New luxury offerings were made available to guests in the month of March, with Crystal Cruises now offering personal, private car excursions on European itineraries, with guests in command of their own car and driver, as well as a local, English-speaking guide. The offerings are available for singles and couples, and vans can be provided for small groups with a maximum of eight passengers, allowing guests to customize their time ashore.
Crystal is launching the program at 50 European ports aboard Crystal Symphony's Mediterranean cruises and Crystal Serenity's Northern European cruises, the line is looking to extend the program to other destinations later in 2013. The new private car and driver services start at $270 per car, with guides speaking languages other than English also available upon request.
Cunard Line updated its dress code at sea to emphasize formal wear during events while encouraging lax standards on casual nights. Research with existing passengers and luxury travellers led Cunard to extend special occasion dressing to three times a week on its Transatlantic Crossings and twice each week on sailings to the Mediterranean, Scandinavia and beyond. In addition to this, there will be four to five "informal" evenings where jackets are required but ties will become optional.
Passengers opting out of evening wear on formal nights will be welcome in the ships’ main buffet restaurants and in the adjoining Winter Garden or Garden Lounge bars, but not in other areas of the ship. This change from the previous evening dress codes of “formal,” “semi-formal” and “elegant casual” to just “formal” and “informal” will take effect before flagship Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria set out on their main sailing seasons in April/May 2013.
Also, due to rising demand, Abercrombie & Kent is introducing two new Arctic expeditions in 2014 aboard Le Boreal. As part of this service, A&K is providing a personal butler for cabin categories 6-8. By exclusively chartering Le Boreal, A&K limits the number of guests to no more than 199, guaranteeing each stateroom and suite has a private balcony.