Crystal River Cruises on sale now!

Nathan Collins

Crystal River Cruises’ collection for 2016 through 2018 are now booking…

Poised to bring “true luxury” to the European river cruising experience, Crystal Cruises have unveiled the itineraries for its five new luxury river yachts and announced voyages from 2016 through 2018 are now open for booking. The newly acquired and redesigned Crystal Mozart will sail in July 2016 and the four newly built vessels, Crystal Bach, Crystal Debussy, Crystal Mahler and Crystal Ravel will embark in June and August 2017.

“It’s truly thrilling for us, as well as our loyal guests and new-to-Crystal travellers, as more details of what’s in store for Crystal River Cruises unfold,” said Edie Rodriguez, president and CEO of Crystal Cruises. “We are going to deliver the most luxurious river experience in the industry with a combination of innovative vessel designs, unmatched guest service and fascinating itineraries.”

The luxury river yachts will maintain the celebrated Crystal Experience for savvy world travellers, featuring all-inclusive amenities, elegantly-appointed suites and six-star service for which the world’s most awarded luxury cruise line is renowned. Crystal River Cruises’ itineraries will offer a fresh take on traditional river cruising, focusing on longer and overnight stays and daytime cruising, in addition to sailing less-travelled routes to avoid congestion of other vessels in port.

Crystal Mozart (The Danube River), maiden voyage 13^th July 2016 – tihe queen of European river cruises is currently being redesigned and will emerge in 2016 boasting Crystal’s signature elegant style and luxurious public spaces, accommodations (160 guest capacity) and special touches. Keeping close to the Austrian roots of its namesake, the river yacht will sail two distinct itineraries of 10 and 11 nights along the Danube, plus a special 10- to 13-night Christmas and New Year’s Eve voyage.

Danube’s Capital & Wachau Valley – taking travellers through the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Austria’s Wachau Valley, lined with picturesque towns, terraced vineyards and the stunning charm and architecture of Dürnstein, Melk, Linz and Vienna, Austria; Passau, Germany; and Bratislava, Slovakia.

Countries of Eastern Danube – exploring the eastern realms of the river and the treasures of Vienna, Austria; Esztergorm, Kalocsa, Budapest and Mohács, Hungary; Vukovar, Croatia; the Iron Gate; Belgrade and Novi Sad, Serbia; and Bratislava, Slovakia.

Christmas Markets Along the Danube – celebrating the holiday season in the quintessential winter wonderland of Austria, Germany and Slovakia. Guests can get in a festive mood by exploring the traditional Christmas marketplaces and town squares famous for their holiday singing and dancing, cuisine, shopping and holiday cheer, from Munich’s Christkindlmarkt that dates back to the 14^th century to the age-old Viennese Christmas Market at City Hall and Christmas Village at Belvedere Palace.

Crystal Debussy (The Seine River), maiden voyage 4^th June 2017 – as Paris is a year-round dream destination, five-, seven- and 10-night voyages will explore the City of Light with multiple overnights. The ship’s sleek design and smaller size (84 guest capacity) will allow the opportunity to conveniently access berths near the Eiffel Tower for guests to extend their stay in Paris.

Best of Paris, Seine River & Normandy – an itinerary that highlights the quaint villages and lush valleys that inspired impressionists such as Monet and Van Gogh, including the garden at Giverny and the charms of Auvers-Sur-Oise and traces the historic footsteps in the gardens of Versailles. A double overnight will leave guests within walking distance of charming Honfleur and position travellers closer to the surrounding areas’ popular attractions including the beaches of Normandy and Deauville.

Paris & The Arts – an in-depth immersion into the priceless masterpieces housed in this great city, from the Musée d’Orsay and d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris to the famed Louvre; then venturing to Rouen in the heart of Normandy before returning to Paris.

Pre–Christmas Shopping in Paris – the magic of the season is the focus of this enchanting voyage, replete with indulgent culinary delights and plenty of holiday shopping and fantasy window shopping. Guests can immerse themselves in the Marché de Noël outdoor bazaar and enjoy street performances along the Rue du Gros Horloge in Rouen.

Crystal Bach (The Rhine River), maiden voyage 18^th June 2017 – The vessel’s 14-night itinerary boasts overnight stays in fascinating and enchanting cities including Amsterdam, Netherlands; Basel, Switzerland; and Ruedesheim, Germany as it travels along the Rhine and Moselle Rivers. A special 10-night voyage again explores the quaint Christmas markets that are synonymous with the region.

Classic Rhine – visiting the aforementioned overnight ports, as well as Antwerp, Belgium; Nijmegen, Cologne, Cochem, Koblenz, Mainz, Speyer, Kehl, and Breisach, Germany. This voyage also allows for additional stays in Frankfurt to explore the 2,000-year-old metropolis and get a birds-eye view from atop the Main Tower, one of the city’s tallest buildings.

Christmas Markets along the Rhine – the snow-flecked towns along the Rhine River will bring storybook holidays to life, inviting travellers aboard the 110-guest capacity Crystal Bach to visit two of Switzerland’s loveliest markets – Barfüsserplatz and Münsterplatz in Basel – plus historical abbeys and cathedrals. An overnight in Cologne sets the stage to feel the magic of the holidays in the festively decorated city, which is renowned as having one of the largest Christmas markets in all of Europe.

Crystal Ravel (The Garonne & Dordogne Rivers & Gironde Estuary), maiden voyage 8^th August 2017 – delving into the heart of France’s most renowned wine region beloved by both connoisseurs and novice oenophiles, the 84-guest capacity Crystal Ravel explores the UNESCO-designated cultural site of Bordeaux, which boasts more protected buildings than any other French city outside of Paris.

Bordeaux, the Wine Region & Beyond – the seven-night itinerary spends two nights in Bordeaux before cruising on to Cadillac (overnight), Pauillac (overnight), Blaye and Libourne (overnight), then back to Bordeaux (overnight). The extra nights in Bordeaux afford guests to visit Arachon in southwestern France for the city’s oysters, white wine and the popular Dune du Pilat, which is Europe’s tallest sand dune.

Crystal Mahler (The Rhine, Main & Danube Rivers), maiden voyage 29^th August, 2017 – the 16-night “Grand Europe” itinerary is the longest offered by the Crystal river fleet. It is also two nights longer than most other lines sailing the same route, allowing guests time to explore this iconic route at a more leisurely place than is currently offered.

Grand Europe – the 110-guest capacity Crystal Mahler will transit the Rhine-Main-Danube with its many locks that connect the continent’s two mightiest rivers (the Rhine and the Danube), to explore the treasures of each. From the iconic windmills of Holland to the fairytale villages of Germany’s countryside, guests will have ample opportunity to immerse themselves in the charm of the destinations, with overnights in Budapest, Vienna, Passau and Amsterdam.

Fares for Crystal River Cruises collection from 2016 through 2018 are now open for booking and are subject change without notice. 2016 prices start from £2,670 per person for the 10-night cruise round-trip Vienna on Crystal Mozart. Price includes return scheduled flights from London, overseas transfers and 10 nights in a River Suite including all onboard meals and soft drinks, most alcoholic beverages, use of bicycles in port, a choice of complimentary shore excursions in each port, free WiFi, port taxes and gratuities.

Inaugural voyages for Crystal Mozart (13^th July 2016), Crystal Debussy (4^th June 2017), Crystal Bach (18^th June 2017), Crystal Ravel (8^th August 2017) and Crystal Mahler (29^th August 2017) will be exclusively available to members of the Crystal Society – the line’s repeat guest programme – from 30^th November through 30^th December 15, 2015.

Crystal Cruises is the world’s most awarded luxury cruise line, having earned more “World’s Best” accolades than any other cruise line, hotel, or resort in history. Crystal Cruises has won “World’s Best Cruise Ship” in Condé Nast Traveler’s Reader Choice Awards for 22 years; been voted “World’s Best Large Ship Cruise Line” by Travel + Leisure readers for 20 consecutive years; and the “Best Luxury Cruise Line” by Virtuoso in 2014. In summer 2015, Crystal embarked on the most significant brand expansion in the history of luxury travel and hospitality, which will introduce three new classes of cruising – Crystal Yacht Cruises (December 2015), Crystal River Cruises (July 2016), Crystal Exclusive Class Ocean Cruises (late 2018) – and Crystal Luxury Air (autumn 2017).

Contact RB Collection for more details and to book your Crystal River Cruise…

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Great cruise, boat, taxi, hotel, meal (and more!) arrangements in Athens and Corfu. Oliver has this amazing ability to know what we would enjoy, which is why I've already booked my next trip with RB! To the Carribbean we go in November!! 🥳 Thanks Oliver and the entire team at RB!

Zain Qazi

‘As usual, Sam at RB Collection arranged our recent Iceland/Scotland cruise with attention to every possible detail. He remembered what had worked for us previously and used that knowledge to enhance our experience. No question was too much trouble for either Sam or his colleague Clare. We would not consider anyone else for our holiday arrangements; RB Collection are truly superb!’

Hilary Carroll

Wonderful way to book a wonderful holiday. Such a personalised & attentive approach to helping us find the perfect family holiday! Couldn’t recommend more!!!

Pandora Bahrami

They found us the perfect hotel for our London stay. Exactly the right balance of perfect location, incredible breakfast and they really listened to what we wanted. I even had access to one of London best gyms included in the stay!

Katie May Medley

RB Collections are a wonderful family run firm who welcome you into the family from the first holiday you book with them. My special thanks go to Clare who always ensures my booking runs smoothly and takes the stress out of the process of decisions by ‘knowing’ and implementing my preferences using information she has ascertained from previous bookings. I don’t have to remember…..Clare does it for me.

Janet Goodwin

Having just returned from a fantastic long weekend at Disneyland Paris, we had to leave a review for Sam and the team at RB Collection. They removed all the stress from organising the trip and ensured everything was in place for a truly memorable trip for all the family. We can’t thank them enough and we will certainly be back for future holidays. Our experience has been 10/10 👍🏻

Mike Boyden

Just returned home from a wonderful holiday in Madeira arranged by Sam from RB Collection. Every detail from flights, hotel, transfers, recommended restaurants and "must to do's" was excellent and all documents arrived by post in good time for checking before departing on our holiday. Due to the weather, our journey was delayed by two days. However after contacting RB on the emergency number in the holiday package, all was sorted by the team - an upgraded hotel room at the same hotel, flight, transfers, taking away all the stress from ourselves and allowing us to enjoy our extra two days. One cannot put a price on a phone call and text messages when something unfortunate happens and you feel vulnerable. On our return, the excellent service has continued by Sam and colleagues who are now dealing with the necessary correspondence with the airline company. My husband and I and children at home who were concerned when we were stranded, cannot thank the team at RB enough for their support and professionalism and we are looking forward to many more holidays using the company. Tom & Janet

Tom&Janet Marks

We came to RB Collection with an idea of some of the places we wanted to visit in Rajasthan, India - and they made it all happen, expertly and efficiently. Oliver and Clare were a pleasure to deal with, sorting every aspect and adding their own ideas to really enhance this wonderful trip. They checked in while we were away to make sure everything was going well (which it was) and I knew they'd be on hand if we needed anything. Thank you!

David Page

The purpose of this review isn't to confirm that our holiday was a 5 star experience (which it was, by the way) but it's a review to say that RB Collection's involvement in planning, booking and safety netting our holiday experiences has been truly 5 stars. Are people bothered if my wife and I had a great holiday - I suspect no...... Are people interested in the company that was instrumental in creating 5 star holidays - I suspect yes ......and so it's RB Collection's skills and involvement that get this 5 star rating. As a family we have booked our own holidays almost exclusively by ourselves for 35 years - until a year ago when we used RB Collection's services for the first time to book a holiday to the Ice Hotel in Sweden. We chose to book through them because we had no experience or knowledge of the Ice Hotel and their exclusive Ice Hotel Website was great. Their involvement made all the difference - in particular their personal commitment to making things work and since the first contact, they have been getting to know our travel "needs, wants and likes" more by each contact. Our next holiday was a Silversea Cruise - one that we could easily have booked ourselves, but RB's influence allowed us to save a significant (4 figure!) sum. Reason alone to recommend! Our third and most recent booking with RB was a safari which could not have been a better holiday experience. The reasons for this are as follows: 1. Up until raising the possibility, I knew nothing about safaris i.e. where to go / at what time of year / for how long etc. Within 72 hours of a discussion of a suggestion by me for a Tanzania trip (based on a google AI search), I was infinitely far better informed and after weighing up possibilities, we opted for a Kenyan trip to Amboselli and the Masai Mara. What a brilliant decision! 2. Whilst the travel options were perfect for our particular needs, RB's involvement to seamlessly arrange the multiple transfers on our journey came to the fore. This was particularly evident on coming back from Zanzibar (beach unwind) to Nairobi International, which would have presented a significant challenge had we opted for self booking, due to the (multiple) security & immigration stages. (Yes, of course - we would have negotiated the stages - we're grown ups - we can look after ourselves, but oh my. the loss of wasted heartbeats would have been significant!) Turns out that what was arranged for us was faster than "fast track" and I certainly became aware of lots of people looking enviously towards us and our safari representative as we whizzed by! 3. Photography is an important aspect of our holidays. Good photographic subjects / scenes are our means of ensuring that we're seeing good stuff, which - IMHO - is a main focus of a holiday. Our safari guides had been well briefed about my photography wishes and from the get-go, they discussed what we were looking for from our holiday and so every day we had a mutually planned itinerary for the wildlife that never disappointed. Our guides had been particularly selected from the briefing given by RB pre-travel to the safari people. In a nutshell, RB have changed our attitude to holidays and their associated experiences. In our time with them, we have undertaken holidays that we have never done before and we are now definitely thinking differently about what to do in the future. Add to this, the reassurance and safety net that travel agency booking confers and I think that RB Collection definitely deserves a 5 star review. By the way - we live distant to their location - all of our dealings have been by telephone and email so don't think you need to be locals to use their services.

Colin Scott

A big shout out for RB Collection ….they have done it again !!!! Made our World touring a pleasure AGAIN ….having done the cruising in various parts of the world …the Canada trip…..the India & Nepal trip…& just recently the Hongkong Australia New Zealand trip…it’s like being transported on a Dreamliner !every attention to detail from getting to the airport arriving at the destinations & being picked up & taken to the various types of accomadation ….Thanks Team RB & especially to Sam for this last one 🌴☀️😎

Linda Taylor

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