Cruise Ship Changes Route Midway Due To $1.2 Million In Unpaid Fuel Bills

A Crystal Cruises vessel with around 700 guests and crew members onboard has unexpectedly diverted its route. It was scheduled to make a stop in Miami but will no longer be headed that way. The unforeseen schedule change happened after an arrest warrant had been issued, multiple news outlets reported.

The Crystal Symphony was supposed to return to Miami Saturday, following a 14-day Caribbean trip, but travelled to Bimini instead, per reports from The Daily Mail.

Per Bloomberg, if the ship plans to dock in Miami, the terms of the warrant would permit it to get seized and it’d have to pay $1.2 million for unpaid fuel bill owed by Genting Hong Kong Ltd. – its operator.

Peninsula Petroleum Far East filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Star Cruises Limited and Crystal Cruises. The warrant was its result.

A passenger tweeted tagging Mundy Cruising, the travel agent, to help change the flight to Heathrow from Miami as they were stuck on Crystal Symphony that had to change its route and was now headed for the Bahamas and not Miami.

Elio Pace, a musician who had his performances aboard the vessel, reported to The Daily Mail that all the people are desperately trying to reschedule flights. He also added that there is no panic or tantrums ongoing.

Pace mentioned during an interview that he hopes he’ll receive compensation for the extra time he has had to spend onboard. Passengers were made to wait overnight Saturday before being carried by ferry to Fort Lauderdale following the diversion.

Genting Hong Kong has filed for provisional liquidation Wednesday. It had faced a loss of $1.7 billion in May, per Bloomberg.

Cruise firms have encountered difficulties over recent months, especially with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier this month, passengers and staff on Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Getaway ships described their quarantine experiences to be difficult.

Another guest, who was travelling on an unspecified cruise ship, said that she experienced sudden “panic and anxiety” as she was isolated for almost a week in a cabin that didn’t have a single window.

Reference: businessinsider.in