A cruise ship slated to return to the U.S. has diverted to the Caribbean at the last second after a federal judge issued the ship be seized.
Crystal Symphony, part of the Crystal Cruises fleet of ships, left Miami on Jan. 8 for a two week voyage that was scheduled to conclude on Saturday. However, a federal judge issued an arrest warrant for the ship, stemming from a lawsuit against Crystal Cruises claiming $4.6 million of unpaid fuel bills, according to various reports.
As a result, instead of arriving in Florida and possibly being met by federal authorities, the cruise stayed in international waters and altered course to Bimini in the Bahamas. The approximately 300 guests onboard were allowed to disembark and given the chance to take a ferry from Bimini to Ft. Lauderdale, a trip which the company acknowledged was "uncomfortable due to inclement weather."
One passenger who took the ferry told the Washington Post they got up during the two-hour ride to throw up from seasickness, only to find nine or ten other passengers doing the same.
The paper reported last Thursday that the captain announced to the passengers and crew that the ship was no longer bound for Miami due to "nontechnical reasons." The workers and guests learned from news reports the next day that the ship changed course because of its legal troubles.
Crystal Cruises last week suspended operations for all of its ocean ships until April 29 and for its river cruises until May, to "provide Crystal's management team with an opportunity to evaluate the current state of business and examine various options moving forward," the company said, according to the outlet.
The cruise line did not comment about the arrest warrant because it is a pending legal matter.
As of Monday, the Post reported that the ship remains in Bahamian waters.
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