Stickman1990

Silversea's advice to customers - they got that out quick 🙂 Dear We are thrilled to announce a brand new addition to our ultra-luxury fleet of expedition ships: Silver Endeavour. Designed to take curious travellers to the most remote regions of our planet in unparalleled style and personalised comfort, Silver Endeavour is one of the most luxurious expedition ships at sea. Built to PC6 polar class specifications, she is the perfect vessel for exploring the last great wildernesses on Earth. State-of-the-art technology and exploration amenities will push the limits of immersive adventure, ensuring Silversea’s trademark levels of luxury, comfort and service. Exquisite restaurants, signature bars and lounges, an indulgent spa, a two-storied solarium with pool and whirlpool, immersive observation areas, Zodiacs and more await you – together with opportunities to interact with fascinating polar experts onboard. Silver Endeavour will enter service in November 2022, replacing Silver Explorer for the 2022/2023 Antarctica season – including the ship’s Antarctica Bridge sailings. Guests booked on those voyages will receive a dedicated communication in the next few days. As part of the ongoing RCL Cares program, Royal Caribbean Group will protect the deposits of guests who were originally booked on Crystal Endeavor and make a new booking on one of the Group's global brands – Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises. To the extent the Crystal Endeavor guests do not receive their deposits back from Crystal or other sources, the Royal Caribbean Group will refund any amount paid on their new booking up to the amount of their lost deposits from Crystal. Complete terms of the offer will be provided on www.silversea.com soon. We look forward to welcoming you aboard this beautiful addition to our fleet and are confident that your expedition aboard Silver Endeavour will provide you with enriching, authentic and unique experiences. Kindest regards, http://i.email.silversea.com/wpm/1035/ContentUploads/Images/MIA/RM_SIGNATURE_revised-final.jpg Roberto Martinoli, President and Chief Executive Officer

Exactly the same price difference as for those who choose not to use the gym - zero

Two more ships ordered by Explora taking the fleet to 6 - and some interesting choices on the fuel (hydrogen and LNG) to power a couple of them The two additional ships covered under today’s MOA will bring Explora Journeys’ investment in its fleet to €3.5 billion, the company said https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/27806-explora-journeys-orders-two-more-cruise-ships-and-goes-to-hydrogen-power.html

Thanks for posting the liquor selection shot - can I ask you to stop by again (now there’s an imposition stopping by a bar) and check what the gin is between the Hendricks and the Tanqueray? It’s a good selection of gins - just wondering what that one at the back is Thanks

But surely they have to be of merchantable quality? - I suspect they’d fail that as they're not real Royals and have major flaws I do understand why you wouldn’t want them back though

Airlines run status match promotions regularly - do you feel the same about that? Do you sit on your cruise or flight and wonder what the person next to you paid for the trip and what status they hold? I hope not The reality those regular cruisers on Crystal are typically high spend/regular cruisers - what self respecting cruise line wouldn’t want to attract them over and have them become regular cruisers on their line? Giving away discounts is real money off the books - but giving away perks/status actually costs a lot less

They’re mad if they are - over capitalised and it’s “as is where is” as there’s no shipyard to go back to for faults

Do you use a Travel Agent, if so they will have a copy of the booking

Yes, although it’s not me saying it, it’s Seabourn as per the link We certainly live in interesting times…

A nice status match offer from Seabourn for Crystal Society members - recognition in Seabourn Club programme Given Crystal recognised Voyages (in two categories depending on the length) it’s interesting to see the bands they’ve used to recognise the number of days for the status match Anyway a nice benefit for those ex Crystal cruisers trying Seabourn out - Diamond here I come! 😉 https://www.seabourn.com/en_US/contact-us/crystal-status.html

Did anyone see a fat lady singing? Perhaps it’s not a done deal after all? https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/finance/ritz-carlton-and-crystal-cruises-still-interested-crystal-endeavor?

The Australian agents have conditioned their customers to accept very little by way of benefits Whilst it will vary from country to country the amount available as OBC etc comes from the agency commission so some try and retain almost all of it rather than allocating some to their clients

Of course there is more than OBC to consider - I don’t believe anyone suggests that was not the case - but once you’ve found a TA you can trust and who looks after you turn why wouldn’t you consider the obc/rebate they offer as part of your decision criteria? Sorry I would never consider my TA to be my travel insurance - how is yours at cardio thoracic surgery and are they available 24x7? Do they cover you when your baggage goes missing 😂

If that’s what you’re happy with then that’s good but it’s really quite low by comparison to what many other TAs offer Not quite as bad as the local Australian agent who when asked by a couple of friends who’d booked their world cruise on a luxury line we’re told “there be something for you onboard” only to discover a bottle of wine waiting for them in their cabin (even though it was an all inclusive cruise) - they left about $7,500 on the table!

You’d certainly HOPE so

No that’s not the case in Australia - the UK consumer protection for travel bookings is much higher (and you pay for that in the fares charged) - so an Australian booking in the US in US$ would not be forgoing any protection particularly if paying by credit card which affords its own consumer protection The travel insurance comment is a furphy - you buy travel insurance policies based on your country of residence and origination point for travel and the country where you purchase the insurance - none of those things change based on where you book the travel through You are correct that a US originated booking will only provide air ex the US departure points - but that’s not really a great surprise as that’s what their pricing is based on, just as if booking in A$ any air will only be for Australian departure points (maybe NZ as well but I’m not sure on that)

Spot on and that’s why although we’re all talking about OBC and Rebates it ultimately comes down to the quantum of those things, which is not really a topic for discussion on Cruise Critic Cruise lines and agencies all have rules for staff as to how much OBC can be given (and whose pocket it comes from ie the individual TA or the owners share of the commission) - I think in Australia there’s never been a tendency for Australian owned agencies to dig very deeply into their commission

There are TA's who operate in both the US and Australia and can quote in A$ so you are not worried about exchange rates. They offer rebates as well as not charging credit card fees on the transaction I prefer to deal with my Travel Agent and get the service and the rebate something that local agents struggle with and the cruise lines won’t offer directly Now your challenge is to find them - good luck with that 😉 I have no idea what your daughter was told but it seems you we're thinking of her do a referral for you - has she sailed Silversea already? If not then she can't do a referral

Let’s face it they’re after any passengers at this stage - ex Crystal or not One thing I did note from a recent presentation was they said they were not going to have a large central theatre - instead entertainment would be spread around the ship - that doesn’t augur well for the Crystal type ensemble shows and larger groups of entertainers. Oh well time will tell and I’m forever hopeful 😉

With two Crystal friends blogging on their experiences on Azamara I couldn’t resist following along These days we have to approach cruising with a very open mind as we try and find a new home

Well done! Mission accomplished