The Avid Traveler

Avid\Av"id\, a. Longing eagerly for; eager. -Webster's Unabridged Dictionary

Crystal Endeavor To Boast Expedition’s Highest Space Ratio

Earlier this week, I attended the keel-laying ceremony for Crystal Endeavor at Germany’s MV Werften Stralsund Shipyard. The event gave me a chance to talk to some of the executives responsible for launching Crystal's first expedition newbuild.

With more than a dozen new expedition vessels entering service between now and 2020, Crystal Endeavor's "key differentiator will be space," said Mark Spillane, manager of sales & marketing for Crystal Yacht Expedition Cruises.

To fully appreciate how much space Crystal Endeavor will have, it's important to know a little about space ratio, which is derived by dividing gross tons by the number of passengers, double occupancy. The greater the space ratio, in theory, the less crowded the ship feels.

Typically, small luxury ships have greater space ratios than do large ships. I calculate Europa 2's space ratio to be 83, the highest on record, I believe. Operated by Hapag-Lloyd, Europa 2 is one of the most beautiful ships afloat, thanks in no small part to the ship’s abundance of space. By contrast, one of the world's largest ships, Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, has a space ratio of only 36. That's crowded!

You also need to know something about gross tons. The standard measure of a cruise ship, "gross ton," dates back to the 14th century, when a tun was a large wine cask with a capacity of 252 old wine gallons. Today, a gross ton is equal to 100 cubic feet of enclosed space, thus ships "measure," not "weigh," in gross tons.

So let’s do the math. Crystal Endeavor measures 20,000 gross tons divided by 200 guests, which yields a space ratio of 100. Come 2020, Europa 2 will no longer be king of the hill. In fact, no other ship will match Crystal Endeavor for space. Of the dozen expedition vessels coming into service between now and 2020 only Crystal Endeavor will have such a space ratio.

Public rooms will be large and impressive; there will be a full-service spa, for example, and six dining venues, including Nobu Matsuhisa's Umi Uma. Staterooms too will have room to spread out. "The smallest staterooms on Endeavor will be as large as the Penthouse Suites on Crystal's ocean-going vessels," Spillane says. He notes that all 100 of Crystal Endeavor's suites will feature heated walk-in closets to warm parkas and heated bathroom floors.

I also got to speak with Crystal President and CEO Tom Wolber. When I asked him about Endeavor's space ratio, he responded that space will become a differentiating factor for Crystal fleet wide. "You will find once we release more details on the Diamond class, that (space) is truly the future direction for Crystal," Wolber told me. "We serve a certain niche of the luxury market, and what they ask for is space in the cabins and space in the public spaces. Most luxury lines do one or the other. Very rarely do they do both. So our signature will be that we are the most spacious and comfortable ships for out there."

An easier way to appreciate of all this is to think about the airline's first/business class versus economy class. After spending 10 hours flying transatlantic in cramped economy seats, you can easily appreciate why space is a luxury.

Renderings of Crystal Endeavor