NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Around 200 crewmembers will remain on the Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity cruise liners, which have been detained in The Bahamas, as the mortgage bank prepares to sell the ships and pay off the fuel bill that led to their arrest, according to authorities.
Under the ILO, there is a requirement by the cruise line to ensure the welfare of all of the crew, so they will be paid.
– Acting port controller Berne Wright
Both ships, which were anchored off Freeport, Grand Bahama, had crews of around 450.
Around 250 crew members returned home within the last week.
Another 150 are expected to return to their respective countries on Friday.
There is a safe-manning requirement for the ships, according to Acting Port Controller Commander Berne Wright, who said both ships will go beyond that to accommodate around 100 crewmembers each.
“That’s to maintain the operational efficiency of the ships,” he told Eyewitness News.
“They are paid. They won’t be there and not paid. The cruise line — there is insurance to cover all of this.
“Under the ILO (International Labor Organization), there is a requirement by the cruise line to ensure the welfare of all of the crew, so they will be paid.”
Asked if The Bahamas was bearing any cost in the process, Wright said: “No. That has nothing to do with the government of The Bahamas.”
He said the crews are being facilitated to acquire needed supplies and there is no restriction on the movement of the crew, including their desire to return home.
“If they say ‘OK, we’re going to take 100 per ship’ and 20 say they are ready to go home, that’s not an issue. They will be afforded an opportunity to go home,” Wright noted.
“The bank also has a lean on the ships. The first lean was the fuel company. The bank now has the lean and they are going to sell.”
Asian cruise ship giant Genting Hong Kong, the owner of cruise lines such as Dream Cruises, Star Cruises and the luxury Crystal Cruises, filed for winding up of the company in January, setting in motion financial restructuring.
Guests onboard the Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony saw their cruises canceled shortly after departure in January, amid a United States federal district judge in Miami issuing an order against the cruise line and its ship over the alleged non-payment of $4.6 million in fuel.
Both cruise liners, which are Bahamian-registered, diverted to Bimini, where passengers were disembarked and returned home.
A Bahamian Supreme Court ordered handed down earlier this month saw the vessels arrested by local authorities.
