Jack Anderson the former president of collapsed luxury cruise line Crystal Cruises says that Crystal Cruises owes customers more than $100 million in deposits and payments, according to a Bloomberg report.
A Business Insider report also reports that Crystal Cruises hit financial troubles after its parent company, Genting Hong Kong, applied for liquidation on January 19, with the company later that month issued with an arrest warrant in relation to a $1.2 million unpaid fuel bill owed by Genting, and two of its ships were seized by authorities in the Bahamas.
The company has also closed its offices in the USA, let employees go, and also owes money to passengers who paid for trips up until 2024, with in addition it also owes travel agents and vendors, as well as crew members, who are still onboard ships, and other employees, Anderson told Bloomberg.
The report says that Anderson told Bloomberg and Seatrade Cruise News most customers had paid via credit card which will make refunds easier, but those who paid in cash or rebooked another cruise for a future date because their trip was cancelled in 2020 or 2021 might not get their money back.
Anderson added that none of Crystal Cruises’ assets was in liquid cash that the company could use to keep operations open, and “Ultimately, we ended up with a bank account of zero”.
The report adds that Anderson was the president of Crystal Cruises until it dissolved operations on February 11, with V.Ships Leisure now managing Crystal Cruises’ two ships anchored in the Bahamas and its other ship Crystal Endeavor which was last seen in Uruguay, with Bloomberg and Seatrade Cruise News reporting that Anderson said that between 300 and 400 crew are still onboard each of the two ships in the Bahamas.
Edited by John Alwyn-Jones, Cruise Editor
