On 9th May the steel cutting ceremony  for Crystal Cruises’ first  four new-build luxury river  yachts. Crystal Debussy, Crystal  Ravel, Crystal Mahler and  Crystal Bach took place at Lloyd  Werft.

The newbuilds will embark  on the rivers of Europe in summer  2017, each boasting sleek  designs along with the plush  amenities and grandeur for  which Crystal ships are celebrated.  The quartet of luxury river  yachts represent part of  Crystal’s entry into river cruising,  as the line’s Crystal Mozart officially  introduces the Crystal  Experience® when the “Queen  of European river ships”  embarks on the Danube River in  July this year. The following day,  Crystal Cruises announced that  it had signed an order for its  eight new ships with the Lloyd  Werft Group, a collection of four  shipyards in Northern Germany.  The order included the aforementioned  river vessels that will  debut in 2017 plus another two  to follow.

Additionally, the first purpose-  built Polar Class luxury  megayacht, Crystal Endeavor,  which will be delivered in August  2018, will accommodate just  200 guests, and take travellers  to the Arctic and Antarctic  Circles in addition to warm water  cruising. The final ship included  in the agreement is the first of  three 117,000gt Crystal  Exclusive Class ships which will  accommodate 1,000 guests and  residents and is set for delivery  in fall 2019. The Exclusive Class  ships will also be equipped to  sail the far reaches of the globe,  including Polar and Arctic  regions.

During early June Crystal  Cruises executives met in  Philadelphia to assess the  progress of their technical evaluation  of the SS United States.  Crystal Cruises has been evaluating  the various technical  issues and requirements of the  ship’s potential conversion. The  vessel must be completely reengineered  to comply with modern  rules and standards. So far,  assessments have been made  of the ship’s structural condition,  hull and ballast tanks. It does  rather sound as if the scale of  the task involved to revive the  ship may have dawned on executives,  along with the huge  costs.

Time will surely tell.