Crystal Cruises, which shut all operations in January when its parent company, Genting, collapsed will see a new life next year with new owners for two of its ships.
Abercrombie and Kent Travel Group bought Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony at auction, along with the Crystal trademarks and rights, and will restart next year after refurbishing the ships. Crystal operated as a luxury-level cruise line and will continue on that path. Both are in the 900-passenger class.
Two other Crystal ships have sold to other operators; the smallest, Crystal Esprit has sold to Lindblad Expeditions, and Silversea, a Royal Caribbean brand, is believed to be the new owner of Crystal Endeavor and will like rename it Silversea Endeavor.
The fate of Crystal’s European river cruise fleet is still unresolved; operations ceased in January along with the ocean cruises, but rival companies have shown little interest in the luxurious all-suite ships since each of the other big operators, including Viking, Ama Waterways, Avalon and Uniworld has ships of their own design and would find it difficult to integrate a different type.
