vistaman

service on board Crystal is far superior in general , the choice of complimentary drinks is great and you do not have to pay 10 € for a VSOP Cognac 😄 or 18€ for a decent Macallan skill of bartenders is far superior on Crystal

must be not so pleasant if someone did fullfill 25 cruises and then the bankrupcy that is a loss of a reward of 3k credit 🤢

long time ago old Crystal had an agreement with Piero Selvaggio owner of Valentino ( closed ) in those days considered as the top Italian restaurant in the US - i remember a dish with a crab and ravioli with apricot😀

No, i did not want an exemption , but I found the explanation given rather ridiculous aware of 20 cruises and doing a 21st but not aware I eventually did receive the reward. : by whom ? by santa ?

it is indeed very complicated i will send an ample " paper " to a new elected member of the EU parliament Portugal Spain and France are imposing its taxes when a ship crossed the international waters French VAT in Italy ? Spanish VAT in France etc ... all the more those countries do tax items on goods delivered to the ships free on board FOB so there is no source to VAT tax taxing items bought without tax ? there is the intracomm system as well it all started with Spain also think if some cruise company is going to the European Court , they risk to be banned from the ports several cruise lines try to make a short call in a non EU port ranging from Tangier, Channel Islands a terrible Uk port sometimes ... unfortunately Monaco was forced to follow France

I did 20 old C cruises before the bankrupcy , on the Symphony for my 21st new C is not friendly to singles - the people on board are great exception made for one we cannot grant your 20th milestone reward because we cannot verify if you got it already ...??? single cabins are minimal - i was able to travel that way when i was in my 40s not anymore when i do approach my 70th I do not think i will use all my vouchers by new C aware some people do not like those comments ; random upgrades once more commericial upgrades ??? that is a policy by a company also starting with a C

suppose they are going Morocco or Tunisia the second day ; no more VAT it all started with Spain when they had budget problems

it seems only Portugal , France and Spain so far doubtful it is legal as when a Dutch company is buying goods in Belgium it is without VAT providing a valid VAT number is given the Belgian supplier must provide a list with the Vat numbers of the clients of the EU to the Belgian Taxes and the other country can verify the purchases but paying french VAT in a italian port ??? so far no single company had the courage to go to the european court and that is lasting for years it all started with Spain...

the former representative moved to Explora and because my one and only EJ was a disaster and I did made it down rather seriously - it was also the end of a good understanding

for the moment on symphony cruise was departing from Toulon 20% taxes on special wines

sorry for late reply ; zeebrugge is a terrible cruise port imho one of the weakest on the line lisbon hamburg in december during weekdays there is one train to brugge every hour from zeebrugge station under normal circumstances i will be pax on queen anne dep 15th december 2024 maybe as a belgian i should do a consultation parlour 😄 blankenberge is a weak rather low classed village the upper classed village on the belgian seaside is knokke the opposite direction of blankenberge there is a statin as well ome train every hour being belgian i will not going to brugge but going to a nice restaurant either in knokke or heist unfortunately that day a nice and friendly place opposite the church of zeebrugge is closed during that december cruise call people from antwerp dislike zeebruggge heavily !!!

stlll nobody for belgium netherlands ... TA not aware of new C

" some owners" - yes that what is going on at Explora for the moment ...

the Star Pride - stretched former Seabourn Pride - is in Zeebrugge and no problems with bringing the pilot on board - actual force is BF4 to 5 tomorrow a Norwegian C L is due to dock , not a small one.

My last QV : I ( solo ) got a not so pleasant table and close to me a table with 3 Germans, refusing to talk ( they had problems with English : not understanding the menu in full ) , despite i do speak German fluently.

the weather forecast : for Zeebrugge force 4 - 5 BF north west winds and decent tugboats available another "easy " cancellation ?

and they forgot Rotterdam ... very broad no locks

read my review in "reviews" failure of luxury !

that is very true : Silver Dawn last year in July - Silver Dawn April a serious downfal in the F&B operations

I think it will be Milano or Roma airport ...

Good to hear - and pleasant for the guests - Bruno is back as CD !

i wish you good luck and take aa few bottles of your own wine with you !

ask the butler

some "bathroom" items do occur a payment - there is a - long - list ( shaving foam , brush... )

last year there was an IT man handling the "automatic " piano's and he did ask : do you like Mozart and i said yes , he put in some IT figures and there was half an hour Mozart music ...