 — Crystal, the leader in exceptional cruise experiences, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mario Parodi as Vice President of Itinerary Planning and Port & Fuel Operations, effective Sept. 1st. He will be an instrumental addition to the team bringing a wealth of experience and expertise that will greatly benefit the operations and strategic planning for the brand.

Originally from Genova, Italy, Parodi brings an extensive maritime background, including graduating from the Nautical Institute in Genova in 1985. He began his career in the Italian Navy before becoming a Deck Officer on cargo and cruise ships. Following his time at sea, Parodi managed Port Operations for Evergreen in the port of Genova Voltri before moving to the United States. He spent eight years as a Port Agent before transitioning to Prestige Cruise Holdings in 2008. In March 2015, he was appointed Vice President, Port Operations & Itinerary Planning for Norwegian Cruise Lines Holdings where he was responsible for port operations and preparation of worldwide itineraries for all three brands (Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises).

Most recently, Mario served at Atlas Ocean Voyages, gaining valuable experience in Expedition cruising that will be influential as Crystal looks to establish its own Expedition fleet.

"We are so pleased to welcome Mario to the Crystal family,” said Roberto Fazi, SVP Marine Operations at Crystal. “His impressive track record and deep understanding of both traditional and expedition cruising will be pivotal as we continue to innovate and expand our offerings."

Parodi expressed his enthusiasm adding, "I am honored to join Crystal and look forward to collaborating with such a talented team. Together, we will create unforgettable experiences for our guests and chart new courses in the cruising industry."


For more than three decades Crystal has been synonymous with exceptional, award-winning voyages. In 2022 A&K Travel Group acquired the Crystal brand and its two vessels, 

, ushering in a new era of Exceptional at Sea. The globally renowned cruise line offers discerning travelers industry-leading, authentic, and enriching experiences both onshore and at sea. Crystal’s pioneering partnership with Abercrombie & Kent provides guests with unparalleled access to the most sought-after experiences, destinations, and the latest cultural makers around the world.The reimagined ships boast larger, updated suites with artisanal finishes, new cutting-edge wellness offerings, spectacular entertainment, and complimentary world-class dining - including the return of UMI UMA - the only dining experience by Michelin-Star Chef Master Chef Nobuyuki (Nobu) at sea. With a legacy of unrivaled service and commitment to sophistication and elegance at every touchpoint, once on-board passengers feel as if they are perfectly at home.

Crystal, the leader in exceptional cruise experiences, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mario Parodi as Vice President of Itinerary Planning and Port & Fuel Operations, effective Sept. 1st.

Crystal Appoints Mario Parodi As VP Itinerary Planning And Port & Fuel Operations

FIND A CRUISE

AFRICA & INDIAN OCEAN

ALASKA

ASIA

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

BALTIC & NORTHERN EUROPE

EUROPE & THE MEDITERRANEAN

NORTH AMERICA & CANADA

SOUTH AMERICA

SOUTH PACIFIC

THE AMERICAS & CARIBBEAN

DESTINATIONS

2025 WORLD CRUISE

2026 WORLD CRUISE

WORLD CRUISES

2024 GRAND JOURNEYS

2025 GRAND JOURNEYS

COMBINATION VOYAGES

GRAND JOURNEYS & COMBINATIONS

EXPLORE SERENITY

CRYSTAL SERENITY

EXPLORE SYMPHONY

CRYSTAL SYMPHONY

SUITES & SERVICE

DINING

ENTERTAINMENT

AURŌRA SPA

LIFE ON BOARD

OUR SHIPS

STORIES

WHY CRYSTAL

OFFERS

Guests will receive twenty percent (20%) off the cruise-only fare. Full payment of the reduced fare will be due at time of booking. Booking is not refundable. Additional terms and conditions apply.

A&K Travel Group Ltd, along with its subsidiary companies listed below (collectively “A&K Travel,” “us,” “our,” or “we”) recognize the importance of protecting your privacy. This global privacy notice (“Notice”) describes how we collect, process, and share Guest Personal Data (defined below). This Notice also describes your rights and choices with respect to Guest Personal Data and other important information. You reached this Notice by clicking on the privacy notice link when you visited one of our group websites, however, this Notice applies to the activities across all the A&K Travel companies. Please carefully review this Notice.

A&K Travel Group Ltd is a company incorporated under the laws of the Bahamas. A&K Travel’s subsidiary companies include but are not limited to the following: AK Group Ltd, A&K Corp. Ltd, Abercrombie & Kent Global Travel Limited, Abercrombie & Kent Ltd, Abercrombie & Kent USA, LLC, Abercrombie & Kent (Australia) Pty Ltd, Crystal Cruises Holding Ltd, Crystal Cruises SAM, Crystal Cruises USA, LLC, Crystal Cruises Pty Ltd, Crystal Cruises Ltd, Crystal Cruises UK Ltd, Cox & Kings (a brand name of Abercrombie & Kent Ltd) and Situr Inc. and Divencounters Inc. (each trading as Ecoventura).

A&K Travel may act as either a controller, a processor or both, depending on the circumstances, with respect to the collection, use, and other processing of personal identifying information which can be used to identify, directly or indirectly, or locate guests (

) in connection with the guest relationship, as described in more detail in this Notice.

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this Notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the data protection compliance manager using the details set out below.

Please see below the relevant contact details of the Data Controller for your country or region. If you are uncertain or have a general question regarding data protection, please use the contact details for the United Kingdom.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Legal entity: Abercrombie & Kent Ltd.
Company No: 01082430
Name: Data Compliance Officer
Email address: privacy@abercrombiekent.com
Postal address: St George's House, Ambrose Street, Cheltenham, GL50 3LG.

Legal entity: VeraSafe, LLC
Telephone: +1 (617) 398-7067
Email address: 


Postal address: 100 M Street S.E., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20003, USA
Web: 

https://www.verasafe.com/about-verasafe/contact-us/

The contact details for our registered data protection representative in the European Union.

Legal entity: Abercrombie & Kent Italy and Croatia
Name: EU Data Protection Representative
Email address: 


Postal address: Via Fattori 10, Florence, 50132, Italy.
Supervisory body: Garante Per La Protezione Dei Personali
Website URL: 

United States of America, Canada and South/Central America

The contact details for our registered data protection representative for the USA and the Americas

Legal entity: Abercrombie & Kent USA LLC
Name: Data Protection Manager
Email address: 


Postal address: 1411 Opus Place Executive Towers West II, Suite 300, Downers Grove, IL 60515.

The contact details for our registered data protection representative Australia and Asia.

Legal entity: Abercrombie & Kent Australia Pty. Ltd.
Name: Data Protection Manager
Email address: 


Postal address: Level 3, 290 Coventry Street, South Melbourne, VIC 3205.

This Notice is written in the English language. We do not guarantee the accuracy of any translated versions of this Notice. To the extent any translated versions of this Notice conflict with the English language version, the English language version of this Notice shall control.


A&K Travel will collect personal data from you when you interact with any of the A&K Travel websites, contact any of its subsidiary companies’ reservations departments, use our services, or purchase our products.


We collect Guest Personal Data about or generated by any device you have used to access the websites of subsidiary companies, or when you use Wi-Fi while traveling with A&K Travel. Such collected data could include contact details (such as email address) and previous purchase history or interests. When you use our websites, we also collect certain information about you automatically through our use of cookies and similar technologies. Please see below for our Cookie Notice.


We receive Guest Personal Data about you from our third-party affiliates or partners and from marketing companies that provide us with such information as a part of their relationship with us. We receive Guest Personal Data from third party travel agents who transfer Guest Personal Data to us when you purchase products or services from them in connection with services that we provide, and other service providers performing services on our behalf. We may receive Guest Personal Data from ad networks, behavioral advertising vendors, market research, and social media companies or similar companies that provide us with additional Guest Personal Data. We may also receive Guest Personal Data from Facebook and other social media companies who may transfer Guest Personal Data to us when you register for one of our services or interact with that social media company on or in connection with our services or the purchase of our products.

We may combine this with data that we already have collected about you.


A&K Travel feels strongly about protecting the privacy of children. A&K Travel’s websites are not targeted for use by minors under the age of 18 (“minors”). A&K Travel does not knowingly collect personal information from minors in connection with the features of our websites without the consent of a parent or guardian. A&K Travel requests that all minors who may visit its websites not disclose or provide any personal data. Minors may not access those sections of the websites that require registration. Upon notification that a minor has provided us with personally identifiable information, we will delete the minor’s personally identifiable information from our records. If you believe we might have any information from a child, please email us at 

III. CATEGORIES OF GUEST PERSONAL DATA AND PURPOSE FOR PROCESSING

A&K Travel collects and processes the following categories of Guest Personal Data, for the purposes specified below when you make an inquiry or purchase a service or product:

Personal name and initials (e.g. First Name, Last Name)

Communicate, interact and identify you and customize the content, products and services that are offered to you;

Verify your authority to enter and use our Services; and

Personal characteristics (e.g., age, date of birth, gender, marital status, nationality) and personal preferences (product preferences, online preferences, interests)

Conduct our business and improve our websites and services, develop new products and services, provide information and support, to better understand your needs and interests, personalize communications and advertising, and generally promote a quality experience for you.

Process, fulfil and follow up on transactions and requests for products, services, support, and information

Financial information (e.g., credit card number, financial institution information and number)

Process transactions you enter into with us (e.g., purchase of goods and services, refunds, discounts and offers)

Contact information (e.g., address, phone number, email address)

Perform certain automated decision-making, including profiling, which is used for direct marketing

Contact you with information about A&K Travel products and services and affiliated third-parties;

Send you other marketing materials, for example, via email, and to notify you about products and services that we believe would be of interest to you

Government Issued ID (e.g., Social Security Number, Government ID Number, Passport Number)

Authentication information (e.g., login id, password)

Verify your authority to enter and use our website and other services

Deter, detect, and prevent fraud and other prohibited or illegal activities

Health related information (e.g., information about physical or psychological state of health, prescriptions, vaccinations, temperature, data on health screening questionnaires, COVID-19 testing)

Book or embark on some of our offerings, visit certain properties or visit certain locations where our cruise ships berth

Health information when / if medical care is required while onboard

Enable us to provide you with bespoke services or in connection with our response to health-related incidents

Information obtained from third parties, including:

Casino third parties related to marketing and background checks

Travel Agents and / or Travel Consortiums for booking purposes

Online behaviour information (online activity, preferences, time spent viewing features on our Site)

Measure, analyze and improve our products and services, the effectiveness of our websites, and our advertising and marketing

Provide targeting advertising, including the use of re-targeting technology

The type of Guest Personal Data collected by A&K Travel may vary from country to country, and in some countries A&K Travel might not collect all of the categories of Guest Personal Data listed above.

A&K Travel is committed to only collecting and processing the minimum amount of data from you that is necessary to the purposes of our data processing activities, and to retain such data only if required to fulfil such purposes. Where applicable, if A&K Travel intends to further process the personal data for a purpose other than that for which the personal data was initially collected, A&K Travel shall, prior to such processing, provide you with any relevant information on such additional purpose, and, to the extent required by applicable law, obtain your consent for this.

While traveling with A&K Travel subsidiary companies:

A&K Travel processes Guest Personal Data when you interact with us offline. Additionally, when you use electronic or RFID technologies, or use on-premise digital services, we may collect browsing information including but not limited to, search history, server logs, application logs, browsing data, first party cookies, third party cookies, pixel tags and clear gifs. In addition, we may process this data in combination with other data that we collect and/or create as necessary in connection with certain legitimate business interests in (i) verifying your identity for authentication and security purposes; and (ii) to prevent fraud.


We may operate CCTV or security cameras on properties operated or owned by A&K Travel subsidiary companies. In connection with these systems, we may collect and/or create Guest Personal Data as necessary in connection with certain legitimate business interests, such as (i) ensuring the safety and security of guests and employees; (ii) recording and investigating health and safety incidents; (iii) keeping track of guests and employees for safety and commercial purposes; and (iv) creating aggregate data.

When you use our digital services, we may collect and process device and network data. We use this data as necessary to fulfil guests’ requests. We may also collect and process data that we collect, create, and/or receive (including through the use of cookies and similar technologies). We typically use this data as necessary in connection with certain legitimate business interests, such as ensuring the security of our websites and other technology systems.

We and certain third parties process Guest Personal Data we hold for certain purposes including but not limited to distribute marketing communications and to create marketing profiles, in connection with online advertising, including targeted advertising, data sales, personalization and guest profiles.

In order to understand our guests’ preferences, and better recommend bespoke products and services we may create a “Guest Profile” by linking together and analyzing Guest Personal Data collected in the following circumstances: (i) when you purchase our products and services; (ii) when you travel with companies owned or operated by A&K Travel and its subsidiary companies; (iii) when you use our digital services; (iv) through cookies and other tracking technologies; (v) when you contact us or submit information to us; and (vi) through feedback and surveys.


During our interactions we may collect special categories of personal data about you as detailed below. This may be because you want us to have the information or inadvertently as result of a group you travel with (please see example below). It may also be because we need to know certain personal data about you which is special category data in order that we can provide you with the best possible service and advise you whether a trip is suitable for you. Health is one of the best examples of this.

E.g. If we receive a group booking from a specific religious association we will inadvertently have details of religious beliefs of those individuals. The same can be said for groups from political associations and trade union associations.

E.g. We are sometimes asked whether certain medication is allowed to be taken into certain jurisdictions which discloses certain medical conditions.

Other special category of personal data which we may end up receiving from you include details about your:

dietary requirements which may disclose your religious or philosophical beliefs;

You are not under any obligation to consent to us processing or disclosing your sensitive information in the manner described above and in our Notice. However, if you don’t agree then we won’t be able to process your data or transfer your data to our suppliers. As you will appreciate it would then be difficult to actually provide your holiday because making your holiday arrangements involves processing your data and transferring your data to our suppliers in order that they can provide the services.

If you have concerns with us processing or transferring your data then please discuss that with us at your earliest convenience in order that we can book your holiday and provide you with the necessary services.

If you are happy to consent to our use of your sensitive information, you will also be able to withdraw your consent at any time. However, as this will prevent us from providing your holiday, we will be required to treat any withdrawal of consent as a cancellation of your booking and the cancellation charges in the Booking Terms and Conditions for your booking will become payable..


IV. THE LEGAL GROUNDS FOR PROCESSING GUEST PERSONAL DATA

In most instances, we process your personal data under the legitimate interests of providing you products and services. In other instances, we obtain your consent to process your personal data where we are required to do so by applicable law – for example, where the personal data we are collecting from you is special category personal data and we are not lawfully permitted to process your personal data on any other legal grounds. Where we rely on your consent for processing your personal data, you may withdraw your consent at any time, by contacting us at 

. Please note, however, that withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on the consent you gave prior to withdrawal. For direct marketing, we rely on our legitimate interests when applicable law does not require your consent.

Where we process your personal data for direct marketing purposes, we will log your objection to and stop such processing of your data, and we will not contact you again for marketing purposes if requested. You may object to such direct marketing by clicking the unsubscribe link in each such direct marketing message or contacting us at 

While we always want you to be aware of how we are using your personal information, this does not necessarily mean in every instance that we are required to ask for your consent before we can use it. There may be instances where we process your personal data for our legitimate interests (furthering our business relationship with you) or on the basis of other lawful grounds (e.g., because we have established a relationship with you and need to process your personal data in order to provide you with the information and/or services you have requested), without having obtained your consent. We do not seek your consent in such cases largely so that we can provide you with services in an efficient way (or where in some cases it might not be possible for us to seek your consent because we must process personal data, for example, for the detection of fraud). Before processing your personal data, we will consider your rights and freedoms and will only commence such processing where we do not think your rights will be infringed.

Except as otherwise provided in this Notice, only a limited number of individuals within A&K Travel’s legal, finance, IT, accounting and customer care departments, as well as certain managers (i.e., only persons with assigned responsibility or managerial responsibility for a guest or groups of guests) will receive access to Guest Personal Data when necessary in connection with their job responsibilities.

If you provide A&K Travel with personal data about members of your family and/or other dependents (e.g., for emergency contact or benefits administration purposes or as fellow travellers on a trip), it is your responsibility to inform them of their rights relating to the processing of their personal data for these purposes. You are also responsible for obtaining the explicit consent of these individuals (unless you are authorized to provide such consent on their behalf) to the processing (including disclosure and transfer) of that personal data for the purposes set out in this Notice.

V. DISCLOSURES OF GUEST PERSONAL DATA TO THIRD PARTIES

Guests will receive ten percent (10%) off the cruise-only fare. Full payment of the reduced fare will be due at time of booking. Crystal’s standard cancellation terms apply.