There are week-long round-trip voyages in the Caribbean, Baltic and the Med, and many shorter itineraries in just about every destination the line sails to. Both the big ships embark on regular world cruises and other long ocean voyages, such as the 16-day cruise across the Pacific's vast, heaving blue from Valparaiso in Chile to Papeete, and a 21-day crossing of the Indian Ocean from Perth to Cape Town. There are voyages to Hawaii, Alaska, the Middle East and Antarctica. Serenity and Symphony follow the sun with voyages to the great cities of the Baltic, the Caribbean and the West Indies and the Mediterranean's classic harbours. On a 68,000-ton ship, that translates into a lot of usable space per passenger. The Serenity is heading to the yards in October for its own multimillion-dollar transformation that, among other things, will reduce its capacity from 1,070 to 980 guests. The Symphony is fresh from a prolonged and very expensive refit - the sea is a harsh mistress - with new suites and penthouses being added to an already luxurious ship. WHAT ABOUT ITS SHIPS?The line operates two ocean-going vessels - the 50,000-ton Crystal Symphony and the 68,000-ton Crystal Serenity, along with a fleet of four luxury river ships and the 3,000ton, 62-passenger Crystal Esprit, a magnificent luxury yacht that would not look out of place in a tech billionaire's toybox. Renamed Crystal Ltd, the line is owned by Genting Hong Kong, who have embarked on additions to the ocean-going cruise brand with river, luxury yacht and "air cruises". The line is highly regarded for its excellent service, which is in part due to a high ratio of staff to passengers. ![]() The line started out with one ship, the Crystal Harmony, and from the outset sought to position itself as a luxury cruise line. It means the end of a big ship for a while.A luxury cruise line founded as Crystal Cruises in the US in 1988. … People say, 'Oh, does that mean the end of it?' No, that doesn't mean the end of it at all. "I think what they're doing is building up a bit of a passenger list, if you will. "Going across the Northwest Passage is not going to the Caribbean," he said. Nome Mayor Richard Beneville said this week that he's felt a bit "put out" as people have asked him about the Crystal Serenity not returning. The Crystal Serenity stopping in Nome on its route to New York City was a major event for the town, which hadn't seen a cruise ship of that size before. "It's going to give us more flexibility, to give us more diverse itineraries that offer more variety of stops." "With a bigger ship, it's harder to get into some areas," he said. He said the downsizing to a smaller ship isn't related to a decreasing demand. In 2016, the company's Northwest Passage cruise was full, Stoll said, and this year it was about 90 percent full. Stoll said the price to get aboard the Crystal Endeavor for its expeditions through the Northwest Passage will be "similar or higher" than that. The Crystal Serenity cruises through the Arctic, with a price tag anywhere between about $20,000 and about $120,000, targeted the affluent. Stoll said that it sold out so quickly that they needed to add a second departure in 2017. The company started planning its inaugural Northwest Passage trip - the one in 2016 - years in advance. "When we first went into it in 2013, we only planned one sailing," he said. John Stoll, Crystal Cruises' vice president of land programs and project manager for the Northwest Passage, said that taking a year off from the route in 2018 was previously planned and the itinerary wasn't necessarily intended to be an annual event. The mega-yacht Crystal Endeavor has a passenger capacity of about 200, significantly smaller than that of the Crystal Serenity, which can carry more than 1,000 passengers. "We will be returning to the Northwest Passage at a future date with our new expedition ship, Crystal Endeavor, which will be a polar-class vessel," said Crystal Cruises spokeswoman Susan Robison, in an email. Instead, a mega-yacht the company is building will sail the passage. ![]() Now, the company says its large ocean ships, such as the Serenity, won't traverse the path in the future. ![]() (Erik Hill / Alaska Dispatch News)Ī cruise line's much-ballyhooed itinerary through the Arctic's storied Northwest Passage will take next year off, and the company plans to return with a smaller vessel in 2019 or possibly early 2020.Ĭalifornia-based Crystal Cruises' ship Crystal Serenity last summer made the 32-day voyage through the icy Northwest Passage from Seward to New York City - the largest cruise ship to ever take that route, according to the company. The cruise ship Crystal Serenity stops to view Johns Hopkins Glacier from a distance on Sunday, August 13, 2017, in Glacier Bay National Park. ![]() Updated: SeptemPublished: September 22, 2017
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