The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A senior tourism official yesterday the loss of Crystal Cruises will have “minimal impact” for The Bahamas after one of its ships was forced to anchor off Bimini to escape a US arrest warrant.

Janet Johnson, the Tourism Development Corporation’s chief executive, in response to Tribune Business inquiries, said her research revealed that the Genting-owned cruise line had just three calls scheduled at its Resorts World Bimini affiliate between now and a sailing suspension that is expected to last until end-April 2022.

“I made some inquiries and, according to Resorts World Bimini, Crystal only had t5hree ship calls between now and May, so the impact will be minimal,” she told this newspaper. “The Crystal ships had very low counts of high-end guests who usually stayed onboard and rarely ventured to town. I don’t think there will be significant impact to the island at all.”

Tribune Business understands that the financial strife that has afflicted Crystal Cruises, which together with Royal Caribbean pioneered cruise home porting in The Bahamas at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, will not affect Resorts World Bimini, the island’s anchor hotel property and major employer, which is also owned by the Malaysian-based conglomerate, Genting.

Resorts World and Crystal Cruises operate via separate companies within the Genting group, but the cruise line’s predicament has already made some Bimini residents nervous about the potential for further fall-out. “I hope this doesn’t spread beyond Crystal because you don’t need me to tell you that would not be good news,” said one resident yesterday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The concerns arose after the Crystal Symphony, one of Crystal Cruises’ major assets, chose to divert and end a 14-day Caribbean cruise by docking in Bimini - rather than Miami - so it could evade a warrant for the vessel’s arrest that was issued on January 20, 2022, by the south Florida federal court.

The arrest warrant was obtained by Peninsula Petroleum Far East, a Singapore-based shipping fuel supplier, which gained the court’s permission to seize the Crystal Symphony on the basis it had failed to pay for $1.201m worth of fuel bunkers supplied since December 21, 2021.

And, with another $900,000 owed for fuel supplies by its sister ship, Crystal Serenity, the Singapore-based company is alleging that Crystal Cruises has a total of $2.104m in outstanding bills that are past due.

The decision to cut the 14-day cruise short, and not end it in Miami, left the Crystal Symphony’s 300 passengers scrambling to make it back to south Florida in time to make connecting flights to their home destinations. Crystal and Resorts World had planned to transport them to Fort Lauderdale via ferry, but many were taking the aerial route yesterday.

“There’s hundreds of people going to the airport today from the cruise ship to fly out,” one contact said. “Some people have connecting flights to elsewhere, and the ferry wouldn’t get there in time. The ocean is very rough today from the cold front that came through. The wind is coming from the north at 17 knots, and there are six-seven foot seas.”

The Crystal Cruises situation has arisen after Genting, in its 2021 third quarter results announcement, said Resorts World Bimini planned to leverage cruise industry opportunities. It said: “In The Bahamas, the launch of the new Resorts World Bimini cruise port will be a key growth platform for Genting as it continues to leverage partnerships with renowned brands to drive visitation and spend at the resort.”

Crystal Cruises had kept The Bahamas on two of its sailing itineraries for 2022. The first, starting in New York, was to stop in Bimini, Exuma and San Salvador, with the second - leaving Miami - to call on those three islands plus Long Island.

However, financial strife at its immediate parent has caused Crystal Cruises, which last year pioneered home porting in The Bahamas alongside Royal Caribbean, to suspend operations until at least April 29, 2022. This was to allow management to assess the company’s business, and determine its future options, with its parent set to run out of cash by end-January.

“This was an extremely difficult decision but a prudent one given the current business environment and recent developments with our parent company, Genting Hong Kong,” said Jack Anderson, Crystal’s president.

“Crystal has been synonymous with luxury cruising for more than 30 years, and we look forward to welcoming back our valued guests when we resume operations. We wish to thank our guests and travel advisors for their incredible support during these ongoing challenging times.”