TRIPACIAN

I have booked 9 cruises on NC. This includes 4 btb’s and one single cruise. Several of the cruises we have booked are pretty full and finding the cabin we want has been challenging. In my opinion bookings are pretty robust under the circumstances.

I followed up with Crystal via a phone call to the number shown on the website (new booking number) and the reservation agent was able to locate my submission. My claim was approved for about 85% of the amount requested and she emailed me my certificate. I am following up with Crystal to find out why 85% not 100% of my claim. In my mind this initiative by NC is absolutely amazing. We never expected to get back anything and took it as a total loss. We will use every bit of this refund by the end of 24 for sure. Kudos NC!

We are in Athens and while wandering around the Plaka we saw these seahorses! It seems like a good omen for our future cruises with Crystal.

Patrick and Penny Kallaus from Hawaii. I asked his permission to use his name.

The entire cruise has been great, almost as good as Crystal. The food overall has been excellent! The only complaint we have relates to baked goods and cakes being very dry and somewhat tasteless. We avoid these anyway but something we noticed. The Earth and Ocean venue is great and packed every evening. We are really impressed with the entertainment. We have a very good bridge instructor and five to six tables. Unfortunately he will be leaving in Athens.

In regards to the crew returning I believe it will be a very high (80+%] We are currently on board the Seabourn Encore and there are several former Crystal members. Every one of them wants to return. We have been approached by several including our room attendant and they recognized us as Crystal cruisers thus starting the conversation. We had a similar experience on Silversea last year.

I have a Chase Sapphire card and my refund was approved within two days with money refunded within four days. The refund was “provisional” but it was never questioned or denied. I did not receive a refund for amounts paid in excess of the 550 days.

You should do your search on a different day from the day you plan on traveling. Use the same day of the week but one week apart, that avoids signaling interest.

We are in 9034, see you onboard!!

We have been on several cruises over the past two years and have talked to at least twenty former Crystal employees. With only one exception, they say they want to return to Crystal. Included in this sample is one of the former cruise directors, a “key” bartender, and head waiter. In our discussions they also said they were in touch with their friends and fellow employees and the are hoping to return also. I think Keith is correct in his comments about returning Crystal employees. The only concern many had was returning with their former wages, seniority and positions. The only one not wanting to return has been recently married and started his on business.

We just made our second booking, now one on each ship!

Crystal corrected the $500 OBC

We are on the Symphony leaving Sydney Jan 3, 2024 and we are making several stops in NZ including the south islands.

These fees do vary, we have $2000 destinations fee on a 30 day voyage

We just booked a 30 days Sydney to Bali cruise on the Symphony (Jan 4 - Feb 3, 2024) and the booking experience (thru a t/a) was pleasant and we got the cabin we preferred which was a double room with veranda 9060. The cost was right in line with our Seabourn and Regent bookings. We are happy with the cabin size and understand the other lines have larger standard cabins. We look forward to the onboard experience and we love the ship. I do have one question, we made the $500 booking deposit and only received $250 obc. I thought we would receive $500. I understood the obc was per suite not per person. If you could help me with this I would appreciate any clarification.

If you think Crystal is bad try Silversea!

We have been to Ho Chi Minh City several times and the most fun we’ve ever had was using the “ Back of the Bike” dinner tour. They pick you up at the pier and we went to five different restaurants for dinner. Each restaurant was different and some were sidewalk dining on stools. the final restaurant was for desert. We rode on the motorbikes and never felt uncomfortable with our surroundings. We missed out on doing this on our first trip and everyone that did the dinner ride came back raving about the experience. We totally agreed with them after our evening. You can look them up on their website and do your booking there. Just do a Google search and you will find them!

In reference to the $250 vs $500 "as you wish credit" it varies between new Crystal guests and Crystal Society members. Even though we checked the box for past guests the booking came back as a new guest. I am sure this will be corrected at the time of booking. No biggie for me.

My wife just booked one also so we have two open bookings, hopefully use one on each ship!

I booked mine!!!

You really don’t even need the documents, we didn’t even show them on boarding. Everything is in the computer!

No, from Puerto Williams to Santiago. We traveled independently in Chile and Argentina prior to arriving in BA to board the ship.

We boarded the ship in Buenos Aires. Many people had more than one suitcase per person.

We just disembarked the Cloud on November 27th and there was no problem with the weight limits on the charter flight to Santiago. The subject was never discussed during the disembarkation process. We had three suitcases each weighing approximately 38 lbs. Several passengers had more luggage than we did and there were no problems. The overhead bins on the airplane were small and anything larger than a very small suitcase would not fit. If they were too big the crew put them in the baggage hold of the plane. The entire process was handled very well by Silversea and the crew of the charter plane. It was however a very long day from leaving our room at 8:00 am and checking into the hotel in Santiago at 5:00 pm.

We were on the Cloud headed to Elephant island when this occurred. We did not go there and the reason given was rough waters and bad weather. The accident was on the 15th and we would have arrived on the 20th.