Silversea sues the new Crystal Cruises over sales hire: Travel Weekly

The new Crystal Cruises is being sued by Silversea Cruises and Royal Caribbean Group

Lira, a former Silversea executive, was accused of breaching his contract by Royal and Silversea. Crystal Cruises and A&K are accused of interfering with the contracts of Silversea.

Royal and Silversea are seeking $750,000 in damages and for Lira to honor a nondisclosure and noncompete agreement he had signed.

The lawsuit was filed in Miami-Dade County. A&K USA, Crystal Cruises and Lira have yet to respond to the court's order. The Royal Caribbean Group did not respond.

The suit comes as Silversea and the new Crystal Cruises prepare to launch ships that were once owned by the Crystal Cruises.

The new Crystal Cruises announced in June that it had acquired the Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity and that they would be deployed in early 2023.

The Crystal Endeavor was acquired by Silversea. The ship will be launched in November.

The Crystal Cruises brand was pursued by a private equity firm called Heritage Group. The founder of Silversea Cruises sold his company in 2020.

As Silversea's vice president of passenger services and sales support, Lira was responsible for all aspects of passenger services. Royal says in the suit that he signed an employment contract that included a noncompete agreement in which he agreed to not work for another cruise line for two years after he left Silversea.

Less than two weeks after the announcement that A&K would revive the Crystal Cruises brand and redeploy two of its former ships, Lira announced he would leave Silversea but did not say that he would be working for another cruise line.

According to Silversea and Royal, Lira sent confidential Silversea information to his personal email during his last week on the job, including a spreadsheet with nonpublic contact information for certain Silversea suppliers.

The lawsuit claims that Lira kept Silversea's trade secrets confidential. The stock grant agreements included a condition that he would not work directly or indirectly for another cruise-related business with at least 500 berths for six months after he left the company.