BWIVince

I always liked being on the opposite side of the ship from my family for a different reason... Their extreme snoring rattled the steel plates for at least several dozen feet. 😝 Vince

I always found the dynamic between Philly, Baltimore and Norfolk as regional drive-in cruise ports to be really interesting. Each has strengths and weaknesses, but I’ve long been surprised that Philly hasn’t been more competitive with Baltimore on luring persistent home porting given its massive drive-in market (which includes Baltimore) and more convenient logistics geographically compared with Baltimore. For other reasons though, Baltimore’s strengths have offset all of the Chesapeake’s disadvantages and have led more of the traffic to drive to Baltimore from Eastern PA, DE and NJ than drive to Philly to sail. I’m glad to see that shift a little, I think it’s overdue. Vince

In fairness, the preview menu on Crystal's website does have a steak section with 4 cuts of beef, plus a steak entree and various meat small plates and apps. Vince

Here’s the backstory for non-foodies… “KFC” on modern menus is a decade-long pop culture trend for chefs to feature some modern, gourmet play on fried foods. It started in the ‘10s as a highlight of Korean-style fried chicken (also “KFC”), then broadened to Korean Fried Cauliflower, and then branched out into all kinds of modern takes on food fried in the Col. Sanders tradition, but with completely and sometimes wildly personalized ingredients. The preparation here highlights a Cinzano marinade and Szechuan pepper sauce — which very much follows and is a play on that trend. Vince

…And this is why the local entertainers have become less frequent…. 😁 (More agreement on what’s popular and “safe”) Vince

Are you looking at it from inside a voyage, or at the global level? Inside a voyage (at least until recently if it’s changing) it only listed the OTHER voyages an entertainer was participating on, not including that one currently displayed. The button should probably say something along the lines of “Other participating voyages” inside a voyage, and be have a separate translation from the button ion the global page. Vince

Absolutely... I should have edited the quote window down to the last sentence, that's all I was commenting on. I've already shared my experience with my 0-1 (now moot) success rate on getting a response from emails they've instructed me to send, so I feel your pain there. I love that Crystal is so much like it's been for last ~35 years, EXCEPT in this one way. Vince

😀 In fairness, one has an entire management hierarchy over it because the vast majority of the company's revenue is dependent on it, while the other normally a part of one person's portfolio, and that person may or may not be in the office that day/week. But yeah, point taken, real-life priorities suck sometimes. 🙂 Vince

Thankfully the controversy over the Junior CP naming convention hasn’t reached me yet, because I’d have really strong feelings on that one. 😁 I know people always want to complain that Crystal conforms to US business conventions which may or may not translate to norms in other parts of the world, and absolutely that’s a balancing act that can have negative financial impact on companies that don’t learn to not accommodate everyone as best they can…. But this one is just cut and dry. Junior suites are a long standing naming convention in the US travel industry (where Crystal is and has always been based, regardless of ownership), and that’s just life. Our other phrase in hospitality here for Junior is Executive, which would be WAY more confusing both in the US and globally. Demi is sometimes used internationally in place of Junior, but that is hardly if ever used in the US, and would cause mass confusion. ….And to anyone who thinks they should have just continued the stone naming convention all the way through has never had to explain the difference between a sapphire and aquamarine to a customer. A CP vs. Junior CP is 100x clearer to the majority of Crystal’s customer base than sapphire vs. aquamarine. Naming conventions are a thing, and exhaust for a reason, even if some don’t understand them, or they’re not globally universal . 😊 Vince

I thought I felt the Earth wobble off its axis. 😄 I'm proud of you Keith -- those definitely look exception worthy! ❤️ Vince

Sorry for the delay... Everyone did a great job above and I agree with all those points. There's just a few value props from above I'd emphasize. Full disclosure -- I'm biased. I was a retail travel agent at the beginning of my career (decades ago), and had worked on the operations side for a travel intermediary up until Covid. 1) TA's can provide value-adds through their consortium memberships or volume with Crystal. There may be online or mass-market agencies that may provide other perks you value. One person may get more out of using a Crystal specialist, but another person may really like the airline miles or perks through their bank or loyalty program portal -- the choice here is personal. 2) The advocacy piece here is huge. Here I think the advantage goes to the Crystal specialists since they have the strongest relationship with Crystal's sales team if they need favors or issues addressed, but IMHO anyone would be nuts to book direct. I always hear people say, "I don't need an agent, I can advocate for myself." Ok, with what leverage, and to whom? A call center reservations agent? ...Even their supervisor? Good luck. Really the only people in a supplier org to bend the rules to fix an issue that doesn't have a straightforward or simple fix are the industry sales team, and they maintain the relationships with agents... Not direct sales customers. 3) Lastly, expertise is valuable. I know a lot about Crystal, but my agent has spent a lot more time than I have on Crystal this year than I have. Searching online or chatting in forums is great, but sometimes there is incredible value in asking someone who knows you personally, because they know your perspective on the question, their answer is probably going to be better targeted. Just some added thoughts... Vince

Sorry for my confusing wording! I just meant my overall sentiment about the relative security of deposits under Crystal's A&K ownership. To this point I haven't done that with any travel supplier anywhere as a hard rule since February of 2020, but I'd break that (with small precautions) in this case. Everyone's risk tolerance is different here, so I understand why people would have varying feelings on this -- I'm just speaking for myself here. Personally, if booking outside outside the 520 day window, I would still never book a nonrefundable fare. I would be ok with putting the full fare up for an additional discount (I've done that in the past) if I had the money available and didn't have it serving a better purpose in the interim, but even that is a consideration of whether the discount offsets whatever else I'd be losing at that time. I would never go the extra step for a cruise that far out and book it as nonrefundable for extra savings though, that's just too high risk for me. My concerns there are mostly based on other holes in most travel insurance I've had and not specific to the line shutting down... Technically the line owes you money either way if they shut down before you sail. (My mixed feelings on that are a long story that I'll spare everyone.) I will say that I view using a Visa or a Mastercard as a bigger risk, and we really saw a divide statistically between the outcomes of the different card networks. Issuers like AmEx that control their own reserves just work differently than an alliance of banks with different interests trying to navigate common guidance. Back in the old threads in the old forum, we saw all kinds of major national banks reject claims or give bad guidance to customers. No one is perfect, but the difference between VI and MC issuers and AmEx, which controls both ends of the process, were stark. Anyway, I'm rambling... Sorry! Vince

Yep.. This picture was taken after the 2021 refit but before the 2023 refit though, so except for the loveseat, table and print, everything else will be somewhat different/updated. BUT for the purpose of this discussion, this definitely shows the promenade situation better. The railing does vary by location, but it is generally less obtrusive than Serenity's. In some spots the railings do have solid bulwark on them, but because of varying regulations in place when Serenity and Symphony were built, and the lifeboat orientation, Symphony's railings on deck 7 are generally lower and/or more open. Check pics closely though to see what they look like outside your cabin for more specifics though. Vince

Yeah, that's a picture from Serenity... Symphony's staterooms have different prints/frames, different windows, a recessed promenade, and different railings (among other things). In fairness, when Crystal was finalizing the current website, only press photos from Serenity were yet available, and even those had to be updated a couple of times. For a short time using the pics from Serenity was actually more accurate than using the renderings, before new ones from Symphony were ready. Hopefully they have updated press photos from Symphony by now, and can eventually swap those out. Vince

I'm really sensitive to this one, so I'll comment... One of the big differences between Symphony and Serenity is that Symphony's promenade deck is recessed below deck 7, whereas the outdoor promenade on Serenity is level with the cabins. So on Symphony, if you're sitting down or laying in bed, and look out the window, you mainly see the tops of heads bob by -- you're not face-to-face with them like on Serenity. There is a reflective privacy tint on the glass, but it's light-directional... You'll see through it more the brighter it is inside vs. outside. That means most of the day it's pretty well obscured, but if you have a lot of lights on inside the cabin, or if it happens to be really dark outside, you can see more detail. To me that's less of an issue though, and the main privacy benefit is the height offset. Just my $.02... YMMV. Vince

I was kind of surprised when they created two-bay suites out of the rooms on deck 7 -- they seemed a little high end for its limitations... Not just the lack of verandah, but also the obstructed views (especially midships). I do think they made sense in Symphony's case given the overall targets, but they definitely have a niche audience. That said, they do sell at a discount vs. the verandah versions, and support the overall mission of lower occupancy, so they seem to be effective when viewed through that lens. I wouldn't be as thrilled about the obstructed views at that price point, but I would GLADLY take a discount to not have the verandah... So I'm definitely in that niche. Well, I guess not technically, since I don't actually have enough money for one of those rooms. 😕 Details. lol Vince

Hopefully people will have more recent examples, but when I disembarked on 7/9, I got the survey link that evening around 8:00pm Eastern. Vince

They have an intranet set up like a portal, so you would basically navigate those pages to see the menus and schedules for the day. (It's not really a native app, but you can save the page so it's accessible like one.) When you browse it on on your own device instead of the tablet in the room, you can save the files locally to your device and organize or rename them as you like when you save them. (That's why you see the varying file names on all the posts here.) When I do it, I tend to use my phone or tablet (they share cloud storage) and just throw them in a unique folder for each cruise, and tend to save copies of all the restaurant menus. That way I can also look back on changes to the different alternative restaurants over time. You don't have to go through all that work, but thinking of where you want to save them and how you want to organize them in advance helps make things easier you start to collect the files. Edited to add: Another reason I save them using my phone sometimes involves the timing of when things are posted, and the timing of when my senile brain remembers to check -- especially in the case of restaurant menus. I may already be out and about, so if I remember to check a menu, or see it's been posted while I'm out doing something, it's super easy to just snag it then right there on my phone, and I'm all set. Vince

Some of us go back to Crystal's Sebastian amenity days! 😊 Wow I'm old... Vince

They are... Identical and interchangeable (to give them options). I'm jealous of your extended voyage and can't wait to hear what you think. Vince

If you cut a pair in half to fit your feet, I'll take the other half to tape onto the ones in my room so they come close to fitting my feet. 😄 Vince

My point wasn’t that they didn’t know how to put out an RFP, just that they were unlikely to break an existing agreement over it. I don’t know the details of their agreement, but I’ve known many companies who have used them over the years but I’ve never seen anyone use them for less than two years, however that plays out in either contracts, orders or ROI on the relationship. Vince

I’d prefer Molton Brown…. And anything is possible, but I suspect we might have better, or at least faster success picking from this list. https://www.labottega.com/en_US/brands-cosmetics?letter=A Vince

I lit into this one on my thread (and others) because it’s a pet peeve of mine on many levels, but in fairness to Crystal in the short term they have to pick from the options from La Bottega that are currently available, which all have significant downsides. They can get the amenities in metal tubes, which they’ve done as a stop-gap when the bulk items weren’t available (but take the ding for the amount of packaging waste), or they can switch to the motel-style shower dispensers (which I’d VERY reluctantly rather have as a last resort than the leaky plastic pumps), both of which are overall downgrades in perception even if they address some of the complaints. La Bottega is happy to do custom packaging (for significant cost) which would address these issues, but even more than cost they take a long time to bring to market, longer than they’ve had to address the issue. I do totally agree with the problem though. Vince

There are some preliminary menus on Crystal's website... I'd take them with a grain of salt at this point since they will evolve and change to some degree, like all menus do with Crystal, but at least it gives you an idea of the concept. https://www.crystalcruises.com/beefbar Vince