deadline to guarantee the cruise ship will come to Bermuda this year, or it will look for a replacement.

But Tourism will have a race against time to get a new ship in just five months if the Crown Dynasty has to pull out of its run to Dockyard this season.

The ship's owners, Commodore Holdings, filed for bankruptcy in December but the company is in talks with its bankers to keep the business afloat.

Philadelphia-based Apple Vacations, which organised trips to Bermuda on the Crown Dynasty , announced yesterday it had been unable to strike a deal with Commodore to ensure the ship will sail to the Island this season.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Apple is looking for refunds or alternative trips for 4,000 passengers who booked trips to Bermuda.

Director of Tourism Richard Calderon told The Royal Gazette last night that Government had given Fred Mayer, the chief executive of Commodore, until January 31 to come up with a plan to sail Crown Dynasty or another ship.

"We've had conversations with Apple Vacations and Fred Mayer about the possibility of salvaging the Crown Dynasty for 2001 and we've given Mr. Mayer until the end of the month to go or not,'' he said.

"He remains optimistic, but we don't have much to go on and we have imposed a deadline for final discussions.

"We have talked to other cruise ships about the possibility of another cruise ship or a variation on that.

"We have a short window of five months to deploy a ship so it's not easy, but we have had interest.''