bitob

I’m lucky Tips and drinks included many thanks for your responses

Not surprised. I have a huge group of cruising friends. We all take 5 to 6 luxury cruises a year. We have all fallen in love with both silversea and regent and are booked through 2025 on both lines. Until crystal ceased operations none of us had sailed either line. Blessing in disguise my bags are packed and repacked and repacked

And we found the staff on our 2 regent cruises to be as good or better than crystal or silversea

Without a doubt. Messaging on day 1 turned out not to be accurate.

Don’t be sorry. I said I must have been lucky. I only post about my own experiences. Doesn’t mean others don’t have contrary experiences one thing I wonder about in terms of my luck. I have a sensational ta. He worked out all the air arrangements for me with each cruise line. I never dealt with their air departments

Wow. Guess I’ve been really lucky with air on both cruise lines. Couldn’t have been better if I’d booked the flights myself. It’s the only 2 times I’ve ever used cruise line air. With regent my ta told me to choose flights I wanted and I chose Qatar qsuites. No problem. Ss getting me back to tucson — not exactly a hub—.London to Denver/Denver to tucson on delta business/first.

I am not required to use their car service when I use their air. In fact, I just booked air one way -- the return home. Booked my own air with miles to Reykjavik. Better to post from personal experience.

Happy for you I will always challenge when people make statements of "fact" that are based on mere conjecture. Big difference between knowing something for sure and hoping for something.

But you have not seen the ships or the cabins yet!! or have you? Remarkable statement based on very little information. I doubt these new cabins or the ships will be comparable -- improved perhaps- comparable is a giant leap. Have you even experienced these newer ships?

Same here -- great experience

I got my SS flights 7 months in advance. No problem whatsoever.

BY all means -- get in those zodiacs in Antarctica -- life changing!

Even if the new Crystal exceeds expectations there are still 2 issues that many prioritize when booking a cruise. 1. old ships with small cabins -- despite the fact that many regulars love the ships and do not care about cabin size because "they are never in the cabin with so much to do," that is not true of most cruisers. They like newer ships with larger cabins and all those extra dining venues. 2. only 2 ships -- limited itineraries to choose from -- you want to cruise in March 2024 for 2 weeks -- you have probably 4 itineraries at most. For well travelled cruisers (other than Crystal diehards) that can be an issue. Also, many cruisers find it boring to be on the same ship over and over -- not Crystal diehards i understand -- but trying something new is often fun and exciting. Even when we sailed Crystal and it was our cruise line of choice we could never sail Crystal exclusively because with only 2 ships there was not much itinerary choice. with SS, Regent and Seabourn together we have lots of itinerary choice. We might add Explora after we hear honest reports. The only way for the new Crystal to overcome those obstacles is to build new ships. That will likely make prices rise even higher.

I would bet someone in an executive position would know whether his or her contract contained a non compete clause. That is a material element of the contract. Claiming to not having known or not having read the contract is just a bogus excuse. But think -- how many us read every term of every contract we sign. When you go to rent a car eg. all you really want to know is about are the material terms -- your liability for accident or theft. Most of these contracts are"contracts of adhesion" -- they are what they are and if you want to rent the car this is the contract you must sign. You can't make changes or negotiate terms. Same is true when you sign a mortgage agreement we focus on the material elements -- is there a prepayment penalty? What are the penalties for default? Is the interest rate fixed or variable? Few people read every word of such contracts. Not so unusual.

Nothing precludes a speaker or entertainer from working on multiple cruise lines. Crystal doesn’t own these folks. They are not employees. and with only 2 ships crystal cannot provide full employment for any of them

I guess I didn’t read up

And all my cruising friends. And many on the crystal boards.

I agree with most of what you say. I had terrific speakers (former Crystal speakers) and wonderful singers on both my SS cruises. I have 3 more booked. Crystal's demise was a blessing for us. We got to experience Silversea (and Regent) and we love both lines.

I don't think you compare anything until the New Crystal has sailed. Right now no one can tell you what it will be like -- they can guess -- but until there is a sailing or two no one can be sure. BTW -I am on Silversea Mumbai to Athens (Silver Spirit) March 20, 2024 -- finally going to see the Golden Triangle pre cruise. Very excited

We had excellent entertainment on our 2 Silversea cruises Every cruise is different The speakers were former Crystal speakers!!! The singers were outstanding -- tremendous talent.

And we would choose Silversea over Seabourn in a heartbeat. We are sailing on Seabourn with friends in May but it has never been my first choice among the luxury lines.

Also free laundry for top suites, even if your first sailing.

I am an attorney But I am just reporting - not evaluating the case But IMO Silversea has nothing to fear.

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/legal-regulatory/court-temporarily-blocks-crystalak-employing-lira-using-silversea-info?NL=ST-004&Issue=ST-004_20230217_ST-004_91&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_4&utm_campaign=STRADE_News_Seatrade Cruise News Weekly Headline_News_NL_02172023_4238&utm_emailname=STRADE_News_Seatrade Cruise News Weekly Headline_News_NL_02172023_4238&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&utm_MDMContactID=88ba7018-7586-4c6a-af90-8b315549d5d3&utm_campaigntype=Newsletter&eM=e71d82f101282d234509d44edf5204ef8d7141925d647a0dca872364afb77c72&eventSeriesCode=ES_SEATRDCRSCTNT&eventEditionCode=MTM00SCC&sessionCode=S_STRDCRSNEWS&sp_eh=e71d82f101282d234509d44edf5204ef8d7141925d647a0dca872364afb77c72

Larry -- my TA will not book Crystal either. His entire consortium is staying away I am told. He has a thriving large on line cruise company. He is not worried about survival. With all the business I and my friends give him he cannot be hurting. LOLOL