Crystal Bach and Crystal Mahler are the first two of four new river cruise vessels on order at MV Werften
By
Rebecca Gibson |
MV Werften laid the first block of keel for two of Crystal River Cruises new vessels at its yard in Wismar, Germany on 19 August.
The keels were laid during a ceremony attended by Tan Sri Lim, chairman of the Genting Group; Edie Rodriguez, CEO of Crystal Cruises; Erwin Sellering, Prime Minister of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; and the Malaysian Ambassador to Germany, Dato’ Zulkifli Adnan.
“This keel laying marks an important milestone for us,” said Lim, chairman of the Genting Group, which recently acquired Nordic’s three shipyards to form MV Werften. “We are excited to build these high-end vessels for our brand Crystal River Cruises in our very own yard.”
Destined for Crystal’s Rhine class, Crystal Bach and Crystal Mahler are the first two of four new river cruise vessels on order at MV Werften. The 135m ships will each offer cruises for up to 110 guests on the Rhine, Main, Moselle and Danube rovers when they are delivered in 2017. The all-suite vessels will also accommodate 39 crew cabins.
“This phase of the expansion of Crystal River Cruises is in the hands with the expert shipbuilders and designers at MV Werften,” said Rodriguez. “We are thrilled to take this step toward offering our travel-savvy guests another option in which to explore the world in the utmost luxury.”
MV Werften is to build a total of 10 vessels in the next five years, among them the 201,000gt Global Class series for Star Cruise.
“We are happy and proud to start now,” said Jarmo Laakso, managing director of MV Werften. “It is our great pleasure to build these ships and push ahead our building programme. We have grand plans, are heading into the right direction and will strengthen our staff and skills further in the fields of planning, design, procurement and project management.”