TRIPACIAN

How many passengers on your cruise?

Good luck to the ship and crew, may they encounter no problems and arrive in Athens safely.

Any word on the Symphony?

We were recently told that the Symphony is being retrofitted to enable it to enter the US. The electrical room necessary for dock connections is completed.

They are refunding the money. I just received 17,000, in my cc account.

We love transatlantic crossings and the sea days. Since we were previously booked on the crossing from Toulon, this cruise made our trip possible without flying home from Europe. Our trip was booked months ago and included 10 days in Greece island hopping. We replaced the Athens to Toulon Crystal cruise with a Seabourn cruise including Turkey and several Greek islands. We would have been happier with our original Crystal cruises but totally understand the reason for the change. All in all everything including flights ended up working and we only had to make a few modifications to our trip.

By the way, the ship must be pretty full, we had a choice of only three cabins.

We just finalized our booking from Las Palmas to Miami.

Has anyone tried to book any of the new segments? We plan on booking the Las Palmas to Miami crossing when it is available. We were booked on the Athens to Miami cruises.

Regent just issued a letter today to the guest on their world cruise so I don’t think Crystal will be far behind. Be patient it is a very difficult situation.

Same for us, Crystal did the right thing and we were 100% refunded.

Onboard Symphony now and there is no grumbling just speculation. I think everyone understands the situation. Once the decision has been made then we can expect criticism by a few but not many.

The word on the ship is that they WILL be in Athens for the April 13th cruise even if they have to go around Africa.

Actually this works better for us. We haven’t been to Darwin and Alotau wasn’t really a port worth visiting (except to check off another country on our bucket list)

A well done answer to the question. When you consider the problems with logistics, crew deployment, port availability and of course passenger transportation etc it makes you realize how difficult the situation becomes. Safety overrides everything.

The general feeling aboard the Symphony (from the officers) is that it is too early for a decision. Planning for a change in itinerary is complicated and I understand that alternative plans are being discussed. World events can change rapidly and I think all passengers would vote on taking the safe course of action even if it involved c cruise cancellation.

Brenda said “hello.”

Mayb we have a new bridge instructor for our second cruise, her name is Brenda Montague.

We are onboard now and we asked this question and the answer is “it is being discussed and possible plans are being made.” The logical date and departure date is March 12, departing from Singapore non stop to Athens. More than likely the nonessential crew will be sent home and no passengers will be on the ship.

Someone asked me about the condition of the Symphony and to be honest I am amazed at how it looks. Everything is in almost “like new” order. We had a group of travel agents on board and one commented that the ship was only a couple years old… ha ha…I didn’t correct her, that would have been rude! If you consider that A & K only paid $25 million for the ship and small super yachts sell for much more you can see that this ship was quite a bargain.

Walking in Auckland and saw this shop. They sell Crystal and porcelain !

I don’t know and don’t think it would be proper to ask. We were told that they paid for only one person and did not pay a supplement. This came up in discussing how much they loved Crystal. By the way this was her first time cruising on Crystal.

We have recently attended a white night party on the Serenity and Symphony and they were both highly successful and well attended. If it isn’t your thing don’t attend!

We have a single cruiser on board in an Aquamarine suite with no supplement. I guess this indicates theft pricing is flexible.

Trust me we will have a great time on this cruise!