Topic: Crystal forced into first ever price cuts

Ultra-luxury line, Crystal has been forced to reduce prices for the first time.



Discounts include £500 off a number of 11-night autumn Med fly-cruises to give a revised lead in of £1,854, and £340 has been cut from a 16-night Christmas Hawaii cruise from LA.

Rates for 2012 promise to be more competitive although a new 'all-inclusive' policy will be implemented across the fleet from next spring.

Philip Ordever, International sales and marketing vice president said: “I'm the first to admit our cruises were not as competitively priced as they should have been.

“In January we thought we were going to have a tough year but we are now level with last year. Passenger numbers are up but the revenues are not as high as we'd like them to be.”

Overall passenger numbers grew by as much as 12% last year but the company had to sacrifice a similar level of yield to maintain its growth.

Crystal is about to release an “unheard of” price of £1,995 for a 10-night transatlantic voyage in 2012 and Ordever stressed that there would be only “minimal” increases in prices for the following year, mainly to account for higher fuel costs.

The shift to all inclusive with drinks and tips included had helped bring business back and 2012 is “storming away,” according to Ordever.

Have you ever been on a Crystal cruise, or do you have one booked? If not, would you be willing to give them a try (budget allowing, of course)?

“I'm the first to admit our cruises were not as competitively priced as they should have been".

So is this effectively an admission that Crystal have been ripping there customer of for some time?;)

Never the less, their product is highly rated. I’d go if I could afford to.

Hi I have tried Silversea and Seabourn and I would like to cruise with Crystal if the prices were similar (recently Silversea have undercut Crystal's prices by some margin). However, at the moment Crystal don't seem to advertise their product as much as the other luxury cruise lines in the UK.

I would certainly use them were they more competitive.

Kind of like House prices where eventually the buyers will not come. These upscale lines rely on repeat customers but have to find that new cruiser and a lot of competition now exists.