Crystal Cruises doubles up Dubai cruise departures for 2020 with Symphony

By Shaun Ebelthite on November 25, 2018 • ( 1 Comment )

Crystal Symphony, which made a triumphant return to the Arabian Gulf last year following her refit and refurbishment, will once more cruise from Dubai in 2020, but this time she’ll be doing it twice in one year.

Crystal Symphony at the Dubai Cruise Terminal in 2017.

Crystal Symphony will cruise from Dubai twice, to both the east and the west during the year, on repositioning grand voyages between her Mediterranean and Southeast Asian seasons.

The first Dubai cruise will depart on May 8^th, 2020. This 16-night Dubai to Rome cruise is actually a shorter leg of a longer 42-night voyage that can be booked as one.

Crystal Cruises calls it a journey of ‘European Elegance’. “From the Arabian Gulf to the English Channel, journey through centuries of imagination and innovation with the romance of Provence and Casablanca, Porto and Bordeaux winelands, charming St. Jean-de-Luz and Guernsey and optional explorations into Petra and Paris,” says the cruise line.

Port calls on the 16-night Dubai to Rome cruise include Muscat and Salalah in Oman, as well as Aqaba in Jordan and Sorrento and Civitavecchia (the gateway to Rome) in Italy. Crystal Symphony will stay overnight in port in Dubai and Muscat during the voyage.

The longer 42-night version of this cruise departs on the same day from Dubai of course, but after Civitavecchia the ship sails on through the Mediterranean to an additional 18 cruise ports, including Livorno (Florence/Pisa) in Italy, Monaco, Barcelona in Spain, Casablanca in Morocco and Saint-Jean-de-Luz in France, where a turreted Maison Louis XIV museum recreates 17th-century domestic life with period furniture.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz in France

Crystal Symphony will return to Dubai in November, 2020, on her repositioning cruise back to Asia after spending the summer in Europe.

She will depart Dubai November 8^th on a 13-night cruise to Mumbai, India, that can also be booked as a 29-night voyage from Dubai to Singapore.

Port calls on the shorter version of the cruise include Dubai, Doha in Qatar, Mina Sulman in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Muscat in Oman and Mumbai in India. She’ll stay overnight in Dubai on the first night of the cruise, as well as in Abu Dhabi, Mumbai and (unusually), Qatar.

“Four overnight stays maximize the discovery in the Middle East. Explore the ever-changing urban masterpiece of Doha, Bahrain’s proud pearl industry, Abu Dhabi’s newly opened Louvre museum and Mumbai’s Bollywood and bazaars,” says Crystal Cruises.

The longer 29-night version of the cruise pushes on after Mumbai to Cochin and Sri Lanka’s Colombo, as well as Yangon in Myanmar, Phuket in Thailand, and Penang and Klang in Malaysia before she reaches Singapore.