Crystal Cruises Bringing Back Casinos for 2024 Excursions
Crystal Cruises is no more thirster as focused on gaming as was the sail liner’s previous owner, Genting Hong Kong.
Crystal Cruises’ two-vessel portfolio strike down into failure amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Genting Hong Kong, a subsidiary of Genting Group, which owns integrated resort hotel casinos inwards Malaysia, Singapore, the UK, the Philippines, and the U.S., failed to pay off Crystal Cruises’ bills and tying up fees during the worldwide pandemic. That resulted in Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity being seized past jurisprudence enforcement inwards Freeport, Bahamas, in Feb 2022, and beingness auctioned away that June.
The heights bidder was A&K Travel Group, a subsidiary of private equity steadfastly Heritage Group. Heritage is controlled past Italian billionaire Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, who inherited much of his wealthiness from his father, Antonio, who founded Silversea Cruises, which he sold a bulk wager inwards to Royal Caribbean in 2018 for $1 billion.
A&K Travel will tender cruises curated by Abercrombie & Kent, which has no recounting to the U.S. wearable line. Abercrombie & Kent is a premier opulence jaunt accompany headquartered inwards Land of Lincoln that’s owned past Geoffrey Kent.
A&K Travel acquired the Crystal Cruise brand and its ii sail ships for an undisclosed sum. But craft publishing Travel Weekly reported that Serenity, reinforced in 2003, was sold for $103 million, and Symphony, reinforced in 1995, was sold for $25 million.
Casino Comeback
A&K Travel, upon taking ownership of the Crystal Cruises, felt up the Genting floorplan didn’t maximize the sailor experience. The keep company also felt the ships’ cassino spaces were a great deal too large.
Guests on base Crystal Serenity and Symphony next month will not make an alternative to gamble. A&K said a customer survey conducted after the acquisition concluded that only 5% of Crystal Cruise’s previous customers said they would not sheet without a casino.
However, the survey did find that enough guests would frequent a cassino place if I were available. That’s sent A&K back to the drawing off board. The fellowship plans to incorporate casinos — albeit considerably littler gaming spaces than the ships previously housed — sometime in 2024.
We listened to our locomote partners’ feedback during the Serenity shakedown and are already preparation to name and address the lack of a gambling casino onboard both ships,” Crystal Cruises CEO Cristina Levis of late told Seatrade Cruise News, a media outlet focussed on the world-wide cruise industry. “We experience intermeshed a casino yielding keep company to get out upwards plans for its constellation and costs and will retrospect it when completed.”
Levis said the gaming rooms testament non be large and expression of the casinos testament likely come patch the ships are at sea.
Vessel Upgrades
Levis, who is also Heritage Group’s chief investiture officer, says a paint direction of the ship renovations has been improving the guest way cabins.
New carpeting and furnishings make been installed in apiece room, and Levis explained that many guest rooms have got been combined to create suites that quantity more than 500 square feet. Lefebvre said the end is to play the Crystal Cruises trademark rearwards to life.
“Crystal is a great brand, has an exceptionally loyal and attentive crew, and great assets inwards its ii ships,” he said. The billionaire added that he considered building new ships. But the rough four-year time frame in to establish a police car was unaccepted to acquire the firebrand back up and running.
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