Luxury Line Crystal Cruises Introduces 2-for-1 Pricing

At a Friday morning press conference in New York City, Crystal Cruises unveiled two-for-one pricing on all sailings in 2010. The new pricing structure comes into effect today.

1,000s of already booked reservations will be re-priced accordingly, according to Bill Smith, senior vice president of Crystal Cruises.

In addition to two-for-one fares for all destinations, Crystal is granting up to $2,000 per couple in ship board credit, free round-trip air on most sailings, business class air for Penthouse suite bookings in Europe, and a price guarantee.

Smith noted that Crystal had hired two outside research companies to investigate various promotions.

Smith said: “The scope of changes we’ve made is unprecedented as we literally have had to reproduce every piece of collateral we’ve had in the marketplace.”

"We found we had the wrong offer in the marketplace," Smith commented.

Crystal’s marketing department will be working around the clock for the next two weeks to re-produce the cruise atlas, direct mail campaigns and more with the new promotions, said Smith.

Smith noted that occupancy in 2009 is down between 15 and 18 percent.