Keith1010

New Year's Eve, 2014. Keith

Thank you for your comments. I don't want this review to be a comparison to other cruise lines but rather my thoughts on the first two Crystal cruises under new ownership. If anything it is a comparison to Crystal before its shutdown. I have always been of the belief that to be successful and to grow Crystal has to attract first time guests and, in particular, attract those in their late 40's, 50's and 60's to sail with them. One way to do this is with new ships and yes this is important given that people who have not sailed with Crystal or in the luxury market arena are more apt to go with cruise lines that have newer ships. So the first step on that is their desire to commit to one new ocean vessel and one new expedition ship with an option for a second one. Reading between the lines they are not looking for a massive volume of ships nor a massive customer base. I believe this will allow them to grow the fleet without diluting their number one asset which is the crew. In the meantime, they need to be successful over the next few years before rollout of new ships and that will require targeting guests who are not Crystal Society members. From what I see the major focus has been on Crystal Society members. I believe you will see more ads on social media and certainly the publicity generated from the current cruise for Symphony and the one on July 25 for Serenity with media and TA's on board is a good step as well. Keith

I don't consider the EI program to be double dipping. Like most things, people can interpret it how they want. What I did say is what happens when you have unused sub credits when Moecker has started to make payments. I was told by a Crystal Senior Executive shortly after the program rolled out and there were questions how the process works. I went back to read what I was told. It was noted that once Moecker starts to make payout to guests who were owed money then Crystal will check to see if you received money back from Moecker and if you did that will come off of any unused sub-credits. It has no impact on sub-credits you already used and as a reminder it does NOT impact money you will get back from Moecker. Knowing how things can change I have gone back to ask about this to be sure what I was told is still the case. Keith

There is no room Muriel. To Rob's point when open seating was implemented they had to implement all of this and that includes stations where the Head Waiters prepared all sorts of items and the Cheese Cart. There is no room for them. Also, with each passing year special ordering is not emphasized and with the latest dry dock there are fewer head waiters in Waterside. With expanded menus offering lots of choice for us we enjoyed what was on the menu. Keith

Sorry but if your comment was directed to me I disagree. I went back to my notes from a couple of months ago. This is how it was explained to me a few weeks after the program rolled out. Let's say you were owed $25,000.00 and you got an EI credit of five sub credits each of $5,000.00. Let's say before Moecker refunded you any money you booked three cruises and used three vouchers of $5,000 each. Now let's say you got a refund of $2,000.00 from Moecker as part of the settlement before you used your last two vouchers. Your remaining two vouchers which had totaled $10,000 would now be worth a total of $8,000.00 In short, Whatever you got from EI's has no baring on any money you will get back from Moecker because they do not check with Crystal about the EI program. But any money you get back from Moecker does impact the value any vouchers you had not used. This was explained to me by an executive at Crystal who would know. With that said I have now reached out again to see if anything changed. Keith

This is not my understanding but I will double check.

Now some said the portion size in Waterside was larger than before so go figure. I was pleased with the size though. 😀

They can if you get dollars back before you have applied any of your sub credits so I am not in a rush for the money. Keith

I didn't ask nor did I ask why the change took place. Let's speculate for a moment and say it was a problem. I don't see Symphony being the savior. What happens to those who start in Miami? What happens to those who start in San Diego. What about the room assignments? What about the Symphony itineraries? I could list more items. Anyway I don't see it being a problem. Keith

A special dessert prepared by the wonderful pastry chef's which was on the first formal night menu. Keith

I want to still book early (25% deposit) because the category and location of suite is important to me. Years ago we wouldn't book so early but that is not the case here days. In fact, in our very early years of cruising we had some situations booking months in advance. Back then category and location was less important and probably lower price the driver. I did get burned. Thankfully for the Incentive Program. The adjustments I made are the Credit Card I use, and should I move money from one booking to another to keep good records of the original card used although by going with one Credit Card company for booking cruises that should address this and let's say I paid in full for a cruise before penalties kicked in and we found the need to cancel it rather than move all the money over to another booking I might look at what options are available not to get hit with the cruise line administrative fee while having the bulk of the money returned to my Credit Card. So far we haven't had that situation. The good news is at the present time other than for a booking that involves a cruise of a long length for most cruises you have 120 days to make final payment whereas with old Crystal payment was earlier plus there was the early payment discount. Keith

I know. Having had many questions asked of me while on Serenity keeping track of all of them can be overwhelming. Also I am reminded that the TA/Media cruise is not very long and all things that one might see on regular cruises might not be seen on that one as they have things like group dinners. Anyway, as mentioned often we all answer questions even if not directly asked of us. This one was really an easy one since they eliminated the cheese cart after Waterside was implemented on each ship which was 2017 on Symphony and 2018 (November) on Serenity. Keith

Kids club Rob, don't think so. They do have an idea of venue but they have to make sure it will technically work. Let's see what happens. One thing that has been learned along the way is that one might have a plan for the ship(s) but when you get into the technical aspects of the change it doesn't work. Don't think that will be the case here but they need to run all the traps.This is why they are not giving time frames either other than 2024. Keith

I am in no rush now. I hope to use the rest of my sub credits from our most recent voucher when they release the 2025 itineraries so would like to use them first before i might get the little sum of money that I could possibly get given the small ceiling on what is possible to get. Keith

Julia, there are some people on this board who had their disputes questioned and also on one other board I follow. If you have the documentation that backs up your submission I would followup with Moecker to get that corrected. You are definitely not alone and this has been going on for months. We got an e-mail a few months ago and that was just showing what we had requested and the max that we could get with is substantially less than that so we have no further action. In the meantime we are making great used of the vouchers that we have received as we got a second one due to Crystal allowing those who had river cruise and expedition ship bookings to request this too which we did. Keith

They did However based on customer feedback they have decided to bring them back but in a smaller area. Keith

I hope I don't get in trouble answering this but the will have Odyssey At Sea so that will be the art and that will be on every voyage. I didn't get a chance to ask about Knitting but at the present time no. People often get together on their own and it is possible they will have this on the World Cruise and possibly their Grand Voyages. Keith

It's good not knowing the ropes. Sometimes people want to know way too much and a little surprise is good. I am not sure I know what you mean about sign up times but at any point ask away and many of us can try to answer your questions. Keith

All I know says 3 ships Roy and Vince. Keith

Vince yes. It was a wise decision to put the outlet in. It provides flexibility and what better time than doing it when rooms were being built from scratch. A lot less costly do do it at that time. Keith

New telephones. Canapés which the butlers serve to all suites (if you want them). A nice assortment changing daily and very tasty. Keith

Someone thinking which cruise they will book. Keith

No idea. I suspect the focus will be seeing the full World Cruise first. Right now it is focused mainly on those sailing 2024 who can get their rooms and then on others; primarily Crystal Society Members. I see a push beyond that before selling individual segments but as they say time will tell. Keith

The saying we've come along way baby applies. Much better than all those discussions with a few not believing the majority of the crew would be returning or that Crystal would be very similar than it was. Oh those were the days............And those days weren't very long ago.

This is an interesting one. I don't see how Manhattan Cruise Terminal would be used on 10/29 as the official site already show three ships docked there on 10/29; NCL Escape, Europe 2 and MSC Explora and they can accommodate three ships. This assumes the site is accurate which normally it is. Interestingly, Serenity is not listed but is shown on that site for being at MCT on 10/23. Keith