Roland4

1 hour ago, ctjon said:

Can't remember and don't want to do a search but who bought the Crystal river ships and I wonder how they are doing.

They were all purchased by Riverside Luxury Cruises, who are operating the Mozart and Ravel, and have leased two of the others to Uniworld. Not sure about the fifth one. They plan to have all five operating under their brand by the end of 2026.

1 hour ago, cruise_loverinlaval said:

Hello, please note that Uniworld is operating 2 of those 5 ships for a couple of years. Uniworld renamed them S.S. Victoria and S.S. Elizabeth.  If you want to enjoy it this summer the S.S. Victoria is cruising the Rhine and the Mozelle.  Enjoy it!

 

https://www.uniworld.com/ca/ships/ss-victoria

https://www.uniworld.com/ca/ships/ss-elisabeth

 

I was aware of that, and halfway expected to see the furnishings converted to French Provincial, which Uniworld seems to love. Thankfully from the pictures, it looks like they changed nothing as well. Thanks for the links.

And at the risk of having this post "bounced" to the River Cruise thread, I watched a webinar for Riverside Holidays earlier this week. They purchased all five of the Old Crystal ships, and while they are only operating the Mozart and Debussy now, they plan to bring all five back under their brand in the next three years. For those who sailed Crystal River, they have changed nothing, and I mean that in a good way!!

33 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

I don’t know how you arranged such a magical day to open the patio, but the weather is sheer perfection today.  Truly fitting of the Chez.

 

Vince

And up here in the "Un-Frozen North", the pool is open, and while we did not BBQ this evening, we will tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, and ......... 😁😁

16 hours ago, vistaman said:

C really should add the senior officers ( captain hotel director ) , cruise director and restaurant manager !

Why?? I have never understood this. The lecturers and entertainers I understand, possibly even the CD, but what does it matter who the Captain/Hotel Director/Maitre D' are?? Would anyone seriously consider cancelling a booking because they don't like the Captain or HD?? 

4 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

Just light flurries from time to time - nothings settling on the ground

 

Glad to have visited and can imagine how impressive it would be on a sunny day 

I have to ask, when was the last time you actually saw snow flurries???? 🙂🙂

11 hours ago, caroak said:

We are booked in Aquamarine 9043 on Symphony.  The deck plan indicates unobstructed but might there be a tender or lifeboat below, or to the left/right of the cabin?  

 

Carole

Any room on decks 8 through 10 over or near a lifeboat is partially obstructed in the sense that you cannot look straight down as the lifeboats completely cover the Promenade Deck. 

We are doing a Rhone River cruise with Tauck and are in Avignon today. We went for a walk down the pier after our morning tour and found an "old friend".

8 hours ago, Helene1111 said:

Is the conversion to beef bar definitely occurring in June? Thanks! 

That is what we were told by one of the rotating cast of "Maitre D's" the first time we went there for lunch. Apparently planning a "significant" redesign of the Tastes space, at least on Symphony.

On 4/24/2024 at 6:47 PM, sullaRaffaello said:

Got off the Symphony last month. All venues ended dining at 8:30 PM, the earliest I've ever seen on any ship I've ever been on.

We got off Symphony two days ago and all dining venues were open until 9:30.

As an FYI, except for the night of the Passover seder, you could have fired a canon through Tastes at any time during the evening with little risk of hitting someone, and it is a much smaller venue than on Serenity. The BeefBar conversion in June may change that.

6 hours ago, ctjon said:

Anyone sailing on Serenity?  Haven't see a post about it trips in long time?

I suspect it is because most of the people who are posting are doing so on one or the other of the FB Crystal Family groups. Lots of activity over there

13 hours ago, vistaman said:

 my cruise is only 7 days ... last time before covid on OC it was cancelled - only 3 pax were willing to assist 

I suspect it depends on the number of sea days and where they fall. We just got off 12 days on Symphony and our two sea days were within the first six days of the cruise. They did do a dinner, but no lunches.

13 hours ago, oakridger said:

That's a lot of sand!  I would guess that anyone outdoors would soon also have sand in their hair and eyes!!  🫣

 

I just was reading an article online about a cruise ship that ran into the pier in Kusadasi last week and came across the picture of the Celestyal Journey with its bow bulb crunched. Notice its neighbor??!!

 

 

 

 

 

We were out on tour when it happened, but a couple of the staff said it came in far too fast, and it sounded like a bomb went off when it hit!!

The sand-fall continues today in Mykonos, but not nearly as badly. It looks like a light fog in the air and everything feels gritty. The Lido guys were washing down all the deck furniture and the pool deck itself this morning. We didn't want to get in the way, so I couldn't check the sand level in the pool!🙂

On 4/22/2024 at 2:16 PM, Noggins said:

Santorini has been ruined by the hordes (although I have not checked how many ships were due tomorrow). The only good way to spend the day on a Santorini stop is making it a sea day and enjoy an empty-ish ship. IMHO, of course, Nafplion is a much better stop (and is not naff). Enjoy!

At the end of the day we turned Nafplion into an "in-port sea day"!! We needed the time off after five days of all-day tours, plus it was a grey, showery and dreary day! Then to top it off the Namseem winds arrived, filled the air with sand, and a weird orange colour! When we walked across the pool deck, there was sand in the bottom of the pool, and I would not be surprised if the pool has a beach tomorrow! 😮😮

It turned into an interesting afternoon. About 4:00 we started seeing smoke in the air just above the town. By 5:00 there was a raging inferno burning up into the hills above the town!! Thankfully, the howling winds pushed the flames up into the hills above the town, but it looked pretty scary from the ship!

Finally it came time to depart, and nothing happened. And nothing happened. And nothing happened! Apparently the winds and waves were so intense, they could not capture the final tender! It took almost two hours, and multiple attempts. I watched the second last one from Deck 7, and as the tender came alongside, a gust of wind pitched the bow of the tender into the hull and forced it to back off. Finally, it came in. They were able to latch onto the bow davit, and then two crew manhandled the davit into the stern. The moment they got contact, the cables tightened and they pulled it out of the water!

The seas are fairly intense, but fortunately are running mostly from behind us as we head west toward Nafplion!

Our first, and hopefully last, itinerary disruption was just announced by the Captain. The forecast for Santorini tomorrow is for 50 knot winds in the anchorage, so our stop has been cancelled. We are instead going to Nafplion, which is certainly not Santorini, but we were there on Esprit in 2017 and quite enjoyed it! And the side benefit is we don't have to get up at 00:Dark-Hundred as we would have had to do for our very early tour departure!!!!! 😁

Sliding back on topic! We were in the Osterria two nights ago and are now firmly on the side of liking it better than Prego. They have made a few changes to the menu since we dined there on Serenity last September, adding a Caprese Salad option and a Filet Steak option that I don't recall being there. We enjoyed it so much, we are going again the last night of the cruise!

We did the Vintage Room last night and it was amazing as usual! The room is a little smaller than on Serenity, but we had a full table of 12, with lots of wine and lots of conversation!! A good time was had by all!!

7 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

Aren't there still larger round tables in the center section of Waterside? I am aware of an oval table for 12 that was set up for the first night of your current cruise.

There is a larger table in the centre section that I always thought was the Captain's Table, We had dinner with the Captain after the Society party, but there were only six of us, so we were at the next table. Only time this cruise we have been in the centre section, but then we have only been in Waterside three nights of the first eight! Had a great time tonight in the Vintage Room!!!

2 hours ago, vino100 said:

Thanks for all the info and pix. Did you notice if there are any tables for 8 in the dining rooms? 

Can't say that I did, but pushing 4 two-tops together to create one would not be a problem.

17 hours ago, skybluewaters said:

The Terms and Conditions state that the Crystal Society Program applies to voyages beginning January 1, 2023.  Does that mean our previous credits from OC no longer will be honored?  I believe it was reported here on CC that previous cruises would still count towards the various rewards.

The previous cruise count is honored. We were "recognized" for our 45th cruise on our current cruise. It is these new milestone "benefits" that are effective Jan 1/23.

On 4/16/2024 at 3:31 PM, travelberlin said:

For my cruise, I am happy that all nights with exception of the formal nights, the suggested attire is “casual”. For the formal nights it says “black tie (optional”. This is a trend in almost all cruiselines we are using now. Since we always have to fly to the port, it makes it easier for us not to take too many clothes. It is somehow modern this way. We like this trend. 
 

There might be others who would like to dress up more on the so called “casual” nights. I think that would not be a problem either. 😉

On the one Formal Optional night on this cruise, the dress ran the gamut from Tuxes and Ball Gowns, through dark suits and dresses all the way down to "Did you look in the mirror before left your suite???" So yes, people are dressing as they wish.

14 hours ago, travelberlin said:

Would you recommend those excursions? 

We thought the all day tour was about an hour too long and we personally could have done without the Grand Bazaar as we are not shoppers. Beyond that, we enjoyed both tours, and we certainly learned a lot about the history of Istanbul! 

35 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

 

Thanks...  The bridge has been gone since the late 90's though, so at least that's not recent.  🙂 

 

Vince

But the fountain in the Cove/Atrium is running again! It seems to me you once commented on that!

5 hours ago, cruise_loverinlaval said:

Hello, let me help you post your pictures.  I was able to load them on my iPad.

Thank you from the bottom of my Digital Klutz heart!!!😁

34 minutes ago, KbFebruary said:

Thanks Roland4.  How is Istanbul?  What excursion(s) did you book?  

We did the V-E-R-Y L-O-N-G all day Legacy of The Ottomans yesterday that went to the Sulieman Mosque (Blue Mosque was closed), Top Kapi Palace, lunch at a Michelin Star restaurant, and the  Grand Bazaar. Today was Asian Istanbul and Bosphorous Cruise, which had us back on board by 1:30.

There is new cruise port facility in Istanbul that makes getting in and out for tours very easy! We depart Istanbul at 8:00 this evening.