Name Crystal Serenity Port of registry Nassau, Bahamas Cost US$350 million Length 250 m Draft 7.6 m | Owner Crystal Cruises Ordered 7 November 2000 Laid down 9 July 2002 Construction started 9 July 2002 | |
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Builders STX Europe, Chantiers de l'Atlantique | ||
Crystal cruises crystal serenity cruise ship tour
Crystal Serenity is a cruise ship owned by Crystal Cruises. Crystal Serenity was built in 2003 by STX Europe in St. Nazaire. She operates together with her older fleetmate, Crystal Symphony, offering around the world voyages.
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Concept and construction
By March 2000, Nippon Yusen Kaisha, parent company of Crystal, started negotiations with the French shipyard, Chantiers de l'Atlantique, for the construction of a third ship for Crystal Cruises. Crystal Serenity was then ordered in Chantiers de l'Atlantique (now STX France Cruise SA) on 7 November 2000, together with the signed Letter of Intent. On 12 December 2000, the official contract was then signed by NYK and Chantiers, for the construction of Crystal Serenity, with an expected delivery by June 2003, which was 6 months ahead of the original plans. By March 2001, Crystal Cruises unveiled the designs for the upcoming Crystal Serenity. The keel of Crystal Serenity was laid on 9 July 2002 in Chantiers de l'Atlantique in St. Nazaire, France. She was then christened on 3 July 2003, by Dame Julie Andrews, in Southampton, United Kingdom.
The lead designer of Crystal Serenity was Robert Tillberg of Tillberg Design. The other designers were the Italian Garroni Designers Company, Japanese Okada & Associates, American Nix Firestone Associates and II by IV design Associates, British Stephenjohn Design and was internally designed by Brennan Beer Gorman Monk (BBGM) of New York.
Ports of call
The maiden voyage of Crystal Serenity was on July 7, 2003, 4 days after her christening. It was a 14-day round-trip cruise, departing Southampton and cruising Northern Europe. During her inaugural season, Crystal Serenity held summer cruises in Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, and a transatlantic crossing. It was followed by two Caribbean/Panama Canal voyages and a combined Christmas/New Year Mexican Riviera cruise, round-trip from Los Angeles.
On January 14, 2004, she embarked on her first world cruise; a 106-day voyage departing Los Angeles, which concluded on May 5, in New York City.
Crystal Serenity was the largest cruise ship ever to navigate the Northwest Passage. Starting on 10 August 2016, the ship sailed from Vancouver to New York City with 1,700 passengers and crew, taking 28 days for the journey. In the Canadian Arctic it successfully made stops at Ulukhaktok and Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island, then passed up Franklin Strait and through the narrow Bellot Strait, adjacent to Zenith Point, the most northerly extension of North America. It explored Beechy Island where Franklin overwintered, followed by seldom visited fjords on the south side of Devon Island, plus fjords on Baffin Island and the village of Pond Inlet. On Sept. 5, 2016 it sailed for Disko Bay in Greenland. Her transit triggered comments on Canada's Arctic sovereignty.