Seized cruise ship hunting for a port

The one thousand-odd passengers on board the cruise ship Seawind Crown”, which was impounded by the Guardia Civil in Palma on Sunday, were yesterday still on board the ship as she tried to put into the port of Tarragona on the mainland after being confronted with a blocked port in Barcelona. The cruise ship, owned by the U.S. company Premier Cruises, was seized because of an outstanding payment of 205 million pesetas. But the Seawind Crown has not been the only Premier Cruises's ship to have been seized. Angry, luggage-toting tourists, their vacations ruined, headed home after a U.S. company abruptly suspended operations, dumping 2'800 passengers from four luxury ships in ports in Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas over the past few days. Premier Cruise Lines of Port Canaveral, Florida shut down after its primary lender seized the ships, which had been put up for collateral. The Rembrandt and the Sea Breeze , both of which used to operate out of Palma during the summer, were seized Thursday in Halifax, and the Oceanic was impounded in Nassau in the Bahamas.