A&K Travel Group Ltd., the global lifestyle and travel company that owns Abercrombie & Kent and Crystal Cruises, has named Peter Chipchase as its first Chief Marketing Officer.

The reborn Crystal Cruises under the leadership of A&K Travel Group is set to return to Australian waters, with both Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity scheduled to make port calls Down Under next summer.

A&K Travel Group Ltd., the travel company that owns Abercrombie & Kent, Crystal Cruises and Cox & Kings, has announced a number of key new staff and internal promotions as the business begins staffing up in response to the post-pandemic resurgence in luxury travel.

Crystal Cruises has rejoined Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) as an ocean-going cruise line member.

Crystal Cruises has named Matias Lira as Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Guest Services, jumping ship from Silversea Cruises where he served for the past 12.5 years

A&K Travel Group has confirmed the appointment of Jack Anderson as President of its newly acquired ultra-luxury cruise brand, Crystal Cruises. Anderson held the same position with Crystal Cruises under its former owner, Genting Hong Kong, for 15 months before the brand’s demise in February.

Silversea Cruises will shelve the helicopter and submarine experiences offered aboard the former Crystal Endeavor, and add new suites, the cruise line’s President and CEO, Roberto Martinoli, has confirmed.

The new owners of the Crystal Cruises’ brand and sister ships Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony, A&K Travel Group Ltd, have signalled their intention to offer some level of goodwill to guests caught out by the collapse of the brand earlier in the year.

Seabourn is enticing members of Crystal Cruises’ loyalty program, Crystal Society, to join its own program with a matched club level status.

Luxury expedition cruise specialist, Mark Spillane, has returned to the division, revealing this week that he has joined Seabourn as its US-based Director – Expedition Sales.

A&K Travel Group co-owners, Geoffrey Kent and Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, have been confirmed as the buyers of luxury cruise ships Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony. The sister ships, formerly part of the Crystal Cruises brand, were purchased by an undisclosed company last week for US$103 million and US$25 million respectively.

Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony, the luxury sister-ships of the collapsed Crystal Cruises, will be put up for auction to the highest bidder in early June. The auction is the latest step in the liquidation of the former Genting Hong Kong brand.