The Court granted the defendants' motion to compel arbitration, finding that the four jurisdictional requirements for compelling arbitration under the New York Convention were met: the written contracts between the parties contained an arbitration clause; Norway, the country indicated as the seat of arbitration, was a Convention signatory; the contracts arose from a commercial relationship between the parties, in which the plaintiff engaged the defendants to charter a small cruise ship for travel to international destinations; and the parties' relationship envisaged performance or enforcement abroad. The affirmative defences raised by the plaintiff were unsuccessful. The plaintiff claimed that the contracts between the parties were NULL and void because he had failed to comply with certain conditions precedent: timely signing the Agreements; including a deposit with the Agreements; providing full payment upon signing the Agreements; providing a letter of credit; and sending an original copy of the Agreements. The Court held that these defenses did not constitute defenses recognized by the New York Convention and the Eleventh Circuit, such as that the contracts were signed under fraud, duress, or mistake, or that a waiver occurred. Also, the plaintiff did not challenge the validity of the arbitration clause itself, but rather the validity of the contracts; such argument, held the Court, were for the arbitrators to decide.