Rusty3

Such a good thing that Russ will be the CD on the Symphony. He's great!!

None of your “OBCs” are applicable to Journey ‘experiences’ prior to boarding your cruise … those credits can only be used upon/after embarkation. I have made several calls/email requests and the response has been the same each time. So, if you are willing to take a chance there will still be space on the “experience” you want, wait to book it on board. Otherwise pay for destination experiences in advance and plan to use your spending credits for other non-included charges on board.

hbr777 ... I could not agree with you more. We decided the complexity and uncertainty of our long-booked river cruise (scheduled for 11/5 from Amsterdam to Budapest) was too much worry. Crystal made a late offer to cancel that was very fair, so we took it. It all seemed like a "no win" situation. The weather/climate change issues are the root cause, but the amount of hours invested in planning the whole trip, etc....  wears one down when faced with unsatisfactory options and trying to find a way to make it feel good. 

As soon as we took the cancellation option we felt blue about missing our trip ... so we booked a 10 cruise to Cuba .. leaving this Saturday ... not the same, but we had all those "available days" to fill. 

Good luck with your decision!! 

Last night we received the options from Crystal (via ourTA) for our long-booked Mahler res. for the Amsterdam to Budapest cruise ... 16 days embarking on Nov. 4. As some earlier posts have noted, Crystal has tried very hard to keep a cruise that is all on the boat (no hotels, etc). However the itinerary has changed radically (e.g. a total of 7 days in Amsterdam and a significant number  Holland /Netherland stops.) If you stay reserved on the cruise, they offer a  25% discount on a future Crystal product plus some fair compensation for necessary changes in air reservations and a coach flight to Budapest on disembark day to meet your original flight home.

Alternative choice: 100% refund for the Crystal cruise charges, and no other incentives ... e.g. we will need to pay all of our airline change fees, deal with hotel cancelations and travel insurance cancelation.

 With very much disappointment to miss this great original river trip, we have accepted the full Crystal refund. The new itinerary overlaps too much with other visits we have made to these places.  Overall, Crystal has measured up to its reputation as a top customer friendly company.

Back to the ocean cruise (Crystal) in January. Best luck to all of you with your river cruise plans!!

Thank you Mark_T.  I will try the tracking .... and I am guessing you are exactly right about rearranged itineraries. I am loathe to take buses all over the place, but feel painted into a corner!

I do understand that the fine print on cruise tickets (the legal stuff) seems to give ship captains/companies the right to modify itineraries for "safety" reasons and that probably fits low water situations. It still sucks that they are not more forthcoming. Multiple calls to my TA and to Crystal have been met with "don't know yet" or "they haven't told us yet" type of comments. Seems like we will be "forced" to go on the trip or risk loosing most, info all, of our fare. If we withdraw voluntarily all of the benefit falls to the Crystal line and to the trip insurance company.

Gigmom, thanks for the reply. I would love to hear from you upon any Crystal communication. I assume from your post that you will take your flight as scheduled, even without more info from Crystal ..??  All I can tell from online weather forecasts (10 and 14 days out) is there is low probability of sufficient rainfall to change the rivers' levels enough for the cruise boats.

I'll post here as soon as I learn anything relevant to this issue.

Other Crystal passengers? 

Our Crystal Mahler cruise is scheduled to depart Amsterdam to Budapest on Nov. 4, our flight to Amsterdam is set for Nov. 1. That is one week from now!

NOT ONE WORD from Crystal or our TA at this late date regarding what to expect. Unlike a few others on this thread we are not so sanguine with the idea of boarding our flight without any notion of what will happen upon arrival in Amsterdam. After 23 ocean cruises with Crystal I am  shocked by how there has been no information forthcoming.... How hard would it be to send us a date certain as to when they will issue the decision as to cancelation or other options. At this point we would accept the cruise cancellation and full refund with a big sigh of relief .... even though we have looked forward to this river cruise after booking it almost 2 years ago. Anyone out there who has info regarding Crystal's response to recent Rhine/Danube sailings please share.

Thanks to all of you!