ryndam

Re: pax count. Friends currently onboard guesstimate 250+/- pax. Additional pax are scheduled to leave the ship in Cape Town. Their guess is about 200-225 +/- after Cape Town.

Rob

2 hours ago, TRIPACIAN said:

Are you booked on the cruise?

Not booked with the current itinerary. Will evaluate once a revised itinerary post-Rio is confirmed and becomes available for bookings.

Rob

1 hour ago, TRIPACIAN said:

None of the options is appealing to me, we would fly home from Rio.

And this is where the oft-repeated "choice is good" comes in. We find every alternative routing opportunity after Rio more appealing than the currently scheduled itinerary. We have no interest in the circle-South America cruise from FL or LA to Rio. Different strokes for different folks, as they say.

Rob

9 hours ago, History&Wine said:

In my opinion all four options are better than the original itinerary. In any case, I give Crystal credit for asking for feedback…something that was not done for those of us on the 2024 World Cruise. 

Thank you, Dwight. We agree with your assessment, too. My only other observation would be to consider a stop in FL or NYC or San Juan or somewhere else on the US East Coast, prior to the eastbound TA crossing. Hopefully a decision will be announced sooner, rather than later.

Rob

I do not know what the current protocol may be for late arriving tours, but in addition what May B has noted about a limited food service in the Crystal Cove, in the past there would be an assortment of sandwiches, soup, fruits and cheeses awaiting us in our cabin when we returned from late arriving Crystal-sponsored tours. We never requested that unsolicited room service, it was just there upon our return.

Rob

🤪🥴🤩😂🤣

We are sailing with unexpected $$ in our account. No idea that the EI was not in concert with additional accrued milestone benefits fare reductions. The appropriate Crystal representative responded quickly and clearly.

Final point to my initial post, and subsequent follow-up post: milestone benefit fare reductions cannot be deducted from the fare if the fare was already reduced by use of the EI certificate, or any other marketing fare promotion/reduction.

Peace. Out. See y’all onboard. 😁

Rob

I saw this earlier on another feed. Gloria is now 80 years young. She certainly "can never say goodbye"....

Rob

We are pleased with the continued updates to the Crystal website. The daily listing of casual vs. formal/optional suggested evening attire in My Account is a very helpful advance planning tool.

The advance listings of guest entertainers and special interest lecturers is also much appreciated. I am not familiar with any other cruise line that offers this type of advance information to its guests.

Rob

Additional Update:

I received this correspondence from the Manager, Crystal Guest Relations. It appears as though we can redeem our accrued milestone credits for OBC, but not as a fare reduction. The conversation with our TA last week now makes more sense.  Rob

"Thank you for your email inquiry. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify this for you. You have redeemed your Exceptional Initiative certificate for this booking which does not allow for any other redemptions. I have included the below from our brochure and have attached the Terms and Conditions for your reference.

Please let me know if you have any further questions,

COMBINABILITY
Crystal Society rewards may not apply to certain promotional offers. Crystal reserves the
right to exclude or limit combinability with the benefits or rewards of other marketing
partnerships or promotional offers not specified herein. More than one fare reduction
Milestone may not be redeemed on a single voyage segment. Exceptional Initiative sub
credits are considered a fare reduction credit. An exceptional Initiative sub credit is
combinable with a milestone reward redemption, excluding a fare reduction milestone."

14 hours ago, bayonejoe said:

We are booked for the 2025 WC. Just received a Crystal email with a survey

giving us 4 options for rerouting the WC by passing the canal.

stating that this will be a possibility.

Somehow ,I think that this is a probiiity.

If it is not an imposition, is there a way that you can cut-and-paste and post the survey options?

We looked at this WC and the current itinerary did not hold much interest for us. A modified itinerary may sway our decision. Thank you!

Rob

9 minutes ago, ClefsDor said:

Yes it does, and this will be my 11th Crystal cruise - which they acknowledge. I can understand that if it was my 12th (or more) then they would have no record. The issue wasn't that but that I just hadn't sailed on new Crystal yet. 

Thank you for the update. As with our current Society Benefit conundrum (OBC vs. fare reduction), this may need to be escalated to a different set of decision-makers at Crystal. It is a frustrating, and seemingly inconsistent/illogical application of the written Society Benefits documents.

Please continue to let us know how this works out. As will we on this thread. Thanks again for the clarification.

Rob

8 minutes ago, ClefsDor said:

After a long hiatus from Crystal we are looking at a cruise next year. Decided to apply my 10th milestone for a one category upgrade. The cruise is for 15 days and the milestone upgrade is for 12 days. Asked my TA if we could just pay the extra for the additional 3 nights. According to the supervisor she spoke to the milestones don't apply at all if you haven't done a sailing on New Crystal! Not sure if that is noted anywhere in the fine print!

Not necessarily so. But here’s the proof required. If this will be your 11th cruise on Crystal, and you haven’t sailed on any Crystal voyages since the A&K acquisition, then this milestone upgrade should be applicable. Crystal knows you have cruised 10 times in the past and want to use your milestone on this, your 11th Crystal cruise.
 

If this will be your 12th or 13th or 14th cruise with Crystal, they have no records if you actually used that 10th cruise milestone already. Hence the request was declined.

Make sense?

Rob

2 minutes ago, May B said:

Frustrating! 

Yes it is. The issue has been escalated to additional decision-makers at Crystal. I will update my post here once either I or our TA receive any further clarification.

Rob

8 hours ago, cruising5253 said:

I was told today by a Crystal agent that luggage tags are only available at the port.

You have confirmed my message in post #2 above. Thank you for validating that the protocol remains valid.

Rob

3 hours ago, May B said:

Rob, if you chose not to take the OBC, could the fare reduction be applied to a FUTURE cruise?

Apparently not. There was no way the Crystal personnel were going to apply a milestone award to any type of cruise fare reduction. Onboard credit only. 

Our TA continues to pursue further clarification. But it was “Crystal clear” this afternoon. No fare reduction. Onboard credits only.

If anyone reading this thread has a different experience when achieving a designated milestone level, please post here to share your experience if it differs from ours.

Rob

8 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

 

What a bizarre backpedal...  It repeatedly says "As you wish credit OR Cruise fare savings" over and over again all over the doc -- that intent couldn't be clearer.  This is pure speculation, but it feels like they got pushback on the fare savings option from external stakeholders (I can think of some potential cases) and need to scratch the prior plan.

 

Vince

And the operative words here, and in the past, have always been “subject to change at our discretion”, or some such legalese. Sloppy proofreading and/or marketing not vetting this appropriately.

Rob

On 4/22/2024 at 11:41 AM, Keith1010 said:

This is the Crystal Society Benefits Brochure from Crystal Cruises which corrects any mistakes that were in the earlier verision.

Cheers,

Keith

Crystal Society Benefits Brochure April 2024.pdf 5.72 MB · 52 downloads

Update: we have two cruises booked later this year. Final payments are due over the next few weeks. There remain inconsistencies in the milestone award descriptions in the attachment that was provided to Keith and posted here on 4/22.

We will achieve milestone levels on both cruises that award us with per-person "as-you-wish-credit" OR "cruise fare savings". We instructed our TA to request the "cruise fare savings" to our final invoices applicable to the two cruises that we will achieve corresponding our milestone award levels. 

Our TA and her consortium had a lengthy conference call with the appropriate decision-makers at NC this morning. Our TA was informed, and this is a more-or-less accurate transcript of the call, that "at this time, Crystal can only offer the noted milestone as-you-wish-credit as onboard credits and cannot apply these milestone benefits as cruise fare savings." Our TA was informed that a subsequent Crystal Society Benefits brochure will be distributed that clarifies this "apparent confusing milestone benefit description".

The onboard, milestone as-you-wish-credits cannot be redeemed for cash nor can be refunded/transferred to another future cruise once applied, even if the total amount is not utilized on the sailing to which it is applied.

We would have preferred our accrued milestone awards be deducted as cruise fare savings, but that does not appear to be an option at this time. We have accepted the onboard as-you-wish-credits.

Rob

41 minutes ago, skybluewaters said:

or do you mean it will be difficult to get reservations beyond the second ones?  Thanks again.

We found it nigh impossible to get reservations in either Umi Uma or the Italian specialty restaurant for our "included" second reservations (it was longer cruise where the 2nd reservation must be booked onboard), as well as any additional reservations as part of our 50+ milestone perk. Reservations in Tastes was never a problem. The Serenity was a nearly full-up sailing. Perhaps the situation has improved since January. For our next sailing, we will enjoy our pre-booked first reservations and really not expect to be able to dine again for a 2nd (or 3rd...) time in either specialty restaurant. Our expectations have been lowered.

Fortunately, every meal in Waterside was excellent, so we certainly never felt deprived of a fine dining experience.

Rob

3 hours ago, crickette said:

I have a text message that a "TA verified that guests with over 50 milestone points get unlimited free speicalty restaurants if available."

 

We haven't tested this yet.

Yes. We can attest to this 50 cruise perk. However, the operative word is “if available”. We found it challenging, if not downright impossible to get additional reservations beyond our pre-reserved online reservations on close-to-capacity sailings.

Rob

1 hour ago, USCAdventurer said:

Thanks for your advice, Rob.  I booked an excursion for the first stop after we leave Rome, so I think I iwll cancel it since i'm not sure if I can take the excursion.  Since the excursion is the morning of our first stop, I wouldn't even have 24 hours to cancel.

If you change your mind once onboard, you can always rebook onboard if there are still open spots on your selected tour. And waitlists generally clear if your tour shows sold out once onboard.

22 minutes ago, USCAdventurer said:

I can't find the excursion cancellation policy.  Could someone explain where to find the cancellation policy in my account?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

David

You cannot find this information until you are onboard. It is not available in advance. Once onboard, there will be a printed copy of all available excursions in your cabin. On that printed copy, it will list the cancellation terms. Printed vouchers of your booked excursions should also be in your cabin once you board; the cancellation terms will also be printed on the vouchers. As a general rule, but it varies, excursions are usually cancellable without penalty 48-72 hours +/- prior. Some excursions have lengthier cancellation dates, but those are generally indicated when they are initially booked.

I printed a copy of a sample excursion form from our January cruises on CC a while back, but I can't seem to remember/find what post I attached it to. If I find it, I will post it again.

Rob

4 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

Here’s a PDF version of the 2024 Crystal Society programme brochure 

Thank you, Terry. The "current" PDF is rife with typos and outdated references. It's obvious that it's just the old society brochure from 2019 with some, but not all, references to the pre-A&K ownership updated and edited. Appreciate the PDF version; thank you for posting it here.

Rob

29 minutes ago, Whipsnade said:

And  the $5000 credit at 25 and 50?  Guess what!?  Your cruises on OC don’t count. 

Examples for contemplation:

1. Once you have completed your 25th cruise on OC or NC, you would be eligible for the $5000 credit upon booking your 26th cruise with NC.

2. Once you have completed your 50th cruise on OC or NC, you would be eligible for the $5000 credit upon booking your 51st cruise with NC.

3. This $5000 credit also applies at the 70th cruise milestone level. Once you have completed your 70th cruise, whether with OC, or a combination of OC and NC, the $5000 credit would be applied to your 71st cruise with NC.

Milestone benefits are not retroactive if you have already passed these milestone levels on OC. This is our understanding from our TA who has been in contact with Crystal.

Rob

2 minutes ago, USCAdventurer said:

I don’t use Facebook ever.  Why wouldn’t they use another method or an additional method of posting?  Why wouldn’t they just send everyone an email?

I agree. I do not subscribe to Facebook either. Rhetorical question: why is this not on Crystal's website? That was the first place I searched. (Maybe it will show up there eventually....🤣🤔😆

Rob