- A Crystal Cruises ship diverted to the Bahamas in an apparent attempt to escape an arrest warrant.
- The warrant relates to an unpaid fuel bill according to case documents.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Symphony due to unpaid fuel bills, according to case documents obtained by USA TODAY. The warrant enables authorities to take custody of the ship.
Now, passengers have been on board an extra day as the ship changed course and avoided docking in Miami where it might have been met by a U.S. marshal.
Unpaid fuel bills
On Saturday, the ship sailed toward Bimini after skirting its planned disembarkation. Initially, the ship was meant to return to Miami on Saturday, ending a round-trip cruise that began Jan. 8, according to Cruise Mapper. Crystal Cruises’ parent organization, the Genting Group, owns Resorts World Bimini, and the Crystal Symphony is a Bahamas-flagged vessel.
Peninsula Petroleum Far East is looking to recover just over $4.6 million from Crystal Cruises and Star Cruises. They are seeking more than $1.2 million from the Crystal Symphony vessel alone.
Crystal Cruises suspended sailings earlier this week on the heels of the collapse of the cruise line’s parent company, Genting Hong Kong.
Passengers and crew, apart from a skeleton crew that will continue to man the ship, are scheduled to disembark Sunday in Bimini after the ship clears customs. Then, they will be ferried to Fort Lauderdale, Elio Pace told USA TODAY Saturday. Pace is a United Kingdom-based performer working on board Crystal Symphony.
“In three days, this whole thing has blown up from nothing,” Pace said. “There was no warning.”
He said he had heard rumors that Genting was in trouble financially but wasn’t too concerned when he boarded the ship Tuesday, expecting to stay on and perform until Feb. 23. Now, while contemplating what to do after leaving the ship tomorrow, he’s hoping he’ll be compensated for the time he was on board.
“I cannot tell you if I’m going to get paid for this week, let alone for the contracts that are supposed to run until the 23rd of February,” Pace said, noting that the situation isn’t unique to him. “(If) I’m in that predicament, I can guarantee you that everybody else on this ship – the crew and the staff – are in exactly the same predicament.”
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Source: USA TODAY
