Stickman1990

We can confirm this is a very nice new hotel - centrally located and well appointed. It opened last year I believe and still has that “new car” feel. We’re very happy with the room and the friendly and attentive service from staff The full name is Hotel Reykjavik Saga We enjoyed dinner with Roland4 and his wife last night and it is indeed a small world when you get to catch up with friends from other countries in a third one distant from both your base countries We saw Crystal Serenity moored in the harbour yesterday when we arrived and are a tad envious of those boarding her later today - but equally were excited about our own adventure sailing Explora Journey’s Explora 1 on Saturday as we cruise from Reykjavik to New York City over 16 nights

I think I’ll judge my assessment of Pizza on the original Italian style rather than NY style Silversea have got pizza right with their dedicated Spaccanapoli restaurant - great range and well made

Just a thought but is it worth considering lodging a case with your credit card provider for non delivered services by the merchant? They should credit you immediately while they investigate the case with the merchant. In my experience it generally causes the merchant to buck their ideas up and resolve the situation as they don’t want a black mark with the card provider

And what are your plans? Bags packed? Mine certainly are

No needlework? - So kits are no longer handed out? That’s a shame

While that was my experience with Visa and Mastercard who enforced a time limit it was not the case with American Express who were happy to go back further on merchant claims My preference is to use Amex whenever possible for cruise bookings

Crystal is alive and kicking An interesting article in a recent Seatrade News “Does this level of investment in older tonnage make sense in the highly competitive luxury market where newbuilds are arriving at a rate of knots? Seatrade Cruise News spoke to both A&K Travel Group’s executive chairman Manfredi Lefebvre and CEO Cristina Levis onboard Crystal Symphony during her shakedown cruise in the Adriatic and posed this question, along with several others” https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operations/crystal-alive-and-kicking

Are you sure there is a Butlers Station in the entry level rooms like Double Veranda or the Single rooms? I don’t believe that’s the case What function would that serve?

That’s fine but you’re missing out so much in terms of service and potential financial benefits by not using a TA Try it, what have you got to lose? - you might actually like it

So did you actually get the Air Fare credit included on this cruise? It doesn’t seem to be listed as one of the eligible cruises on the site so if you did that would be interesting - https://crystalcruises.com/offer/us-air-credit-2023-07-31

Not correct - Crystal have two dedicated rooms with facilities for children on each ship and during holidays sailings will have Junior Activities staff onboard to run programmes Every time we’ve sailed with children onboard Crystal (not ours) they have been well behaved - but I have heard reports that’s not always the case (I blame the parents for abdicating their responsibilities in such cases)

Thanks - I think they’ve moved some from the initial included list to the chargeable category eg Four Pillars Shiraz Gin - strange they’re not listing prices, that’s confusing I’m going to have to be careful as the night wears on not to get too exuberant with my drinks orders

Yes, you can’t beat a direct line rather than having a filter applied or relying on anonymous sources. That’s why I’d alway use my TA to get accurate and reliable info

Welcome back Crystal Symphony

Me too - any chance of getting a copy of the schedule of the culinary classes for our cruise? Thanks

curious - Which cruise is sold out?

An interview with Crystal's head of Marketing following the Nobu event in NYC

Both these restaurants take reservations in advance - so if you have one then you won’t be standing in line It is simply impossible that they would serve only two all inclusive wines - that is ridiculous to suggest I’m not referring to your post Ivi but there seems to be some pretty silly posts starting to appear on some of the groups with misinformation - it’s not deliberate but simply people stating things without the knowledge of the real situation - we’re now at the point where you need to remember that everything you read on social media is not necessarily true

Marguerite Fitzgerald, president of P&O Cruises Australia and Carnival Australia, resigned for family reasons, with immediate effect https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/people-opinions/president-po-cruises-australia-and-carnival-australia-resigns?

Yes I don’t think anyone thinks it’s Prego version 2 - it’s OdO - that’s been clear from the get go although there was confusion about the return of the two favourites the Carpaccio (has it been sighted anywhere yet) and the Mushroom soup sans Bread Bowl which seems to be a non starter combo and now served in Waterside from time to time I just wish someone would post a photo of the menu I could read easily - anyone?

It’s hard to put a finger on it - it certainly wasn’t catastrophically bad but we just didn’t gel with the overall feel. The hardware is lovely and the crew very attentive - no complaints there Some examples of what we didn’t like: 1. Turning up for dinner at 7pm (don’t even think about earlier I believe although we wouldn’t eat then anyway) and having a 30 minute wait and then sitting cheek by jowl in the main restaurant 2. The food was ok but not great - there were some exceptions we loved Chefs Table 3. The process of having a drinks package and the rigamarole of ordering drinks was definitely something we didn’t like So I wouldn’t write them off - they’ll fit a lot of peoples tastes, as evidenced by have 10 or so x 900 person ships sailing with good loadings - they’re just not for us

We enjoy a meal at Valentinos back in 2016 before it closed and met Piero who spoke fondly of Crystal Frankly the way some have “turned” on Prego now with open criticism after waxing lyrical about how great it was for many many years is distasteful to me We enjoyed it and we may well enjoy the new restaurant once we try it - liking both is not forbidden

Does everything need to be “nailed down” to make it clear it’s not to be taken home? Surely some things are obvious to anyone with any common sense