Crystal Announces Launch of Exceptional Initiative Guests who Lost Money Under Crystal Cruises’ Former Ownership Can Apply

[Keith1010]

11 hours ago, TER777 said:

Progress report. Crystal Exceptional Initiative sent me the Assignee's claim chart.  Very helpful. The Assignee made two errors, in one case confusing a credit card chargeback for an Alaska cruise with a claim on a Miami cruise. I've sent additional information. Fingers crossed this will take care of it.

I am glad to hear this.

 

With people I've been assisting we've found this sort of error several times while sometimes finding the amount the person thought they were entitled to receive was wrong.  

 

Keith

[USCAdventurer]

I was booked on a Crystal Danube Christmas cruise but Crystal told me that they are including river cruite passengers in this promotion.

However, I just booked the Crystal Symphony for May 9, 2024 from Rome to Lisbon.

[USCAdventurer]

I was booked on a Crystal Danube Christmas cruise but Crystal told me that they are including river cruite passengers in this promotion.

However, I just booked the Crystal Symphony for May 9, 2024 from Rome to Lisbon.

[TRIPACIAN]

3 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

I am glad to hear this.

 

With people I've been assisting we've found this sort of error several times while sometimes finding the amount the person thought they were entitled to receive was wrong.  

 

Keith

TER777, Keith

 

I have finally resolved the 15% difference and I am sorry to report that I was in error as to my claim.  As Keith said sometimes we can be wrong.

The Assignee caught my error and reported the correct amount to Crystal.  I am really happy to resolve this and even though it was my error I am really happy to receive the 85% credit.  

 

We have already booked 7 cruises including one that includes an additional cabin for a relative.  We have now used 4 of the five credits and plan on using the fifth on a cruise in 2025.

Edited May 27, 2023 by TRIPACIAN
sp

[travelberlin]

On 5/23/2023 at 10:16 PM, LNugent said:

I applied early for my $6500 loss. I got a certificate for $2000. I have sent 4 emails to Crystal asking why I didn’t get get the full amount of my claim. So far I have only received responses stating they are checking. This has been going on for over a month. Not sure I will ever get an answer. This is so disappointing as I have two cruises booked and thinking about a third. I may not book the third or anymore unless I get an answer from NC. I have always been a huge fan of Crystal but this is giving me concern. 

In my case, the credit  was also for less of the amount that old Crystal owes me. I think it is a problem of the assignees not of the new Crystal. Anyhow I am booking a cruise. I think for the next cruises, the assignees might get my amount right. Let’s hope…

Ivi

[TER777]

22 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

In my case, the credit  was also for less of the amount that old Crystal owes me. I think it is a problem of the assignees not of the new Crystal. Anyhow I am booking a cruise. I think for the next cruises, the assignees might get my amount right. Let’s hope…

Ivi

My certificate was also less than I expected. Exceptional Initiative obtained the information from the Assignee as to the approved amount per claim and sent it to me. Last Friday I responded with additional documentation  showing where/how the Assignee had erred. I’m waiting to hear back. 

[travelberlin]

5 minutes ago, TER777 said:

My certificate was also less than I expected. Exceptional Initiative obtained the information from the Assignee as to the approved amount per claim and sent it to me. Last Friday I responded with additional documentation  showing where/how the Assignee had erred. I’m waiting to hear back. 

Ask the Assignees. You might get an answer from them. Crystal said to me it is the Assignees giving them the numbers. And the Assignees seem to be making mistakes. 
I am waiting for an answer from the Assignees. But as I have said before, i have booked a cruise.
Ivi

[TER777]

10 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

Ask the Assignees. You might get an answer from them. Crystal said to me it is the Assignees giving them the numbers. And the Assignees seem to be making mistakes. 
I am waiting for an answer from the Assignees. But as I have said before, i have booked a cruise.
Ivi

I’ve booked several!

[travelberlin]

53 minutes ago, TER777 said:

I’ve booked several!

Me too but at the moment just one with Crystal 😉

Ivi

[Keith1010]

Yes, and this is why it sometimes takes a while. It's not only a manual process but they have to wait for the Moecker. In the end, sometimes Moecker is correct while other times wrong. Good news is the are getting credits to cruises that were unexpected.  I guess in a few months we will know what we get from Moecker in terms of refunds.  Still not expecting much so whatever it is we will move forward.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Good news from Crystal around the Exceptional Initiative. The date to submit a claim has been extended from June 1^st until August 1^st, 2023. Additionally,  the date to make your first booking has been extended from July 1^st to October 1^st, 2023.

 

Keith

[nancygp]

45 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

Good news from Crystal around the Exceptional Initiative. The date to submit a claim has been extended from June 1^st until August 1^st, 2023. Additionally,  the date to make your first booking has been extended from July 1^st to October 1^st, 2023.

 

Keith

Let’s hope the full 2025 itineraries will be released prior to October 1st, 2023

 

Nancy

[bitob]

53 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

Good news from Crystal around the Exceptional Initiative. The date to submit a claim has been extended from June 1^st until August 1^st, 2023. Additionally,  the date to make your first booking has been extended from July 1^st to October 1^st, 2023.

 

Keith

Imo more evidence of soft bookings from those who lost money. Not sure an extension will make a difference for many of those folks. It will help those who do plan to return get their 5 cruises in in a more reasonable time frame 

[Keith1010]

29 minutes ago, nancygp said:

Let’s hope the full 2025 itineraries will be released prior to October 1st, 2023

 

Nancy

Yes.

The good news is as they are released it provides more time for people to decide if they want to book and which itinerary or itineraries.  This also gets at the issue of those who wanted to wait to hear how the first cruises went before booking their first cruise.
 

Wise decision IMHO.
 

Keith
 

 

[Cjohns16]

My wife and I were on the 2020 world cruise and back on Serenity 2022 for their grand tour. Our departure in Bimini was a sad day for all on board that day. Abercrombie and Kent reached out to us this year on several occasions.  We ignored their attempts until they informed us of how much Crystal cruises old owed us. So we started booking with Crystal New. In our cruise calendar we found 2 booking for 2024. On the day the 2025 schedule came out, we found a 50 day cruise on Serenity,  5 segments and A&K allowed us to create 3 bookings from the 5 segments.

We got our 2.5% for past Crystal  guests, the combi bookings gave us another 5% saving. And 100% of our Crystal  cruises  exceptional  initiative  have been applied. In total we have 7 new crystal  cruises and we are so thrilled to have A&K looking after us.

 

 

 

[SirValiant]

The wife and I had a wonderful Antarctic cruise booked, followed by a month-long Hawaii. Interrupted by "The Great Undoing" of OC. 100% paid in full.  However, not without exemplary self-initiated and speedy service by a particular Crystal employee, we managed to get 99% of the Antarctic money reversed. For the Hawaii trip and the remaining balance of the Antarctic trip, we applied for compensation (without much hope) and with very little expectation of ever even whispering the Crystal name ever again. I honestly cried a little inside whenever I saw a penguin on the telly ; )  Dashed were our bucket list dreams of the Antarctic, submarine voyages and riding the waves from Ushuaia. 

 

BUT THEN, A&K took it upon themselves to create the Exceptional Initiative.  Well, this Tuesday, we start our new adventures with Crystal and intend to use the credits (all properly calculated down to the penny, I must add) for future cruises in 2024 and 2025. A&K did something exceptional and rather unprecedented, for sure. And in this new world of topsy-turvy service and a multitude of nickel and diming cruise lines, the wife and I look forward to returning the favor to A&K with a little bit of patience as they bring the line back to life. 

 

Can A&K retain us as customers for a lifetime or even leverage their land tours successfully with the recently announced expansion of the cruise ship lineup? I have no idea! BUT boy, are we looking forward to trying it out with them and giving them an honest shot at doing just that! 

[gmarsh]

We had 5 staterooms booked and down payments made for Christmas Cruise 2021.

Total: $15K (round numbers)

After a few months of “discussion” with Visa we received a full refund to our card.

Now we have booked for Jan 2024 and have 5 future cruise credits of just under $3K each.

 

Seems like we came out way ahead in the deal.

 

See you in the lunch line!

 

G

[Texas Tillie]

48 minutes ago, gmarsh said:

We had 5 staterooms booked and down payments made for Christmas Cruise 2021.

Total: $15K (round numbers)

After a few months of “discussion” with Visa we received a full refund to our card.

Now we have booked for Jan 2024 and have 5 future cruise credits of just under $3K each.

 

Seems like we came out way ahead in the deal.

 

See you in the lunch line!

 

G

 

It was my understanding that if you were made whole by your credit card before the EI credits were issued, you were not eligible for the EI credits. What don't I understand? 

[Roland4]

2 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

It was my understanding that if you were made whole by your credit card before the EI credits were issued, you were not eligible for the EI credits. What don't I understand? 

Under the terms of the EI, if the credits had already been applied to a booking, they would not be reduced by any subsequent recovery of funds.

[Texas Tillie]

1 minute ago, Roland4 said:

Under the terms of the EI, if the credits had already been applied to a booking, they would not be reduced by any subsequent recovery of funds.

 

So, as long as the money from the credit card came through AFTER the cruiser applied for the EI, they are in high cotton? I understood that any EI credits applied before any monies came through from the bankruptcy (or whatever it was called) didn't reduce those credits but did on any credits not used. Since none of this applied to me, I wasn't too informed  

[Roland4]

Just now, Texas Tillie said:

 

So, as long as the money from the credit card came through AFTER the cruiser applied for the EI, they are in high cotton? I understood that any EI credits applied before any monies came through from the bankruptcy (or whatever it was called) didn't reduce those credits but did on any credits not used. Since none of this applied to me, I wasn't too informed  

That is correct. We have applied four of five credits to bookings. If we receive anything from the administator (Moecker) before that fifth credit is applied, the amount of that credit will be reduced by the amount we receive.

[vistaman]

the money obviously is there to pay the cheques of 2250$

i do not know the system in the US but in Europe if an administrator ( they call that a curator overhere )  of a bankrupcy is holding the money too long on his account , one can demand intrests

first it was early summer , now we are in autumn ...

[BWIVince]

57 minutes ago, Roland4 said:

Under the terms of the EI, if the credits had already been applied to a booking, they would not be reduced by any subsequent recovery of funds.

 

All of that is correct above, but I wanted to point out one other possible scenario that kind off fits what was posted...

 

If someone battled their credit card company hard enough for a dispute that wasn't eligible for a chargeback (or their issuer chose not to go the chargeback route for some other reason), and they got some kind of a credit from their issuer that wasn't a chargeback, MM&A would likely not have a record of it.  This would be a complete outlier, but it can happen.  As it pertains to the credit card issuers, MM&A is reconciling the claims against the chargebacks of Crystal's money, and wouldn't normally have insight into customer service credits that other banks had issued to their own customers to get them off their backs.

 

Vince

[BWIVince]

55 minutes ago, vistaman said:

the money obviously is there to pay the cheques of 2250$

i do not know the system in the US but in Europe if an administrator ( they call that a curator overhere )  of a bankrupcy is holding the money too long on his account , one can demand intrests

first it was early summer , now we are in autumn ...

 

The assignment process for a travel supplier can take years in the US -- they would likely have a couple more years before anyone would express any concern about it from an oversight perspective.  MM&A is still validating the disputes IIRC, which impacts who gets paid in this advance priority payment period, so how long this takes is variable depending on how many people get their claims disqualified or rejected, and how many people dispute those responses.  For that reason the actual disbursement dates can move easily and need to be flexible, no matter what original estimate they gave.

 

Vince

[gmarsh]

On 10/2/2023 at 8:21 AM, Texas Tillie said:

 

It was my understanding that if you were made whole by your credit card before the EI credits were issued, you were not eligible for the EI credits. What don't I understand? 

I have no idea, didn’t even know or ask.  I filed all that Moeker stuff and hoped for the best.  When we booked our Jan trip, my TA said Crystal wanted to know if we wanted to use any of the credits, good til 12/025.

 

G