Crystal Cruises to restore casino for excursions in 2024
Crystal Cruises is no longer as focused on gaming as the cruise ship's previous owner, Genting Hong Kong.
Crystal Cruises' two-ship cruise ship portfolio fell into bankruptcy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.Genting Hong Kong, a subsidiary of Genting Group which owns integrated resort casinos in Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Philippines and the United States, failed to pay Crystal Cruises' bills and berthing fees. The year of the global pandemic. This resulted in Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity being seized by law enforcement in Freeport, Bahamas in February 2022 and auctioned in June.
The highest bidder was A&K Travel Group, a unit of private equity firm Heritage Group. Heritage is controlled by Italian billionaire Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio, who inherited much of his wealth from his father Antonio, who founded Silversea Cruises and sold a controlling stake in it to Royal for $1 billion in 2018 Caribbean.
A&K Travel will offer cruises curated by Abercrombie & Kent that are not affiliated with the American Apparel line. Abercrombie & Kent is a leading luxury travel company headquartered in Illinois and owned by Geoffrey Kent.
A&K Travel has acquired the Crystal Cruise brand and its two cruise ships for an undisclosed sum. However, trade magazine Travel Weekly reports that the 2003-built Serenity sold for $103 million and the 1995-built Symphony sold for $25 million.
Casinos are back
When A&K Travel took over Crystal Cruises, it felt that the layout of Genting did not maximize the sailing experience. The company also believed the ship's casino room was too big.
Guests aboard Crystal Serenity and Symphony will not have the opportunity to play next month. A&K said a customer survey conducted after the acquisition found that only 5% of Crystal Cruises' previous customers said they would not sail without the casino.
However, the investigation found that if the casino had space, enough guests would visit. That sent A&K back to the drawing board. The company plans to add a casino sometime in 2024 — albeit with a much smaller gaming space than on previous ships.
We listened to feedback from our travel partners while Serenity was docked and have plans in place to address the lack of casinos on both ships.Crystal Cruises CEO Cristina Levis recently told Seatrade Cruise News, a company focused on the global cruise industry.“We have hired a casino concessionaire to prepare its configuration and cost plan , and will be reviewed upon completion. "
Levis said the arcade won't be large and construction of the casino will likely take place while the ship is at sea.
Ship Upgrade
Levis, who is also Heritage Group's chief investment officer, said the ship's renovation will focus on improving the guest rooms.
New carpeting and furniture were installed in every room, Levis explained, and many guest rooms were combined into suites measuring more than 500 square feet. "The goal is to bring the Crystal Cruises brand back to life," Lefebvre said.
“Crystal is a great brand with very loyal and attentive crews and a lot of assets on board its two ships,” he said. The billionaire added that he was considering building new ships. But the roughly four years it takes to build a cruiser is unacceptable to get the brand up and running again.
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Source: www.casino.org
