Crystal announced Wednesday, January 19, that it has suspended operations for its Ocean and Expedition ships through April 29, 2022, with River cruises suspended through the end of May 2022. Suspending operations will provide Crystal’s management team with an opportunity to evaluate the current state of business and examine various options moving forward.
Crystal’s three ships currently in operation—Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony sailing in the Caribbean and Crystal Endeavor in Antarctica—will complete their current voyages. Crystal Symphony’s current voyage ends in Miami on January 22, Crystal Serenity in Aruba on January 30 and Crystal Endeavor in Ushuaia, Argentina, on February 4.
Why the pause: According to our sister publication Luxury Travel Advisor, on Tuesday night, Genting Hong Kong, the parent company of Crystal Cruises, Star Cruises and Dream Cruises, filed a "Wind Up" petition (essentially a bankruptcy petition) with the Supreme Court of Bermuda, asking the court to appoint provisional liquidators. The filing stated that Genting Hong Kong, which also has other holdings, would run out of cash by the end of January 2022.
“This was an extremely difficult decision but a prudent one given the current business environment and recent developments with our parent company, Genting Hong Kong,” said Jack Anderson, Crystal’s president. “Crystal has been synonymous with luxury cruising for more than 30 years and we look forward to welcoming back our valued guests when we resume operations. We wish to thank our guests and travel advisors for their incredible support during these ongoing challenging times.”
Guests and their travel partners are currently being notified. Crystal will provide a full refund of cruise fare paid, which will be processed automatically to the original form of payment so there is no further action on the guest’s part. If the cruise was paid via a Future Cruise Payment or Credit, the full value will be returned to their Crystal Society profile account.
This story originally appeared on www.luxurytraveladvisor.com.
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