The three newbuilding Crystal Cruises, the Los Angeles based luxury market cruise operator in the Genting Hong Kong group, will retain hallmarks of the brand, but broaden the offerings compared to the lines existing ships, said Nitsa Lewis, Vice President of Marketing at the company.

"We will certainly have Galaxy Lounge and Palm Court, but also new things that we don't have an the existing ships," she said yesterday on board Crystal Symphony. The range of dining options would be widened compared to the ones on the existing vessels, she said, but declined to elaborate on details as these were still being discussed within in the company.

The new ships, which will be built at Lloyd Werft in Germany, will be about 100,000 gross tons each, i.e. they will be twice the size of the 1995 built Crystal Symphony, currently the oldest vessel of the company. However, the new vessels too would only take about 1,000 passengers each.

The new ships will have all suite accommodation and the cabins will be larger than those on the existing ships. They will also have greater height to add to the feeling of spaciousness. Asked if this could bring the risk that passengers would increasingly spend time in their cabins, including dining in them, which again could hurt the social life on board, Lewis said she did not believe this to be a danger. There would be a large number of public rooms, with an attractive design, and they would not be overly large to help in creating an intimate feeling, she noted.