Jordana Botting Joins Crystal Cruises as Regional Sales Director, Canada

The familiar smile of Canadian cruise industry representative Jordana Botting will be promoting a different brand this year, as she has accepted the position of regional sales director for Canada at luxury line Crystal Cruises.

Botting was attracted to the cruise industry even as a teenager. In 2003, she joined Expedia CruiseShipCenters as a Cruise Sales Manager and later as Franchise Development Manager – Western Canada. 

In 2007 she won her first cruise line position, joining Norwegian Cruise Line, based initially in Vancouver as a Western Canada BDM and later in New York City as a Senior Business Development Manager.

Her next major career move took her to Viking, where she promoted that line’s ocean, river and expedition offerings as the Eastern Canada BDM for close to seven years.

In her new role at a resurrected Crystal Cruises, Botting will work to strengthen the line’s partnerships with Canadian advisors.

“With over 20 years of travel industry expertise, I’ve developed a strong knowledge of agency operations, business development, consumer sales, marketing strategies, communications, and administrative roles,” Botting says on her LinkedIn page. “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Regional Sales Director Canada at Crystal Cruises.”

Founded in 1988 by a Japanese shipping company, Crystal Cruises was renowned for the quality of its luxury offering. It was purchased in 2015 by Genting Hong Kong, a company that ran into financial trouble during the pandemic. Following the insolvency of Genting Hong Kong, Crystal suspended operations of all its cruise ships in January 2022.

On June 22, 2022, it was announced that A&K Travel Group, owned by Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio and Geoffrey Kent had purchased the Crystal Cruises brand and two ocean vessels, Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony. Those ships have undergone significant refurbishments under the new management, and recent reviews have been positive, often noting that “Crystal is back.”

Two new ships were ordered in June 2024 for delivery from 2028 onwards. An order for a third vessel was placed late in 2024.