Passengers who booked luxury cruises along Western Australia’s remote Kimberley coast have been left facing significant losses after Kimberley Pearl Tours entered receivership, despite future sailings continuing to be advertised online.
Receivers were appointed to Kimberley Pearl Tours (KPT) in January 2026 after the company’s sole director, Daniel Brown, fell behind on repayments for a loan used to help purchase the business.
Brown took control of the company in 2024. The operator specialises in small-ship voyages aboard Kimberley Pearl, sailing through one of Australia’s most remote cruising regions.
Customers say they were not directly informed about the financial problems and, in some cases, only discovered that their cruises would not be going ahead after searching for information themselves.
The company’s website was still displaying cruises for the remainder of 2026 and into 2027 on 24th August, including itineraries lasting between seven and 13 nights. Some September 2026 departures were being displayed as having cabins available.
Passengers Discover Cruises Will Not Go Ahead
Among those affected is Bob Shawyer, who booked a trip with his wife last year and says he is now AUD8,500, approximately £4,460, out of pocket.
“My wife and I didn’t get a holiday we’ve been dreaming of,” Mr Shawyer said.
Rather than receiving notification from the cruise company that his holiday would not take place, Shawyer said he discovered the situation by chance while searching online.
He subsequently received an email requesting payment of the outstanding balance on his booking after learning that the company had entered receivership.
Another passenger, Ian Grant, had arranged a private cruise for a family trip and potentially faced a much larger financial loss.
Grant discovered that KPT had gone into receivership before receiving an invoice requesting a further AUD140,000, equivalent to more than £73,500.
“We could have paid that thinking it was hunky-dory,” he said.
According to ABC, invoices it reviewed were sent from a Kimberley Pearl email address approximately two to three months after receivers had been appointed in January.
Brown has denied sending invoices following the appointment of the receivers.
He said that he had previously lived aboard Kimberley Pearl while operating the business, but that the vessel was seized in February along with business assets and his personal belongings.
“It was therefore the receivers’ own refusal of access that placed the books and records beyond reach,” Mr Brown said in a statement.
Brown has also said it remains his “firm intention” to return Kimberley Pearl to service and provide refunds to affected customers, adding that he was “deeply sorry”.
“You trusted us with your holiday of a lifetime,” he said.
Customers who have already handed over deposits, however, say they remain uncertain about whether or when they will recover their money.
Dispute Over Loan Now Before Federal Court
The financial dispute surrounding Kimberley Pearl Tours extends beyond the cancelled cruises.
According to ABC, Brown borrowed AUD395,000 from non-bank lender Blackbird Private Equity in 2024 to help complete his ownership of Kimberley Pearl. Within 19 months, the amount owed had risen to more than AUD1 million.
Brown is challenging the circumstances surrounding the receivership through Australia’s Federal Court, alleging that he became caught in a predatory arrangement involving brokers, lenders and insolvency practitioners.
Blackbird is also reportedly being investigated by class action firm Adero Law over allegations concerning lending practices involving multiple customers.
Federal Court Justice Michael Feutrill imposed an order preventing the receivers from selling KPT assets, including Kimberley Pearl, while the dispute continues.
The judge found there were questions that could be examined concerning Blackbird’s lending terms and the circumstances surrounding the appointment of receivers, although no definitive findings were made on those issues.
The parties are due to meet for further mediation on 31st August 2026.
The situation leaves the future of the vessel and the company uncertain, while passengers who had planned what some described as once-in-a-lifetime trips remain among the unsecured creditors hoping to recover their deposits.
Kimberley Pearl is marketed as a boutique expedition-style vessel offering seven, 10 and 13-night voyages through the Kimberley, with itineraries visiting destinations including Montgomery Reef, the Horizontal Falls and King George Falls.
Published prices for some 2026 Kimberley Pearl voyages ran into five figures per passenger, underlining the potentially substantial sums involved for travellers with bookings. A third-party Kimberley cruise specialist listed seven-night voyages from AUD8,400 per person, 10-night cruises from AUD12,000 and longer itineraries from AUD15,600.
For those who have already paid deposits, however, the immediate concern is not when Kimberley Pearl might return to the coast, but whether the money already handed to the company will ever be returned.
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