BWIVince
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Posts posted by BWIVince
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58 minutes ago, BEAV said:
I’m suddenly looking for 70’s music to play this afternoon!
Anyone have suggestions for a 70’s cocktail?
47 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:Harvey Wallbanger!
LOL -- GMTA Patty -- you literally read my mind! That was exactly what I thought when I read Brian's message! I have a bottle of Galliano if you need it, Brian.
@fyree39 Great picture Cindy!!
Vince
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2 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:
Well, since the photo is cropped, we have a rectangular piece of pink.
Don't tell me they garnished a drink with some sashimi from Umi?
🙂
If they had one, I’m sure I’d order it! 🤤 Yes, it’s the only cocktail on Crystal’s menu the past few years that I can think of off the top of my head (but I could be wrong) that’s garnished with a wedge of pink, even if not tuna.Vince
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Since it's happy hour (again? already?) in my corner of the world right now, how about "ID That Cocktail"? 🥴 This one should be pretty easy because the garnish is less common.
Vince
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1 hour ago, Texas Tillie said:
My immediate thought was the Falklands. Then I had doubts. But they say to always go with your first thought! 🤩
Patty
You are WAY too good at this. 😉 As always, I'm in awe Patty!
Vince
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3 minutes ago, rafinmd said:
Bingo. The photo was taken on my 2018 Grand Alaska Panama journey but Crystal put me up there the night before boarding the Northwest Passage cruise 2 years earlier.
Roy
Very nice... Your clues help frame it for me, but then I recognized the Hilton in the background. That reminded me how much time I spend sitting through sales presentations. 😒 haha
Vince
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5 hours ago, rafinmd said:
I'm going to try 2 in 1 here. It's rare that I get a sunrise in an urban setting but I did get one on a July 29. This was not really a Crystal trip but I have been there with Crystal. Where is it?
Is it Anchorage?
Vince
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1 hour ago, wearesiamese said:
Actually the first one is Symphony in Moorea, during the December 2012 Symphony TP crossing.I got off in Papeete and missed Bora Bora as it was on the next segment 😞
Is the bottom one the William Jolly Bridge in Brisbane? I've been there a couple of times.
Vince
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56 minutes ago, BEAV said:
Would love to join you both for 007’s, cashews and piggies, but it’s not 5:00 yet in my neck of the woods.
Some of us are just laggards, I guess!
Brian, when I lived in SF my coworkers shamed me into not wearing a watch. I think it was mainly to stop my frustration with Muni, but it would also solve this daily happy hour disparity. 😉 OTOH, does the 5:00 rule even apply on weekends?!
(It is it actually a weekend, right? My days are seriously running together.)
Vince
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13 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:
I'll meet you there, Vince, but only if that famous Crystal nut container is full of cashews! 🤩🥰
Patty
Yay Patty! You're in luck, tonight there are cashews in the containers -- and I'm in luck (besides your company), the hot hors d'oeuvres are pigs in a blanket. 🐷 😋
Vince
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I need something a little stiffer than the wine in the Bistro -- I can be found down the hall in the Avenue if anyone would like to join. 🙂
(The pic is from 2018 and is the 007 Martini, which was one of Crystal's original Martini Collection offerings from the '00's. For those who may not have Symphony before, the shot is through the door and the mirror is across the corridor.)
Vince
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4 hours ago, StoryMag said:
Does anyone know why there are suddenly so many ships in Malaysia near Serenity?
I haven't been watching Serenity as closely, but that looks like a similar assortment to what's been anchored around Symphony for the past couple of months... And in many cases sister ships of the ones anchored on the other side of the peninsula.
Vince
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5 hours ago, MightyQuinn said:
The Japanese breakfast is my fave in Waterside and I've ordered it many times. I'm not sure how the menu describes the "white stuff" but I always thought it tasted like Kewpie mayo.
That’s my impression too. I use it every time, and of all the things on the tray it’s the one thing that makes my dining companion squirm. Haha. (“Listen Paula Deen, mayo is not a breakfast condiment,” he’d say.). 😋Vince
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That's a great idea, Shirin! I bet they would let you special order it in advance for lunch, at the very least?
Getting up too late is such a foreign concept to me... Every time I'm comfy in bed in my stateroom and think I could roll over and sleep in, another part of my brain cuts in and says, "and miss a meal in Waterside?? LIKE HELL!" haha
Vince
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I was really missing one of these this morning. I missed it even more when I settled for cold pizza. 😢
Vince
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On 7/10/2020 at 5:31 PM, rafinmd said:
The HAL forum has a daily thread, "The Daily" which used to be just the locations of where the ships were but has become very much a general chat thread. I've been adding a daily sunrise/sunset photo and might try it here. My intention would be to do something from the same calendar date but I don't cruise much in mid-July so they will be varied dates, from many cruise lines and not even all cruise related. For today to took the very first one I posted to a blog. I was using now extinct travelpod at the time so I have to load it from my laptop. This was from my first world cruise segment (Papeete to Auckland in 2011) and is sunset taken from my hotel in Papeete (1/29/11) the night before I boarded Serenity:
Roy
Roy, I love that you shared this pic... I took a really similar pic just downstairs from yours at the InterCon in 2016, and the moment left such an mark on me that I installed an accent light in a corner of the room and used the photo feature in the Philips Hue app to set/match the color of the light bulb and schedule it at sunset daily.. Now every night I'm reminded of that moment, in a subtle way.
Vince
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This goes back to what I called out when Genting first bought Crystal -- and call out every time Genting adds a new product segment for Crystal. Genting bought a luxury brand to be their luxury brand across all markets. Dream is one of their premium brands, but it's not luxury. Crystal is intended to be their luxury brand for all things luxury. I think I saw them using the Crystal name on one of their hotel-within-a-hotel projects before I saw them launching the Asian version of Crystal in the cruising market under the same logo, but clearly the opportunity presented itself.
Vince
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SuzCruise,
Sorry I didn't mean to hijack the thread. IMHO that's perfectly valid of an observation to share -- I don't think any of us argue that. That's not news to a lot of us (which doesn't mean we disagree)... Crystal has always used it as a chance to host premium partners because it's one of the few times of year you have that degree of executive representation aboard to host your best sales people and important guests.
I've always avoided those cruises, because they take away more value than they add to me personally, so I agree.
Vince
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Most everyone we know at home makes vacation plans more than six months in advance. I'd wager to say that most here on CC are the same.
Now, perhaps for short weekend jaunts, it's a shorter time frame. But when there are tens of thousands of dollars being expended, the time frame becomes more extended.
Of course, your "at home" neighborhood may have lots of folks who have thousands to drop on short notice. Maybe that's the 1% target that Crystal wants.
But then, whatever. To reverse the words of Buffalo Springfield: "Nobody's wrong if everybody's right"
Is there really a right answer to this?
When I tell my coworkers that I'm working on my 2018 vacation, they look at me like they hadn't even realized there was going to be a 2018, let alone that the calendars in Outlook go out that far without some special patch from Microsoft.
As best as I can plot the stereotypes, younger people plan vacations in 6 months or less, middle aged people and younger seniors plan six months to 2 years out, and older seniors plan closer in again. There seems to be some kind of bell curve here.
Most of the people I know under the age of 40 (and especially 35) who have no problem spending Crystal-esque amounts of money on a vacation, do most of their planning in the 3-6 month timeframe. I'd call that quite normal in certain demographics these days -- especially ones that Crystal would like to tap into better.
Vince
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I agree, Miles... None of our airlines measure up to any world class airlines in terms of service or amenities, and it's been a long time since they have.
Credit to AA on one thing though, they are at least part-way through improving the lounges in MIA.
A new Flagship Lounge is being built in MIA and eventually that will serve both business and first class passengers with upgraded hot food items for business and full table service (like BA) for 3-cabin F passengers. Still won't be international standard, I'm sure, but at least it won't be the Admirals Club.
They're renovating the Admirals Clubs in MIA too (one is done and the other is started), but our membership lounges in the US are never intended to be business class lounges and certainly don't work filling that function as they do now in many places. :(
Have a safe and wonderful trip, guys!
Vince
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They were completely non- functional, nothing was said about them and there was nothing there to use for them. Didn't even get a mention when the butler did his run through of the room, whereas some of the funtions that can be controlled from the iPad (room service, laundry, etc..) were just glossed over with the advice that the phone was quicker - which it was...
Anne..
That's sad... :( All the models I've seen in use so far have a separate, water-resistant remote, but I haven't seen a connected version of a mirror-TV yet, so they have all used that small remote. I wonder what the back story is on those... That's a significant investment to just walk away from.
Thanks for answering our questions. :) I'll probably never take a river cruise, but I'm pretty impressed by the design overall, so that sparks questions from time to time.
Vince
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Had to laugh at the paragraph dedicated to the advanced technology on the Crystal Mozart. That may have been the plan but it definitely wasn't the practice when I was onboard last month. Technologically challenged would be a more accurate description!!! With the exception of ToTo, who most guests elected to partially deactivate anyway, the rest was still a 'work in progress'.... I didn't meet anyone who was actually aware that there should have been a tv in the bathroom mirror (I was from earlier press releases) - all noticed a portion of it never fogged up but had no idea that clear piece was supposed to be a tv screen!!! Likewise with the iPads, so much of the things that they should contain or control were still either non- functional or impractical....even the daily Reflections was not in place, our daily information came via a very simple A4 size sheet of paper on the bed each evening, and the list goes on.... Whilst the ship itself is beautiful and worthy of award, I'm surprised it got one with so many kinks still to be ironed out....
Anne...
Anne, just out of curiosity, what was wrong with the bathroom TVs? Did they not work, or was the remote just not there to use it?
Vince
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When a 1987 hull can be considered "new", I question the criteria used in the evaluation.
Which leads to....what was the competition??
In fairness, the hull doesn't count for much when you gut a ship like Crystal did with Mozart. I'm normally critical on those points, but in this case I would consider Mozart a "new" ship. I would never say that about Esprit, for example, even though she has perfectly updated interiors.
Vince
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Anne, thank you for sharing the link and blogging your trip. I promise it will get equal reading time from me as the the NWP blogs. :) A lot of us are as interested in hearing reports of the product with Mozart as we are the ports with the NWP!
Best wishes for a smooth and enjoyable trip.
Vince
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Another nice thing about the toilet is that the flush button is set above the top of the lid when it's open unlike the regular toilets which you must close to access the flush button.
Once upon a time in the history of cruising, this was a feature and not a bug. Placing the switch behind the lid helped to ensure that the person wasn't seated on the toilet when they flushed it, which was labeled as an injury risk with vacuum toilets -- at least back then. Are Mozart's toilets vacuum flushed?
Vince
The Bistro- Off topic and fun posts!
in Crystal
Posted
Whitehorse, Yukon? (I used Patty's method, with much less exciting results... Such is my life these days. 😒 )
Vince