The Crystal Serenity and Symphony cruise vessels, which are both docked at Freeport in The Bahamas, have been detained.
The ships which have now been detained by the Bahamian authorities had been diverted to The Bahamas to avoid being detained in the United States. An announcement made to the crew aboard by the captain on the Symphony explained that the detention was due to unpaid bills.
Cruise Industry News has reported that the cruise vessels’ arrests will not impact crew movement. The announcement made stated that “crew sign offs can still go as planned, and we are still in process of preparing those”.
Late last month an arrest warrant was issued for the Crystal Symphony by a Miami-based judge with a fuel supplier claiming unpaid bills. The ship has not docked in the US since.
There are no guests onboard either ship as Crystal has wound down commercial operations for the time being as parent company Genting Hong Kong struggles with financial issues. The Crystal Symphony was the first to divert to The Bahamas on January 22 after a Miami court ordered the ship arrested when it returned to Florida at the end of its cruise.
A fuel supplier had gone to court reporting that it was due nearly US$5 million for unpaid bills for the two Crystal Cruises’ ships as well as older bills for another of Genting Hong Kong’s cruise ships. The Crystal Serenity arrived just over a week later after being turned away by officials in Aruba, where the ship had planned to end its cruise.
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