Crystal Cruises on Tuesday announced it would become the first cruise line to restart departures out of the two cities with sailings to Bermuda beginning in August.
The Miami-based luxury line said its 922-passenger Crystal Symphony initially would sail a series of seven-night voyages to Bermuda out of Boston starting on Aug. 22.
The ship then will reposition to New York for a series of seven-night voyages to Bermuda starting on Sept. 24.
All of the voyages will bring two full days and two nights in Bermuda.
The voyages (13 in total) to Bermuda replace initial restart cruises that Crystal had planned to operate this summer in the Caribbean out of the islands of St. Martin and Antigua. Those trips recently were canceled.
Crystal suggested that U.S. cruisers right now are looking for voyages out of easy-to-reach, close-to-home ports such as Boston and New York City.
“As the entire travel industry emerges from the restrictions of the global pandemic, flexibility has been key in reestablishing meaningful experiences for travelers," Crystal president Jack Anderson said in a statement accompanying Crystal's announcement. "For cruising, in particular, the recent positive developments of ships sailing from U.S. ports have prompted U.S. travelers to show an increased preference for more direct access to luxury cruise options closer to home."
Crystal said the voyages would operate at a reduced capacity and only would be open to passengers vaccinated for COVID-19.
Crystal's announcement comes as a growing number of cruise lines including Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line are restarting operations out of U.S. ports for the first time in 16 months.
Like all major cruise lines around the world, Crystal halted operations worldwide in March of 2020 after the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic.
Crystal just resumed operations for the first time in 16 months on July 3 with a single ship sailing out of Nassau in the Bahamas. The line also has a new expedition cruise vessel scheduled to start sailings out of Reykjavík, Iceland, on Thursday.
Crystal Symphony will be the third Crystal vessel to start up operations since cruising around the world shut down.
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