Crystal Cruises' assets are being acquired by various companies. Manfredi Lefebvre D'Ovidio, former owner of Silversea Cruises and current majority owner of Abercrombie & Kent, has purchased the Crystal brand name and the two ocean-going ships, Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity, which will be launched next summer. The Crystal Endeavour was acquired by Silversea and will now be launched as the Silver Endeavour in Antarctica this November.
As for Crystal River Cruises' five riverboats—Crystal Bach, Crystal Mahler, Crystal Ravel, and Crystal Debussy—each with a capacity of 120 passengers, and the Crystal Mozart, a 35-year-old riverboat that was once the largest passenger vessel on the Danube, it is still unknown who might buy the four new riverboats, while the Mozart has a new home.
A German company called Riverside Luxury Cruises has purchased the Mozart, now renamed Riverside Mozart or simply MS Mozart. The Riverside Mozart is one of the largest river cruise ships on the Danube, with a capacity of 160 passengers, and is also one of the best equipped after Crystal completely refurbished it six years ago.
The Mozart will have 80 suites instead of cabins and a suite-to-crew ratio of 1:1. Riverside has already selected the crew members: Béla Burján will be the captain of the MS Mozart, Sonja Gruber will be the hotel manager, Johannes Bar will be the chef, and Ulrike Nehls will be the shore operations manager.
The Mozart of Riverside will offer five-night cruises to Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna round trip; 11-night cruises to Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Melk, Ybbs, Linz, Engelhartszell, Passau, Mauthausen, Grein, Durnstein, Krems and Vienna again; four-night cruises to Passau, Mauthausen, Grein, Durnstein, Krems and Vienna; seven-night cruises to Budapest, Kukovar, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kalosca and Budapest; seven-night cruises to Vienna, Durnstein, Melk, Linz, Bratislava, Esztegom and Budapest; and seven-night cruises to Budapest, Bratislava, Krems, Durnstein, Linz, Mauthausen, Grein and Vienna.
