SirValiant

The wife and I had a wonderful Antarctic cruise booked, followed by a month-long Hawaii. Interrupted by "The Great Undoing" of OC. 100% paid in full. However, not without exemplary self-initiated and speedy service by a particular Crystal employee, we managed to get 99% of the Antarctic money reversed. For the Hawaii trip and the remaining balance of the Antarctic trip, we applied for compensation (without much hope) and with very little expectation of ever even whispering the Crystal name ever again. I honestly cried a little inside whenever I saw a penguin on the telly ; ) Dashed were our bucket list dreams of the Antarctic, submarine voyages and riding the waves from Ushuaia. BUT THEN, A&K took it upon themselves to create the Exceptional Initiative. Well, this Tuesday, we start our new adventures with Crystal and intend to use the credits (all properly calculated down to the penny, I must add) for future cruises in 2024 and 2025. A&K did something exceptional and rather unprecedented, for sure. And in this new world of topsy-turvy service and a multitude of nickel and diming cruise lines, the wife and I look forward to returning the favor to A&K with a little bit of patience as they bring the line back to life. Can A&K retain us as customers for a lifetime or even leverage their land tours successfully with the recently announced expansion of the cruise ship lineup? I have no idea! BUT boy, are we looking forward to trying it out with them and giving them an honest shot at doing just that!

For what it is worth, I did notice today a few small price reductions on the Oct 5th Quebec to NY trip from the time they were first posted. The "Vintage Car" Excursion for example was well over a grand originally and now is in the 9's.

Odd, The Serenity is listed at the Manhattan Terminal for 10/16/23 when it will actually arrive there on the 13th. Perhaps this schedule is a 'work in progress' for those later dates still.

Rather than go into any personal detail regarding additional tipping onboard Crystal, I would like to mention one thing. During the 'great undoing' that was Old Crystal, many of the staff were assisted in actually getting home via the Crew Welfare Fund and the many generous donations made to it over the years.

Not only will the Regent Penthouse Butler be able to get you a restaurant reservation (we did all ours by the second day of sailing and made changes to a couple as we went along), but they also offered us in-suite dining from any of the restaurants whenever we wanted.