Crystal Cruises has named travel industry veteran Walter Littlejohn vice president and managing director of Crystal River Cruises. Littlejohn will step into the role June 6, just over one month before the maiden voyage of the line’s first luxury river ship, Crystal Mozart, which will sail on the Danube River from Vienna on July 13. Over the next two years, Crystal River Cruises will see six additional luxury new builds, beginning with river yachts Crystal Debussy, Crystal Mahler, Crystal Bach and Crystal Ravel in the summer of 2017.
Littlejohn’s 24-year tenure in the travel industry spans several executive and leadership roles, most recently as vice president with AmaWaterways, where he oversaw operational components including reservation sales, inventory management and customer relations. Littlejohn also possesses strong ties to the travel agent community, having co-founded his own agency at the beginning of his career, which he ran for 14 years. His appointment comes on the heels of the announcement of the departure of longtime Crystal executive, Philip Ordever. Littlejohn will divide his time between the Miami branch office and the Crystal River Cruises’ headquarters, located in Amsterdam. He will report to Crystal’s COO, Thomas Mazloum and SVP of Marketing and Sales Carmen Roig.