When press releases regarding a cruise line’s future plans land on my desktop, they are usually in long form and I take the time to dig out the highlights for you.
Thanks to luxury brand Crystal Cruises for sending out a release in point form, easily understandable for both you and me.
Crystal is announcing plans for 2016 and part of 2017 and it appears that this luxury line will be adding a lot of shorter-duration cruises to their agenda. Half of 2016′s cruises will be 10 days or less. A good example is three cruises under six days for the first time, along the Pacific Coast.
The Vancouver Port Authority will be happy to hear Crystal’s returning to Alaska in 2016.
Here is the plan…with the occasional comment from me.
All are at crystalcruises.com.
2016
60 cruises, 77 countries, 86 overnights in 48 ports, and 245 ports around the world
• New overnights ports, such as Antwerp, Ibiza, Papeete, Bora Bora, Berlin/Hamburg, Bali, Punta del Este, Colon, Ushuaia, and Haifa.
• A record number of double overnight (two nights in a row) ports (14), including San Diego, Amsterdam, New Orleans, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Istanbul, Venice, London, Lisbon, Barcelona, Sydney and Melbourne.
• 27 maiden calls include Aitutaki, Cook Islands; Arendal, Norway; Bandol, France; Catalina Island, California; Corinto, Nicaragua; Crotone, Italy; Easo, New Caledonia; Fukuoaka, Japan; Gaspe, PQ; Hoonah, Alaska; Isla Margarita, Venezuela; Karlskrona, Sweden; Kavala, Greece; Kirkwall, UK;
Scenes from the Baltics, some never seen before by Crystal passengers
Klaksvik, Faroe Islands; Korsakov, Russia; Mystery Island, Vanuatu; Nanaimo and Prince Rupert, BC (Comment: These two ports are underused so it’s a big deal for these BC Ports); Port Canaveral, Florida; Portree, Isle of Skye, UK; Port d’ Alcudia, Majorca/Balearic Islands, Spain; San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua; Sibenik, Croatia; Terre-de-Haut, Guadeloupe, French West Indies; Samana, Dominican Republic; and Virgin Gorda, BVI. (Comment: This is one of the largest group of maiden calls that I have seen in a single year.)
• Returns to less-visited destinations: Argostoli, Kefalonia Island, Greece; Chania/Souda, Crete, Greece; Kralendijk, Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles; Gdansk, Poland; La Rochelle/La Pallice, France; Mariehamn, Finland; Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Nuku’Alofa, Tonga; Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands; Ponta Delgada,The Azores; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; Rangiroa, French Polynesia; Sanary-sur-Mer, France; Tarragona, Spain; Sarandë, Albania; Waitangi, Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Itinerary Highlights
• A 102-day World Cruise sailing round-trip from San Francisco for the first time, with five segments beginning in Sydney, Bali, Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo.
• The line’s first summer Alaska season in five years, only this season with shorter 7-and-10-day itineraries.
• Two new Northern Europe cruises to/from Berlin, with a complimentary 3-night Berlin land package.
• Two January/February voyages cruising Antarctica and South America, including a new route round-trip from Buenos Aires.
• Eight 5-to-22-day cruises to or from California in the winter, spring and fall including: (1) New Hawaiian islands itinerary round-trip from San Francisco (2) New San Diego round-trip, visiting
Picturesque Catalina Island, off the coast of Southern California
Catalina Island for the first-time ever (3) Two new Panama Canal cruises: from Chile to Miami and Miami to San Francisco
• New Caribbean & Central America cruises:
• A return to New Orleans after a decade-long absence, with three voyages — one round-trip (Comment: New Orleans is losing Royal Caribbean next year so this fills a portion of those losses).
• Two voyages to/from Colon, Panama
• Sailings featuring rarely-visited islands like Jamaica and Bonaire, plus luxurious favorites such as Turks & Caicos, St. Barts and Virgin Gorda for the first time
• Expanded explorations of Central America in both years, with visits to Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and more Mexico again
• A New England-Canada season with a local overnight on land in Montreal, plus 7-8-9-and-10-day voyage options, including a round-trip from New York.
• Ten 7-9-and-12-day Mediterranean cruises in spring and fall, featuring a return to Israel and to Athens as a “turnaround” port
• Five voyages to or from Asia, with multiple ports in South Korea back on the calendar
• A return to Sydney for its world-famous New Year’s fireworks display on an Auckland-Melbourne holiday cruise, with a second holiday voyage round-trip from Miami
2017 (1st Quarter)
• 94-day “Ultimate South America” World Cruise round-trip from Miami starting January 10, comprised of six segments sailing on Crystal Serenity through Antarctica, the Amazon, and to/from Colon, Valparaiso, Buenos Aires, Rio and Barbados
• 99-day Pan-Pacific Grand Cruise aboard Crystal Symphony, starting January 5 and comprised of seven segments sailing to/from Melbourne, Sydney (round-trip), Bali, Singapore, Hong Kong, Incheon
The unmistakable Opera House is foremost in almost every photo of Sydney, Australia
and Tokyo, and featuring several new and rarely visited Polynesian ports and Crystal’s first call to the Philippines in 18 years
• 14 maiden calls: Alotau and Kiriwina, Papua New Guinea; Boracay and Romblon Islands, Philippines; Iquique and Castro, Chiloe Island, Iquique, Chile; Isle of Pines, New Caledonia; Matarani, Peru; Champagne Bay, Vanuatu; Portobelo, Panama; Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala; Stewart Island, New Zealand; Takamatsu, Japan; and Trujillo, Peru
• Ports less visited: Antofagasta, Chile; Guadalcanal, Honiara, Solomon Islands; Port Vila, Vanuatu; Rabaul, Papua New Guinea; and Yasawa-I-Rara, Fiji
All for now.
Today at cruisingdoneright.com: Coming to Cunard…cabins for solo travelers