On Saturday, Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Symphony changed its course giving its passengers one day extra on the cruise ship. They disembarked at Bimini instead of docking at Miami, Florida. A report in USA TODAY said that the outlet had obtained documents that showed that the an arrest warrant had been issued for the cruise ship due to unpaid fuel bills. It was enforceable at Maimi, so the cruise ship reportedly changed its course. Passengers were reportedly flown to Miami.

The Genting Group, which is the parent group of Crystal Cruises, owns Resorts World Bimini. Cruise ship Crystal Symphony is also a Bahamas flagged ship.

Cruise Critic had recently reported that Crystal Cruises, which undertakes luxury cruises, expeditions and river operations was stopping its sailings after the financial collapse of its parent company the Genting Group. The company said that its executive team would look at all options available to continue its operations.

Meanwhile in Miami, Peninsula Petroleum Far East has been examining options to recover roughly $4.6 million from Crystal Cruises and Star Cruises. The Crystal Symphony ship owes over $1.2 million of the mentioned amount.

A U.S. judge granted an order to seize the ship when it docked at Miami, on Saturday. This lead to high sea drama as the ship changed course and traveled to Bimini in the Bahamas. However, the management of Crystal Cruises called the change in course as “non-technical operational issues.”

According to a report in the Associated Press, Elio Pace, a musician who has toured with the ship, on and off from 2013, described the incident as “a human story” that involved “people and their jobs.”
The musician said that between 30 to 50 crew members had disembarked as they had completed their contracts. However, about 400 crew members are uncertain about when they can get off and whether would remain employed.

Earlier this week, Crystal Cruises had announced that operations were suspended through late April.

Image