This week, a team from Lloyd Werftwas due to board the luxury cruise ship ‘Crystal Symphony’ in Lisbon to start preparations during the ship’s delivery voyage to Northern Germany.
They will be making preparations for her forthcoming large-scale refurbishment.
Crystal Cruises announced the multi-million refurbishment in the spring of this year, calling it the ‘Evolution of Crystal Luxury’.
It will be the first direct internal contract between Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven and Crystal Cruises, both of which are part of the Hong Kong based Genting Group. Lloyd Werft has been a 100% subsidiary company of the Group since 2016.
A year earlier Genting took over the US luxury cruise shipping company along with its two cruise ships from the Japanese shipping concern Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK).
The 1995-built 922-pax ‘Crystal Symphony’ is due to arrive at the entrance to Lloyd’s giant Kaiserdock II in the early evening of 23rd September. The luxury cruise ship is expected to remain in Bremerhaven for the multi-million Euro refurbishment until 16th October.
The work will be shared – the interior refurbishment will be carried out directly by Crystal Cruises or its partner companies, while Lloyd Werft will be responsible for the shipbuilding aspects and for all the logistical demands of the contract.
As a result, not only a large part of the Lloyd Werft work force but also several hundred crew members and sub-contractors will be busy on site.
Along with regular ship maintenance work, the vessel will receive two new restaurants. The technical pre-requirements for the introduction of free on-board WLAN will also be created on the ship. In addition, ultra-slim 24 in screens will be installed in every cabin.
During the refurbishment, some smaller cabins on Deck 9 will be converted into luxury penthouse suites with butler service. A total of 40 of these new suites, of 34 to 45 sq m in size, will be created, thus reducing passenger capacity to 848.
After the refurbishment work has been completed, the ship will head back to Lisbon, where she is scheduled to begin a 15-night cruise to the Mediterranean on 21st October.
Crystal Cruises also plans to upgrade other ships in its fleet, as part of an ongoing process, along with the river and ocean going ships currently being built by MV Werften in Wismar – also part of the Genting Group. Lloyd Werft confirmed that also planned for autumn 2018 is a major refurbishment of the ‘Crystal Serenity’, which entered service in 2003, although the contract for that work has not as yet been awarded.
“It is a commitment from Genting to our traditional shipyard here in Bremerhaven. The yard can point to many years of experience and competence in the refurbishment of cruise ships,” the company said.
