Walter Littlejohn said the line’s rapid expansion, which has seen it launch five vessels over the last two years, had made the Crystal brand “more visible than ever”.
When asked by TTG about the possibility of expanding its river fleet further, he said: “I think as long as our customers are willing to pay we can have as many as they want us to have."
Although Littlejohn, who was speaking at the christening of Crystal’s latest river ship, Crystal Debussy, in Amsterdam yesterday (May 28), maintained the line would only talk about projects “that we are ready to start selling”.
His comments echo those of other senior Crystal executives since Tom Wolber joined as president and chief executive in September following the departure of former boss Edie Rodriguez, under whose leadership the company had undergone sporadic expansion with the addition of Crystal Yacht Expedition Cruises, Crystal Air and Crystal River Cruises.
“We have given the marketplace a lot to swallow at once and now we know really the better way of how to manage it is to roll things out slowly, give the people time to chew it, grow with us and then go forward,” said Littlejohn.
“With the river, the Crystal that exists today will always only talk about things when we are ready to start taking bookings.”
Littlejohn said he believed the expansion, which has seen more than 170% of extra capacity added to Crystal’s river fleet, “has had a lot to do with” the line experiencing “very exciting” trade sales growth in the UK.
“We have a great base of agents that have been supportive of the ocean cruise line and with the river line coming into the mix we are starting to see some new agents who didn’t sell the ocean ships now selling us.
“Coupled with the agents who are very loyal to the Crystal river brand, there’s good growth out of the UK,” he said.
