Leejnd4

COOL! I’ll start a roll call as we get closer. Yes I imagine the Grand Prix is gonna be a big draw. I actually was there for a Grand Prix a number of years ago, while on a Regent cruise. It was a madhouse! But fun to see. That’s one of the reasons my hubby decided to go on this cruise with me - he’s a car enthusiast and he thinks it would be fun to be there for that. We’ve decided not to go with an Aquamarine, but just stay on the waitlist for the Veranda. It ended up being a choice between the Aquamarine and flying business class…and I’d rather be comfortable for that long flight. We don’t spend a lot of time in the cabin anyway so I think it’s a reasonable trade off. LeeAnne

I’ll do that. Thanks!

It’s so tempting! I’m still working out my trip budget. So we’ll see. Plot twist! My husband decided to come on this trip with me (originally I was going to go alone, in a SGR). So rather than do the entire 23 day itinerary, which would drive him up the wall, we decided to just do the first leg, Rome to Marseille. Then we’ll spend a couple weeks traveling around Provence, which is a part of Europe we have not been to before. This will be his first time on Crystal. He’s not a “luxury” kinda guy…my previous Crystal cruises have been with my Mom or friends. Not sure how well he’ll take to it, but I figured a shorter cruise would be a good start. Maybe he’ll get Crystalized! 😁 This is in May 2025, not 2024. Since we only need the first leg to clear, and given how it’s more than a year away, I think we have a pretty good shot at the veranda.

Ohhh…okay so you didn’t get it. But you were still on a waitlist up until embarkation. Got it.

Well if you’re saying you got the upgrade at embarkation, that pretty much answers my question. So if we don’t get it before we head over there (the cruise starts in Rome) then we may still find out we’ve got it when we embark. Keeps hope alive! 😁 I didn’t realize there were so few! That does explain it. And with these new Explorer fares prompting people to book a year in advance, it makes sense they’ve already sold out. Yes, I too was surprised the cost difference between the Ocean View and Veranda was so little. My experience with cruises is that getting a balcony is usually a much larger cost! Thanks for the details to consider. I’ve been on deck 7 twice on Symphony, and it’s very convenient. And no, we don’t have a problem being forward. We live on a sailboat, currently cruising up and down the Pacific coast in Mexico, so we’re quite used to living with lots of movement. But I’m still seriously considering just making the jump to Aquamarine.

Today we booked a cruise on Symphony for May 2025. I was surprised to see that, this far ahead, veranda cabins are waitlisted! They are the only cabin category that are sold out. So we booked a window cabin. Our TA told me that if we go ahead and pay the difference between the window and veranda cabin now, that puts us on a “priority waitlist”. This amount is fully refundable if we don’t get the upgrade. He said he spoke to someone at Crystal who told him the waitlist is very short, so I’m hopeful we will get it. I have not waitlisted for an upgrade before. My question is, at what point do they close the waitlist? Should I assume that if we haven’t been upgraded by 120 days out (final payment date) we are unlikely to get it? I’m torn between waiting to see if we get a veranda cabin, and springing now for the Aquamarine cabin (although that’s more than I wanted to spend on this cruise).

We just booked a 2025 cruise using the 20% discount Explorer fare, and our trip insurance cost only 1/4 of the amount of the discount. So it seems like a no-brainer to me! I agree with you it’s a good trade-off.

Well if they specialize in beef, AND have vegetarian offerings, we'll be a happy couple. The fish options aren't too exciting to me... I live on a boat and fish nearly every day (yep, that's me in my profile photo, holding a Mahi Mahi that I'd just caught), so I get more than my share of fresh fish. I want the BEEF! 😃

OOOOH! I get it now. I misread it to mean she wanted a comparison between Celebrity and Crystal, not Royal and Crystal. This makes way more sense.

Having never been to a Beefbar, I'm assuming based on the name that this new venue will specialize in...beef?? I ask because I may be among the few who was sorely disappointed to hear that they got rid of Churrascaria! I loved that place! Which may possibly be attributed to the fact that my husband eats a mostly plant based diet so I don't cook meat for us, so I just don't get too many opportunities to indulge my own carnivorous leanings. I would love to hear that there will be a restaurant on board that focuses on incredible steaks.

Thanks Keith! I figured you’d know. 😁 I assumed the calendar-year answer was 2025 only. I needed to ensure my understanding was correct, as I want to include future replacement cruises as a contingency in my budget. Seems unfair to limit it to the same calendar year, tho. It’s great for anyone with a cruise booked for the early months, but what if your booked cruise is in December? Doesn’t seem right. Anyway, thanks! And yes, making calls from Mexico can be spotty. We just pulled into a new marina and haven’t fired up the Starlink yet, so I’m posting using the marina’s WiFi. Once we have Starlink going, I can do WiFi calling.

I’m getting ready to book a cruise for May 2025. I have a couple questions: 1) My husband is coming with me on this cruise. It will be his first time on Crystal. I’ve sailed Crystal before, but never with him—always with either my mother or friends. Will the Crystal Society discount only apply to my fare? Or will he get it too since we’re booking the cabin together? 2) We’re going to take advantage of the Explorer non-refundable fare. 20% is too good to pass up! If something catastrophic happens and we can’t go, I understand we can apply the cruise fare (minus an administrative fee) to a future cruise. Would we have to take that cruise in the year 2025? Or would we have a full year from the date of the cancelled cruise? I’m trying to come up with a budget so this would be helpful. I would ask my TA but he’s off on a cruise right now and his back-up is super busy so I figured I’d bother you kind folks. 😁

Same answer as Royal Caribbean. Celebrity is a mass-market cruise line. Crystal is a luxury cruise line. They are not comparable, other than the fact that you’re on a cruise ship. I think @ChatKat in Ca. nailed it: Holiday Inn vs Ritz Carlton. Celebrity might be a slight cut above Royal Caribbean, but not by much. Whereas Crystal is as luxe and high-end as you can get.

Although it’s been a number of years, when I did a Baltics cruise on Symphony, there was a free shuttle in Copenhagen. It was our disembarkation port, so I don’t know if that makes a difference.

I’m getting close to booking a 2025 cruise, and I’d sure like to take advantage of the explorer fare. I apologize in advance as I know this is likely a dumb question, but I just want to make sure I understand the fare rules correctly. Regarding the non-refundable option, I see the following: ”Guests may cancel prior to one hundred eighty (180) days of the sailing date and receive a future cruise credit equivalent to the reduced cruise fare paid less applicable administrative fees. The future cruise credit can only be applied towards the then prevailing cruise fare on a sailing departing in the same calendar year as their original cruise. ” Does “same calendar year” mean that if I need to cancel, I can apply the entire cruise fare (less the admin fee) to another cruise, but that cruise HAS to be in 2025? Or would I have 12 months to take the later cruise? I’m assuming the former, but figured I’d better confirm. I certainly don’t expect to have to cancel, but given that it’s more than a year away, I’d like to know what my options are should something catastrophic occur. And again, please forgive my asking what probably seems pretty self-explanatory. 😉

I'm with you! I've been following this thread with delight. I personally prefer to see it all in one place. I've opened every menu. I need to drink more water because I believe all of my salivating has left me dehydrated. 😜

People can be such boors.

Okay I got the answer to my first question now. Keith just helped me to see that you can, in fact, individually book all three legs of this 23-day cruise. I just had my filters set wrong. So I guess I’ll just have three different sets of passengers to meet along the way. 😁 I haven’t decided to book this yet, but I’m getting close. I do want to take advantage of their new explorer fares so I will need to decide in the next few weeks. I understand that they raised their prices before they introduced these explorer fares. Sure wish I’d thought of booking this cruise before they raised the prices, but…oh well! Since I didn’t, I gotta go with what’s available. And the cost savings is pretty significant.

I’m seriously considering booking the May 21, 2025 Rome to Rome 23-day cruise on Symphony. I’ve never actually been on a cruise that long before! The idea of 23 nights on Symphony feels amazing. I have questions! 😁 I noticed that there is a 7-day Rome-Marseille itinerary that covers the first 7 days of this 23-day itinerary. But there is not another itinerary listed that starts in Marseille, or at any other point in those 23 days. So does this mean that everyone who booked the 7 dayer will disembark in Marseille and all that will be left onboard will be us long-haulers? Could make for a rather empty ship, given that the 7 day cruise is a great price and i would imagine will be very popular. Or is it possible for people to book other segments of those 23 days? Other questions: *How many formal nights will there be? *How many Vintage Room dinners will be offered? *How many times can I dine in Umi Uma and Osteria D’Ovidio? I should mention that I will be in a SGR, not a suite. I’m sure I will have other questions but that’s all I got for now. LeeAnne

Anyone remember those midnight chocolate buffets? I don’t even remember what cruise line it was on, this was so long ago. What I DO remember was that the only thing I really wanted to eat from that whole buffet was the chocolate covered strawberries. They had huge platters of them, but the line was so long that I watched those platters dwindle lower and lower as we approached. People were filling plates up with DOZENS of them, piled so high they were falling off! Then the person right in front of me took the last ten strawberries. And later I saw plate after plate of dozens of uneaten chocolate covered strawberries, left on the tables for cleanup. I remember one table had a plate filled with them, each of which had ONE SMALL BITE taken out of them. The gluttony and waste just disgusted me. I never went to one of those again. I’m fine with the end of the Grand Buffets.

Sorry for the delayed response! Got back a couple of days ago but it’s been BUSY BUSY BUSY. The cruise was AMAZING!! The diving was spectacular! And yes, I used my OBC for the dives. We had so much OBC that my dives ended up being free. 😁 That’s all I got time for now…it’s Thanksgiving and I gotta run. I promise to post a detailed review with pics and video when I can get caught up.

I concur with @Tahitianbigkahuna. We always ask for a “group table” so we can meet other cruisers. And there are always others who do the same…couples, singles, friends cruising together who want to mingle. You will not have to dine alone. 😁

Thanks for the warning! I will be careful.

We have I think about $1000 total. Our plan is to use some of it for an excursion and the rest for massages. I’m relieved to hear that it worked for you in June! I’m not going to worry about it. Worst case, we pay for the one excursion and maybe get more massages. Or go wild and buy some crazy expensive wine. LOL! Yes it’s coming up SOON! I leave to fly up to LA on Nov 2. We will spend two nights there in order to run a few errands (stuff I can’t do down here in Mexico) and then we fly to Papeete on the 4th. Spending 4 nights at an Airbnb you. The hills, with a pool and spectacular view. We’ll have a rental car to do some touring of Tahiti. Then we board on Nov 8! And yup, I’m getting super excited. 😁😁😁

I’m definitely confused. I’m pretty sure this topic was recently discussed in here, and I thought the answer was that we could. But we just looked at our e-docs and saw this: “Onboard credit is non-exchangeable, non-refundable and non-transferable. It is valid for all expenses on board, once all eligible discounts have been applied. Not valid on excursions, pre-bookable and pre-payable tours, excursions or cruise programmes or for gratuities.” We were assuming we’d use our OBC for a PG snorkel excursion…😕