The luxury cruise line Crystal Cruises has announced that it is suspending ocean and river cruise operations and current ship voyages will be allowed to complete itineraries. It comes after parent company Genting Hong Kong filed for bankruptcy, resulting in an unclear future for its three cruise brands, including Crystal Cruises.
Luxury Cruise Line Suspends Operations
Genting Hong Kong filing for bankruptcy in the Bermuda Supreme Court on Tuesday has resulted in a worrying future for its three cruise brands, including luxury cruise line Crystal Cruises. On Wednesday evening, the cruise line announced that it is suspending operations through April 29, 2022.
In a communication sent to travel agents, Crystal Cruises said, “Suspending operations will provide Crystal’s management team with an opportunity to evaluate the current state of business and examine various options moving forward.”
This now means that all three Crystal ships will not be operating any scheduled cruises following their current voyages. Crystal Symphony will be completing its current voyage in Miami, Florida, on January 22, Crystal Serenity will complete its current sailing in Aruba on January 30, and Crystal Endeavor will end its current voyage in Ushuaia, Argentina, on February 4, 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 our operations. We wish to thank our guests and travel advisors for their incredible support during these ongoing challenging times.”
The cruise line will be providing guests that were booked on back-to-back cruises with a refund on the unused days, along with any port charges, taxes and fees. If a future cruise credit was used to book the sailing, that will be returned to the guest’s account to be used again in the future.
Why is This Happening?
Genting has only just filed for bankruptcy due to issues with its MV Werften shipyard in Germany. The Asian-based company had been working on securing $88 million in backup funding, but the German federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern halted the deal. Genting had been struggling to funds in recent months due to the impact of COVID-19.
It’s still unclear what this means for its three cruise brands of Crystal Cruises, Star Cruises and Dream Cruises, including the current construction of the Global Dream cruise ship at the Germany shipyard.
Genting said Wednesday: “The Company and the Group have no access to any further liquidity under any of Group’s debt documents and the Company’s available cash balances are expected to run out on or around end of January 2022 according to the Company’s cashflow forecasts.”
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We could see the brands broken up or even purchased in the future. Crystal Cruises covers the luxury market and was founded in 1988, with Crystal Harmony becoming its first vessel in 1990. Genting Hong Kong purchased the cruise line from Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha in early 2015 and launched into Yacht and River cruises in the years to follow.
