Tag Archives: Crystal Mozart

Here’s What Happened to the Former Crystal Cruises Fleet

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Crystal Cruises’ ocean-going fleet has found new homes. Here’s the latest on the new destinations for Crystal’s ships:

Crystal Endeavor
Year Built: 2021
Capacity: 200 guests
Status: Sold to Silversea Cruises

Silversea Cruises acquired the former Crystal Endeavor earlier this month. Sold for $275 million, the 2021-built expedition vessel will be renamed Silver Endeavour before entering service for the ultra-luxury operator.  

Set to debut in time for the 2022-2023 season in Antarctica, the ship is expected to undergo a minor refit work that includes signage changes, the addition of Silversea’s livery and a few restaurant adjustments.

Crystal Serenity
Year Built: 2003
Capacity: 980 guests
Status: Sold to A&K Travel Group

In June, the Crystal Serenity was sold to the A&K Travel Group at auction for $103 million.

According to the new owners – who also bought the Crystal Cruises brand and other assets – the vessel will be subject to a major refit before resuming service in 2023.

Crystal Symphony
Year Built: 1995
Capacity: 848 guests
Status: Sold to A&K Travel Group

The Crystal Symphony was sold at a judicial auction in June. Like its fleet mate Crystal Serenity, it was bought by the A&K Travel Group, who bought the ship with a bid of $25 million for a 1995-built luxury vessel.

Before resuming service in 2023, the ship will also be subject to a major revitalization, the new owners revealed recently.  

Crystal Esprit
Year Built: 1989
Capacity: 48 guests
Status: Sold to Lindblad Expeditions   

Sold by Crystal Cruises in September 2021, the Crystal Esprit was acquired by Lindblad Expeditions.

Renamed National Geographic Islander II, the 48-guest mega-yacht will offer year-round expeditions to the Galapagos Islands. After a significant refit in Northern Europe, the former Esprit is set to launch service for its operator in August.

Crystal Bach, Crystal Mahler, Crystal Debussy and Crystal Ravel
Year Built: 2017 and 2018
Capacity: 106 guests each
Status: Pending

While all the former ocean-going Crystal ships have now met their fates, the company’s river fleet continues to sit in limbo.  

Built by the MV Werften between 2017 and 2018, the four Rhine-Class sister ships are currently laid up in the Netherlands.

Crystal Mozart
Year Built: 1987
Capacity: 154 guests
Status: Pending

Like its Rhine fleet mates, the Crystal Mozart is also waiting for a decision regarding its future. Rumours suggest the ship has been sold.

Currently docked in Austria, the vessel was built in 1987 and underwent a full revitalization before joining Crystal in 2016. As the biggest river ship in the fleet, it has the capacity for a total of 160 guests.  

Crystal Cruises redeploys new river vessels away from France

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The new river cruise arm of Crystal Cruises is delaying plans to deploy two new vessels on rivers in France.

Instead Crystal River Cruises is to increase its presence on the Danube, Main and Rhine, deploying four of its planned new build ‘river yachts’ in the region in 2017 and 2018.

The shift in focus means redesigning and enlarging the company’s two Paris-class river vessels – Crystal Debussy and Crystal Ravel – as Rhine-class boats, and redeploying them east in 2018.

Previously, Crystal Debussy and Crystal Ravel were to travel along the Seine, Rhone and Dordogne rivers in France from June and August 2017 respectively.

No mention was made of recent terrorist incidents in France and the extension of the country’s state of emergency for six months following the deadly truck attack in Nice earlier in July.

The luxury line, which draws a large proportion of passengers from the US, said the change away from France was based on passenger feedback “lauding the itineraries planned in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Amsterdam and Holland”.

As a result, “the company has elected to delay its entrance into the French river cruise market, choosing instead to prioritise its offerings in the German/Austrian region in order to meet travellers’ demand for those experiences”.

Chief executive and president Edie Rodriguez said: “Unlike an ocean-going ship that can accommodate a change in itinerary with short notice, a river ship operates within more confined parameters and is unable to re-route easily.

“We are listening carefully to what travellers are telling us and have concluded that the best way to anticipate, meet and surpass their expectations is by making this move earlier rather than later.”

The line is offering a series of compensation packages to people who have booked 2017 voyages on Crystal Debussy and Crystal Ravel including on board credits and future cruise credits worth up to $1,000.

No details were given of how many bookings the line has received for the sailings in France.

The new design places the vessels as part of the line’s 106-passenger Rhine-class series currently comprising Crystal Bach and Crystal Mahler, which are due to enter service June 18 and August 29, 2017 respectively.

Crystal Debussy and Crystal Ravel are now due for maiden voyages in April 2018 and May 2018 respectively with detailed itineraries to be announced shortly, the company said.

They will be increased in size from 110 metres to 135 metres, the maximum size permissible on the Rhine, Main and Danube. The increased length allows for the addition of a swimming pool with a sliding glass roof and more large suites.

The move follows the recent launch of the line’s first luxury river cruiser, Crystal Mozart.

 

More lines are betting on adventure cruises

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A rendering of one of Crystal’s forthcoming river yachts, which will feature excursions such as “flightseeing” tours on helicopters.
They may not be evolving into all-out expedition cruises, but just like their oceangoing cousins, river cruises are being infused with a greater sense of adventure.
From more demanding activities in Europe, to more exotic destinations farther afield, it appears that river cruisers are ready to be taken a bit further out of their comfort zone.
In Europe, combining biking tours with river cruise itineraries has been gaining in popularity for several years. But now river cruise lines are taking the off-boat activities a step further and incorporating more innovative ways to see and experience the people and places that line the banks.
For example, Avalon Waterways has added a nine-day Active Discovery on the Danube cruise that will give cruisers the opportunity to bike, hike and canoe along the river. It will also include options to explore an ice cave, take an archery lesson, descend into an underground salt mine or ascend a mountain on a guided climb.
When Crystal Cruises unveils its first river cruise vessel, the Crystal Mozart, on the Danube this July, the itineraries will be chock full of adventurous extras for an added price. Standard sightseeing excursions as well as plenty of included hiking and e-biking tours will be complimentary, but those in need of a bit more of an adrenaline rush can splurge for helicopter and small-plane “flightseeing” tours or opt for river rafting experiences.
Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection recently expanded a partnership with Butterfield & Robinson to add several biking cruises along the Danube this year and next. Uniworld also has a kayaking excursion on the Gardon River on its Burgundy and Provence itinerary.
Similarly, AmaWaterways has a partnership for more active river cruises with hike-and-bike specialist Backroads.
For those seeking even more adventure, there continues to be more options for river cruising in exotic destinations.
For example, French river cruise company CroisiEurope this spring said it is building a river vessel that will sail the Chobe and Zambezi rivers in southern Africa in 2017. The 16-passenger boat will operate six-day cruises on the Chobe and Zambezi, which wind through and along several countries, including Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia, followed by a four-day land tour that includes safaris and a day at Victoria Falls.
Pandaw River Expeditions has introduced an itinerary on the Kapuas River System in western Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo.
Pandaw River Expeditions has introduced an itinerary on the Kapuas River System in western Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo.

Pandaw River Expeditions has been continuously pushing river cruise boundaries in Southeast Asia, where earlier this year the company introduced an itinerary on the Kapuas River system in western Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo.

The seven-day Into the True Heart of Borneo expedition is being offered on the company’s 32-passenger Katha Pandaw. It will sail more than 300 miles along the upper part of the Kapuas, and will traverse the Danau Sentarum system of lakes, a national park that connects to the river.

The Borneo rain forest is home to numerous species of flowering plants and animals, including the Bornean orangutan, the Bornean elephant, the Eastern Sumatran rhinoceros, the Bornean clouded leopard and the Dayak fruit bat.

Pandaw is also building a ship for the upper Mekong River, the 28-passenger Yunnan, which is set to launch in September with a 14-night itinerary from Vientiane in Laos to Jinghong in China, a product that Pandaw introduced last year on the Laos Pandaw.