Roland4

I am a Cruise Consultant as well as a long-time Crystal cruiser. We have sailed both ships since the restart and I can attest that if your client liked the old Crystal, then he will be even happier with the new Crystal. The new ownership has put a lot of time and effort into the re-start, and they have proven on more than a few occasions, both here and on other social media platforms, that they do listen to guest feedback, the biggest so far being their decision to relent on their original plan and build a new casino on each ship.

We were on Symphony for 12 nights in mid-April, and there were always multiple passes in both The Cove and Starlite. Did not always indulge, but they were offered!

We will be keeping you in our thoughts and prayers, Roy! Larry & Monica

My parents, when we were kids, came from the "you eat it hot or eat it cold, but you eat it" school, so I choked down more cold beets than I care to think about. The result, to this day, is once the smell hits my nose, my throat closes up. I have tried several times over the years, but the result stays the same! 🙂

The rest of 2026 is apparently not going to be released until December.

The 21 night Tokyo R/T, and though we got "burned" on the 540 day limit, we are willing to take a chance on the New Crystal's ownership. Plus, it is a great itinerary!

Beets??? YUCK!!!! I would rather not eat than be faced with red beets!!!

Oh, I don't know. The other night, we had Cavendish Farms (a Canadian company), genuine whole onion rings in a tempura-like batter, with BBQ'd chicken breasts on a bun, and they were pretty tasty!

We were on Symphony in April, and yes you have to stand at your lifeboat station out on the Promenade Deck. And it took about 20 minutes.

FWIW, even we TAs have to go part way through the booking process before we can see what rooms are available.

Never done it with Crystal, but other lines require the TA (or guest booking direct) to attest that the person(s) using the room do, in fact, have a disability. They reserve the right to boot them out if they find out otherwise. Probably not a wise idea. As to differences, the rooms are generally wheelchair friendly, and there are more grab bars and other assistive pieces.

We just booked the 21 night Tokyo R/T April 18/26. Been wanting to add Japan to our bucket list for a long time, and this one ticked all the boxes!! 🙂 Being able to access the Agent site, I was surprised just how heavily this one is already booked, after three days, in the higher categories. If you are thinking about it, you should maybe think sooner than later!

We have done the Champagne and the Italian Wines lunches, and they were both great!!!

I got slammed with the worst gout attack in my knee on Harmony in 2005 in Alaska!!! Little old ladies in walkers were passing me like I was standing still! Mostly because I was! My doctor put me on Allupurinol and I have not had a problem since. Run, if you can, don't walk, to your doctor!🙂🙂

We talked to Scott Peterson about the hand washing situation in the Bistro last September on one of the early cruises. It's not that they "kicked the can" on this. He said they looked at multiple options during the refit, but could not come up with a workable solution that made sense in that space.

There is no "White Party" dress code here. Think of it as a cocktail/dance party get together in The Cove, on Deck 5, the "main lobby" of the ship. Many who participate dress in white, many don't. Many just look over the railing on Deck 6 enjoying the music, and many, like my wife and I, don't even bother to attend, preferring The Avenue Saloon, or the Sunset Bar (on Serenity) or the Starlite Bar (on Symphony). It really is not that big of a deal.

In fairness to the OP, some lines, Royal Caribbean specifically, do offer a fare category called "Friends & Family Discount" that is generally available to virtually anyone working in the industry. To answer the OP's question, Crystal does not offer an F & F discount that I am aware of.

And OC required you to sign a waiver acknowledging that the sofa bed was not really suitable for an adult and that no cabin changes would be allowed. With the reconfiguration there are probably not many of the old Triples left, so I wonder if NC still requires the waiver.

What strikes me as odd, is that Crystal broke the B2B booking into two separate bookings, the original booking NYC/QC, and a second under a new booking number QC/FLL with a note on our Nassau disembarkation. They still gave us the B2B discount, so we are not out anything, I just can't figure out the reason/logic behind this. And this was done without any notice to me as the booking TA, or as the guest. Fortunately, we were able to re-book the few tours we had on the second leg. And of course, in spite of requests for an explanation, no one from Crystal has bothered to respond.

Or maybe debate the relative merits of Prego vs Osterria??? 😁😁

We had already made arrangements to spend three nights in FLL post-cruise and had the flights already booked. We just added an extra day to everything.

At the end of the day, Crystal gave us the option to disembark in New York, making it a roundtrip, or Nassau. We chose Nassau on Nov 8, and will fly to FLL the same day.

Interesting. Not knowing anyone with either, I learn something new every day. Thanks.

I can see where that would come in handy!!! 😉😉

Actually, no. I was referring to the "sense of entitlement" in the post I quoted at the time. For some reason the name "Marie Antoinette" came to mind.