Crystal Endeavor’s Iceland Bookings Open to ‘Extraordinary Demand’

More evidence of the pent-up demand for travel was shown this week. This time it was in the luxury sector.

Crystal Expedition Cruises on Wednesday revealed that bookings for the summer debut season of its highly anticipated new build, Crystal Endeavor, opened to “extraordinary demand.”

According to Crystal, the sailings, five 10-night Luxury Iceland Expedition itineraries, were booked at over 50% capacity just 24 hours after they became available.

“We are thrilled with the response to Crystal Endeavor’s inaugural sailings in Iceland as it is clear that luxury travelers, and returning Crystal Society members in particular, are looking forward to traveling again and reconnecting with their onboard Crystal family on our newest, most innovative ship to date,” said Jack Anderson, Crystal’s interim president, and CEO.

The ship, which was originally set to debut in August of 2020, was delayed because of a shutdown at the MV WERFTEN shipyard in Germany caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first expedition ship from Crystal, Endeavor will sail just 200 guests and will feature 100 all-balcony suites, all of which will debut with king-sized beds, flat-screen TVs, walk-in closets, heated storage, and floors, and more.

Endeavor will also boast six different dining outlets and a full room-service menu along with a Crystal Life spa, a two-story solarium, two helicopters, a submarine, and an aft marina onboard. 

For the moment, Crystal Cruises is restarting with a vaccination requirement for all guests. Crystal said that the vaccination requirement is part of its new protocols called Crystal Clean+ 4.0.

Aside from the vaccinations, that protocol includes, “temperature checks at the terminal prior to boarding, a nimble mask policy, social distancing guidelines, enhanced cleaning and disinfection measures, reduced capacity and more.”

In addition to Endeavor, Crystal will restart with Crystal Symphony, which will return to sailing with a series of 15, 10-night Luxury Caribbean Escapes round-trip from St. John’s, becoming the first ship ever to homeport in Antigua.  

Beginning Aug. 5 through December, including a holiday sailing on Dec. 23, Crystal Symphony will visit Barbados, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Maarten, and the British Virgin Islands. The itinerary spends overnights in St. John’s, Bridgetown, and Phillipsburg, with sunset-sail-aways in Tobago, Castries, and Tortola.