Crystal Serenity

Crystal Serenity was ordered from Chantiers de l'Atlantique (now STX France Cruise SA) on 7 November 2000.[8] The keel of Crystal Serenity was laid on 13 June 2002 and she was launched on 10 August 2002 being completed on 30 June 2003.[9] She was formally named on 3 July 2003, by Dame Julie Andrews, in Southampton, United Kingdom.

The lead designer of Crystal Serenity was Robert Tillberg of Tillberg Design.[4] The other designers were the Italian Garroni Designers Company, Japanese Okada & Associates, American Nix Firestone Associates and II by IV design Associates, British Stephenjohn Design and was internally designed by Brennan Beer Gorman Monk (BBGM) of New York.[4]

In November 2018 she emerged from an extensive redesign at Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven.[10][11]

Passenger Lee Wachtstetter, known as "Mama Lee", 88 Years old in 2016, lives aboard the Crystal Serenity full-time. She is the longest permanent luxury cruise ship resident. In 2018, she reached 10 years living aboard the ship. She spends about US$170k a year to live on the ship full-time.[12][13][14][15]

The maiden voyage of Crystal Serenity was on 7 July 2003, 4 days after her christening. It was a 14-day round-trip cruise, departing Southampton and cruising Northern Europe. During her inaugural season, Crystal Serenity held summer cruises in Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, and a transatlantic crossing. It was followed by two Caribbean/Panama Canal voyages and a combined Christmas/New Year Mexican Riviera cruise, round-trip from Los Angeles.[1]

On 14 January 2004, she embarked on her first world cruise; a 106-day voyage departing Los Angeles, which concluded on 5 May, in New York City.[1]

Crystal Serenity was the largest cruise ship ever to navigate the Northwest Passage. Starting on 10 August 2016, the ship sailed from Vancouver to New York City with 1,700 passengers and crew, taking 28 days for the journey. In the Canadian Arctic it successfully made stops at Ulukhaktok and Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island, then passed up Franklin Strait and through the narrow Bellot Strait, adjacent to Zenith Point, the most northerly extension of North America. It explored Beechy Island where Franklin overwintered, followed by seldom visited fjords on the south side of Devon Island, plus fjords on Baffin Island and the village of Pond Inlet. On 5 September 2016 it sailed for Disko Bay in Greenland.[16] Her transit triggered comments on Canada's Arctic sovereignty.[17]

Crystal Serenity was the subject of Mighty Ships season 6, episode 3, first broadcast 2012.

• Plowman, Peter (2007). Australian Cruise Ships. Dural, NSW: Rosenberg Publishing. ISBN 9781877058509.
• Saunders, Aaron (2013). Giants of the Seas: The Ships that Transformed Modern Cruising. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781848321724.
• Smith, Peter C. (2010). Cruise Ships: The World's Most Luxurious Vessels. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword Maritime. ISBN 9781848842182.

• Official website