Crystal Cruises ship diverted amid claims company owes millions in fuel bills
Crystal Cruises saw another voyage cut short this week in the Bahamas amid claims the cruise line owes millions in fuel bills and orders for the government to seize one of its ships.
The Miami-based cruise line, owned by Genting Hong Kong — whose shipping and cruise businesses have struggled amid the two-year pandemic — offloaded Crystal Serenity passengers in Bimini Monday before ferrying passengers to Fort Lauderdale and putting them in hotel rooms.
The rerouting following a judge’s order in January to seize the Crystal Symphony if it entered U.S. waters, amid a lawsuit alleging that the cruise line did not pay $4.6 million for fuel.
The Symphony was originally set to return to Miami on Jan. 22 but, like the Serenity — for which there is no warrant — offloaded in Bimini and ferried passengers to Fort Lauderdale.
Though there is not a warrant for the Crystal Serenity, Peninsula Petroleum Far East in a lawsuit filed in a Miami federal court last month alleged $2.2 million of fuel sales to the ship had not been paid.
A Genting Hong Kong-owned shipyard filed bankruptcy protection in Germany last month.
Local officials in Aruba, where the Crystal Serenity had planned to end its trip, prohibited the ship from docking this weekend. The ship left Miami on Jan. 15, only two days before Crystal Cruises announced the suspension of operations through April.
The move is meant to “provide Crystal’s management team with an opportunity to evaluate the current state of business and examine various options moving forward.”
With News Wire Services