Crystal is getting back into the world cruise game — and in a big way.
On Thursday, the much-loved luxury cruise brand, which is relaunching later this year under new owners, will announce plans for an epic around-the-world voyage in 2024 that will include stops at 62 ports in 29 countries.
Kicking off Feb. 3, 2024, in San Diego, the 125-night sailing will begin with a westward crossing of the Pacific to Hawaii and French Polynesia on the way to New Zealand and Australia.
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From there, the vessel will head to various countries across Asia, including Indonesia and India, before sailing through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean.
In the Mediterranean, the ship will visit multiple ports in Israel, Turkey, Greece, France and Spain before heading to Portugal. An Atlantic crossing to Miami will follow.
The sailing will end in Miami on June 8, 2024, just shy of a full world circumnavigation. But Crystal fans will be able to add a 16-night extension from Miami to San Diego through the Panama Canal at the start or the end of the trip to complete a full circling of the globe.
With either add-on, the total trip time will hit 141 nights. This puts the sailing among the longest world voyages that any line offers in 2024.
The voyage will take place on the 740-passenger Crystal Serenity, one of two ships in the Crystal fleet.
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The sailing will mark a comeback of sorts for Crystal to the world cruise scene. The line used to offer world cruises regularly every year, but its string of annual world cruises broke in 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Related: A new luxury line with a familiar name woos cruisers
The line didn’t operate for more than a year after the pandemic began. Then it restarted briefly before shutting down more permanently as part of the bankruptcy of its parent company, Genting Hong Kong, in 2022.
The luxury brand is relaunching in July under the new ownership of high-end travel company A&K Travel Group, which bought the line’s brand name and two biggest oceangoing ships out of bankruptcy.
The two oceangoing ships were purchased in conjunction with Heritage, the holding company controlled by former Silversea Cruises owner Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio.
The brand’s former owner, Genting Hong Kong, is no longer associated with the brand. It is, essentially, an all-new line.
The new world cruise will be the first at Crystal in five years, and rates start at $67,800 per person, based on double occupancy. In addition to accommodations on the ship, meals and drinks, passengers who book the world voyage will be entitled to such extra perks as:
- A $1,500 per person shipboard credit.
- A $1,000 air credit that can be applied to the cost of flights to the ship.
- A welcome celebration reception.
- Gala dinners.
- Specially themed onboard and shoreside events.
Additionally, members of the Crystal Society, the line’s frequent cruiser program, will receive a discount when booking for a limited time.
Crystal Serenity is currently undergoing an extensive refurbishment at a shipyard in Italy that will increase the size of many of its suites and cabins and reduce its total passenger capacity. Before the renovation, the vessel was designed to hold 980 passengers.
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