Alsun

Hi,

Our first Crystal cruise is slowly approaching, and I thought it might be time to start looking into excursions etc. As such, I tried to create an account on the Crystal website.

Unfortunately, the email address we use for this new account requires verification, but the link that Crystal is sending us keeps giving an error message (THE LINK YOU USED TO ENTER THE WEBSITE HAS EXPIRED.) It subsequently asks you to try either change password or log in, but obviously both fail as the "account hasn't been verified yet, we will sent you a new verification email". Of course this new verification email doesn't work, and the same loop continues and continues....

Does anyone happen to know either

a) how to get around this error message?

b) or whom to contact at Crystal cruises - as website is not very clear about this?

c) or is anyone aware whether this is just a temporary glitch and should I just keep trying over the next several days?

d) or any other reason why I am not able to create an account?

Any help/advice much appreciated!

Thank you all for your helpful replies, we are just looking at some final details but hope to be sailing with Crystal in 2024!

(Texas Tillie/Patty, we Brits call it a dinner jacket)

Hello,

We are considering booking a cruise with Crystal. We are still relatively new to cruise holidays, think we have done just under 10 cruises so far, which have been with Azamara, Celebrity, Cunard and Viking.

We are wondering how Crystal compares to these lines, specifically food wise.  We always mix up eating at restaurants, speciality dining and buffet. I searched for some menus, and found some on the Crystal website but only for the Waterside - which I believe is the main restaurant, and a sample menu for Umi Uma, but not much more.  Does anyone have any photos of menus and also the wine list? And perhaps also of the room service one?

And did I understand correctly that the buffet is closed at night? (I have to confess that we quite like strolling along the buffet late at night, and having a late night snack... hmmm maybe it's a good thing that it is not available? )

Is there anything else which would be good to know as (potential) Crystal newbies? We (I) like dressing up for the formal nights on Cunard so am hoping that the dress code is a bit similar with Crystal, whilst relaxed during the day /on non formal nights. We are not that much bothered with entertainment (shows etc) but do like lectures. 

thanks!

Alsun

Forgot to mention, in Stavanger it was lovely & warm enough to enjoy the terrace. An Afternoon Tea trolley did appear but I noticed the scones were the ones without logo.

On 5/28/2023 at 5:29 AM, NE John said:

Interesting….

Do you have copies of a pared-down PG menus? How were pax adhering to the dress code?

Currently on V315 in PG. Menus are delivered to room together with the daily, Britain today and various. Will try to remember to make photos of menu & upload once back.

Noticed the downgrade of the cheese trolley although a  slight improvement on the selection as mentioned by Windsurfboy. (There was an excellent goat's cheese first day which I haven't seen back yet and choice of 2 blue cheeses incl Stilton, brie or camembert, a soft french, some british cheeses etc).  And there seems to be a little bit less staff around. Enjoyed a very good table side carved chateaubriand but haven't seen anything flambeed.

Cocktail party - a crush at 17.15, Captain spoke and did introduce senior officers. 

The sparkling wine served (at gala evening & cocktail) very poor quality - suspect similar to the one now in room (something called Grand Imperial - haven't tried it, did arrive in icebucket)

Fresh fruit order requested via concierge - she told us it is now being delivered by room service and can be set up for daily, or how often we want. Asked for every 2 days and noticed that additions to it arrived on the non delivery day. 

Dress code seems to be well adhered to. No baseball cap in sight although did observe some vibrant braces at Afternoon Tea...

On 6/7/2023 at 12:06 PM, Windsurfboy said:

The problem Cunard have is with QG , PG, BC, Diamond and Platinium all being told they are PRIORITY , and wanting to turn up at 12.30 thinking priority means one of first on board. That's half the ship ,  passengers that should be spread out over first 2 hours of the 4 hour boarding window, all thinking they can get on first. A recipe for certainly frustration and potential  chaos.

 

 

QV, 6 June departure Ocean Terminal

We were given a 13.00 boarding time and arrived slightly earlier (traffic was light).

We noticed that all the groups mentioned by you were classed as one priority group and no difference was made between grills & non grills. Also anyone turning up with priority but a later boarding time was told they could board - even though their advised boarding time was more than an hour later. 

(I might have paid a bit attention to boarding passes whilst in security queue and noticed several being 14.30 or later - this was at 12.45)

On 6/6/2023 at 10:49 PM, bluemarble said:

Here's a photo from @esrs showing the 2023 Cunard Bear with the "Prince's Trust" logo.

 

Was about to post ours! Sales person told us it only arrived onboard (QV) last Tuesday.

Thank you D&N, we do have a French wine trip planned for later this year.
 

It was just that I was showing the Cunard list to a friend (wine lover) and he was very interested in a few specific wines on it, so wondering if we could buy him one of those. The alternative suggestion is of course that they go on a Cunard cruise themselves 😉

9 minutes ago, PORT ROYAL said:

Have taken excellent Bin Ends home as gifts, so one’s stateroom consumption should not be a problem.  The full price list price is paid, plus the usual 15% fee

 

Ask one’s Sommelier for the best buys on the Bin End Wine List….They know 😉

Thanks, good to know. I will give it a try.

55 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

I don't suppose many people have tried as there is a large mark up over the retail price. You could always ask your sommelier. 

I will - there are a few wines on which are difficult to get and even the marked up price is justifiable

Apologies if this has already been answered in this (or another) thread, but could anyone tell me whether it is possible to buy a bottle of wine for consumption at home? Ie taking unopened away from the restaurant? 
Assume not but just wanted to double check.

On 1/27/2023 at 3:56 AM, Crofters said:

 

to give you a flavour of the wonderful people on board we have met a lady going to Sydney as a means of emigrating and starting a new life, a couple going the whole way who have never set foot on a cruise previously, and a couple celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary. 

Think I know the couple who are first time cruisers and first time WC! I thought it was quite brave of them to commit going the whole way.  I hear they are having a great time. If you see them again please wish them the best from the WI gin lady in their home town in The Cotswolds, (assuming there are no other people in same situation)

We are looking forward to be back on QV later this year and am really enjoying reading Roscoe39 posts/blog. Hopefully one day a WC will be on the cards….(or should I say horizon)

35 minutes ago, hallasm said:

You’ll see the bridge when leaving Copenhagen -  bridge is 5 miles from the harbor. Might also see the bridge when landing in CPH - left side when landing.
if going to the Baltic you’ll also pass the Great Belt Bridge - likely late evening or during the night.

44 minutes ago, greatestvalue said:

I was hoping for the same thing.  To see the bridge from the ship if we didnt make it over the bridge to go to Sweden during our time in Copenhagen. 

We took the train to Sweden (to Lund) was a nice day trip, but I remember that you don’t see that much of the bridge itself whilst on the train! We stayed several days in Copenhagen and one day we climbed the round tower (it was more like a slope) and it was a great view out over Copenhagen incl The Bridge in the far distance!
 

2 hours ago, hallasm said:

Yes, larger ships can not sail under the bridge - it is actually not necessary as there is a bridge from Sweden to the island of Peberholm and from there tunnel to Denmark (see picture)- but the waters between Peberholm and Denmark are difficult to navigate, so cruise ships prefer to sail north of Zealand and down through the Great Belt into the Baltic Sea.

 

Thanks!  We visited Copenhagen some years ago (not with a cruise - and we did take the train to Malmo) but couldn’t recall how high/large the bridge section is!  Makes sense now. 

We hope to take a cruise that direction at some point -  and even if we can’t sail under “The Bridge”, am sure we will enjoy the Great Belt route too. 

Not sure if this is the right location, but perhaps someone can satisfy my curiosity?

I happened to notice that Celebrity Silhouette is currently on it’s way from Copenhagen to Helsinki (?), anyway, I sort of thought it would leave Copenhagen and take the most direct route Eastwards, but instead it seems to have backtracked slightly and gone Southwards first before heading East (see photo0

I guess there might be very practical reason for this, maybe do cruise ships not “fit” under “The bridge” that runs from Copenhagen to Malmo, or is the sea not deep /wide enough? I had been thinking it would be really nice experience to sail under “The Bridge” and am wondering why it didn’t. 

For those who are travelling to Southampton the day before: Westquay (shopping) Centre (which is also very close to Southampton port) has a clinic offering rapid antigen testing with email confirmation within 4 hours.

https://www.west-quay.co.uk/shop/regenerative-clinic

Not sure if I am allowed to link directly?

Think there might be several options in Southampton)

Loved the rear slanted balcony on S -class, the deeper balcony made it (feel) more sheltered, perfect for sailing through the Norwegian fjords!

Note that on an overcast day the deeper balcony MAY make the cabin feel slightly darker. 
 

We booked the same category cabin with rear slant for our next cruise.

Just off Viking Star and we did see jeans at dinner time in the restaurant.

BUT, according to the Viking Daily elegant casual dress code only applies to Manfredi’s and Chef’s Table.

(The Viking App has (casual) added to the restaurant description, forgot to make a screenshot and can’t access app anymore)

Re VAT.

The price shown for drinks and drinks package and excustions is what you pay. 

The shops charge 20% vat on top of price shown. The jewelry shop has a vat discount construction, saw a sign saying something about they charge vat but give equivalent discount on the price or something similar.

Shops are only open when at sea.

For those who will be boarding this or next Saturday, I would recommend to print out / download a (pdf) copy of your vaccination status via the NHS app.

Assume that our vacc status will be (re)checked whilst boarding and read somewhere that the NHS app was down for a couple of hours last week so having a printed copy might be safer than relying on access to the App itself ……

Btw, we didn’t download the Verifly app (our TA told us NHS app/proof was ok) but got a phone call from Viking earlier this week- basically double checking the info already provided by us on the health Q.

I see in today’s daily (Tue) that there is a wine tasting and that an additional charge may be applied.

Does anyone know whether the drinks package would cover that charge or if not how much it would cost? 
 

Thanks

19 minutes ago, amelia3171 said:

 

Hopefully Monday attached ... 

 

 

Monday, August 9, 2021.pdf 4.79 MB · 0 downloads

Thank you so much for doing this. It’s so nice to be able to get a glimpse of what’s ahead of us 😊

Hope your cruise continues to be great!

It is great to read about your experiences so far Noosey, amelia3171 (and staffordshirecruise on the other Viking Star thread). Thank you so much!

Would any of you be able to upload a daily? Am curious what kind of activities are being offered on board at the moment. (Am still awaiting approval to join the group on the book not to be named….so apologies if it has already been posted there…)

Are any additional excursions offered once onboard? If not, I wonder if port days the ship will be busier than normal as more pax might stay on board and if any other/special activities are offered. Although with such low number of passengers I guess “busy” isn’t really the term to use!  

We have done our health questionnaire, uploaded our photo and have printed our boarding pass. Parking has been booked. Precautionary self isolation ongoing. So aside from packing - and impatiently waiting till Sat - we’re ready to go 😆

Meanwhile hope any of you currently on board will have some time to post some more info and/or photos but only if you are not too busy enjoying yourselves…

6 hours ago, amelia3171 said:

Greetings from a slightly muggy Portsmouth. 

 

Virgin’s Scarlet Lady still in port about 9.00 this evening, no sign of the Star … 

 

 

Apparently Scarlet Lady’s sail off was delayed as testing the pax took hours (they were tested nearby before the embarkation process). Didn’t leave until close to 10 pm…

Have a great cruise!

Joining Mancunian in wishing 7 August pax a lovely cruise!

Would be great if any on you has some time to update us about your experiences on Viking Star 😊