Genting-owned luxury cruise line Crystal Cruises has confirmed orders for two more expedition cruiseships while delaying orders for three larger luxury vessels.
In yet another change of plans, the top-end operator has announced that it is giving priority to building ups its expedition cruise division by adding a further two 25,000-gt expedition cruiseships as a follow-up to the one it ordered earlier this year.
The vessels have all been ordered at MV Werften, a consortium of shipyards acquired by Genting HK over the past two years, with the delivery of the first vessel now revealed to be in 2019, one year later than initially indicated.
The other two will follow in 2020 and 2021.
At the same time, Crystal said that delivery of a trio of 100,000-gt luxury cruiseships that were ordered at Lloyd Werft, now part of MV Werften, in 2015 is being pushed back by three years.
The first, which was originally scheduled for completion in 2019, will debut in 2022.
Crystal, in a prepared statement released this week, said that building up the company’s expedition cruise fleet is being given priority because of strong interest in the product from its core clientele base.
The company has also ended speculation as to its future plans for the 51,000-gt Crystal Symphony (built 1995) and the 69,000-gt Crystal Serenity (built 2003), vessels that were included in Genting HK’s $500m acquisition of Crystal from Japan’s NYK in early 2015.
The two popular ships will undergo extensive refits that Crystal hints will exceed the $72m that was lavished upon them in 2013 and 2014.
These refits should keep the pair in service until at least the first of the planned 100,000-gt ships is delivered in 2022.
This week’s announcements by Crystal are the latest in a string of fleet plans announced by the company since it was bought by Genting HK.
One of the more interesting plans proposed, the resurrection of the long laid-up 38,200-gt transatlantic liner United States (built 1952), was called off in August after being deemed technically unfeasible.
