In what may be one of the biggest shake ups to luxury cruising since, well…. ever, a cruise line has leaked a raft of changes to what and how they’ll be offering cruise holidays.
Crystal Cruises yesterday (19th Jul ’15) announced that they’d be going through a major ‘brand’ shake up – allowing guests to experience much more under the luxury name of Crystal Cruises. Going forward you’ll be able to continue to enjoy luxury cruises with them but you’ll also be able to try your hand at river cruising, luxury yachting, submarine cruises and even be able to fly to and from your cruise destinations in Crystals new airline!
Crystal had previously announced they’d be introducing one new ship to the cruising market but will now instead be adding three.
At a planned 100,000 tonnes each these certainly won’t be small ships by any stretch of the imagination but where the new Crystal design comes into its own is in the fact that there’ll be a maximum of 1,000 guests per ship – Giving an unprecedented amount of space per passenger.
Crystal are planning to have the most luxurious suites at sea, double the size of any other cruise line with the sense of space being enhanced by extra high ceilings.
If that’s not enough though these ships will come equipped with helicopters and submarines for enhanced overland and underwater shore excursions!
If you’re liking the sound of all that then in another completely unique move CEO and President Edie Rodriquez also announced that there will be forty eight private residences on-board these floating palaces, available to be bought as a home from home, each equipped with its own private restaurant, reception and other facilities.
Crystal plan to have the first of these super-luxury ships ready by 2018 with their Crystal river cruise ships ready by 2017 (the plan is to have two custom built boats ready by then with the same amount of luxury you’d find on their ocean going counterparts).
If all that wasn’t enough you’ll also be able to enjoy a cruise on a mega yacht (in fact you can book for that now with the first cruise ready to go in December).
The first, to be called the Crystal Espirit will carry only sixty three passengers and will offer adventure cruising on an unprecedented luxury level with zodiacs, jet skis, kayaks and yes – a two person submarine as well!
Finally, although details were a little sketchier, Crystal will be starting its own airline to service its luxury cruises.
To be known as Crystal Luxury Air they’ve announced they’ll be buying one of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s but will only carry sixty passengers; as opposed to the three hundred it’s designed for!
Whether you’re a fan of luxury cruising or not you can’t deny Crystal have gone all out with these changes and will no doubt be the standard to beat in six star cruising for years to come!
If you’re interested you can enquire about the Crystal Espirit here
What do you think?
Will you be trying an underwater submarine cruise with them?
Let us know in the comments below…
