Oct 16, 2008 7:40 pm US/Eastern
SeaEscape Ship Goes For $3.6 Million At Auction
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
Going once, going twice, sold!
Thursday morning the old SeaEscape casino ship M/V Island Adventure sold for $3.6 million at an auction conducted by the U.S. Marshalls at the Broward County Courthouse. The ship was put on the auction block after attempts to sell it or line up financing to satisfy creditors fell through.
The ship's new owner is Glen Straub, who at one time owned the American Airlines Arena and the Palm Beach Polo Club. Straub reportedly plans to repair and refurbish the ship. His first plan is to pull anchor and move to Port Canaveral where the competition's not so fierce. "Get away from Hard Rock right now, 'cuz those guys are too tough to compete against," Straub explained. "Those are hard core gamblers out there, we're not."
Then, if all goes according to plan, Straub hopes to turn the ship into a rental floating entertainment center. "People are always going to get married, they're always going to be bar mitzvah-ed, there's always going to be multi entertainment needs, 'cuz people always want to go out on Friday and Saturday nights. And this ship's large enough to do that," Straub insisted.
SeaEscape sailed for 21 years from Port Everglades, but sailings came to a halt on August 10th, supposedly due to the struggling economy, costs, and competition from South Florida casinos. Marshals seized the ship August 23; a warrant was issued after some crew members alleged they had not been paid their wages.
A federal judge gave the ship's owner, Cruise Charter Ltd. of the Bahamas until September 26 to lease, sell or charter the ship in order to raise funds to pay existing claims, including unpaid wages. When they couldn't, the judge ordered the ship be sold at auction.
SeaEscape's creditors claim the owners owe more than $2.3 million, including wages for around 145 crew members.
SeaEscape's website still has a message saying "SeaEscape has suspended sailing from Port Everglades and will be relocating to a new port in the next few weeks."
(© MMX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
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