Some Crystal Serenity guests will transfer to Regent Seven Seas in Aruba

Dozens of passengers currently on the Crystal Serenity will transfer to a Regent Seven Seas Cruises ship, the Seven Seas Mariner, after Crystal Cruises cut short the Serenity’s world cruise due to its parent company’s financial unraveling.

Genting Hong Kong filed to wind up its operations earlier this month, and Crystal said that it was suspending operations for its ocean and expedition ships through April 29. The line said that the Serenity, which had started a world cruise earlier this month, would disembark all passengers in Aruba on Jan. 30. 

• Related: Advisors wait, watch and wonder after Crystal pauses cruising

A spokesperson for Regent said that the Mariner will be in Oranjestad, Aruba, on Jan. 31, the day after Serenity disembarks its World Cruise guests.

“Regent Seven Seas Cruises is working in partnership with the trade to support any guests who wish to continue their vacation by joining Seven Seas Mariner on a 13-night cruise from Oranjestad to Miami; or a 94-night sailing from Oranjestad to San Francisco,” the spokesperson said.

For guests who choose to join the Mariner, Regent is providing a complimentary night at the Ritz-Carlton Aruba.

Steve Shulem, a travel advisor currently on the Serenity, said that more than 80 people had moved to the Regent ship. Meanwhile, he said, the Serenity has not been able to visit many ports of call on its current cruise.

“They have canceled most ports on this cruise, because the captain told us they have no money for port charges,” Shulem said.

Guests on the Crystal Symphony, which was also in the Caribbean, have already disembarked and returned to the U.S. Once Genting Hong Kong said that it would be out of cash by the end of the month and was winding up its operations, a warrant was issued by a federal court in Miami for the Symphony, after a fuel provided sued Crystal for more than $2 million in unpaid fuel bills.

The Symphony, which had been scheduled to end its sailing in Miami, changed course for the Bahamas instead, where Crystal’s ships are flagged. The passengers were returned to south Florida via ferry from Bimini.

Shulem said that Serenity guests not transferring to the Mariner are “on their own to get home from Aruba unless Crystal did their flights. Then they helped.”

Source: Read Full Article