Cruise Ship Wins Interior Design Award

Crystal Cruises wins 'Crystal Award' for innovative interior design space

Crystal Serenity's $25 million redesign has not only received accolades from guests, travel agents and travel press since its debut last year, but from the design world as well.  The ship's renovated Apropos boutique -- a retail space for designer clothing and accessories -- has won the prestigious Association for Retail Environments (A.R.E.) interior design "Crystal Award" for the shop's distinctive and dramatic aluminum interlocking circle screen.  The design won the first-ever Wall Treatment Award in the new, Individual Element category for 2012.

"Due to marine requirements, we have more design restrictions than a space on land, so this is a huge honor for a cruise ship to have won," says Alexandra Don, Crystal's vice president hotel services and design.  "Awards like this simply validate what we and our guests already know: that our ships are the ultimate of chic, anywhere on the globe."

Winners in other categories this year included such company as Louis Vuitton, Lacoste, REI, and Alexander Wang. 

Designed by II BY IV Design Associates, the walls of highly polished, thick aluminum, interlocking circles serve as separators for flanking vignettes within the boutique.  The design was inspired by antique nautical instruments and globe stands, with the reflective piece complementing the high-gloss fascia, wood veneer, and glass-and-mirror wall treatments surrounding them.  All fixtures had to be securely bolted to fit marine building codes, yet maintain a graceful, slender appearance—a unique challenge for retail spaces at sea.

Crystal Serenity's sister ship, Crystal Symphony, will be undergoing her own renovations this June, completing a five-year plan to redesign all of the ship's public and private rooms.