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Crystal's earliest-ever itinerary reveal has Alaska return, New Orleans, included Berlin package

Crystal's earliest-ever itinerary reveal has Alaska return, New Orleans, included Berlin package
Crystal Cruises' 2016 and early 2017 itineraries feature more maiden calls (41), more overnights (119, 40 of them 'double' overnights), more shorter cruises of five to 10 days, and an earliest-ever opportunity to book.

Highlights include returns to Alaska, New Orleans and the Philippines; expanded US West Coast, Central America and Caribbean choices; three trips through Antarctica; inclusive land programs in Berlin and Montréal, a pan-Pacific grand cruise and world cruises each year.

In 2016, Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity will touch on 245 ports in 77 countries, with 86 overnights in 48 ports. Almost half of the year’s itineraries are of 10 or fewer days, including one five-day and two six-day cruises, for the first time, along the Pacific Coast.

There will be new overnights in ports such as Antwerp, Ibiza, Papeete, Bora Bora, Hamburg (for Berlin), Bali, Punta del Este, Colón, Ushuaia and Haifa.

The record number of double overnights in port will give longer stays in San Diego, Amsterdam, New Orleans, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Istanbul, Venice, London, Lisbon, Barcelona, Sydney and Melbourne.

The 27 new ports include Aitutaki, Cook Islands; Arendal, Norway; Bandol, France; Catalina Island, California; Corinto and San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua; Crotone, Italy; Easo, New Caledonia; Fukuoaka, Japan; Gaspé, Québec; Hoonah, Alaska; Isla Margarita, Venezuela; Karlskrona, Sweden; Kavala, Greece; Kirkwall, UK; Klaksvík, Faroe Islands; Korsakov, Russia; Mystery Island, Vanuatu; Nanaimo and Prince Rupert, BC; Port Canaveral, Fla.; Portree, Isle of Skye, UK; Port d’Alcúdia, Majorca, Spain; Sibenik, Croatia; Terre-de-Haut, Guadeloupe; Samaná, Dominican Republic, and Virgin Gorda, BVI.

There are returns to less-visited destinations, too. Among them: Argostoli, Kefalonia Island, and Chania/Souda, Crete, Greece; Kralendijk, Bonaire; Gdańsk, Poland; La Rochelle/La Pallice and Sanary-sur-Mer, France; Mariehamn, Finland; Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Nuku’Alofa, Tonga; Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands; Ponta Delgada, Azores; Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala; Rangiroa, French Polynesia; Tarragona, Spain; Sarandë, Albania, and Waitangi, Bay of Islands, New Zealand.

2016's 102-day world cruise sails round-trip San Francisco for the first time, with five segments beginning in Sydney, Bali, Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Crysta's first Alaska season in five years will feature shorter seven- and 10-day itineraries. Two new Northern Europe cruises include a complimentary three-night Berlin land package. A pair of January/February voyages cruise Antarctica and South America, including a new route round-trip from Buenos Aires.

Eight five- to 22-day cruises will sail to or from California in the winter, spring and fall including a new Hawaiian islands itinerary round-trip San Francisco. A new San Diego round-trip will visit Catalina Island for the first time. Two new Panama Canal cruises will operate from Chile to Miami and Miami to San Francisco.

New Caribbean and Central America cruises feature a return to New Orleans after a decade-long absence, with one-round trip among three voyages. A pair of cruises operate to/from Panama's Colón. For Crystal, rarely-visited islands include Jamaica and Bonaire, and the line will visit Virgin Gorda for the first time.

In both 2016 and 2017, Crystal will expand explorations of Central America, with visits to Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras, and will beef up its Mexico offerings. A New England/Canada season will have a Montréal shoreside overnight, plus seven-, eight-, nine- and 10-day voyage options, including a New York round-trip.

Ten seven-, nine- and 12-day Mediterranean cruises in spring and fall feature a return to Israel and to Piraeus as a turnaround port.

Five voyages will operate to or from Asia, with multiple ports in South Korea back on the calendar. And Crystal will return to Sydney for the world-famous New Year’s fireworks display on an Auckland- Melbourne holiday cruise, with a second holiday voyage round-trip Miami.

The first quarter of 2017 offers a 94-day 'world' cruise that focuses on South America. Operating round-trip Miami, it is comprised of six segments aboard Crystal Serenity through Antarctica, the Amazon, and to/from Colón, Valparaíso, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Barbados.

A 99-day pan-Pacific grand cruise aboard Crystal Symphony starting Jan. 5 is comprised of seven segments sailing to/from Melbourne, Sydney (round-trip), Bali, Singapore, Hong Kong, Incheon and Tokyo, and features several new and rarely visited Polynesian ports and Crystal’s first return to the Philippines in 18 years.

Fourteen new ports include Alotau and Kiriwina, Papua New Guinea; Boracay and Romblon Islands, Philippines; Iquique and Castro, Chiloé Island, Iquique, Chile; Isle of Pines, New Caledonia; Matarani, Peru; Champagne Bay, Vanuatu; Portobelo, Panama; Santo Tomás de Castilla, Guatemala; Stewart Island, New Zealand; Takamatsu, Japan, and Trujillo, Peru.

The 2016 and early 2017 cruises are available for booking with limited-time, all-inclusive 'Book Now' fares starting at $1,785 per person until June 30.