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No doubt Crystal Cruises (headquarters located in Miami) did not intend for an arrest warrant to be issued for one of its ships, Crystal Symphony, but that is exactly what happened when U.S. District Court Judge Darrin Gayles of the Southern District of Florida ordered the ship seized upon entry to U.S. waters. The court order came about as a result of a lawsuit filed by Peninsula Petroleum to for approximately $3.5 million in unpaid fuel bills accumulated by Crystal and Star Cruises (HK) also owned by Genting Group.
The Crystal Symphony, which flies under the flag of the Bahamas made an abrupt change in itinerary and went to the Bahamas instead. Cruise passengers, thinking they were disembarking in Florida, instead disembarked in the Bahamas and were put on ferries to get them to Miami. As of this writing, the ship remains anchored off the coast of Bimini.
The cruise line has three ships in operation - Crystal Serenity, Crystal Endeavor and the aforementioned Crystal Symphony. The advisory notes that full refunds will be processed automatically and any future cruise credit/payment will be returned to the traveler’s Crystal Society account.
Interestingly, the Crystal Cruises webpage rings of optimism, with voyages suspended through April/May 2022 so management may “evaluate the current state of business and examine various options moving forward.” What they omitted is that the parent company filed for liquidation in the Bahamas concurrent with the suspension notification and is expected to run out of cash by end of January 2022.
