RLK33853

We were also wondering about the dress code for our upcoming Symphony cruise.  I followed Keith's advice and emailed obgs@crystalcruises.com.  Received a very nice email the next day, apologizing/outlining when the cruise formal evenings would be ,and that this information would be reflected on our booking information in due time (which it now has been).

This will be our first cruise with Crystal and we are certainly impressed with the pre-cruise attention Crystal has provided.  We will be onboard in 10 days, and hopefully this attention to the passengers continues (as we are looking for a new "home").  The only drawback we anticipate is the small number of ships, thus, limited itineraries.

Next month we will be on our first Viking cruise,  While we were on the fence about the drink package and wine, we took it for no reason other than convienance. 

As CDNPolar and others have mentioned, we are going in with an open mind.  My wife and some of our friends (while not exactly oenophiles or winesnobs), do enjoy some of the more expensive or finer wines,  That being said, their "drink now" favorites run anywhere between $20 and $40 a bottle.  Most people we know (can't speak for ones we don't) get used to a profile or grape and then judge other wines in comparison.  A lot forget that when you go to Italy, wines are different than France, those are different from Chile, and those are different from Australia (let alone the sub-regions).  We try to keep an open mind.  Worst possible scenario while aboard Viking is that we don't like their wines and we buy some on port days.

Last thought - every year as a birthday present for my wife I purchase five or six bottles of the same varietal, all different price points, and do a blind tasting for her and friends.  I really try to find a cheaper $10-$15 dollar bottle, a couple in the $20-$25 range, one in the $30's, one in the $40-$50 or higher.  In every case, with only one exception (and we have been doing this for at least 20 years), my wife and DIL will always identify the cheapest and the most expensive wines.  Not that the most expensive is the one they like, but they can identify it.  As for the others doing the taste test, it has always been a mixed bag of which wines people like - other than most won't like the cheapest (although once a friend really liked the $12 bottle and we don't let him forget it).  At the same time, the majority also don't like the most expensive one, likely since they are not used to the complexity.

Of course as CDNPolar said, add in food - bland, spicy, sweet, etc and everything changes again.  I can't stand icewine until you have some sort of sweet first.

I'll provide our thoughts on the Viking wines once we get home.

In the meantime, enjoy whatever makes YOU happy.  

Just a quick question about whether you can book an airport transfer once on board.

Our situaiton - we are getting off a Crystal cruise and right on board Silversea.  Thus we had no use for Silversea's Door to Door.  We asked our travel agent if we could just get the transfer from our Silversea cruise to the airport, and she was told no - it's Door to Door or you are on your own.  This seems to be ridiculous and am wondering if anyone has booked the transfer once on board.

If it matters, this cruise ends in Civitavecchia and we need to transfer to Fiumicino Airport (Rome).  Right now we have a private transer as our backup but can always cancel if the Silversea transfer is easier.

thank you

Ray and Ann

We will be in a Reserve Cabana Mini on deck 9 with the public cabana area beyond our balcony.  Please let us know how intrusive the outside area is to your private balcony.  Also how do they keep non cabana passengers from using this area?

thanks

23 minutes ago, loohoo1 said:

Do these credits only show up on your booking once the balance is paid in full? DH military OBC is not showing (final payment due in Sept) and I don't want to call prematurely. Thx!

I'm assuming that you have submitted your Military documentation to Princess and that this is reflected on your account.

Our military credit shows up immediately upon booking and we never pay in full until the final payment is due.  But we use a "Future Cruise Deposit" to book, so this changes some of the rules (cancellation, amount of deposit, etc).  This may be the difference.

An easy way to check if you should be getting this credit is to:

- Sign in to the Princess site

- Go to "My Account" on the top Banner

- Then hit "OnBoard Credits"

- This should bring up your "Circle Savings Account"

- When it comes up, hit "View Details"

- You will see "Military Benefits" on one of the lines of Credits, and whether it is "active"

Hope this helps.  If not you should speak with your travel agent or Princess. 

Good Morning. 

As we get closer to our April 25th Athens to Rome cruise on the Symphony, we have some specific questions, especially regarding Crystal and the ports they use.  We are doing 3 cruises btbtb - this Crystal one, then one on Silversea, then one on Viking.  Our idea is to compare these 3, as well as other lines so that we can find a new "home" for cruising.  That said, some of the ports overlap, and with Silversea including excursions, we are looking at just wandering for most of the Crystal ports (which  is what we normally do anyways - go for a long walk, find a cafe, have a glass of wine/beer, and people watch).  Walking distances is not an issue for us as we are both runners). 

We are familiar with a number of the ports on this cruise, but the following are new to us.

1.  What is Crystal's normal embarkation time in Athens?

2.  We've never been to Izmir - is it walkable from the port?

3.  We've never been to Bodrum - is it walkable from the port?

4.  We've never been to Rhodes - is it walkable from the port?

5.  We've never been to Chania  - is it walkable from the port?

6.  We've never been to Valetta - is it walkable from the port?

Any other suggestions or hints would be appreciated.  We usually don't do museums or art galleries - more into the local culture, old architecture, and scenery.

Thank you in advance.

Ray and Ann

4 hours ago, travelberlin said:

Have you considered going by train to Venice? If I were going from Civitavechia, this is what I would do. It is a lovely train ride in Italy. I would even consider a stop in Florence or Verona if time allows. Flying is not as smooth as it use to be and it is a short distance. Instead of being 3 -4 hours in advance at Fiumicino, you could already be confortable at your train.

 

Good information about trains in Europe you can find on internet under the posts of the guy of seat 61 (or 65 ?🧐 not sure). 
 

Ivi

Thanks for the suggestion.  We have utilized the train quite a bit in Europe and it was actually our first thought - lots of times, ease of getting to the train station compared to transferring from Civitavecchia to FCO, etc.  We were surprised though by the pricing - both the train (quite high), and the airline (quite low).  Ended up we could fly for the same price (including a private car to FCO) as taking the train, and we wouldn't have to try to get our luggage from train to train at the transfer in Rome.

Strange but maybe next time.  It is possible that using the train would have been a better option if we had purchased the lowest economy fare, but we like the business class.

thanks

Ray 

Thanks Everyone.  Totally agree with the comments about the chaos at FCO.  Even though we are only flying to Venice, we are going to ensure 3 to 3.5 hours to get checked in, bags dropped, and through security.

Looking forward to meeting you onboard Nancy.

Ray and Ann

Morning Everyone

Specific questions about disembarkation and private transport at the Port of Civitavecchia.  According to our itinerary, we dock on May 18th at 0700.  We have a 1:20 pm flight out of Fiumincino (FCO) and would like to stay on the ship until about 9:00 am.  That way we won't have to sit at the airport for longer than need be.  A 9:00 am departure would get us checking in at FCO around 10:00 am.

1.  What time do passengers have to be out of their cabin on disembarkation days

2.  What time do you have to leave the ship

3.  Anyone used a Private Car transfer recently (last year or so) from the Port of Civitavecchia to FCO?  We have used Italy Limousine in the past but this was pre-Covid and not sure if they are the same now.

Thank you

Ray and Ann

Hit and miss these days.  We have just under 500 days and sometimes we get invited and sometimes not.  In the past 3 years we have been on 12 cruises with Princess and have been invited 3 times.  Just off 3 btbtb Mexican 7 day cruises out of San Pedro and the cutoff numbers were around 560 the first week, 780 the second, and 600 the third.  There are tons of Elites on these sailings.

As others have noted, Alaska is a good bet for a lower cutoff number, but so are cruises in the Mediterranean.

Good luck!

The one difference from before, is that the Military credit is now Non-Refundable and must be spent.

Morning Everyone

Specific questions about disembarkation and private transport at the Port of Civitavecchia.  According to our itinerary, we dock on May 9th at 0600.  We have a 1:20 pm flight out of Fiumincino (FCO) and would like to stay on the ship until about 9:00 am.  That way we won't have to sit at the airport for longer than need be.  A 9:00 am departure would get us checking in at FCO around 10:00 am.

1.  What time do passengers have to be out of their cabin on disembarkation days

2.  What time do you have to leave the ship

3.  Anyone used a Private Car transfer recently (last year or so) from the Port of Civitavecchia to FCO?  We have used Italy Limousine in the past but this was pre-Covid and not sure if they are the same now.

Thank you

Ray and Ann

11 hours ago, May B said:

If it were I, I’d arrive at 1 pm, have a nice lunch, as you already are planning, then go to the location for the maitre d (it’ll be listed in Reflections) and reconfirm the specialty restaurant reservations you have already made. Then go to the library and get magic show tickets. Then go to the computer lounge, if your stateroom isn’t available, and get your devices into the Crystal app.

 

Then wander the ship, or go to the pool deck and have a drink and chill out! If you like looking at menus, this will be a good time to do that!

 

Have a blast!

What are the Magic Show tickets???  Didn't realize that shows required tickets.

thanks

Ray

1 minute ago, kamelia said:

🙄 Didn't mean to give bad info - I was not able to do that with the old app several weeks ago and should have double-checked before posting - thanks for catching it!

No problem at all.  With this piece of crap it wouldn't surprise me that I can use that functionality and you can't.......

9 minutes ago, kamelia said:

It no longer works that way on either the old app or the new app.  As it stands now, App Version 1.01.-3901, you can only access one future cruise at a time.  If you log in using your user name and password, that will access your next cruise chronologically.  If you want to see other future cruises, you must sign out then sign back in again using SIGN IN WITH BOOKING NUMBER.  Once onboard, you cannot use the app to access any cruises other than the cruise you are currently on.  HTH.

Actually this DOES work with the old app.  I just did it to ensure that it hasn't changed.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough on my question.  On the old version - after hitting the Profile tab at the bottom of the screen, all your cruises would be listed.  You could then toggle to the cruise you wanted to deal with.  Just wondering if this feature is still available - without signing out of a particular cruise and then having to sign in under the other cruise's booking number.

Thank you

No doubt this has been asked, but where on the new app do you switch between upcoming cruises?

thanks

Definitely sought after.   We restrict our cruises on the Royal class ships to this balcony. 

Well done!

Just off the Discovery yesterday, after 3 weeks.   Thin rim glasses were easily obtained if requested.   Never had any issues with being restricted when leaving a venue.  Several different brands and sizes were in evidence. 

When this occurs to me, I just keep hitting the login button after putting in your password.  Sometimes it takes 3 or 4 tries, but it does eventually work.  It's Stupid...........but it does work eventually.

We are on the Discovery for 3 btbtb's in a couple of weeks.  Which were the formal evenings?

Thanks for the review.

We are also on January 20th for 3 weeks.  Thanks for giving us a rundown of how things are operating.

Do you know who the Maitre'd is?  I believe their new title is Director of Restaurant Operations.

Thanks

Does anyone know which pre-cruise hotel Crystal uses in Athens? We had a favorite, but their reviews have gone down since we were there last.

Also any other first hand suggestions would be welcome.

Thank you

Ray and Ann

You never know if they are going to take it away or not. 

I now just forget about taking one and stop by Total Wines (right near the port in Ft Lauderdale) and pick up a cheap torch - usually around 8 or 9 bucks.  And yes, I leave it with a staff member when we disembark.