Crystal’s Rodriguez Praises Agents, Details River Cruise Expansion
by Doug Gollan /A rendering of the Mozart.
Crystal’s venture into the competitive river cruise segment appears to be working well as it completes the inaugural season with its first entrant, Crystal Mozart and prepares to add six more river vessels over the next three years.
Speaking to customers aboard its first President’s Cruise held on a river ship, Rodriguez and Walter Littlejohn, the division’s Managing Director, detailed future expansion with Travel Market Report as the exclusive trade media invited aboard.
The next four ships, which will come in 2017 and 2018, will all be similar. They will each be 15 meters longer than Mozart, but half as wide, enabling them to transit the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. Each will hold 106 guests with 68 crew. The executives said the vessels will be Europe’s first “all-balcony, all-suite” river cruise ships.
A signature feature will be a glass ceiling for the Palm Court, providing more natural light and better daytime viewing. Rodriguez said specially designed LED lighting will be used to create various ambiances in the evening. Another notable feature will be a spiral staircase in the lobby. While the new ships are narrower, Waterside Restaurant will continue with its U configuration providing an intimate feel, and will feature floor to ceiling windows. The Bistro will have 32 seats and provide alternative dining as it does on the Mozart. The ships will all be open seating with full service within dining hours. On Deck Three will be an indoor “swim against the tide” pool with glass roof and a fireplace. Rodriguez said the area provides an additional option for evening cocktail parties.
Top accommodations will be a duo of 2-bedroom Crystal Suites, each 759 sq. ft., including living room with fireplace and small dining area. As with most suites, king beds face floor to ceiling windows that open to balconies to enhance viewing. The 253-sq. ft. River Suite Deluxe will have double vanity bathrooms and walk-in closets. Entry category Petite Suites at 188 sq. ft. will be targeted for “solo passengers” and include balconies, but won’t have a walk-in closet and only a single vanity.
Rodriguez and Littlejohn said the line is still tweaking designs. After a recent visit to the yard, the chairman ordered more marble for the bathrooms to bring them up to Crystal standards and apparently a final decision has not been reached on whether the new vessels will have the Connoisseur Club, the stylish, old school cigar lounge. All ships will have Crystal’s signature Vintage Room that can be rented for an evening and features unique and rare wine pairings. Prices can range from $300 to $2,000 per person based on wine selection.
Crystal Bach will begin life next June 18 running from Amsterdam to Frankfurt 14 days in each direction, and will also add Amsterdam-Basel Christmas Markets cruises 10 nights in each direction. Crystal Mahler will sail 16 nights on the Rhine, Main and Danube, a journey other lines typically do in 14, according to Littlejohn. He said Crystal adds days in port at the beginning and end of each cruise, meaning passengers don’t have to add the expense of hotel nights in those cities or stress about airline flight delays.
In 2018, Crystal Debussy will debut April 9 with two 7-night tulip viewing cruises from Amsterdam, taking advantage of the season. After, it will do a 10-day journey Amsterdam to Basel that will run seven nights in reverse when the ship is going with the river’s current. Littlejohn said this again is a difference, in that other lines run the itinerary seven days each way, which means when guests get off the ship for tours, the vessels are moved to the next port, which he believes makes the journey “feel rushed.” Crystal Raval launches in May 2018 with 14 days from Vienna to Basel, including the reverse, plus several 7-day Vienna to Budapest and reverse itineraries.
When Crystal announced its intention to get into river cruising it stated that guests from its ocean vessels were looking for more vacation options from the supplier, and all of the consumers we talked to aboard Crystal Mozart fit that mold as frequent luxury ocean cruisers, but for each of them this Vienna to Vienna 10-day Christmas Markets cruise was their first river cruise. Each said they planned to take future river cruises as a result.
During an open session with Rodriguez, one guest said he hoped that Crystal would add river cruises in France, however, the chairman said that demand is still too weak. “It’s not a question of if, but when. It is our great hope and goal to put vessels in France,” she said.
Several members of Travel + Leisure’s travel agent advisory board were on this sailing, and Rodriguez praised the role of agents to guests, and told them that any new bookings made during the line’s cruises would be credited back to their agent of record.
During the cruise consumers and agents praised Crystal Mozart, which the line purchased last November, and then renovated from January until its July 13 debut. “We took the ship to its steel,” said Rodriguez. Passengers cited its walk-in shower design, similar to its ocean ships and cabin layouts with lots of handy storage areas as well as luxury finishes and “service that matches what we expected.” Tony Huffman, CEO and President of Huffman Travel, was aboard and told TMR, “Crystal has exceeded our high expectations in everyway. We’ve been on their ocean ships, and now having been on the Mozart, we are very bullish on selling Crystal for river cruises as well.”
One consumer in the audience applauded Rodriguez for moving Crystal Esprit to the Caribbean beginning in Fall 2017. The vessel currently operates in the Seychelles during the winter and Eastern Med in the summer, and executives and passengers agreed that the 62-passenger yacht experience with its sports deck, wave runners, submarine and so forth will be well suited to the Caribbean. With its primarily North American customer base, Rodriguez said the Seychelles were “a long way away.” In the Caribbean, its small size will give it the ability to overnight in places such as St. Barts.