Blue Horizon Casino Cruises Temporarily Stops Day Cruise Casino Trips
Blue Horizon Casino Cruises launched its day cruise trips from Palm Beach earlier this month and expected smooth sailing but it appears that the casino cruise liner has already hit a rough patch. The company announced that it will suspend its daily cruise trips immediately in order to fix technical issues on the boat and will most likely re-launch its daily cruise trips by labor day.
The Blue Horizon is a 160 feet boat that can seat up to 600 passengers and expected to attract a lot of gamblers who love to sail the ocean and play a relaxed game at the table.
The boat rain into problems after it was hit by lightning at the Riviera Beach seaport which resulted in a breakdown of its communicational system. There were also a number of technical issues that needed to be addressed on the boat, including problems with the two engines.
Blue Horizon confirmed that it will not repair the two engines but instead replace them with new ones. The company had earlier planned to make the replacement only in 2016 but due to the maintenance and technical challenges faced, have decided to make a $1 million investment and purchase brand new engines. The company decided that it was best to suspend operations immediately in the best interests of its guests and employees.
The employees of Blue Horizon will continue to be on the company’s payroll during this downtime and will automatically be re-instated once the casino cruise liner starts to operate again. The casino cruise liner operation from Palm Beach has not been successful in the recent past as there have been three unsuccessful attempts in the recent past to run casino cruise liners but all have run into problems.
The Blue Horizon was named after the former Island Breeze II was renovated and made ready to sail again. The casino cruise liner offers a number of popular games including blackjack, slots, bingo and electronic bingo. The port of Palm Beach estimated that the casino cruise liner would bring in over $700,000 in ticket fees, $80,000 in parking fees and an additional $36,000 from office rent.
The two previous casino cruise operations went out of business within a 12 month period as they ran into a number of challenges including financial difficulties. Blue Horizon leadership had earlier played down these reports stating that the two previous operators went out of business as they had a lack of marine experience, a lack of funds and very little knowledge on how to operate a floating casino.
Blue Horizon will now have to prove that they have sufficient experience and funding to kick-start their operations by labor day and run a successful casino cruise liner.
