CruiserFromMaine

We never sailed on the American Queen but we were on the Countess twice. It is quite pretty ship and new, even if the “bones” of it are not. Our middle of the road cabin was large, especially for a river boat and there was plenty of space in the public areas; the bar got a little crowded before dinner, but I’ve seen worse on ocean cruising ships.

There was a CVS within a few minutes’ walk.

Yes, an extensive one. Location was good, and it has to be better if they’ve finished the work.

We stayed at the AKA Brickell in Jan 2023, and they were still working on it. It was kind of a mess. Also the transport to the ship was disorganized and late. We’ve sworn off Regent hotels and transport for now. We’ll take any credit and book our own, or book a lower category. We did the latter on our next two cruises.

After 7.1K posts here you should know that threads wander. We even see posts complaining about other posts sometimes.

As far as I can tell, Crystal hasn’t even ordered any new ships yet. And getting financing for new ships will be difficult if the current ships aren’t full. I suspect new ships are at least four years away for Crystal.

There are still two of their ships tied up in Portland, Maine. The Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator. Too bad to hear of their downward spiral and now demise. We had two nice cruises on them.

Actually, one nice blazer will suffice. Nobody will notice if it’s the same one, other than the two of you. We can’t really compare the two since our cruise on SB was seven years ago. We do like SS, though, and Regent.

Interesting as that is often the approach (to have the gala on shore) but the Regent WC gala was on the ship with the same menu in all restaurants. I think I’d prefer on shore, since I’d be seeing enough of the ship coming up but maybe it makes for an easier experience for the pax to just get on board and stay on. I’m looking forward to hearing all about it!

That makes way more sense than how Crystal handled it. I hope you enjoy it all!

Are you technically on the world cruise now, but the pre-cruise gala is in LA? We were on the first segment of a world cruise on Crystal from Miami to LA and that’s how they did it so I’m curious. Thanks!

I’d love to follow along! Are you blogging here or elsewhere?

Thanks, now I know.

Oops, of course! Not sure how I messed that up!

The term “posh” comes from “starboard out, port home” from the British point of view. So, heading west, starboard (southern) side and the port side for the return.

And I don’t have an opinion. Whether Ember is better than Jacques is an opinion and I don’t have an opinion whether Ember is better or not. The topic question is whether we’ll miss Jacques. Many, it seems, will miss it, but I won’t, and many others who’ve never experienced it won’t miss it either. “I don’t know what I’m missing.” Yes, and that’s my point. It’s part of the evolution of the Oceania brand, just like when they added Jacques.

Yes, that’s our cruise. See you on board!

Following along—hope you have a wonderful journey!

I’ve been following this topic with some interest since we’re sailing on the Vista in late January 2024 (next month!) and I won’t miss Jacques, for the simple reason I’ve never been to Jacques. I’m going to give Ember a fair shot. There are several less casual restaurants on board and I’ll try all them too. Looking forward to our cruise!

So sorry this happened to you, that’s awful! I hope we never get seated with that so-called lady.

I turn off automatic time zone updates and manually set to ship’s time “to avoid disappointment” as the cruise lines sometimes say (usually when encouraging you to book early).

@Sthrngary thanks for your well-done and thorough postings!

We were there in April and it’s still wonderful.

Looking forward to your reports! We board in March.

Hi @Lois R! I’m late to the thread, but glad to see you’re cruising again—have a great cruise!