Q – We are scheduled to join friends on the Serenity next April sailing from India to Dubai. We are not as experienced with five-star cruising as our friends so we’ve been doing a great deal of reading. Your site seems to get glowing reviews so we’ve put some stock into what you’ve said. Yesterday, I was re-reading the review of Crystal and it seems that you’ve revised it with the news that the CEO is suddenly departing, that there are a bunch of missed deadlines and changes, that the company has expanded much too fast, and that they are bringing in someone from Disneyworld to fix it. As someone who has run several companies, I can tell you that if half of what you suggest has happened, I am concerned about my upcoming sailing. My biggest concern is why they let their CEO go when she’s the one who had started on this exciting growth path. Is our concern justified?
A – It is highly likely that you will be both shocked and delighted with the quality of your upcoming Crystal experience. The line has some of the highest loyalty/repeat stats in the industry. We don’t want to get into corporate intrigue or speculate. So just a few facts:
- Edie Rodriguez resigned while it is clear that discussions with Tom Wolber did not begin on the day he replaced her. So let’s call it a mutual agreement.
- It is true that a number of economic factors have combined to cause some delays in the river boat segment and there have been well-documented delays in terms of Crystal’s 1,000 Guest new-builds. But if you look over at one of our other consumer sites dedicated to river cruising, riverboatratings.com, you will note that Crystal very quickly launched the overall best product on Europe’s rivers. That, from a company that had no river cruising experience before the launch. To us, this is a major and rather unexpected accomplishment. Genting, Crystal’s owners, have set out to become the luxury experience brand in the US and around the world. They do not mind spending money to achieve that goal.
- Crystal has committed millions into the renovation and update of its two existing cruise ships. Every single independent ship ratings service rates Crystal at or near the top. We do have some reservations and concerns about the future path of the company but we certainly think you would have a hard time finding any ship with 1000 guests that has the food, entertainment, and staff training you will find aboard Crystal. When it comes to mid-size ships, they do own the five-star category. Some five-star cruisers, however, associate smaller and more intimate ships with a sense of exclusivity. But that is actually a plus for Crystal because it allows them to occupy the top-tier 1,000 guests, mid-ship category without without obvious competitors and with more amenities and dining options than its smaller competitors.
- Finally, as mentioned in our review, Crystal is on a major expansion trajectory. In Wolber they have found a leader who has the skill set and background to manage new-ship builds, yard coordination with headquarters, and the kind of operations background that a company like Crystal would seem to need badly at this time. We think the Disney background is only a plus. Don’t look for Goofy to be welcoming you aboard the Crystal Serenity anytime soon.
