BWIVince

In the context that this is a temporary stop-gap, I think that the changes made sense and the program is in a serviceable state for the time being. Much like it’s been for the past 30+ years I’ve participated in it, it’s kind of no-harm, no-thrill kind of general benefit for where the masses fall into the chart. Vince

It’s a whole new technology…. The website is using AI and millions of historical Paragon Pixel onboard photos to determine the best suggested dress code for each individual guest. 😆 (In my case it just says, “Don’t bother, it’s hopeless either way” nightly.) 🤷🏻‍♂️ 😆 Vince

I've been perusing the full list a couple of times in the past few months, and I've been pretty impressed with it. It's nice to see a lot of new names and faces, but it's also awesome to see some beloved favorites in there too. I'd still love to see a little more diversity perspectives, backgrounds, and subjects on the lecturer side, but overall it's a step in the right direction. BTW, I had the same reaction to that speaker... I was like, "That's definitely not "that" Melinda Gates... And sure enough when I clicked in, it's not any Melinda Gates. lol Vince

Some info is available on Crystal's website, at this point... It looks like they have some of the folks assigned for Symphony's July 11th sailing. If you go to the "Ship Overview" tab and scroll down, there's a section titled "Entertainment on this Ship" under the dining that has preliminary lecturers and entertainers (when available). Here's what they have so far: https://www.crystalcruises.com/cruises/none-csy-007-240711?menu=ship_overview As it's always been, subject to change. Vince

Hi! 😊 I may have also returned to the board for a status update from the Chez! 😉 For a line like Crystal, with only two ships, an operator that’s going to provide labor, management, and accounting control staff to such a tiny room, and if history is any indication get light (volume) and limited (duration) usage at best out of the equipment they’re leasing, and without any actual profitable operations (like their competitors) to help balance and bolster the contract terms, Cristina Levis is completely right and honest. It’s very likely that this will actually cost Crystal money overall, and that they’re trying to evaluate just how much they’re willing to consider this a cost of doing business to be competitive, and how much passengers really care. The operators OTOH always profit, guaranteeing the cruise line covers all the expenses and only shares a minor portion of the profits. That leaves the cruise lines 100% in the squeeze. Vince

The story of the windows isn’t that cut and dry… I’ve seen about half a dozen windows replaced on Symphony over the years, and most of those were in the hull. The glass they used met all these great technical specifications for flexing stress, and impact, and thermal fluctuations…. But then to do it for almost 30 years (or over 10,000 days), they do sometimes, eventually crack from things they’re supposed to originally sustain. If the window was shot out/through or shattered I would say that would be a different story, but just a crack tracks for me. Vince

I probably should have been more specific and broke out ambiance for Marketplace and cuisine for Tastes and Trident…. Although ambiance is all kind of homogeneous between the three too, now that I think of it. Marketplace’s food and variety are fine, no complaints there, but as someone who spends much of his work travels eating from staff buffets, one of the privileges of spending luxury cruising fares is to get away from that. Not to mention the stuff that passengers do on buffets sometimes (in all segments of cruising) is completely disgusting… But that’s out of everyone’s control, so I don’t fault that. Marketplace does what it does about as well as I could expect — I have no fault there…. It is, however, a buffet. Trident…. All I can say is, to each their own. It’s popular, it does what it does well, and people like it. I’d rather have a root canal than pay those kinds of fares to eat a burger and fries when (using my next cruise as an example) I’m only on for 7 days. I get that this is different for folks that are on for months at a time, but to Keith’s point about NC, the itineraries are shorter and more port intensive now, so this is increasingly the norm. Tastes…. Again, no harm, no foul. The current lunch menu is like a room service menu from a 3 star hotel, back when 3 star hotels still had room service…. Or a nice college cafeteria menu, just with table service. Again it’s great to have crowd pleaser favorites that wont offend anyone, but at some point there’s a gap between the “food for the masses” lunches Crystal is offering and my expectations for luxury travel. [Edited to add: While these are AMONG the items you’d see on a Four Seasons or Rosewood resort lunch menu, they wouldn’t be ALL you’d have to pick from at a Four Seasons or Rosewood resort, normally.] I know I’ve spoken out in defense of closing Waterside on port days — as much as that would be my preferred option, I see firsthand how that’s not sustainable at these loads or scale…. But as others have noted, other lines have figured out how to offer interesting culinary options in a nice atmosphere at a small (participant) scale for lunch, and I would love to challenge Crystal to put their thinking cap back on for this one, because the current offering is really missing something…. Unless you love self service, burgers or chicken quesadillas. Vince

This! I don’t honestly care as much about whether Waterside specifically is open for lunch, as much as something more interesting than Tastes, Marketplace and Trident are available. Right now there isn’t another lunch venue that comes within a million miles of Waterside, in ambiance or cuisine. 😔 Vince

Thanks... Serenity’s July 2nd Alaska cruise. (I was thinking of the flight dates for the pre-cruise when I said that, but now we’re inside 3 months for the cruise too.) Thats pretty much the scale of what I was picturing Crystal might end up with, but I think when people consider the feasibility of the casino they think primarily of the scope, and not as much the terms, which was the trouble Crystal had with finding a new operator when Caesars stopped serving that segment. All of the other luxury lines at this point have either in-house operators or global enterprise contracts that leverage the operating volume of their sister brands, which like it did for Crystal, VASTLY changes the equation. I think this has had a lot to do with the original cancellation of the casinos and the added scrutiny now. A similar sized casino on Regent, Seabourn or Silversea is going to cost a lot less to operate as the exact same setup on Crystal, at this point. That wasn’t always true, but like everything in cruising, consolidation and volume pricing has changed a lot of the economics. Vince

Thanks for the update, Keith! Yeah, "planning' was the first word that caught my eye, FT! I'm sure they would love to have the work done by the time of the World Cruise and Symphony's Q1 2025 itineraries, so they have every incentive to get it done this year, but the feasibility of that depends a lot on where they're at right now in the process. If they were asking on feedback on location options a couple of weeks ago, it could be tight. Vince

Thanks Rob! Life has been kind of topsy turvy this year so I haven't had much fun time online, but I realized my next cruise is less than 3 months away, and I'd better catch back up on everything Crystal in order to prepare. 😄 Also, I just re-read my message and the intro wasn't as clear as I'd hoped... Just to clarify, I meant that Paul was likely spot-on, and that the operator RFP and fit-out plans had more to do with the survey than Crystal let on. Vince

I have no inside information obviously, but my gut tells me this has a LOT to do with the survey and the timing, despite what they're claiming publicly on FB. If they had put together an RFP shortly after the announcement (such as it was), by the time it was sent to vendors, the vendors pulled together their proposals, and the proposals got an initial evaluation to evaluate feasibility, we'd be where we are today. They would now have an idea of ballpark cost and downsides/risks to evaluate with customers, to help measure feasibility and shape the potential options to proceed. To me, that reads like exactly where they're at. ...And for anyone who thinks the casinos are opening anytime soon, keep in mind they haven't even started ordering or fabricating anything, which won't happen until after a vendor is selected -- which is likely still months away based on the survey. Vince

Totally true!! I’ve just never had the luck of sailing into or out of Miami when the Crystal ship wasn’t the smallest thing in port, by a MILE. It’s luck of the draw, but the deck has some monsters in it. 😊 Vince

8 ships in Miami instead of 9 doesn’t sound like it’s much fewer, but in Miami that can mean 3,000-5,000 fewer people milling about that day. 😊 Vince

This is the loop that the last 3.5 ocean new build programs kind of got caught in…. (3.5 = the 2007 project, the revisit of the 2007 project after the recession (the .5), the exclusive class, and the diamond class) On the updraft (the momentum to make the ships larger), you have the desire for larger standard staterooms, the demand for more, larger dining venues with more flexible hours, the need for more staff accommodations that’s needed to fulfill those, the wish to not lose any of the current amenities, the need for additional bells and whistles that new ships have added, and the need for a large critical mass of passengers to cover all this extra overhead. On the downdraft (the momentum to restrict the size), you have the need for the ships to navigate global ports, the intimacy needed for a luxury product, and the economic reality of lower demand at the top of the market pricing pyramid. You can’t just keep adding cabins to cover all the costs of all of the requirements in the updraft. …So Crystal has ended up in this cycle of designing a ship that checks all the boxes but the numbers don’t work, so they make cuts that make the numbers work better but hurt the viability of the project, then they have to add the amenities back but then the numbers don’t work again. Wash, rinse and repeat. (For anyone that’s new to this, where Crystal varies from its competitors, it’s ocean ship general arrangement formula was designed for smaller staterooms and more public amenities, because Harmony was not originally aimed at the luxury segment when that general arrangement was set and the brand standards established. Crystal has managed to close the gap on the numbers at many points in its history by tweaking the product strategically, but fundamentally the numbers have never really worked because you can’t charge enough for staterooms this small, or sell enough of them at higher prices to fill that many staterooms and cover all these costs. Similarly, you can’t just turn the pyramid upside down and sell more larger suites than smaller ones at the same premium as if the pyramid was right side up, so combining staterooms only goes so far before you shoot yourself in the foot.) So what’s changed now? Well, fares are up. If New Crystal can command pricing in a way that every prior management team and owner has failed to do, this could be a game changer on the calculations that have undermined Crystal for over 30 years. Similarly, if Crystal can make a different mix of suite composition work, it could solve the updraft/downdraft problem. Symphony and Serenity are a good temporary test model for where this can work and where it can’t. To keep this from being even more long-winded than it is I skipped over the importance of the adjacent market strategy that Genting tried (the other ships), but I will just point out that it’s no coincidence that NC is talking about expedition ships. There is almost no way they can break the cycle above with just ocean ships in the mix — they need to add inventory that’s not competing with the rest of its inventory to move the needle in a different direction and grow their base. We’ll see if they can finally find the mix that breaks the previous newbuild loop… Vince