Michelin dinners no longer complimentary for non-penthouse on Crystal river cruises wef 7 Aug 1

Latest from my travel agent. Good thing I booked my dinner early!

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I wonder it was removed for

a. Too expensive for Crystal to offe

b. Manage demand so that the experiences matches expectations for a Michelin dinner

c. Michelin restaurants not willing to cater for such large groups

d. Too many last minute dinner cancellations by guests?

Probably a combination of all!

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I imagine it will come as no surprise to anyone that this is not what it says on the website right now.

They still show "Guests may reserve one complimentary Michelin Starred Restaurant experience per cruise"

If this policy change was supposed to be in effect 11 days ago they are more than a little late in telling people...

Personally this is not something we would have done anyway, the concept is deeply flawed and does neither Crystal nor the unfortunate restaurant any favors at all.

Good thing then that Crystal has grandfathered the people who already booked the dinner before 7 Aug!

I am quite suspicious of whether the restaurant would be able to cope with such a large group coming for the same time/menu so I am actually booked to try one of Crystal's Michelin restaurant choices in Budapest on my own before boarding the Mahler in November. I am then booked via Crystal for one of the restaurants in Vienna. So I will get some form of comparison...

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I am then booked via Crystal for one of the restaurants in Vienna. So I will get some form of comparison...

There will be little similarity, you can't compare a large group set-menu event to a normal restaurant experience.

I remain surprised that the restaurants were ever willing to do this in the first place.

I'm sure you'll enjoy your individual booking, but for the group event, I'd trust the ship to handle that better than I would expect from the restaurant.

I'm sure you'll enjoy you individual booking, but for the group event, I'd trust the ship to handle that better than I would expect from the restaurant.

I think so too but you never know!

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Good thing then that Crystal has grandfathered the people who already booked the dinner before 7 Aug!

The grandfathering is not for booking the dinner, but for people booking the cruise.

There will be little similarity, you can't compare a large group set-menu event to a normal restaurant experience.

 

I remain surprised that the restaurants were ever willing to do this in the first place.

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy your individual booking, but for the group event, I'd trust the ship to handle that better than I would expect from the restaurant.

This was and still is a gimmick by Crystal to try and separate them from other premium river cruise lines. You're NOT getting a one star Michelin experience and reviews have reflected that. These restaurants are not catering halls.

Crystal river cruises was rated number one in 2017 in ALL of Europe by Travel and Leisure with only ONE ship, the Crystal Mozart, running a very limited itinerary. The Crystal Bach rolled out on August 13th 2017. While I would very much hope Crystal succeeds in this market (competition is good) I think the cruising public (and media) should wait until the reviews are in.

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This was and still is a gimmick by Crystal to try and separate them from other premium river cruise lines. You're NOT getting a one star Michelin experience and reviews have reflected that. These restaurants are not catering halls.

In fairness, a one star Michelin experience isn't all that special in the first place and they are hardly a rare or difficult to find thing these days, especially in Europe.

I'm just a little surprised at how much of a mess of things Crystal seem to be making with the marketing side of these cruises.

One moment it is a defining aspect of the cruise and the next minute it is limited to only 14 cabins on the ship...

I know Crystal are better than this, and I don't imagine it is going to impact the onboard experience which is why our next river cruise will most likely be with Crystal, I just don't understand why the management are not in better control of the message and most particularly the consistency of the message...

In fairness, a one star Michelin experience isn't all that special in the first place and they are hardly a rare or difficult to find thing these days, especially in Europe.

 

 

 

I'm just a little surprised at how much of a mess of things Crystal seem to be making with the marketing side of these cruises.

 

 

 

One moment it is a defining aspect of the cruise and the next minute it is limited to only 14 cabins on the ship...

 

 

 

I know Crystal are better than this, and I don't imagine it is going to impact the onboard experience which is why our next river cruise will most likely be with Crystal, I just don't understand why the management are not in better control of the message and most particularly the consistency of the message...

This has all to do with the change of ownership and their new CEO, Ms. Edie, over promising and under delivering. We are booked with Scenic next summer, end of June, for the Gems of the Danube with Prague and expecting a great cruise experience in a Royal Balcony Suite (RR)

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Crystal has rather suddenly gone from having 2 ships where everybody in the company was settled in their role and knew how to deliver the expected (excellent) customer experience -- to having 5 ships and a plane, meetings about plans for even more ships coming on line over the next few years, and changes to the customer experience (trying to upgrade even more). We had even felt that Crystal was having trouble delivering a consistent product when the 2 ships went from 1/2 empty to sailing full -- the lower effective crew to passenger ratio at full capacity had everybody a little stressed. I can't imagine what it is like to work shoreside now, with all these new stresses!

Isn't this already extensively discussed in this thread?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2514829

The grandfathering is not for booking the dinner, but for people booking the cruise.

Andy, which is it? If you booked the cruise before Aug 7 but the restaurant after Aug 7 are you grandfathered in?

Andy, which is it? If you booked the cruise before Aug 7 but the restaurant after Aug 7 are you grandfathered in?

I was going by the last (non-highlighted) sentence in the letter, which talks about River confirmations after August 7 noting the change in policy. But I reread the rest of it, and I'm not sure any more.

Andy, which is it? If you booked the cruise before Aug 7 but the restaurant after Aug 7 are you grandfathered in?

Hi Ter777,

I will ask. Please stay tuned. Thanks !

The grandfathering is not for booking the dinner, but for people booking the cruise.

We booked Bach for April/18 several months ago with the understanding that a Michelin-starred restaurant dinner was included. PCPC isn't even functional for 2018 so it's not possible for us to make any dinner reservations. Surely we would not be subject to the new restrictions.

There are only two suites that will receive complimentary Michelin dinners on the Mahler and on the Bach. The other 51 suites on each boat won't. Therefore, it's pretty much a take-away across the board. Anyway, from what I've read from guests on the Mozart, dinner on the ship is as good or better than the Michelin-starred restaurants.

Overall, not a big deal.

Hi Ter777,

 

I will ask. Please stay tuned. Thanks !

Great because if it is not complimentary we need to know so as to cancel before the penalty period.

Great because if it is not complimentary we need to know so as to cancel before the penalty period.

Cancel the entire cruise because of not receiving the complimentary Michelin-starred restaurant dinner? If so, is it a matter of principle or is the cruise now no longer worth it?

Take my advice and skip the Michelin dinner. We were sorry we wasted an evening doing this in Budapest. As someone already mentioned, eating at a Michelin star restaurant catering for a large group is not the same experience at all as going as an individual. We were sequestered away from all the other diners and had a sub par experience with hardly any wine service. 1 Michelin star restaurants are plentiful in Europe and to me they indicate a restaurant is good but not necessarily amazing. We found the food, service and ambience on Mozart excelled the 1 Michelin star restaurant we went to. I found it almost embarrassing turning up in a coach at a restaurant with a bus load of people - ok only 16 of us but that's a lot of people for a small/medium size restaurant. I think they would be wise to remove this as an option and replace it with another experience - perhaps a complimentary ride on the speed boat?

Cancel the entire cruise because of not receiving the complimentary Michelin-starred restaurant dinner? If so, is it a matter of principle or is the cruise now no longer worth it?

No, no! Just the dinner reservation. 30-day cancellation.

This is all ok with me.

After all, I will still be able to get my "Michelin-inspired" meals on the Crystal Skye.

;)

Hi Ter777,

 

I will ask. Please stay tuned. Thanks !

Andy, can you also deal with the small problem that the website is still saying this is complimentary for all, so you can expect anyone who booked in the last 10 days or so to also be expecting this 'benefit'.

Andy, can you also deal with the small problem that the website is still saying this is complimentary for all, so you can expect anyone who booked in the last 10 days or so to also be expecting this 'benefit'.

Wish that was the only mistake on the Crystal website! ;p:cool::p

We booked a Bach river cruise for April/18 a few months ago. I checked with Crystal and they have confirmed that we will receive a complimentary Michelin dinner. That data point suggests that when you booked the cruise (before Aug 7/17) is the determining factor for eligibility for the complimentary dinner and not when you booked the dinner reservation. Which seems fair and makes sense to me.