Crystal Cruises will undertake an historic rendezvous in Sydney Harbour in 2018, with its Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony ocean cruise vessels meeting up on 17 Feb that year as part of their respective world cruises.
The move was revealed by Crystal president Edie Rodriguez at an event in Sydney on Fri, with the unique coming together also allowing the cruise line to offer four different world cruise itineraries that year – by enabling passengers to “flip and flop” between the ships in Sydney.
Other unique ocean cruise itineraries planned by Crystal include a repeat of its recent North West Passage voyage which will take place again in Aug 2017.
The exercise saw Crystal Serenity become the largest ever cruise ship to voyage through the remote arctic waterway, with Rodriguez describing its success as “beyond a home run”.
The first voyage sold out in just three days, and everyone but just six on board were repeat Crystal guests, highlighting the huge demand for the Anchorage-New York voyage.
Rodriguez also confirmed the new Crystal office in Sydney would kick off from 01 Jan 2017 with 13 staff but with scope to grow in time to up to 25.
To be headed by industry veteran Karen Christensen (CW 30 Jun), the office will sell the full range of Crystal product including its new yacht and river cruise product as well as Crystal Luxury Air and Crystal Residences.
In the meantime it’s business as usual for current GSA Wiltrans which has represented Crystal for the last 26 years, with Rodriguez paying tribute to owner Diane Patrick for her great success in building Crystal’s profile here.
