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Coral

By Coral,
in River Cruising

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Texas Tillie

Texas Tillie

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Posted
8 hours ago, Coral said:

I just tried to look at my notes. I know I wrote his name down somewhere. In an email I sent to someone I said he was Hotel Manager on the Crystal Symphony. 

 

That's either Josef or Herbert, both are Austrians. Herbert is taller and blond, Josef not so tall with darker hair.

 

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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2 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

That's either Josef or Herbert, both are Austrians. Herbert is taller and blond, Josef not so tall with darker hair.

 

Definitely Josef Matt. I needed to look at a picture to identify.

 

I remember in one of the ports - either Salzburg or the Lake District (St. Wolfgang or St. Gilgen), he was off to eat at a restaurant where he knew the owner, a former Crystal employee.

Edited by Coral
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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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I sure hope whoever buys the river cruise ships keeps the ships as they are. They were so beautifully decorated. It is probably too much that they have the same crew as I am sure the crew are trying to secure jobs elsewhere. They were exceptional - any line would be lucky to have them!

Edited by Coral
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Stickman1990 "Live from...." Rare

Stickman1990

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6 hours ago, scottjeanne said:

I had a cruise booked this summer, part of the deposit was a $1000 administration fee that Crystal held from another cancelled cruise.  Is there any chance of getting that back?


There’s always a chance but I’m afraid it looks like the odds are slim. These FCCs are from “old money” which has no protection such as the reserve funds which applies to payments made after March 2021

 

Depending on your type of credit card (Amex is best) you could try a credit card dispute - but there’s certainly no guarantee on that being successful 

 

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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This has not sunk in with me yet. Really difficult to believe. I would never have sailed with them (I have so many other options here on the German market) but they have been able to establish a fan base and filled a niche, especially for those who came from the ocean product to river cruising with the great refurbishing of the MS Mozart.

 

The first year was rocky for them, the second year better and after they had figured out how to deal with low water issues I think the product did really well.

 

As river cruising is getting back to normal an still attracting new people who have never cruised before I see no big problems for crew and staff to get onto other ships as such, but for recruitment this year it may be a little late. And the hotel staff can work on land as well of course. But the ocean crews? Ocean cruising is still not back to where it was before the pandemic. River cruising in Europe is looking good for Spring.

 

Just read some German news. If you are interested, send this through a translation program: https://www.schiffe-und-kreuzfahrten.de/news/crystal-cruises-vor-dem-aus-bueros-geschlossen-schiffe-sollen-verkauft-werden/238949/

Main sentence: "Neben den drei Hochseeschiffen verfügt Crystal Cruises noch fünf Flusskreuzfahrtschiffe, bei diesen ist noch nicht ganz klar, ob es weitergehen wird. Tendenziell ist aber auch hier von einem möglichen Verkauf auszugehen. Die Fluss-Flotte befindet sich derzeit noch in der Winterpause – fraglich ob der Dienst überhaupt aufgenommen wird."

Freely translated this basically means the fate of the river cruise ships is not clear yet. A sale is a likely scenario. Those ships are still in the winter break and it is questionable whether they will start sailing in Spring.

 

notamermaid

 

 

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Stickman1990 "Live from...." Rare

Stickman1990

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1 minute ago, Coral said:

Crystal was just a small part of the Genting conglomerate. They had hotels, resorts, casinos, expedition yacht, several cruise lines, airplanes, ship yard, etc... Most of their presence was in resorts and casino properties (from what I can tell).

 

Sort of correct - there are multiple Genting companies - the one in liquidation is Genting HK who has cruise lines inci expedition yacht, several cruise lines, airplanes, ship yard

 

They had no ownership of resorts or casinos - they are separate Genting companies

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Coral "Live from...." Rare

Coral

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28 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

 

Sort of correct - there are multiple Genting companies - the one in liquidation is Genting HK who has cruise lines inci expedition yacht, several cruise lines, airplanes, ship yard

 

They had no ownership of resorts or casinos - they are separate Genting companies

I realized that and deleted it while we were cross posting...

Edited by Coral
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Host Jazzbeau Great Review Rare

Host Jazzbeau

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So the latest news about Crystal is that there were two serious bidders over the last year or so:  Manfredi, using the money he got from selling Silversea and leveraging his Abercrombie & Kent land operation; and Sycamore, the buyers of Azamara.

 

My fantasy is that the two of them combine to offer the creditors an offer they can't refuse:  Manfredi's group takes the Ocean and Expedition ships and the trademarks and resuscitates Crystal, then pours in new money and uses the A&K link to expand as a luxury ocean and land operation.  Sycamore takes the river ships and folds them into Azamara.  [Genting gets stuck with the debts, as they deserve... (I wish)]  Between them all the great Crystal employees find employment and the brand ethos lives on.  That's the only way I see for all of Crystal as we knew it to survive.

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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3 hours ago, steamboats said:

BTW the river cruise ships are under the mangement of River Advice now.

 

steamboats

That sounds very promising. River advice are the right people for that in my opinion.

 

Now remains the question who will own the ships after the banks during administration?

 

notamermaid

 

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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@Host Jazzbeau Sounds an interesting business idea. Definitely keep the Chinese out in future...

Found the info that helped me understand the background to your post. The article also mentions the river cruise ships. But whether River Advice will manage the ships just during administration or if there is a chance for them to be actually sailed in an ownership by anyone sounds doubtful to me.

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/finance/crystal-cruises-done-assignee-appointed-handle-liquidation

 

notamermaid

 

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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After my initial good feelings about River Advice managing the river cruise ships and the subsequent clarification that this is only interim, I had a look at what this means. It is called lay-up management and I see it as a kind of "foster parent" while the ships get a new family or in business terms owner/cruising company. A German article mentions the lay-up: https://abouttravel.ch/reisebranche/river-advice-huetet-crystal-flussschiffe/

"hütet" means basically looking after. The Mozart will stay on the Danube of course, but River Advice is making sure that all other four ships will be safely kept in a winter harbour in the Netherlands (the Crystal Ravel is currently on the Main sailing towards the Rhine).

 

What the lay-up means you can read on the website of V.Ships that is now looking after the ocean cruise ships: https://vgrouplimited.com/ship-management/lay-up-management

 

notamermaid

 

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notamermaid Excellent Advice! Rare

notamermaid

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I know this hurts but I will share it anyway, perhaps for commemorating the event and a kind of collective mourning. The Crystal livery has gone from the Mozart. As photographed by the ship spotters on binnenschifferforum: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?76402-Crystal-Mozart-KFGS-04805980&p=438649#post438649

 

Things are looking a bit more hopeful for the German shipyard but I have not read anything about the ships. Do you know more?

 

On the forum, the Mozart has just been given a new page, seeing that she has entered a new chapter in her life. This is her story and the new info: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?110800-Mozart-KFGS&p=438894#post438894

 

notamermaid

 

Edited by notamermaid
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steamboats Great Review Rare

steamboats

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Interesting... as new owner they mention "F. Laeisz GmbH Hamburg MOZART Deutschland / Hamburg"
 

The name "Laeisz" is known as a car carrier, freight ship owner. But so far they have nothing to do with river cruise ships or any other cruise ships.

 

steamboats

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