Keith1010

Maybe there was some other reason but in terms of room category this would apply only to those in a CP or Junior CP based on availabilty. Other instancesof not being charged would include being on a full world cruise, a grand voyage, or having 50 or more Crystal Society milestones. Keith

I have found the dinner hours on the cruises we have been on so far to be the same as they were with old Crystal. Maybe on some of the very low loaded cruises they adjusted them but not on the ones we have been on and given it appears that occupancy will rise this summer it should be as it was before. Since start up I've only sailed on Serenity but we have cruises also booked for Symphony this year. All of our Tastes reservations since start up have been at 6:30 PM when tastes opens and that is the same on our upcoming cruises that we have recently booked. Other specialty restaurant hours are the same and Waterside dining was the same as well. Keith

For us whether we use or not use the service depends on the number of pieces we are taking. Specifically: We can handles two carry ons, two personal items and two 28 or 29" pieces or one Carry one and three large pieces. While we could get porters it gets complicated with more pieces including vehicles needed and if we are arriving back home and have to go through customs/immigration. I can remember arriving back to DFW when that was our home airport and there would only be a couple of porters and the first time we got one but the following year we had to wait quite awhile. So I look at this as a toolbox. We don't always need the tool but having it available to us works very well. On a related note, as FlyerTalker said I like those airlines that offer an app to track luggage.It has alerted me twice when my bags were not on the flight and these days I also add to each bag an Apple Air Tag. And finally, because I believe in Murphy's Law we fly in a few days before we embark because things happen and likewise if we ship bags we send them a lot earlier than they require. Finally, when shipping bags home another thing that can go wrong is they arrive home earlier than they are supposed to. One time with DHL they were to hold the bags for a few days after they arrived back to the USA as we were staying on land for several days before flying home. Guess what? They didn't and left them on our porch and they shouldn't have done that either. Thank goodness my neighbor spotted them and took them in. These days I would at least know they were there with video cameras. An example that things can go wrong and that applies to UPS, Fedex, DHL and USPS and whomever else is out there. Now if I was a human octopus at least I could handle more bags but that's not to say the vehicle can. 😀 Keith

I would add to what Terry posted which the rules of the former program were not all that different. It said the request had to be submitted before final payment was made. I also think it is referring to the upgrades as like you said an as you wish type of credit could be issues on the ship. I don't think old or new Crystal does this because they want people to forget about the program. Rather several of the milestones relate to upgrades, future cruise credit, special dinners that need to be planned prior to guests boarding, and other things and it makes sense this needs to be done before the cruise. The Society Hosts/Hostesses used to tell me that it was great that some of the TA's would let their clients know if they had milestones to use compared to those who never told their clients about the program or didn't bother to assist on this. A lesson I learned years back each time the program changed is simply use it or you may lose it. In other words if the milestones change with a new program one might have lost out on a milestone by not using it. Keith

This is the Crystal Society Benefits Brochure from Crystal Cruises which corrects any mistakes that were in the earlier verision. Cheers, Keith Crystal Society Benefits Brochure April 2024.pdf

I am not being argumentative but I've had problems with both DHL and FedEx. And when it comes to FedEx for non luggage but just deliveries I have several examples where they messed up. Nothing is going to be 00% perfect all the time. When you ship luggage or check in luggage there is some risk IMHO. But if we want to travel we don't have a choice. Keith

I’ve also had UPS on occasion. Keith

That's correct. They've been gone for a long time. They seemed to be mainly focused on old Crystal and when they went under that was likely the catalyst to Luggage Concierge ceasing operations. Keith

I would just add that things happen and there are no guarantees no matter whether you check in your luggage or ship it. As I mentioned when we've had a lot of luggage we've shipped it to and from the ship and started doing it after a few world cruises because it was too challenging to deal with all the luggage. Another nice thing about shipping it is when you return from a trip if you can just manage with carry on luggage you don't have to spend time waiting for it to shop up and if customs is involved that entire process. But things happen. When we had the issue with Canada immigrations and called Luggage Free I was surprised that after hours their ability to deal with issues was very weak at the time. Basically you got an after hours answering service that was not of much help. I did followup up with them and they said they would change this but not sure if they did or not. When we used Luggage Concierge I remember we had an issue too and when the office was closed it was a challenge to get an issue addressed. When we have the need to ship luggage again for a Crystal Cruises I plan to give Luggage Forward a try. I had wanted to try them anyway based on some capabilities they offered at the time I called them back in 2020 that Luggage Free didn't have. This might have changed so I will need to do the research again. But the biggest reason is that this is who the ships concierges now deal with. This is why I used Luggage Concierge when shipping luggage home versus Luggage Free. I felt that if they didn't show up when we debarked I would look to the ship to deal with the issue including if necessary taking the luggage to the next port. I was more open to using Luggage Free after a few years of using Luggage Concierge to ship luggage to the ship. Never perfect solutions. When we fly this is another reason why we arrive to our port of embarkation a few days early if we are checking in luggage for a flight and another reason when we have to change flights we allow a lot of time between flights. Thankfully the apps that many airlines have at least tell you if your luggage is on the flight and we also use the Apple AirTags. Twice the app said the luggage was not on the flight. Once I noticed something was wrong before we boarded and learned the luggage without us went on an earlier flight. Another time I didn't pay attention and when we landed realized the luggage wasn't on the flight and learned that it also arrived on an earlier flight. That second time I was not at all pleased to learn that the luggage was just sitting by the baggage claim for a few hours rather than having been put in a secure area for us to pick up. And let us not forget when you hand your luggage over at the port before your cruise things can happen too. Some you would never dream of but they do happen. Keith

I find that the companies have pretty good information on their websites about what can't be shipped. For example from Luggage Forward: And from Luggage Free. A

Like Vince, we have applied a new milestone to an upcoming booking. It takes into consideration the number of cruises we have taken. However, as many of us have said since the early days of New Crystal you cannot use any unused milestones as Crystal only has a record of how many cruises you have taken but not the milestones you have used or not used. I would say that each new milestone program that Crystal has rolled out since I have sailed with Crystal back in 2002 has been controversial as it eliminated/reduced milestone rewards. It used to be that with almost every cruise you got different perks. I remember around 2007 they made major changes and it was very controversial. At the time Old Crystal issues the last program update prior to this one they eliminated those complimentary cruises up to a certain number of days (I believe 12 but could be wrong) for certain milestones and in lieu of that offer a future cruise credit of x dollars based on the percentage of cruises you have take in certain categories. For most people this change providing a future cruise credits value is less than the complimentary cruise. This new one has very few changes from the last one so IMHO is the least controversial one since we have been sailing with Crystal. I had wondered if they were going to change it up to go with days versus number of cruises taken although even when Old Crystal discussed this I never knew how the conversion could be made. The good news is we have New Crystal to sail. Only two years ago, at this time the discussion was all about was Crystal ever coming back. On a related note, I am not sure about all airlines but the major one we use has clearly diluted it's affinity program. I can't believe the number of miles which are now needed for Business Class International Flights to and from many locations today versus what it used to be. I realize things have changed with all of the outstanding miles out there due miles offered for credit card purchases but I was shocked most recently when I looked at how many miles we needed for a certain trip. Oh well. Keith

You can go to your cruise under find a cruise and then scroll down to the itinerary. Often months earlier for some or all ports towards the right you will see excursions and then hit the plus sign to see what they show. It is often a work in progress. It won't show pricing though. Keith

They don't show up on line in My Account nor on the cruise invoice. You or TA can confirm number on the phone with Crystal or on-board with one of the two personnel who handle the loyalty program and book new cruises. Keith

All of my Crystal bookings do have the Crystal Society number on it for myself and my wife. It's been that way since our first booking with New Crystal. Look carefully at the first page of your confirmation and additional confirmations as payment(s) are made. Under the title guests it should list each guest on the booking. To the right of each name it should have a dash then CS CODE: XXXXXX If yours does not show a CS Code then have your TA followup with Crystal to get this straightened out. For whatever reason when we received our confirmation for our first bookings they showed my code and for whatever reason had the wrong Crystal Society number for my wife. I didn't catch this right away but eventually did and our TA worked with Crystal to get each booking corrected so things can happen. I wouldn't wait because it took awhile for the adjustments to be made to the saplings we had already taken. Keith

TA's should have received it so David and others check with your TA. I have also asked if it will be going out directly to society members via e-mail? Keith