Bahamas Cruise: Crystal Cruises marks its biggest single-day of bookings

Bahamas: Crystal Cruises marked its biggest single-day of bookings in its 30-year history on the launch of the Bahamas cruise on July 3.

According to a declaration from the Ministry of Tourism, the cruise line saw an extraordinary response in the first 24 hours of bookings opening for its novel Luxury Bahamas Escapes aboard Crystal Serenity, set to launch July 3.

Nearly 4,000 patrons reportedly booked staterooms or suites on at least one of the seven-night voyages that cruise from Nassau or Bimini round-trip, booking more than 25 percent of the 16 voyages’ linked availability. Moreover, nearly 200 visitors reserved back-to-back voyages, with some planning to allocate 42 days onboard the company’s flagship.

Jack Anderson, Crystal’s interim president and CEO, said: “We are excited by the wonderful response to these new sailings. It’s clear that travellers have been actively looking forward to exploring again and are as excited to see Crystal Serenity return to sailing as we are.

The Luxury Bahamas Escapes will sail July through October, with an itinerary that involves visits to Harbour Island, Great Exuma, San Salvador Island and Long Island.

In a declaration yesterday, Global Ports Holding (GPH) Regional Director, Americas, and CEO of Nassau Cruise Port Ltd Mike Maura Jr said: “We are greatly excited to participate in the relaunch of sailing in the region.

He affirmed: “At its peak, vessels that homeport here will probably bring thousands of new travellers to Nassau annually, which is not only significant for us but for other local industry players as well.

“This opening will create an extensive amount of economic activity for hotels, tour operators, taxis and other tourism stakeholders as this area of our business grows.”

Colin Murphy, GPH Head of Business Development, Americas, said: “The ability to give cruise lines the advantage to homeport presents a massive opportunity for Nassau and Antigua, making partnerships with our ports even more critical in influencing the regional success of the industry.”

Murphy added: “We have actually received interest from several cruise lines about providing homeport services in Nassau and Antigua recently.

“Being able to offer this advantage to them will bring an extensive boost to the profiles of each of these nations as major tourism players, which has always been one of our overarching objectives as a partner and supporter of their local tourism sectors.

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