PaulMCO

They are stating you will get $4,450 as a priority 1, payment. That us the maximum anyone will get under Florida law. What is left (unsecured) will likely be pennies on the dollar. Interesting that they are still going through claims and making filings with the court and that all priority 1 claims have not yet been reviewed.

That may be the current HQ response, but that was the exact excuse that Crystal made for not restoring the old area as a casino by the former leader Mr. Jack.

Another issue is of course finding a company to run a Casino operation. I have not seen anything in the trades that announces an award. Plus it is not so simple to plop a table and slot machines on the floor. There is the space, electrical, cooling, and most important surveillance and a small room for monitoring the gaming. This was ripped out when Genting (or their creditors) cleaned out the old casinos.

Maybe Explora Journeys will hire her. They could use some marketing and they could pay her overpriced salary by not giving away free cruises to those annoying bloggers and travel agents.

Casino or no casino. Just received this survey. My impression is that Crystal is still undecided as whether they will install casinos. specific to this are questions Does having a casino influence your desire to cruise Crystal. If a casino was available would you cruise Crystal. How much would you use a casino look for this in your email.

I highly doubt that in a case of insolvency. It is not that anyone owes you money. What was owed was from an entity that no longer exists. Normally in a case like this the liquidator would wait until ALL claims are judged before distributing the remains. I credit ABC and the court and providing a priority group payment of partial assets and their skill at getting blood from insurancr companies for the wrong on the management of Crystal. one or 6 claims your priority payment cannot be more than $2,225 pp.

Interesting article on a lightly used 787 worth more as a parts hangar queen... https://simpleflying.com/boeing-787-ex-vip-scrapped-parts-roswell/

HD's on cruise ships don't take a poo without HQ's approval. This could be a test to see the objection level. Obviously with that other board shutting down comments (it takes 100) in only a few hours, then doing it again when it was restarted and now onto the third, there is alot of negative feeling.

We were on a Explora 1 in January, with a disembarkation in Bridgetown. Similar issue, we had a transfer arranged by Explora Journeys and it did improve some what. Still a late departure because of congestion, same packed bus to the immigration terminal, passport line, then customs line. Since we had a transfer booked, the taxi was there and did not have to lug our stuff to the exit. Things were really bad also because of two other big (>2000 passenger) ships were also doing the same. . Never going to do that again. Surprisingly we embarked in Miami at noon and that port experience was unusually excellent. From taxi to our stateroom in under 20 minutes

We were on Explora I in January and speeds were generally in the 130mbs range with the ship of 500 passengers. Variation was a low of 50 and a high of 180. The easiest thing a cruise line can do to ensure "fairness" is to throttle the speeds per account to 4 to 7.

Yes but they have two new modern Expedition ships and who knows what Carnival will do with the small ships which are $$$ to operate (Odyssey is the first to go)

I think, I have made my Explora feelings known and will not do anything over 10 days on Explora, even though we loved the ships amenities, staff, environment, and even most of the food. The killer for us is the never changing menus. For us the food grew tired after 14 days. Especially since we found at least one restaurant Sakura -- subpar (1 decent meal out of 4). Then there are their itineraries, which are rather basic Caribbean and Med.

They had their 50 percent offer on Black Friday. We paid $400 pp per day for the OT3.

No they do not do GTY. I just check ours in January in an OT3. Only 5% of those cabins are booked. About 1/2 of the OT1s are booked (less plentiful). So yes bookings are low. Maybe they will fill the ships with TA's. That will help.. Maybe that is why the CEO left for "personal" reasons..

As new CEO, I promised to make the following changes.... Reshuffle the itineraries for the 5th time. Move Explora 1 where 2 was 2 where 1 was. Do away with Explora speak..... no more host nonsensa Everyone will be equal -- no butlers for anybody Make the Emporium a true buffet lika that of Royal Caribbean, because everyone should toucha their food Replace the Baristas at Crema, because only an Italian can make a Illy coffee Ciao Francesco

Ivi... some uses for a butler... 1. Fruit and replenishment. Butler can make sure you get what you want daily without wasting those you don't need/like. 2. My wife is a diabetic so our butler makes sure she gets a cheese plate each evening for the late night sugar dips. 3. Ever need a garment mended, lose a button, the butler can get it repaired 4. Of course there is the room service. We do not use this much but after a long day of excursion - maybe. Canapes in the afternoon sometimes. 5. Extra Reservations for Umi -- the butler can do it. 6. They do keep the refrigerator stocked with the drinks you want. 7. Special needs. My DW forgot her cane at home -- the butler found one that she used during the trip. 8. They handle your laundry and pressing requests. 9. Birthdays and special events -- the butler arranged for the cake and the decorations with the suite attendant. 10. Gossip -- yes the butler would be the person to ask 🙂

Seabourn is the best bargain for a Med cruise. They do alot of the less traveled ports. On Encore we visited Ephesus and Riviera was in port at the same day. Riviera was gone at 530pm. Encore stayed til 11pm and we had a excellent closed concert in the evening at the Library. Was looking at 2024 sailings and many O cruises are creeping up to the $500 level (without air)

That is the understatement of the year 🙂

Bring back the Dom.... New update to the web site.... promises removed.. (before and after)

You cannot compare pricing at the current time unless it is a specific voyage. One time Crystal would be cheaper for equivalent another time Seabourn. Then try a 50% off Black Friday sail and Explora wins. Crystal has their Upgrade Suite promotion. Seabourn 25% Sail away and Explore has 40%. Depends on your cabin with Explora as the bigger ones with her and Crystal will be cheaper on some 2024 sailings. One thing not mentioned is Butlers. Cannot get one on Explora unless you sail in a Residence. On Seabourn never. On Crystal all suites though the service level varies. I love the food is subjective comment (I use it too). But it is not subjective to ME. I like variety and Choice. You get more on Crystal and Seabourn and zero on Explora as the menus are fixed and for a 21 day for us it is tiring. Then again you get the best on Regent. Loyalty program -- non on Explora World cruise with varied itineraries -- none on explora Ability to book long b2b2b cruise -- slim to none on Explora. Check out their Med schedule, back and forth. Explora one new ship, lots more planned and ordered and being built Crystal two ships from the ancient mariner saga -- 4 planned but not orders I can throw rocks a both to see if they stick. But the real message from a CC fan "choice is good" We have cruises booked on Explora, Regent, Crystal, Silversea and Seabourn

Looks like several of us old geezers with lots of IT and testing experience..My end product was air traffic control systems for the DoD so testing was key. If someone designs/codes it I could break it. You can thank Mike Moore for the Oceania and Regent success with their systems, after leading the O team, he is doing same with RSSC. (and he is cruise critic friendly) Some of the issues with Explora are lack of staff (no excuses). Due to many changes in itineraries (4 major) in one year, caused lots of back room work making those changes on the selling side of Seaware and zero work on the customer side.

A Agree 100%, having cut my teeth doing assembly language code on old Data General 16 bit mini's in the 1970's... One major issue is their choice for their baseline system which is the Seaware reservation system which is not the easiest to customize. The web interface is just a small part of the package. Explora has had big issue with their application GUI adaptations. Azamara is also a buggy system. But using the Crystal interface never had any issues. In fact just made specialty dining on Crystal, something you cannot yet do on Explora. One thing -- at least you can see your booking. Wait to until you experience the disappearing reservation 🙂

I just responded on the Oceania forum, so I will not repeat myself. Like @bitob 15 cruises was enough for Oceania. Last cruise in 2023 was on Marina. Food was subpar. MDR inedible, late and cold. Buffet on Terrace was tiring. Only reason we did that cruise was to burn 15K of free FCC. Last Regent cruise was on Splendor -- food was great (especially in CR) and even the 5 days we were quarantined with COVID, they gave us free choice from any restaurant. Looking forward to next month on Explorer (just got our luggage forward tags).

On the air issue -- it really depends on when you book and whether their are good consolidator contract rates. For our next cruise this March our air allowance for Business class RT was $4200. Now try to price anything anywhere today for under $6500 and that was Air Canada. As far as the topic -- Regent by far. Yes I do not like buffets. I think Terrace on O is overrated, especially tiring for long cruises. If I were to rate the lines as far as food 1. Regent (lots of variety, on bigger ships and best GDR/MDR of any line 2. Old Crystal (where new Crystal is see me after June) 3. Explora Journeys (good basis but they need to rotate menus) 4. Seabourn 5. Oceania (last 2 were disappointing food wise) 6. McDonalds (I hate them -- and its better than my last SS cruise) 7. Silversea (only the caviar was decent) An yes we generally look for value. We did old Crystal in the Amazon and it was cheaper than Marina. Seabourn can have rates that are lower than Oceania. We like Seabourn for their small port itineraries. So while Seabourn may be number 4 in food -- they are higher in overall experience (probably 2 versus Regent as 1) as we are itinerary driven.

Why don't you use a guide from Tours by Locals. They can do both a tour and drop off at the port.