BWIVince

I’ve never heard that rumor before, but Nobu signed and renewed that contract for almost 20 years. I imagine if he wasn’t interested in continuing the relationship, he had ample opportunity not to renew it each time. Seems to me he found it pretty valuable, based on that track record. That’s obviously not to say the relationship is worth the price to either the new company or Nobu at this point, but that’s a completely different point than whether he thought it was worth it for the 19 years and whatever months they worked together. Vince

I wouldn't be surprised if they just tied into A&K's existing vendor to keep things consistent and tap their pricing volume. Contracted call centers are pretty standard among travel suppliers, especially for lower priority call queues, like general inquiries and direct sales. Vince

Port calls are normally locked in 3 or more years in advance, at least for the popular ones... Even if the cruise line doesn't market them at that point. Trying to start from scratch even a year out puts them behind the 8 ball -- they can only pick from what's left at that point. Vince

Both things are actually by design... When you license a chef collaboration, the licensee is paying for the services they require. In this case, Crystal was paying Nobu for the menu design, recipes, training, and operational support, along with use of his name and likeness in connection with the concept. The chef can also be hired to do marketing, but that's IN ADDITION to what they've contracted, not normally inclusive of it. That's why you sometimes saw Nobu on Crystal -- he would either be there in a support role (without any scheduled appearances) or as a presenter (with agreed compensation). If he talked about Crystal in media or press, it would need to be arranged by Crystal's PR team, since they would be the ones compensating him for it. People sometimes mix up these type of licensing deals with partnerships where the chef has a stake in the venture and it's in their interest to talk it up -- this was NOT that. Similarly, the licensee owns the space and the concept, so it's in their best interest to hold the trademark... That way when the collaboration dissolves, as it has to at some point, the licensee doesn't lose all their brand recognition and have to spend a fortune rebranding EVERYTHING... They just need to take the collaborating chef's name off the menus and ads, and be done. Unfortunately Crystal couldn't get a trademark for the Silk Road name, so they picked Umi Uma, but also unfortunately it took them a three year legal battle to secure it. So yeah, it had to change, but it didn't have to change to Umi Uma. Vince

THAT'S THE ONE! To answer @KenzSailing's original question, THAT'S the carpet on deck 8 at the time of the photo @BEAV posted! (And total credit to Rob for having the photo, and being able to find it on demand!). 😄 Vince

It's the carpeting before that, the blue carpet with the "waves". 🙂 Keith -- I take photos of just about everything, randomly. 😄 Vince

It's this generation of carpet that ties to the age of the photo Brian posted, but I'm having trouble finding one for Deck 8 from that generation. I know I have one somewhere. So far I've only found Deck 9, like shown here. I'll look more in my collection tonight -- I love a photo challenge. Vince

LOL... I love that carpet (for hospitality applications)... But I spend my life working in hotels and convention centers where crazy carpet patterns are a requirement, so I gave up doing the Rorschach test on them years ago. 🙂 I admit I've totally gone numb to them. Vince

That was November of 2009...Though similar carpets remained until the Seabreeze refit when the penthouse corridors got an update similar to what Serenity got in 2011, with the new wall coverings, artwork and lighting. Vince

Totally agree we need more details…. I’m sure we’ll hear more shortly. On a normal timeline, the cabin components would normally be entering fabrication roughly between now and the next month or so, for installation late spring or early summer for Serenity, and mid-to-late summer for Symphony. If this plays out on a typical timeline, it will be months before we have actual photos, so updated descriptions will be important before then. In the case of Symphony, I wouldn’t be bothered by unconverted penthouses at all. They’ve only seen a handful of months of service since their last softgoods renovation (furniture and carpets), and I prefer their old bathrooms with whirlpool tubs and separate shower to the shower-only layout, personally. I’d take a classic in a heartbeat. Vince

I have Deck 10’s carpet from that time period at my fingertips, but I’ll have to dig a little for Deck 8’s. 😁 I bet Larry is right though, I’m pretty sure I have a pic of that generation of carpet somewhere. Vince

Totally agree…. The location complicates the options. Clearly Crystal doesn’t see a clear path through that yet either, or something would have been marked on the deck plans. Vince

Keith probably answered what you were looking for, but in case you want all the deets, the full docs are up on the website too... Terms & Conditions: https://www.crystalcruises.com/legal/booking-terms-conditions Cruise Contract: https://www.crystalcruises.com/legal/contract Vince

I'm with you on that... The designated single cabins really don't interest me at this time. I don't think that says anything about the future though... Old Crystal's single supplement policy was an iterative creation based on historic sales data -- something new Crystal has none of yet, from all these new variables. I'm sure their approach to singles will change significantly over the next couple of years, and possibly a bit even before they start sailing), so I don't blame anyone that waits to see before entertaining Crystal as an option. (And for other factors too.) Vince

Your instinct is right (as usual)... It's Symphony. 🙂 Vince

Agreed, but just to be clear I wasn't referring to the CS milestones, I was talking about the actual money A&K paid that goes through the assignment process to the creditors and passengers owed money. But I get it... Vince

This was a popular repositioning itinerary in the past -- Crystal did it in some form almost every year with similar ports. Norfolk, Jacksonville, Charleston, Savannah, Hamilton, Nassau and Baltimore all rotated though in some combination on those itineraries. I did that cruise a couple of times I think, and would happily do it again. It's not exotic, but not everyone is looking for exotic every cruise. (And some, ever.) Vince

If that's true, then does A&K get all that money back they paid for the CS history? And considering that's one of the biggest chunks of change to be paid back to passengers owed money in the assignment pool, I would think people with claims would be more excited about that data being used for something moving forward, since it's one of the few sources of cash back to them coming up. Vince

As Rob mentioned they were run in-house... If Genting feels stiffed, well... Finding a vendor to operate just two small ships at this point is problematic -- most of the vendors have revenue threshold guarantees that Crystal would be unlikely to hit with their passenger load, demographic, and hours the casinos are operated monthly. This was the main reason Crystal couldn't get another vendor when Caesar's exited the cruise vendor segment -- and the dynamics were a lot more friendly to the situation back then. Vince

Not so amazing... It's funny how this keeps getting overlooked. They deliberately BOUGHT the CS Milestone data, which indicates they might have an interest in using it. Maybe, maybe not, but they paid a lot for it. They not only did NOT buy the detailed financial transaction data, but they aren't even legally allowed to it under current data security standards. Apples and oil filters. Vince

How is that supposed to work? 🙂 The Canadian Dollar isn't at par -- why should Crystal sell to Canadians at more of a loss than the rest of us? 🙂 I'm afraid there's logistically going to need to be some kind of fence around that service... There are just too many "Suites" now to be served by that galley, and it's not feasible for the room service galley to do the menus of the main two specialty venues (even if the others did their own). THAT SAID, I wonder if that text wasn't just pasted together too quickly and not accurate updated? It feels like that number needs to be more than the few rooms with Penthouse in their name now, but fewer than the almost the whole ship, that are now "suites"? Vince

+1 to all of that, including the Connie Club... I just hope they update the ventilation system for it -- on Symphony it had been getting kind of "leaky" the past 5 or so years if service, pushing the smoke out in the hallway and up the aft stairs a little sometimes before dissipating. Vince

To be honest, I'm pleasantly surprised at the initial pricing of some of the new lower-end suites... With all the new inventory, the price point may lower still, but even if it doesn't, I'm kind of pleased by the new pricing in this way. Gone is that HUGE gap between staterooms and penthouses. Vince

My only BAD items so far are things are things that I UNIVERSALLY can't stand as trends across the entire travel industry right now... Like few-to-no drawers in the regular rooms. I'm 0-2 for hotel rooms this month with drawers. The elimination of the desk drawers in the rendering for the regular rooms, if true, is on-point for where the industry is going, but is a real 👎 for me. The renderings show a shallow desk drawer like the previous desk, but assuming the two door handles in the symphony rendering are the safe and the fridge, that leaves a loss of 8 drawers and the corner cabinet. 😒 I'll post some random good points for me because I'm sure everyone will cover the "real" ones quickly... 😄 (All points below for Symphony) GOOD - They seem to have flipped Symphony's Tastes so the bar and dining space combine on one side, leaving the Trident seating on the other (where Silk's lunch/dinner window seating was). I appreciated the attempt to create a lounge and bar space that wasn't overwhelmed with table waiter service and galleys, but the awkward zig of the tables for Trident being on the opposite side was disjointed. GOOD - BUH BYE to the original bathroom tiles in the standard rooms. Finally. Finally. Seriously. Finally. GOOD - The renderings seem to keep the a similar color-coding of the previous bedside lamps. That would be kind of cool if actually true, for absolutely no functional reason. Again, I'm trying to post fun random points... 🙂 Vince

Welcome home, Roy! Hope you're finally able to rest up.