Stickman1990

You’d think they’d at least offer to resend it to you! Just doesn’t sound right to me I know what I’d be doing - get a professional on the job - a good trusted Travel Agent who will work on your behalf, charge you nothing and very likely offer you incentives to work with them. Given the booking is very recent I’d suggest you exercise that option

It depends how long ago you booked directly - usually if it’s within a month you can transfer it to a TA and still get benefits from them You can still transfer later than that and a TA may take it on recognising your future business relationship and opportunity

Use a good TA - they’ll look after you on things like this and offer you incentives as well that Silversea won’t

No I think you’re right nut it’s not an experience I’ve ever had so I’m sure others will point out any gotchas in that process I hadn’t understood that you were going to transfer it to a TA. So why bother making it direct with Crystal in the first place?

Certainly not my experience - same great amenities as before for our bookings. I would always book through my TA - IMHO there’s no upside in booking direct with the cruise line and you’re leaving money on the table

Let’s not forget it was 13 years ago on a fleeting visit which would have been managed and guided Hardly a contemporary in-depth exposure to a country or a culture

Sounds like my wife’s logic at the Sales - the more you spend the more you save…

Too late now but you didn’t see anything in 2024 either? Not sure why there’s a rush to get the $500 back so quickly - unless cash flow is an issue 😂😉

I’m going to go out on a limb and say - it varies But I’ve been seeing a few hours but I’ve heard of cases of it being the next day Best to ask your TA what their experience has been or are you booking directly with Crystal?

Something funny in the bistro at last Now there’s a change in direction

It’s on the website and your booking confirmation https://www.crystalcruises.com/legal/booking-terms-conditions

Yes according to Wikipedia here were 655 crew on old Serenity - so I’m guess it will be less than 600 going forward (just a guess) as new Serenity has a stated capacity of 740 going forward - so say 80% crew to passengers (if they kept the old numbers it would be 88% - but why would they do that with so many less room/capacity) - is that excellent? - not sure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Serenity

There’s pages and pages of fact and conjecture on this in multiple threads - not worth going back over here but the NZ requirements are crystal clear

Let’s hope Crystal is on top of the situation then - hope they have “clean hulls to NZ specs” on their action list

NZ changed their requirements in 2018 - not 2022

My understanding is that a few ex WCers and who had been booked on 2020-2021 WC’s who have open deposits but don’t want to do the full WC have been able to book segments of the 2024 WC - however no one outside that category has been able to book segments I guess with only 600 guests on board now they are optimistically waiting to see if they can fill the ship with full world cruisers (as several other lines are able to do) before opening up to segments. So I’d expect them to hold off booking segments under after the open public release of full WC bookings which is several weeks away

It could certainly be that - it’s cost Regent a fortune in compensation to guests - one cruise a 100% refund to guest while floating around without almost all ports and a second with 50% or so compensation for disruption As you probably know there were several other lines impacted as well including Princess and Viking so it want just them. Ha is very protective of their environment especially in areas like the Bay of Islands and Fiordland - neither of which are on Serenity’s itinerary

True - it’s certainly been a bad year for some cruise ships sailing in NZ waters with bio fouling issues One would hope this is one of the things they cover off as part of the recommissioning of the ships

Arrival time in Sydney will be governed by harbour traffic movements - they won’t be allowed in during rush hour when commuter ferry’s get priority Thats why you see early morning and evening departures normally I kind of hope for mooring at Athol Buoy like the old days - the harbour views are amazing from there - the tendering not so much 😂😉

Almost correct, but technically not as they are due in Picton on the 13th of March 2024 so they will touch the South Island - but only just. Why they’re not doing Fiordland is a surprise though

Perfect - thanks @PaulMCOand @MsCrystalina - just what I was after

No worries to me - with so many public areas and activities like afternoon tea in Palm Court that’s not something I would ever require

I tried searching but it just hangs so I thought I'd ask the wider community I am trying to explain to someone how the rear cabin verandas have the solid panels on the guard rail on Crystal Symphony - this is certainly the case on Deck 9 I'm sure someone has photos of them and how that impact the view when sitting down

We did many jigsaws on our Explorer cruise in Dec and many times there were one or two pieces missing at the end If I had a dollar for every time someone went past and joked about taking a piece I’d be able to fund my cruising habit for a year - but thankfully most were only joking

I hope so - time to move on except I’m sure the Cobb Salad will still be there 😉😂