Mairlyn's Photos - Nov 9 2026 - That Forever Cruise
I am curious about the relentless continuation of articles on the "Forever Cruise" that ran aground, and dumped all the passengers in Cambodia. It is now 2 weeks of articles every day. The ship is aptly named the Odyssey, and it was supposed to cruise around the world in 1,300 days. The cost was hundreds of thousands of dollars. The story came out at the end of October. And then this weekend the story came out that passengers were told at 6:00am to get off the ship by 2:00pm. All the articles interview various passengers who "sold their homes" - and are now aghast with what to do. Here are some of the headlines.
They signed up for a 'forever' cruise. Their dream ran aground...
The cursed cruise: how the dream of never-ending luxury at sea became a nightmare
They sold everything to live on a cruise ship. Now...
They paid thousands for a cruise that hasn't sailed
Abandon ship! 200 'cruise for life' passengers stranded
I figure there are a few things that keep the story going. The headlines are great - that's the first. Then the floating retirement fantasy gets full coverage with the quotes of residents outlining how much money they poured in at the beginning and then getting squeezed with "cash calls" over things like the skyrocketing cost of fuel. Then the numbers illustrate the dollar impact of the War in Iran. The impact comes sharply into focus with monthly fees going from $1,800 to between $6,00 and $8,000. A refresh comes this week over the news of the sudden evacuation in an industrial Cambodian town, so the hard-luck and homeless story comes out.
And this also leads into comparison articles about the other millionaire cruise ships such as The World where the ship can be described in all its luxuries, and the lives of the "truly" rich are outlines - those millionaires with multiple residences who will not be joining the now homeless in Cambodia at any time.
This hits all the buttons of getting reader reaction, such as: "Should have known better" and "how naive", followed by "I knew it" when learning about the ship owners financial "mishandling."
And we have a name for deriving pleasure from another's misfortune. Because that's what I think makes this a continuing story. It is Schedenfreude and comes for us all in this current internet age - popping up over and over...long past its best before date.
Maybe this picture works for the story. Dialogue goes: Let's feed the crocodiles...Oops. Who knew they can jump 10 feet in the air looking for a mouse and the hand that feeds them.
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