The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday granted Joystar’s request to convert a pending Chapter 7 bankruptcy into a Chapter 11 proceeding, giving the troubled host agency the opportunity to reorganize.
Fifteen travel agents who claim tens of thousands of dollars in back commissions had sought Chapter 7 liquidation with an involuntary-bankruptcy filing on Dec. 31.
The court also allowed four cruise lines -- Carnival, Holland America, Princess and NCL -- to permit independent contractors to move cruise bookings for future sailings to alternate host agencies.
In addition, the court directed that the cruise lines can pay commissions on transferred bookings to the new host agencies and stated that neither Joystar nor its heirs will have claim to those commissions.
However, the court directed that the cruise lines pay any commissions still due to Joystar for bookings completed while Joystar was the host agency.
In a previous interim order, Carnival, Holland America and Princess had been ordered to hold commissions in escrow while awaiting further court instructions.