BWIVince

I just wanted to add that at a minimum, Symphony’s Classic Aquamarines received new carpet, sofas, chairs, coffee tables, artwork and softgoods prior to the 2021 restart, and don’t look like the picture currently on Crystal’s website (from above) anymore — even if nothing was done to them in this refit (which may or may not be the case). Here are some pics from September of 2021… Vince

I watched that on Insta yesterday and was left craving chapter 2…. I hope more comes quickly and consistently. Vince

Same…. They were showing their age in 2019, so I wasn’t surprised they didn’t survive the idle time in SE Asia. We have a local park here that had similar equipment installed about a decade ago, and it was also removed when it was time for replacement, so I’m guessing that trend is over. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Vince

Ahh, thanks for the correction Nancy and Keith! The example I was using was Symphony’s Perth to Auckland cruise in December, and all of the double window cabins I clicked on were $7300, regardless of ether they has a partially obstructed view, a promenade view, or a direct ocean view, but I do see now there are a small number of cabins that are different on deck 7 forward. So to my point, the advertised “from” price for the double window cabins actually covers ALL double and single window cabins on Symphony. Not sure if it works as well on Serenity, but if Crystal has any solos left over on Symphony, they can always add guarantee inventory to the starting grade of doubles and assign a solo cabin to fulfill the guarantee as promised. Vince

Is Crystal still sub-categorizing fares by location within a category, though? All the fares I’ve seen so far have been flat inside each category regardless of being forward/midship/aft, like in Crystal’s old days, and not like they were in the more recent past. With that, the rooms would now be equal. Vince

Thanks, it’s great to be back. 😊 There’s nothing from preventing Crystal from using the rooms interchangeably, and no downside to it whatsoever. I can’t see them doing one to the detriment of the other (like choke off sales to solos), to be clear, but they can and always do oversell certain categories where there is demand and essentially borrow the inventory from other categories, which is what underpins the guarantee schema. The way the rooms are categorized now, the single windows are identical to the double windows, and are neither superior nor inferior categorically — though people might have preferences for/against the location the same way they would any guarantee room…. But that’s the way guarantees roll anyway. I’m not saying this has come into play yet, but it’s clearly part of the design of the new sales structure, so I would be shocked if they don’t utilize it that way in the future. Vince

I haven't had the pleasure of checking availability for any sailings yet -- has this been an issue so far? The brilliance of using double cabins as dedicated singles is that they can dynamically balance between the window double and window singles on a guarantee basis depending on what is selling more, regardless of what the rooms are categorized as on the deck plans, but I'm curious how well that is playing out in the real world. Vince

LOL about the sauce, but bravo on the production! That advice about brisket sounds really solid. On a basic level I think most people understand the cuts that are high in collagen and reticulin and the basic techniques that help break them down, but to really establish the same kind of muscle memory you get from cooking leaner cuts takes some repetition... And it's better to start with the smaller and more manageable examples before you try to tackle a bigger challenge. Looking forward to hearing about pass three! Vince

I fall into that bucket…. I’ve said plenty of great things about Prego through the years, but I’m also ready for change. If for no other reason, it’s not the past anymore. I can also request almost any Prego dish in Waterside if I wish, so from where I sit nothing is really lost, and something exciting is gained. I understand it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s the nature of change even for those of us that embrace it. In my defense though, there are a few things I’ve been consistently critical about with Prego over the years, including Symphony’s original Prego decor (why did the same decor work in Prego as Excalibur Las Vegas at the time?) and Serenity’s decor most of the years (floating Olive Garden). Symphony Prego’s Kirk Nix makeover is one of my favorite Crystal decor iterations in the company’s history, but putting my money where my mouth is re: change, that decor is now over a decade old and a change is certainly appropriate. Vince

Close in a way -- if my memory is correct, Andre Soltner was their next consultant on the MDR portion! A good hint would be remembering Crystal's penchant for local companies, suppliers and partners (Southern California) in the original time frame they started work (late 80's). It's also not one of the names in my original list in the Nobu thread, so not Puck or Selvaggio. Vince (P.S. re: Ramsey -- Nothing surprises me about DC dining anymore... But geez...)

Ok, fun trivia question... (...admittedly probably only considered fun by me.) In the Nobu thread I listed a partial list of Crystal's famous chef consultants over the years, but completely forgot about the OG of Crystal consultants, their inaugural culinary advisor. (For anyone not familiar with that role, it's basically what Michel Roux did for Celebrity when they launched, and Regina Charboneau did when American Queen relaunched, among others.) Does anyone remember, know, or care to guess who Crystal's original consulting culinary advisor was? It's been so long I'm not even sure Google is much help here... Vince

It's hard to have less than a side as a smoking section. 😞 It doesn't really work to have a quarter of the pool area with smoking. At least there was just as much covered for smoking vs. nonsmoking, it's just unfortunate the covered area was as limited (at least on Symphony). Vince

I think we're making a mountain out of a mole hill regarding the answer... I understand the importance of the question and feel the same interest, but IME the answer was a result of the channel. The agency sales peoples role is to facilitate sales and eliminate blockers for the agencies they represent. If you ask them a specific question, you'll get a specific answer -- if you ask them a general question, you'll get a general answer. Just respond back asking if smoking is allowed anywhere indoors besides the CC, and you should get the answer you seek. IMHO, I'm sure they just thought they were answering the question they thought you were asking, even thought it wasn't the question you thought you asked. Vince

Totally... I tend not to go that route because there are cookies I don't want to lose depending on the computer I'm using (some of them I need in a particular state for work testing, especially third party cooking, while they're still a thing)... But I'm totally an edge case on that! Most people should just be able to clear and repeat. Vince

Private/incognito browsing may also help to some degree there too, as long as you're not logged in and use a different private browser session for each search. Vince

I think the itinerary constraints for '23/'24 will ultimately constrain pricing power a little bit. To what degree that happens depends on a lot of other factors that won't come into play until later this year, but I think the "itinerary matters" point is a good one and something Crystal takes into serious consideration in pricing (whether it looks like it or not from inaugural fares). One of Jack Anderson's priorities when he first came to Crystal in sales eons ago was dynamic pricing. I seriously doubt that's going to be any different with other people in sales and him at the helm. I fully expect prices to adjust to market conditions and demand by sailing and category, for better or worse. We can count on adjustments where appropriate, IMHO. Vince

My gut tells me to disagree on some level, but this comment has no more accurate basis of predicting the future than remembering the past, so who knows…. Cruise lines (especially Crystal originally in the beginning) aren’t overly single-friendly until they have some kind of sales history or inventory data to work from. They tend to pick a basic sales strategy for singles and go with that until they can see where the inventory is tight and where they have excess play. Unless Crystal becomes the first cruise line in history to set the world on fire in its first year and struggle to keep up with insane demand (I’m certainly not taking that bet), I fully expect Crystal’s second year and beyond to be a lot more single-friendly than what it markets in pre-launch sales and initial seasons. That’s not saying New Crystal will be as single-friendly as Old Crystal (their inventory dynamic has been turned on its ear), but in every case I can think of in this segment, cruise lines didn’t really push themselves to singles until they knew where and how it fit best for them in sales data. Vince

I personally never let the 3 month scheduling stop me from booking earlier (if a reasonable fare exists), but it sets my expectations around the schedule for sure. If the ticket was outside of the final schedule, I never got too wound up about the specifics of aircraft type or connection times since I knew they were in flux, but just aimed for a general time of day and routing I liked, since those were the most likely to stay consistent and the easiest to get the airline to rebook alternative options upon if the default flight doesn't work for me. The seasonal schedule changes used to be even less fun in the olden days (back when I had to walk uphill to school in the snow, both ways, without feet), when paper tickets still existed. Back when I was a travel agent, we used to have ARC revalidation stickers you manually hand wrote with the new flight information and literally stuck over the old flight number and info on each printed flight coupon. The agency held tickets in a safe until a month or so before departure so we could send boarding passes, but also in the case of schedule changes like this. If a client was booking airfare for a big trip, they might book 9-10 months out, and the ticket could go through 2 or 3 schedule changes, and need stickers applied multiple times before they went out (or possibly need to be reissued completely). Ugh. At least now schedule changes are a lot more automated, even if they're not as painless as they could be. Vince

I come by it naturally -- I'm a project manager!

As BEAV can tell you from his firsthand experience with my pictures, there are only so many Sazeracs you can have before your food pictures start to come out funny or sideways. IME that serving count is called the Sazerac Factor, and it’s about 1.6 before people start looking at your food pictures like 🤨. IME though, if you’re comparing NoLA alternatives, the Vieux Carre Factor is only 1.9. If you drink it on the Carousel Bar while it’s revolving though, the factor goes down to 1.7. 😇 Vince

+1... I booked with Crystal when they first launched because the ownership by NYK gave them significant chops compared to other upstarts of the era -- even though NYK hadn't transported passengers in generations (let alone had any luxury presence). If anything, A&K's long history in luxury travel gives me even more confidence than I had in the original Crystal -- which was plenty to book. Everyone's entitled to do what they're comfortable with, I just found the "unknown" part kind of funny based on the background a lot of us had with Crystal circa 1989-1991. We could only dream we were working with a company like A&K. Vince

I could totally see that, Patty! I just stayed in VA all last week and went to a VA ABC store for the first time in my life, and was completely underwhelmed. Just like the Montgomery County stores I'd been in before, it had the same special MVA/utility department vibe and charm, but it was about half the size and the prices weren't nearly as competitive. I was joking about MoCo, but back when my parents were still alive, I'd actually swing by the liquor store near their house because the selection was better than most of our private stores up here, and the prices were either really competitive, or in the case of sale items, a deal. When I was a kid, for about 4 years (but still long before I was 18), DC had a lower drinking age for beer and wine than MD, so people used to pour into DC for beer just based on access. MD had raised the age to 21 for all alcohol, but DC still had it at 18 for a bit longer on those items. ...So we have a long tradition of hunting booze across borders for a mix of reasons around here. Now I know to bring mine with me next time I'm going to be in VA for a while though! lol Vince

Don't apologize! I just thought the overall pricing in the travel industry (whether inflation, demand, or whatever combination of factors) was important context... I wasn't trying to pull us into an analysis of that (yet), before everyone was ready to go there. 🙂 Vince

My bad, I didn't realize we were stopping there. 🙂 Vince

Your county has state stores? 😄 (Sorry, MoCo native humor...) Vince