Genting owned Crystal Cruises pauses operations

Crystal Cruises has suspended operations for its ocean and expedition ships through to April 29 and its river ships through to the end of May.
Reports in the USA say that the decision comes after its parent company, Genting Hong Kong, said that it would be out of cash by the end of the month and move to wind up its operations.
Crystal said suspending operations would give its management team “an opportunity to evaluate the current state of business and examine various options moving forward.”
“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 Crystal Cruises president Jack Anderson.
He added “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 operations”, and “We wish to thank our guests and travel advisors for their incredible support during these ongoing challenging times.”
Crystal’s three ships currently in operation will complete their current sailings, with Ocean ships Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony sailing the Caribbean and expedition ship Crystal Endeavor cruising in Antarctica.
The Symphony’s current cruise ends in Miami on January 22, the Serenity’s in Aruba on January 30 and the Endeavor’s in Ushuaia, Argentina, on February 4.
Crystal said that passengers and their travel advisors are being notified and that Crystal will provide a full refund of the cruise fare paid, which will be processed automatically to the original form of payment.
If the cruise was paid via a future cruise credit, Crystal said the full value would be returned to their Crystal Society profile account.Crystal Cruises pauses operations.
Edited by John Alwyn-Jones, Cruise Editor