December 2024 Suez Canal transit - nothing yet from Crystal

[Jimmzzz]

Yep, cancelled. If already paid, offering 20 percent discount on a 2024 cruise or 15 percent discount on a 2025 cruise.  Plus up to $850 refund of out of pocket costs already incurred.   Updated itineraries promised in a few days.

[Stickman1990]

2 hours ago, Snuffie said:

Just notified Cruise 12/6 departing Athens has been canceled. 

So we await the alternatives - surprised they didn’t announce them at the same time

Edited June 19 by Stickman1990

[Stickman1990]

1 hour ago, Jimmzzz said:

Yep, cancelled. If already paid, offering 20 percent discount on a 2024 cruise or 15 percent discount on a 2025 cruise.  Plus up to $850 refund of out of pocket costs already incurred.   Updated itineraries promised in a few days.

Wonder how they define “already paid” - does that mean deposited as I can’t see why anyone would have paid in full this far in advance?

[TER777]

7 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

Wonder how they define “already paid” - does that mean deposited as I can’t see why anyone would have paid in full this far in advance?

One friend is booked on some kind of combo voyage that had a June 6 payment date. The rest of us, August 6. I agree with you, the language isn’t clear. And what if you paid using an Exceptional Initiative certificate? How does that figure into the calculations?

Edited June 19 by TER777

[TER777]

On 6/17/2024 at 11:00 AM, TER777 said:

In Spring 2025, no Mumbai to Athens. 3/18-4/9. Cruises removed entirely from website.

No  Mumbai to Athens, 3/18-4/9. And now the cruises after that to 5/21 Rome, now all show WL. Another trip around Africa?

[Stickman1990]

Here’s the letter sent to Travel Agents with clients on at least some of the impacted cruises 

 

Still several issues to be resolved eg the fate of Exceptional Initiative credits used to pay for the cruises 

 

Have to say excluding Air Award bookings cancellation fees and partially refundable air fares is not great - it seems if you were prudent with your bookings you suffer whereas if you booked non cancellable they’ll reimburse you some it. You also need to do a replacement booking with Crystal to be eligible for any reimbursement. Doesn’t seem well thought out to me 

 

Crystal letter

 

We thank you and your clients for choosing Crystal for their upcoming voyage. We have been closely monitoring the ongoing situation in the Red Sea and have been evaluating all options. Due to the uncertainties, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the upcoming voyages, affecting your clients’ booking. This choice was made with careful thought and consideration, as the safety and security of our guests and crew is paramount to us. With your guests’ experience in mind, we would like to propose several alternatives:

Option 1 – Use the original booking fare amount to move to another sailing or combo sailing in 2024 and receive 20% savings on the cruise fare, subject to availability (excluding Grand Journeys). If the alternative voyage cost is less than the new segment, the difference will be credited to the guest.   Option 2 – Use the original booking fare amount to move to another sailing or combo in 2025 and receive 15% savings on the cruise fare, subject to availability (excluding Grand Journeys and World Cruise). If the alternative voyage cost is less than the new segment, the difference will be credited to the guest.

If one of the outlined options are selected, your client may also be eligible for certain out-of-pocket expenses when they rebook.**   **Out-of-Pocket Expenses – If guests incur any non-refundable expenses as a result of this change, Crystal will reimburse the following amounts: 500 USD per guest (limit two guests) towards airfare fees 250 USD per guest (limit two guests) in hotel expenses 100 USD per guest (limit two guests) in transportation, visa, or other reasonable expenses Please Note: Total expenses may not exceed 850 USD per guest (limit two guests) Guests must submit documentation of expenses which will be reviewed within thirty (30) days of receipt of request and proof of expense. Out-of-pocket expenses are only reimbursable for guests who remain on the voyage or select an alternative option (if offered). Qualifying expenses do not include newly booked travel arrangements, flight credit reimbursement, partially refundable flights, loyalty program point redemptions, and non-essential pre and post accommodations. These must be submitted to: guestrelations@crystalcruises.com for review and approval. All requests must be submitted by August 15, 2024. Anything submitted after this date will not be applicable.

We sincerely hope that your client will find a solution to their liking. Our Reservations Team is ready to assist when you and your client have made a decision. If no action is taken by August 15, 2024, the booking will be cancelled, and a Future Cruise Credit will be issued. Your client may also opt to cancel their voyage and receive a refund.   Please note that these updates are being shared with you 24 hours before we communicate them to your clients. New itineraries will be live on the Crystal website within 72 hours.   Thank you for your continued loyalty to Crystal. We look forward to welcoming your guests aboard soon. With gratitude, Crystal Guest Relations

 

 

[goldengatecruisers]

Sorry for all those booked on these voyages.   We recently made the tough decision to cancel our 32 night voyage from Athens to Mumbai because of the uncertainty. I did not want to deal with unraveling my travel plans and being left with limited options for cruise/air/hotels etc.  We decided we could not wait any longer for Crystal to make an announcement and opted to book alternative cruise arrangements that offered more certainty.  Glad to have done so, but I am sad we will not get to sail the amazing itinerary on Symphony.  I will be curious to see what voyages Crystal offer.  Good luck to all.  I know there was a great group of passengers booked on the 32 night and we were really excited about the social aspect of having such a group on board.   Next time...

 

Ashley

[crickette]

What is the chance that Crystal will announce a sailing for December, that gets Symphony from Athens to embark her next "un-wait-listed" cruise?  That would be SIngapore on January 18th, I think.  Or a number of legs, that accomplishes the same thing.  Common sense tells me that they won't want to go without passengers on all the sailings that are waitlisted.  That would be 55 days, Nov 24 to Jan 18.  We should know when itineraries are announced, in +/- 72 hours.

[TER777]

29 minutes ago, crickette said:

What is the chance that Crystal will announce a sailing for December, that gets Symphony from Athens to embark her next "un-wait-listed" cruise?  That would be SIngapore on January 18th, I think.  Or a number of legs, that accomplishes the same thing.  Common sense tells me that they won't want to go without passengers on all the sailings that are waitlisted.  That would be 55 days, Nov 24 to Jan 18.  We should know when itineraries are announced, in +/- 72 hours.

 

I think they will as it doesn't take 55 days to go around Africa without stops other than for essentials. Same comment re the return in March. There was a long discussion on transit time I think it was in January on the SS boards. 

[crickette]

8 minutes ago, TER777 said:

 

I think they will as it doesn't take 55 days to go around Africa without stops other than for essentials. Same comment re the return in March. There was a long discussion on transit time I think it was in January on the SS boards. 

Glad to read your valued input on this.  This wasn't my idea in the first place.

[TER777]

If one chooses the 2024/20% booking or 2025/15% booking, can one apply the discount  to an already booked cruise?

[BWIVince]

8 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

Have to say excluding Air Award bookings cancellation fees and partially refundable air fares is not great - it seems if you were prudent with your bookings you suffer whereas if you booked non cancellable they’ll reimburse you some it. You also need to do a replacement booking with Crystal to be eligible for any reimbursement. Doesn’t seem well thought out to me 

I wasn’t initially concerned when I saw those terms because that’s rather standard boilerplate verbiage that prevents customers from churning credits and non-cash instruments into cash, but you make a great point about the literal application of these terms.  If someone has a tangible monetary expense from turning one award reservation into another, I would encourage their agent to submit the expense for reimbursement because that’s not really supposed to be the typical exclusion use case for that clause, and I think it’s worth pushing for a reimbursement in that case, even if it takes an elevation (though it shouldn’t).
 

Vince

Edited June 20 by BWIVince

[TER777]

New itineraries posted!

[Noggins]

On 6/20/2024 at 7:30 AM, BWIVince said:

I wasn’t initially concerned when I saw those terms because that’s rather standard boilerplate verbiage that prevents customers from churning credits and non-cash instruments into cash, but you make a great point about the literal application of these terms.  If someone has a tangible monetary expense from turning one award reservation into another, I would encourage their agent to submit the expense for reimbursement because that’s not really supposed to be the typical exclusion use case for that clause, and I think it’s worth pushing for a reimbursement in that case, even if it takes an elevation (though it shouldn’t).
 

Vince

We had just that situation recently. We had booked reward flights to support a cruise Crystal cancelled and when we booked a replacement cruise (for Jan 25) we had the (modest) change fee for the reward flight swap credited to our final paymernt invoice.

Adrian

[LNugent]

I had two different cruises cancelled.  I had paid in full in advance for my 2025 cancelled cruise to get the 20% discount. I am booking one of the new alternatives in 2025. Should I not get the 20% (not 15% offered) off for this rebooking?  Also, can the discounts Crystal offered for cancelled cruise be combined with other offers, i.e onboard booking or exceptional initiative?

[TER777]

2 hours ago, LNugent said:

I had two different cruises cancelled.  I had paid in full in advance for my 2025 cancelled cruise to get the 20% discount. I am booking one of the new alternatives in 2025. Should I not get the 20% (not 15% offered) off for this rebooking?  Also, can the discounts Crystal offered for cancelled cruise be combined with other offers, i.e onboard booking or exceptional initiative?

Onboard booking and exceptional initiative, yes. I don’t know re your other question. They are separate offers, so maybe you would get both.