Edie Rodriguez
Crystal Cruises will build two luxury river cruise vessels
to operate its own brand of river cruises and will station them in Europe,
Crystal CEO Edie Rodriguez said.
Lloyd Werft, the German shipyard that will construct Crystal’s new ocean
ships,
also will build the river vessels.
In an interview elaborating on expansion plans disclosed on
the line’s President’s Cruise over the weekend, Rodriguez said river cruises
are one of the products that past guests have been seeking from Crystal.
“They told us this is what they want,” Rodriguez said. “They
are spending dollars on other types of vacations, but they would prefer to experience
the rest of the world in other segments in the Crystal style and fashion.”
For competitive reasons, Rodriguez said Crystal is limiting
the information about its river cruise product until a later date. “We are
building two ships, their itineraries will be in Europe and we’re not divulging
any more information at this time.”
However, Rodriguez did say that all of Crystal’s “on the
water” products, including river cruises, will come with the same agent
commission structure as currently exists for Crystal.
Commissions for the residences on three ocean ships are in
evaluation, as are the commissions on around-the-world tours sold for Crystal
Luxury Air.
“It will be
commissionable but the air will be a separate commission structure,” Rodriguez
said.