Azores was scheduled to depart Lisbon at 7pm on Tuesday, before heading back to Bristol Avonmouth, after a 15-night cruise visiting Spain, Portugal and Madeira.
However, the captain of Azores was denied permission to leave the port by the harbour master, until the debt was paid. Eventually, Cruise & Maritime Voyages - which had nothing to do with the financial debt - came to an arrangement with the Portuguese authorities to allow permission for the ship to sail back to Bristol. The ship was allowed to leave at 2pm on Wednesday, 19 hours late.
Chris Coates, commercial director of Cruise & Maritime Voyages, commented:
"The delay of the MV Azores overnight in Lisbon related to a historic local issue with the vessel's owning company, Portuscale Cruises from whom Cruise & Maritime Voyages charter the ship using our own crew. This dispute involved a previous crewing issue going back to 2014 and was settled first thing this morning, but we had to wait for the clearance documentation to be signed off by the local authorities. The ship is now heading en-route back to the UK."
Azores has been plagued with problems since joining the CMV fleet in January 2015. Delayed maintenance work in Lisbon, resulted in her maiden voyage with CMV departing from Plymouth instead of Bristol. In February, Azores had to take shelter in Lisbon, after adverse weather in the Atlantic. This affected the proceeding cruise, which departed a day late from Portland, near Weymouth, instead of Bristol Avonmouth, as well as several ports of call along the way being changed.