Chen Junjie, consul of the Chinese consulate-general in Jeju, said the consulate will help the company on Monday with the formalities needed for the Henna cruise's early departure.

During the detainment, HNA Tourism said that free entertainment and food have been provided to all passengers on board. In addition, a 24-hour hotline was released to the public on Saturday and an emergency team was established to work out a solution.

Some passengers said the services they were offered were not as the company has claimed. A passenger named Liu from Guangzhou said the crew didn't tell the passengers what had happened until the ship had been held for more than 20 hours, during which all services were charged for.

Some of the passengers were also not satisfied with the compensation offered by HNA Tourism.

A passenger named Huang, who flew back to Beijing on Sunday, said the compensation cannot make up for his losses, but he chose to fly back because he had to return to work.

The South Korean court issued the order after Shagang Shipping applied for a seizure over the alleged legal dispute.

A statement released by Shagang Shipping on Sunday apologized for the inconvenience to the passengers and said it would like to help the Chinese government properly deal with the stranded passengers.

According to the statement, Shagang Shipping won a liquidation order against Grand China Shipping Hong Kong, a subsidiary of HNA Group, for an unpaid $58 million arbitration award in November.

Henna's operator issued a statement criticizing Shagang Shipping's cruise ship seizure, which "in fact restricted the personal freedom of those on board and severely infringed upon the rights of innocent passengers". The operator reserved the right to seek damages from Shagang Shipping.

The statement said the company has reported the incident to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Tourism Administration.

Hao Junbo, a lawyer in Beijing, was quoted by China National Radio as saying it is rare for a cruise liner to be detained, because usually only cargo ships are seized over such legal disputes.

Dai Bin, head of the China Tourism Academy, said no commercial dispute should infringe upon tourists' legal interests.

Sun Xiaochen and Mo Jingxi contributed to this story.