Edie Rodriguez News

Edie Rodriguez, the Americas Brand Chairman for PONANT Yacht Cruises and Expeditions, has spent a life and built a career centered on travel, cruise and branding in a most luxurious manner. She was a natural to discuss the booming luxury expedition sector, the next big frontier in the global cruise industry. It is natural, in the U.S., to pronounce PONANT as “po nant,” but the French have a different style and the company name is pronounced “po non,” dropping the ‘t.’ But Edie Rodriquez, charged with spreading the PONANT name in North America, does not get hung up on diction in this case.

Luxury cruise industry veteran Edie Rodriguez will serve as Americas Brand Chairman and Corporate Special Advisor at French-owned cruise line PONANT. With more than 30 years of experience in the cruise industry, the former Crystal CEO and President will be responsible for increasing PONANT's brand awareness and sales in the Americas, and will act as a Corporate Advisor for the company. Navin Sawhney, CEO of PONANT Americas, said, "For the last several years now, PONANT has been building a solid strategy for the American market and has the means to achieve its objectives.

Genting Hong Kong appointed travel industry veteran Tom Wolber as President and CEO of Crystal Cruises, effective September 15. Wolber brings to the role over three decades of experience in general management, operations, newbuild construction and business development. He joins Crystal most recently from the Walt Disney Company where he served in various executive roles for 28 years, 10 of which were with Disney Cruise Line where he served as Senior Vice President of Operations. Wolber helped transform Disney Cruise Line into a global cruise line.

Shipbuilder MV WERFTEN has completed its first newbuild project, having today delivered Crystal Bach, the first of four new Rhine Class luxury river cruise vessels for Crystal River Cruises. Designed specifically for river cruising in Europe, the 135-meter-long and 11.4-meter-wide Crystal Bach will sail along the Rhine, Danube and Main Rivers through the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland, carrying up to 106 passengers in 55 large suites, all designed to be above the water line with horizontal sliding windows.

Edie Rodriguez is Chairman, CEO and president of Crystal Luxury Corporation, Ltd., a broad travel brand that includes Crystal Cruises, Crystal Yacht Expedition Cruises, Crystal River Cruises, Crystal Luxury Air, Crystal AirCruises and Crystal Exclusive Class ships with Crystal Residences. She met with Maritime Reporter in NYC to discuss the evolution of the cruising brand, as well as the benefits of owning your own shipyards in today’s torrid cruise market. You’ve been at the helm of the Crystal brand for about three years now.

A parking nightmare in Sydney harbour left the giant cruise liner Radiance of the Seas unable to dock because the single berth big enough to take her was already occupied. With a tight schedule to meet, the cruise organisers were forced to pay half a million dollars early last month to hire a flotilla of small vessels to ferry 2,500 passengers ashore, and bring back more waiting to embark for the next voyage. "We have not done something like this ever anywhere else in the world," says Adam Goldstein, president and COO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "It was completely foreseeable going back almost a decade that Sydney didn't have the infrastructure ultimately to support the ongoing growth in business," he adds.

The first two of four Rhine class river cruise ships are simultaneously under construction at MV WERFTEN in Wismar. Delivery of the 7-star vessels Crystal Bach and Crystal Mahler to Crystal River Cruises will be in 2017. Shipbuilder MV WERFTEN held a keel-laying ceremony for two Rhine class river cruise ships in Wismar today. The Crystal Bach (yard number 120) and Crystal Mahler (yard number 123) are the first two of four new luxury river cruise vessels to be built in the completely covered dock shop.

The cruise ship MV Crystal Serenity, owned by the US-based Crystal Cruises, is scheduled to set sail from Seward, Alaska to New York on a 32 day, 1,500 km journey through the Northwest Passage via Canada and Greenland on August 16 with with 1,000 passengers on board. The Cruise ship will sail the legendary route 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, first completed successfully by Roald Amundsen more than 100 years ago. The wildlife charity WWF has accused Crystal Cruises of putting at risk “the very thing that tourists would come to see” – a pristine wilderness and home to endangered species such as polar bears and walrus. Crystal Serenity will be accompanied by UK’s ice-strengthened polar logistics and science vessel RRS Ernest Shackleton…

A comprehensive technical feasibility study has determined the SS Unites States to be structurally sound, but a number of insurmountable obstacles will keep America’s Flagship from returning to seagoing service. In February, Crystal Cruises reached a deal with the SS United States Conservancy to restore what was once the world’s fastest, safest and largest passenger liner to a fully operational modern luxury cruise ship, pending the results of a technical feasibility study. Now…

Crystal Cruises' ships will return to Broward County's Port Everglades beginning in Fall 2017, having last sailed from the port in 2006. Beginning October 27, 2017, Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony will sail a total of eight sailings to and from Port Everglades, one of the world’s busiest cruise ports, with more than 3.7 million passengers in 2015. Nine cruise lines, one ferry and more than 40 cruise ships sail from the South Florida cruise port. “Fort Lauderdale is an ideal fit for our ships…

Genting Hong Kong, announced the completion of the acquisition of Nordic Yards’ three shipyards in Wismar, Warnemunde and Stralsund, Germany for the consideration of 230.6 million Euros. The deal will give Genting Hong Kong the core expertise, manpower, fabrication capacity and covered drydocks to build a global cruise fleet for its three brands - Crystal Cruises, The World Most Awarded Luxury Cruise Line ; Dream Cruises, Asia’s Most Luxury Cruise Line; and, Star Cruises, Asia’s Leading Cruise Line. “We are pleased with the completion of the transaction as ownership of the yards provides certainty that we can build a fleet of high quality cruise ships at a pace dictated by our growth rather than constrained by supply as cruise ship order book continues to reach all-time highs…

When cruise liner Crystal Serenity sets off on its 32-day expedition voyage through the Northwest Passage from Anchorage to New York August 16, she will be escorted by the RRS Ernest Shackleton. Crystal Cruises recently secured RRS Ernest Shackleton for the voyage via a charter party agreement with Tactical Marine Solutions of Victoria, Canada and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) headquartered in Cambridge, U.K. Under the contract, RRS Ernest Shackleton, an ICE 05 classed icebreaker (exceeding the more common 1A Super class)…

Crystal Cruises has come to the rescue of the historic luxury liner SS United States, announcing plans for an exclusive purchase option agreement to begin work on returning America’s flagship to seagoing service, pending a technical feasibility study. Launched in 1952 as the fastest, largest and safest passenger liner in the world, “Big U” was regarded as an American symbol of elegance and technological prowess, capturing the transatlantic speed record on her maiden voyage and transporting more than one million passengers over her lifetime, including four U.S.

Crystal Cruises has come to the rescue of historic luxury liner SS United States, today announcing an exclusive purchase option agreement to begin work on returning America’s flagship to service as the world’s fastest cruise ship. Once the world’s fastest, safest and largest passenger liner, the historic ship still holds the transatlantic speed record, yet it has spent years mothballed at dock holding off a looming trip to the scrapyard, having last sailed under her own power more than 40 years ago.

Crystal Cruises announced an expansion plan under new owners Genting Hong Kong that includes three 1,000-passenger vessels, its first new ships in decades. Plus, Crystal will expand into adventure, yacht and river cruising, and luxury jet trips. The three Crystal Exclusive Class ships will be about the same size as the 20-year-old Crystal Symphony and the slightly larger 2003-built Crystal Serenity. The line has signed a letter of intent with Lloyd Werft to build the ocean ships, which will have an unprecedented space ratio of 100 gross tons of space per guest, Crystal said. The minimum size of the cabins on the ships will be 400 square feet. The first ship is due for delivery in late 2018. The ships will be built to sail in polar waters, Crystal said.

Crystal Cruises has been sold for $550 million to the owner of Asia's largest cruise line and a major shareholder of Norwegian Cruise Line. Crystal's parent company, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha has sold the line to Genting Hong Kong, which owns Star Cruises. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015. The announcement said that "with the support of GHK’s financial strength and expertise in ship design, Crystal Cruises’ fleet size will expand with a new ship." For many year, travel agents have asked Crystal about whether the line would build a new ship.

Cruise Shipping Miami 2015 is gearing up to offer the most comprehensive and robust roster of panel discussions featuring the industry's most knowledgeable and experienced executives. The panels will be grouped under several broad themes based on industry trends during the four-day conference. The 31st edition of Cruise Shipping Miami is scheduled for March 16-19 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Organized by UBM Connect, thematic topics include The Geography of Cruise Tourism, Safety and Ship Operations, Market Segments and Cruise Product Development. On Tuesday morning, March 17, the conference will open with the popular State of the Industry session. Participants in that plenary session will be announced in the coming weeks. This program may be subject to alterations and additions.

The “World’s Best” Crystal Cruises is introducing a new expedition-style  voyage traversing the Arctic Ocean via the legendary Northwest Passage – one so mysterious and remote (500 miles north of the Arctic Circle), that explorers spent centuries seeking the passage, until it was first completed successfully by Roald Amundsen just over 100 years ago. Crystal will be the first luxury cruise line to ever navigate the route, maneuvering through 900 miles of majestic waterways lined with spectacular glaciers, towering fjords, and vast unspoiled landscapes away from mainstream civilization and tourism, north of mainland Canada. Beginning August 16, 2016 in Anchorage/Seward, Alaska, the award-winning Crystal Serenity will sail for 32 days from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean/New York City.

For an unprecedented 19th consecutive year–and with its highest score ever–Travel + Leisure readers have voted Crystal Cruises the “World’s Best” Large-Ship Cruise Line in the prestigious magazine’s 2014 annual survey. Recognized as a T+L Hall of Fame winner, Crystal is the only vacation experience–cruise line, hotel or resort–to have been voted #1 in its category every year since the awards’ inception. Thousands of jet-setting readers rated cruise lines on service, itineraries/destinations, activities, accommodations, food, and value, culminating in the overall score, which is published at www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest and in the magazine’s August issue.