Ship's cruises cancelled
2004-01-09 18:19
Johannesburg - Starlight Cruises was running out of patience with the debt-ridden owners of the Olympia Countess, and was cancelling all cruises until mid-February a spokesperson said on Friday.
"We couldn't keep our customers hanging on tenterhooks", said Alan Foggitt, Starlight's marketing director.
The cruise ship had been arrested when she sailed into Durban harbour on Thursday, causing an embarrassing and expensive problem for the cruise company who had chartered it for the South African season.
The seizure was due to financial disputes between the owners of the ship and their European creditors and the Countess would only be released when this had been resolved, said Krish Reddy, a lawyer for the creditors.
A cruise to Mozambique on Thursday afternoon had been cancelled, leaving over 400 passengers sitting in Durban with packed bags, but no holiday on the horizon.
The next cruise was scheduled to start on Monday.
The Countess' owners, Royal Olympic Cruises, had been promising Starlight they would resolve the situation at any moment, said Foggitt.
However, on Friday afternoon the cruise company decided they could not continue keeping their customers in suspense, and cancelled all trips until February 13.
The disappointed customers could either have their fares refunded, change to a later cruise, or take one of the alternative holidays that the company was offering, said Foggitt.
However, he said Starlight was still prepared to keep its contract with Royal Olympic, and believed that the ship would be available in February.
"We looked at chartering another ship, but the only ones available were in Europe, and it would take too long to get them here," he said on Friday.
Meanwhile, British Airways (BA) decided to rescue 15 of their passengers who had been stranded in Durban due to the debacle.
The passengers had booked discounted fares with British Airways, which they could not change without paying a large penalty, said Stuart Cochrane, marketing manager for British Airways.
"BA realised that the changes in these passengers' flight dates were beyond their control (so) we offered to fly them back to Johannesburg without any additional charges".
- SAPA