到我们能找到未来的解决方案。”
Petterson said the company could undergo a court-supervised restructuring that would allow management to remain in control, or it could have to liquidate. "We just don't have the financial ability to sustain normal operations for the time being," he said. "So we're protecting the asset and laying it up until we can find a solution going forward." Petterson expressed pride in the "community of almost 400 residents" that sailed around six continents.
彼得森对环游六大洲的“近400名居民组成的社区”表达了自豪之情。他说，让这些人失望感觉“极其令人沮丧”。“我夜以继日地工作，以寻找渡过难关的方法，”他说。
He said letting them down felt "incredibly deflating." "I'm working day and night to find a way to get through this," he said. Joshua Nelken Zitser contributed reporting. Have you spent time on the Villa Vie Odyssey as a cabin owner, renter, or staff member?
乔舒亚·内尔肯-齐特尔进行了联合报道。
If you have a story to share, get in touch with us at jzitser@businessinsider.com.