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Crystal Cancels All River Cruises Thru Dec 2020


MightyQuinn
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15 hours ago, Daisi said:

As Coral states, I doubt anyone will be sailing this year.  I think the other lines are just really trying to see if they can hopefully get in a Christmas Market cruise, however since even the Christmas Markets may be cancelled that could be highly unlikely. 

 

Viking has just announced that they are suspending operations for the rest of 2020.  I expect others will follow...

 

Fran

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I have a Crystal River cruise on Danube next April.  I have never cruised on Crystal.  From you experienced Crystallers, and those resident in Europe, I would like to know your perspective on whether Crystal will be back sailing the Danube by next April; after all, your "crystal" ball should have more clarity than my cataract covered cloudy ball.

 

thanks,

 

Marc

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13 hours ago, mrlevin said:

I have a Crystal River cruise on Danube next April.  I have never cruised on Crystal.  From you experienced Crystallers, and those resident in Europe, I would like to know your perspective on whether Crystal will be back sailing the Danube by next April; after all, your "crystal" ball should have more clarity than my cataract covered cloudy ball.

 

thanks,

 

Marc

I have done one river cruise on Crystal -  so I don't know if that is considered experienced or not. Ours was late in the season and I said something "do you go home until March when they start sailing again?". One person who was pretty high up on the ship indicated they come back in February to get the ship ready and indicated that there is a lot of safety precedures they need to double check and safety drills. 

 

So I think Crystal will have to make a decision in January to bring these people back in February to get the ship ready. OMG - that sounds so soon.

 

I think all the lines will go at that time or none will. If you can read the Crystal ball for Viking, Ama (for North America), Uniworld, Avalon, etc..... They are all going to go or they won't. It won't be just one line and not the others.

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13 minutes ago, Coral said:

I think all the lines will go at that time or none will. If you can read the Crystal ball for Viking, Ama (for North America), Uniworld, Avalon, etc..... They are all going to go or they won't. It won't be just one line and not the others.

 

Agree with @Coral.  If US passengers can't reasonably travel to take a Viking or Uniworld cruise, they won't be able to get to a Crystal cruise.  I don't foresee one or two lines operating and the others not.  I'm talking about lines that primarily rely on North American passengers.  

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2 hours ago, Roz said:

 

Agree with @Coral.  If US passengers can't reasonably travel to take a Viking or Uniworld cruise, they won't be able to get to a Crystal cruise.  I don't foresee one or two lines operating and the others not.  I'm talking about lines that primarily rely on North American passengers.  

To go along with what you are saying - flying to Europe has to be easily available and countries in Europe have to accept us. Basically - COVID-19 needs to be somewhat under control. And until we get closer to when a vaccination is available, I don't think anyone can predict this.

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On 8/16/2020 at 9:04 AM, Coral said:

I have done one river cruise on Crystal -  so I don't know if that is considered experienced or not. Ours was late in the season and I said something "do you go home until March when they start sailing again?". One person who was pretty high up on the ship indicated they come back in February to get the ship ready and indicated that there is a lot of safety precedures they need to double check and safety drills. 

 

So I think Crystal will have to make a decision in January to bring these people back in February to get the ship ready. OMG - that sounds so soon.

 

I think all the lines will go at that time or none will. If you can read the Crystal ball for Viking, Ama (for North America), Uniworld, Avalon, etc..... They are all going to go or they won't. It won't be just one line and not the others.

 

Coral, good to cross paths with you again on the internet; is your mom still cruising with her dog?

 

Marc

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5 minutes ago, mrlevin said:

 

Coral, good to cross paths with you again on the internet; is your mom still cruising with her dog?

 

Marc

They are both doing unlimited (covid free) cruises in heaven right now. I took a few years off from cruising to take care of Island Dog after my mom died but they are now together. Thanks for asking and remembering.

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Marc - if and when you do get on a Crystal River Cruise, I think you will love it. I remember seeing your posting about your plans on Mozart the day I was flying home from being on the Mozart (end of Nov 2018). I saw the posts at an airport.

 

I hope to do one more at the end of next year. I would love to do one in April over my birthday but it is too early for me I think. I just survived the first day of school where I work. OMG!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Genting Hong Kong is in financial difficulties. I wonder if they will make any changes to the Crystal river cruise company structure. They say Crystal is okay. I am a bit worried about MV Meyer Werften which Genting owns. But there appears to be a deal envisaged by Genting with the German state of Mecklenburg Western Pomerania in which the shipyard is located (headquarters at the town of Wismar). This is the article: https://www.cruisetricks.de/genting-kong-kong-in-ernsten-finanziellen-schwierigkeiten/

 

German article on potential plans: https://www.nordkurier.de/mecklenburg-vorpommern/trennt-sich-der-mutterkonzern-genting-vom-schiffbau-2940515908.html

 

MV Werften also built the river cruise ships for Crystal.

 

notamermaid

 

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3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Genting Hong Kong is in financial difficulties. I wonder if they will make any changes to the Crystal river cruise company structure. They say Crystal is okay. I am a bit worried about MV Meyer Werften which Genting owns. But there appears to be a deal envisaged by Genting with the German state of Mecklenburg Western Pomerania in which the shipyard is located (headquarters at the town of Wismar). This is the article: https://www.cruisetricks.de/genting-kong-kong-in-ernsten-finanziellen-schwierigkeiten/

 

German article on potential plans: https://www.nordkurier.de/mecklenburg-vorpommern/trennt-sich-der-mutterkonzern-genting-vom-schiffbau-2940515908.html

 

MV Werften also built the river cruise ships for Crystal.

 

notamermaid, thanks for posting those articles which I was able to read with the help of google translate. 

There has been much discussion on the Crystal CC forum about Genting Hong Kong and the fate of Crystal Cruises.  I knew there was a short-term financial rescue package with regards to MV Werften shipyard.  But I didn't know that talks are underway to investigate how GHK could exit the shipbuilding business entirely.  If GHK sells, it looks like MV Werften could revert to state ownership, with guarantees to accept the cruise ships currently under construction, including Crystal ocean and expedition vessels.  Please post any further updates.  Many thanks!

 

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MightyQuinn,

 

This will probably not be news to you then, seeing that the subject is being discussed on another forum, but here is a round-up of the situation with Genting: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/finance/genting-hk-first-half-loss-widens-7426m

 

An NDR German television report at the weekend said that a virtual meeting of Genting was planned for yesterday. I am sure we will here more during the week.

 

notamermaid

 

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Thank you notamermaid.  You're right!  The Seatrade article has been posted and discussed on the Crystal forum already.  There are multiple threads and several "correspondents" who provide good coverage of GHK from multiple sources.  The virtual meeting of GHK creditors took place on Aug 28 and it's been reported that they “have been supportive and a number of the Group’s long term financial creditors have agreed to join an ad hoc group to extend their support to the Group.”  GHK also stated that they have adequate working capital and cash flow to meet financial obligations until June 2021.  So it's not all doom and gloom!

The outlier was info about MV Werften, which hadn't yet made it onto the Crystal forum.  You got the scoop and now we're all in the know!  Thanks again.

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  • 5 weeks later...

News about MV Werften: 190 million euros credit (Überbrückungskredit) which will see the shipyard through the worst till the end of the year. Decided but not signed yet. https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/mecklenburg-vorpommern/Signale-fuer-MV-Werften-Hilfe-stehen-auf-gruen,mvwerften300.html

 

notamermaid

 

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