Whipsnade

Agree 100%. So now they are going to try to fill ship with low paying MSC pax and still charge us full rate for PH category. We have three Explora cruises booked in Sept at $2300 per day. I can go on Symphony on equally nice itin at that time for $1750 per day. Guess what we will be doing??!! All these cruise lines need to learn we now have many options in the luxury category and we know how to do math.

Goi g around Africa with no stops at 15 knits would take forty days to get to Piraeus. I did the math. If you add stops would be over two months. I still predict at least Symphony will give crew option to go home for two weeks or sail up Red Sea on ship with no pax. Serenity a whole other story.

I agree with Stick 100%. A&K in partnership with Manfredi d’Ovidio bought the ships. Manfredi flush with cash after he sold Silversea to RCL. He has always wanted to be Crystal. Now has the chance. We are on board Symphony now. Couldn’t be happier. Have booked three more Crystals in 24, half of WC in 25 and about to book end of 25 in Red Sea. Canceling all my Explora bookings. Crystal 25% cheaper in top cabin categories. And Crystsl at least 50% better all around. And remember, due to Ei and Moecker we didn’t lose a dime on collapse iof old Crystal thanks to New Crystal.

People have been complaining about the ear splitting musters since August. One would think they would have corrected by now. One more sign that management is not paying attention.

We felt the same in September. But have now changed. We are on Symphony now for first time in four years. Food and service heads and shoulders above Explora. NC are real pros, even better than OC. Explora servers, as nice as they were had no ship experience and little restaurant experience. We were in Explora for a month and had the same menus every day except Emporium. On Symphony in Waterside they change every day. I hear Explora still giving away half the ship to TAs and “influencers”. Crystal wouldn’t dream of that. To top it off the 40% price reduction applies only to Ocean suites and not to higher categories. Guess they are trying to attract MSC customers. Not for me. We plan to cancel three Explora cruises we booked on board as they are more expensive than Crystsl. Too bad. A lovely ship.

They have learned nothing since we were on board in September. Too bad. Must beautiful ship at sea. Food and service mediocre and not improving.

Cost? Just figure the cost of fuel to send the ship dead heading g around Africa for 40 days at 15 knots. I know hotels are expensive in Dubai, but…. And I doubt there will be many pax Mumbai to Athens. And around Africa they lose all yhd revenue from a couple Med cruises. None of us know anything, of course. Pure speculation. Guess we’ll know in couple days. Just glad I am not running a cruise company.

I don’t think it has to be as elaborate or complicated as Kingfoot suggests. Just deposit world cruisers in Dubai at Burj for a week then charter flight to Port Said. What a great adventure!?!

We are on Symphony. Only pax going as far as Mumbai. Current speculation is kicking all pax off in Mumbai and proceeding through Red Sea with crew only thus avoiding costly travel around Cape and kicking us off in Singapore and still missing a couple Med cruises. Makes a lot of sense. Serenity could do similar. Putting off all continuing pax in Dubai in hotels and flying them to first stop in Med. Saves a lot of costs and aggravation.

Crystal has best entertainment of any of the luxury lines. Seabourn and Regent ok but smaller venues.

Stuck man is correct as usual. We have used one for thirty years and have always gotten far superior value than if we booked direct. Choose one who goes a lot of cruises rather than a one person operation. Re TAs and influencers: when we were on in Aug and Sept at least 60% were no paying. Surprised they are still doing this. Getting very disappointed in Explora.

Very informal as Cocktail says. I didn’t see any shorts in the evening but there were a few jeans. Mostly no jackets at all for men. Leave your tux at home.

If you are used to entertainment on majority of ships you will be very disappointed in Explora. No production shows. A few minor singers. Player piano. Never saw a comedian. TV movies geared to kids. Best thing you can do in the evening is jump in bed. Linens and pillows superb.

We were on in September and received on board discount for future cruises booked on board. I think 5%. We were told there would be a loyalty program and all our cruises would count. They expected to announce it in first quarter of 2024. We booked three cruises in Sept 24 and are paying more than they are now offering to others even with our on board discount. If they don’t give us the 40% discount we will be canceling. There are too many choices out there to be screwed around by one line. We love the ship but found the food disappointing. Cannot possibly compare to New Crystal where we are now. No question that Crystal has the finest and best presented cuisine on the ocean. Variety every day unlike Explora’s same menu every day in every restaurant except Emporium. Disappointed. Very little of what they promised are they delivering.

No cruise ships will be heading into the Red Sea anytime soon. Could be six months or longer. Many will dump passengers east of Mumbai and dead head to Med. A few might switch to West Africa itineraries from Asia. Count on defections and grumbling if they do. Personally we like all the West Africa ports especially Senegal.

Force majeure applies in US. No question they can change itinerary. All ships change itineraries all the time. Any compensation they offer is a bonus. I will still take cruise credits if they are more than cash. Worked out pretty well with EI.

A&K actually know very little about ships and cruising. Manfredi d’Ovidio, who owns half founded and ran Silversea for 30 years before he sold it to RCL knows a lot about this business. Some of current Crystal staff were here under OC. New execs snatched from other luxury brands mostly Seabourn Current pax on board 99. Will rise in next few cruises to around 200. Cruise from Mumbai to Athens has only 65 pax booked. First Med cruise from Athens has close to 400. Easy peasy decision to sacrifice Singapore to Mumbai and Mumbai to Athens in order to pick up first Med cruise. I expect an announcement by the time we get to Bali Feb 2. Let’s face it, no cruise ships are going to risk Red Sea passage at least in the next few months and maybe longer.

As one who knows NOTHING like most others commenting here I think Mumbai to Toulon makes most sense. Stopping off in Seychelles, Mauritius, Capetown, Ludderitz, Walvis Bay, Senegal, Azores and Canaries. Guess we won’t have long to wait to get the real answer.

For sure Carnival will not be sailing any of its ships this route anytime soon. Remember the Arrisons are Israeli. That means Queens, HAL, Seabourn will not be taking this route. I was checking on War Marine Insurance. Apparently the pirates in London who control this have jacked the rates for Red Sea passage to 1% of the value of the ship. This is for commercial cargo vessels. I have no idea what it would be for passenger vessels but suspect a lot more. This calculation alone means highly unlikely Symphony will be sailing west of Singapore Mar 12. Same for Serenity a month later. Symphony calculations of alternative pretty easy to calculate. Serenity on WC a lot more complex.

Pretty much seals it, doesn’t it. Standing by for notification. We are in Cairns today on Symphony. We had less than 100 pax from Sydney. About a dozen got off here, mostly TAs. Not sure if we will be taking in more here. Service and food are even better than OC. NC by far the leader in every category of luxury cruising. We have canceled our Silver Sea bookings over next two years and replaced them with Crystals. Not that we don’t like Silversea but their cuisine is a pale comparison to NC.

I would stay on as we too love sea days. And then there is the adventure. Sadly I think we would be in the extreme minority.

That makes it almost certain we will be kicked off in Singapore Mar 12.

Ter that is my prediction.

Your 25 $$ is probably not “hard” for another few months. Just think you will miss Machu Pichu, Carnaval and CapeTown.

They need to make a decision within days for Symphony as we are about a month ahead of Serenity. Hard to believe they will not cancel Singapore to Athens and dead head around Africa. Figure miles from Singapore to Athens at about 17 knots from Mar 12 and they will barely make it to Athens for second Med cruise. At 20 knots they will make first Med cruise. Depends on how much extra fuel cost vs revenue.