Australia's Scenic Cruises is said to be planning three more cruiseship newbuildings at crisis-hit Uljanik Shipyard - but only if work continues on the first two.
The Croatian yard's workers have been on strike this week over unpaid September wages and had asked sub-contractors to stop work on the 17,100-gt vessels.
This demand has now been dropped to protect the yard's future, after it lost deals for four car carriers, a livestock ship and four bulkers in recent weeks.
The Hina news agency cited union strike committee president Boris Cerovac as saying: "The shipowner told us he has very little patience and that he would pull the cruiseship if this pressure continued."
In July, TradeWinds reported that Scenic had been forced to scrap its five-month programme of cruises scheduled for its polar cruiseship Scenic Eclipse due to a delay.
Ordered in 2016, the vessel was supposed to have been delivered in August of this year. It was scheduled to set off on an inaugural series of cruises covering the Mediterranean, Atlantic, South America and Antarctica.
The ship will instead begin service on 28 January on a cruise from Argentina to Antarctica.
Despite these problems Scenic returned to Uljanik in February this year with an order for a second ship that is scheduled for delivery in 2020.
