Roland4

We have been on Quest, Ovation and Silver Moon in the last year, in rooms forward on/or above the pool deck. In order to get to the rear of the ship, where all the amenities are, it was necessary to cross the pool deck, which is no big deal in wamer, dry weather. In cool/wet weather, it was necessary to drop down to a lower deck and walk down the hall to the aft. Not a big deal, but that is what AtA is referring to.

When looking from the ship to the left, the street between the pier and the Old Town does a sort of S-turn and it is just at the top of the S, where the tour buses unload.

If you are directing this to me, re-read my post above. It is about a ten minute walk from the pier that is directly in front of the Old Town.

When we were in Quebec off of Serenity two weeks ago we did a foodie walking tour. A five course meal over four hours, at four different restaurants. The second stop was at a restaurant in the Old Town, near the port, called Archibalds, where we had the most increible french onion soup we have ever had! If you go nowhere else, go there!!!🥣🥣

Probably Yellow Jacket Wasps. They are bad at this time of year up here anyway, but they are worse this year because it has been so unseasonably hot the last two weeks! The "good news" is it is supposed to get a lot cooler over the weekend, so that should be the end of them.

It is on the starboard side of the pool deck, under what used to be the retractable roof. On the port side is The Grill, on the starboard side is Tastes. Under the previous regime, it was called Silk. It is open for Late Risers Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner and has a wide selection of offerings at both lunch and dinner. We had both lunch and dinner on our sailing a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed them both.

As I recall from our Quest cruise last year, you didn't miss much!!

That is correct. We have applied four of five credits to bookings. If we receive anything from the administator (Moecker) before that fifth credit is applied, the amount of that credit will be reduced by the amount we receive.

Under the terms of the EI, if the credits had already been applied to a booking, they would not be reduced by any subsequent recovery of funds.

I tend to agree with you, but the poster who "started" this was so far "beyond the pale" as to be ridiculous! The surprise would have been if no one reacted to the post.

I had a chat with our Explora DSM at a trade show yesterday. They have heard the "complaints" about food not being available between 2:00 and 5:00, and plans are afoot to address that issue.

March 2020 with Stickman!! And other than some of the fries, we finished it!!

Since you are going to be there four nights, I highly recommend a trip out to Doyle's at Watson's Bay for lunch. You can take the ferry from Circular Quay out to Watson's Bay, and the restaurant is right off the pier to the left! Some of the best seafood in the Sydney area, as Stickman, a good friend, will attest! Reservations recommended, and try the Seafood Tower!!! Just don't plan on a big dinner that evening!!!!

But apparently, room service is only for those who have not been "trained" to have lunch in Waterside! The arrogance in that post is almost breathtaking!

Waitlists are unpredictable. I have put clients on a waitlist that cleared the next day, and others that never cleared. As a minimum, you might not find out until after the final payment date when people decide to cancel rather than make the final. If you work with a TA, ask them to contact Crystal and see how large the waitlist is. Some lines will tell you, some won't, but it never hurts to ask.

I suspect the mistake they made, and to some extent it is inexcusable, was to install non-dimable LED bulbs. We have this problem in our dining room fixture, if you dim them too far they begin to flash on and off, but it was installed seven years ago, and we know how to deal with it. To make that mistake in 2023............. 😮 😮

Having just come off Serenity a week ago, you will feel like you are "coming home" when you board her. Looking forward to your thoughts on the entire trip! Great that you are able to travel again! 🙂

Okay, let me break this down in terms even YOU can understand. Assuming we have two EI slices worth $2,500.00 each which have NOT been applied to a booking. We get back from Moecker $1,000.00 each. Crystal will reduce the EI for each of us to $1,500.00 each on the UNAPPLIED credits. On the other hand, if we have already applied the entire $2,500.00 each to a new booking, then there will be NO reduction of the EI credit. This really is not that complicated. The moral of the story is apply your EI credits ASAP!! The simple fact is, the most any of us is going to get back is about $2,500.00/person and New Crystal had no obligation to do anything. Be thankful that they did and stop whining about it!

I hope the government has relaxed the "dress code" for female tourists! In 2010, all the women had to wear an abaya (sp?) and there was much stressing over how much hair could be allowed to show! In the end, the immigration officers just stamped the passports and moved the line along almost without looking. Best line of the port stop goes to the barkeep in The Cove; "All these people in dark robes going back and forth, I thought I was working in a monastery!"

There seems to be no "middle ground" on the Osterria. People either love it or hate it. We did a Vintage Room on Serenity a week ago and the topic came up. Of the five couples, one loved it, we were "on the fence" (I guess we are the middle ground😄) and the other three were almost violently negative about it, saying they hated it and it was a deal-breaker for them. And these were all long-ttime Crystal guests. As to the menu, we felt the same way about it. On a longer cruise, or the World Cruise, the menu is going to get "old" in a hurry.

Well, for it is worth, he wore it in Waterside, in the Galaxy, for both shows and lectures, and in the Avenue. He looked rather out of place in Waterside, and no, he did not take it off. In the Great White North, we call men who remove their hats inside "gentlemen".

On the 2020 World Cruise we crossed the Dateline Sunday night and the schedule for the Monday said "The day does not exist"! Talk about the perfect way to deal with the "Monday Blues"!!! 😄 😄 😄

I have to say that on our just-completed (we got home today) Serenity cruise, adherence to the published dress guidelines, other than the clown wearing a stetson, was pretty much 100%.

Actually the 180/120 thing may not be an error. Other cruiselines, Oceania and HAL come to mind, on longer voyages have cancellation penalties that kick in 30 to 60 days prior to the final payment date. We just booked 24 days on Serenity next year and the Admin Fee of $250.00 applies up to day 121!

It's a cocktail party idea that OC "stole" from Azamara, and that NC has continued. For the most part it is a non-event and is easily avoided as it only "applies" in the Cove. If you are not wearing "white" I don't think anyone would notice.