Crystal buys business jet to transport guests to their cruise

ABOARD CRYSTAL ESPRIT — Crystal Cruises has acquired a Bombardier
Global Express jet that is intended for charter service for guests and groups
using its other travel products.

The 13-seat jet can fly to 51,000 feet and stay airborne
for up to 18 hours, Crystal CEO Edie Rodriguez said in disclosing the news on a
preview cruise of the Crystal Esprit mega-yacht.

Crystal already has plans to provide 28-day and 14-day air
tours starting in 2017 aboard two acquired aircraft, a Boeing 787 and Boeing
777.

The Global Express plane is more like a corporate jet.
Rodriguez said she expects clients can use it to take a river cruise in Europe after
completing a yacht cruise in the Seychelles, for example.

Rodriguez said the fare will be similar to a first-class airline
ticket, using the example of a roundtrip Emirates flight between New York and
Dubai, which she put at about $20,000.

Rodriguez also announced that Crystal is updating the
look of its advertising with a new campaign that breaks Dec. 22 in travel
magazines and high fashion publications. The ads will feature women in
fantastic, flowing haute couture gowns against destinations where Crystal
Cruises goes, from Venice to Maine.

“It’s a little whimsical,” Rodriguez said. “We fantasize.
We want to be in those ads.”

A new slogan, “All inclusive is all exclusive” will
accompany the ads, and put the spotlight on exclusivity as a characteristic of
Crystal.

Rodriguez said Crystal plans television advertising
sometime in the first quarter. “Crystal has, to my knowledge, never done TV,”
Rodriguez said.

She told a group of travel partners on the ship that TV
is “intended to drive [customers] through your doors.” She demurred on details
of the TV campaign, saying they would be announced later.