Silversea Cruises has bought Crystal Cruises’ expedition vessel Crystal Endeavor for $275 million and plans to relaunch it later this year in Antarctica.
The ship will be rebranded in dry dock in Europe before operating a “couple of shakedown cruises” in mid-November and then taking over Silver Explorer’s season.
From Antarctica the ship, which will be renamed Silver Endeavour, will reposition to the Arctic. Bookings for Silver Endeavour have now opened.
Explorer will leave the line’s fleet in November 2023 and start operating for new cruise line Exploris due to enter the French market next year.
Roberto Martinoli, the line’s president and chief executive, recently spent two days on Crystal Endeavor in Gibraltar.
Roberto Martinoli on Crystal Endeavor, soon to be renamed Silver Endeavour
He said: “The ship is of a very high standard and is compatible with what we do at Silversea Expeditions.
“We’d been looking into it and we thought it was a great fit for our product and our fleet.
“We are really very happy about getting tonnage so soon and that type of quality tonnage. The ship is really impressive.”
Martinoli added: “I walked the ship from top to bottom and from bow to stern. It’s a great vessel, very well finished, maybe a little too much I would say. We’re very happy and we can’t wait to see it in operation.”
He added that the vessel is a “great polar vessel” and designed to be “in cold water”. “The [customer] demand is for the polar regions,” said Martinoli. “November 2023, Explorer leaves the fleet, so we would be losing capacity if we did not do this.
“The demand for [expedition] cruises has been extremely positive.”
A visibility study is currently being carried out to identify potential refurbishment opportunities on Endeavor, which launched last year.
Martinoli suggested the existing casino could be ripped out and replaced with four cabins.
During the short spell in dry dock, Martinoli said signage would be changed and the hull would be repainted, as well as other “minor modifications”.
“She can definitely have more cabins,” he said. “There are probably four cabins in the casino but there are opportunities elsewhere. We are waiting to see what the visibility study tells us.”
Asked whether $275 million represented a good deal for Silversea, Martinoli said: “I think it’s a fair price. It’s a good deal because the ship is good and we’ll be able to operate her very well and make her profitable.”
Silversea’s parent Royal Caribbean Group will allow customers who had put down a deposit on a Crystal Endeavor sailing to rebook with any of its brands, including Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises. It also confirmed agent commission would be protected.
Furthermore, Crystal Endeavor customers who paid a deposit for a future booking and were not refunded by Crystal or “other sources” will be refunded by Royal Caribbean Group. Full offer details will soon be available via silversea.com.
Martinoli confirmed the line had planned to expand its four-ship expedition fleet before Covid-19 pandemic hit.
“We are still working on this,” he said. “[This ambition] has not gone away but before the pandemic we were just about to act and we were obliged to put plans on hold.
“We are speaking to shipyards and exploring opportunities to expand. We see demand again coming back in a nice way. As soon as soon as this [pandemic] stabilises we will be ready to act.”
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