Crystal Cruises plans to restore casinos after removing them during refurb

Thursday, August 31, 2023 8:27 PM
  • Andrea Zelinski, Travel Weekly

Crystal plans to add casinos back to its two ships by the third quarter of 2024, according to the line.

A spokeswoman said the line’s management is in conversations with a concessionaire about how to bring casinos back in some format.

The new line removed the casinos on the Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony during their refurbishment. The casino was “a huge, huge space in our opinion. Too big,” said Cristina Levis, CEO of A&K Travel Group, which acquired the ships and several assets when the original Crystal Cruises collapsed in 2022.

To help decide what to do with the space, the line surveyed some past guests and found just 5% of them would not sail without a casino, she told travel advisors during a shakedown sailing of the Serenity in July.