Crystal plans to restore casinos, after removing them during their refurb

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.

But advisors responded that a casino was important to many of their guests, spurring Levis to reconsider and tell them on that sailing she was working on a solution.

Levis said during the Symphony’s shakedown cruise this week she is looking to address the lack of a casino on both ships and has a location in mind that is not a large space, according to Seatrade Cruise News.

The line replaced the original casino space on both ships with a lounge, which Levis has considered turning into a show kitchen for cooking demonstrations. 

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