A cruise ship went on the lam to avoid an arrest warrant, taking all of its passengers with it.
The Crystal Symphony ship from Crystal Cruises was headed for Miami, its final stop, when it learned that a lawsuit had been filed against it for unpaid fuel bills. Rather than pay up, the ship did an about-face and hightailed it to Bimini, Bahamas, where it is still docked.
Many of the ship's passengers caught a ferry back to Fort Lauderdale, rather than Miami, which was "uncomfortable due to inclement weather," according to AP. Other passengers went to local airports and caught a flight back to the U.S.
From CNN:
The saga began Wednesday, when Peninsula Petroleum Far East filed a lawsuit in a South Florida federal court against Crystal Cruises, alleging it owed unpaid fuel bills totaling more than $4.6 million — of which $1.2 million is for Crystal Symphony specifically.
On Thursday, a US judge issued an arrest warrant ahead of the ship's scheduled Saturday arrival in Miami, meaning the ship would be seized by a US Marshal and court-appointed custodian. …
"This end to the cruise was not the conclusion to our guests' vacation we originally planned for," the cruise line said in a statement.
