Posted at 11:14 a.m., Thursday, March 10, 2005
Dream Cruises resumes operations
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
The U.S. Marshals Service seized the American Dream in Kewalo Basin and its sister ship the Kona Dream in Kona after American Dream defaulted on a $1.4 million mortgage on the boats.
"We've arranged for a replacement vessel and have resumed normal operations," said Dream Cruises President Michael Watson. "The ship is smaller, but it has sufficient capacity for the people we're serving."
Watson said discussions were continuing with GE Capital Corp., which filed suit in U.S. District Court to seize and sell the boats to pay off outstanding loans.
On Feb. 28, a 22-year-old Japanese man died after leaping into the ocean from the 77-foot American Dream. In 2003, a 3-year-old boy was fatally injured when the vessel collided with a humpback whale.
