Arrest warrant issued for Crystal Cruises ship due to unpaid fuel bills, passengers, crew still on board
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 stuck 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.
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.
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Peninsula Petroleum Far East filed a lawsuit against the ship, Crystal Cruises and Star Cruises (HK) Limited, owned by Genting Group, and made a complaint Wednesday with a request for an arrest warrant.
On Friday, Judge Darrin Gayles of the U.S. District Court in Southern Florida approved the warrant.
Attorney J. Stephen Simms of Simms Showers, who is representing Peninsula Petroleum Far East, told Bloomberg that a U.S. marshal and a court-appointed custodian would be prepared to arrest the ship Saturday should it come into port in Miami as intended – but he expected otherwise.
“The U.S. marshal will be there with the arrest warrant if the ship shows up in Miami,” Simms told Bloomberg. “My good money is that it’s not landing in Miami, from what we’ve been told. Our client is determined to recover.”
To accommodate the more than $1.2 million in claims, Peninsula Petroleum Far East would like the Crystal Symphony ship to be sold, according to the complaint.