Keith1010

I love your analogy to being in the same boat. I also see people as people and being in the same boa as you do. IMHO: The purpose of an affinity program (milestones) is several-fold but in the end it is to promote and encourage people to use a product whether it is points on an airline, number or days of cruising a cruise line, points at a grocery store giving you discounts. I don't equate this to elitism. Same goes for where one stays on the ship or for that matter saying a luxury line or a mass market line. Friends of ours who could buy a yacht prefer RCI. Another one prefers Carnival. People are people. When you choose to sail with 500 to 750 of them or whatever the number you will meet people like yourself along with a whole range of people. Some people are genuinely interested in learning about there fellow guest while there are always a few who only want to tell you about themselves and how many homes they own, or where they shop, or what cars they drive. That's life. For me I don't equate the number of cruises or an affinity program to elitism or bragging and see this way different than someone who tells you all about what they own. On dining if you sail 50 or more cruises the idea isn't to give one priority over others to book reservations but rather it means you don't have to pay the specialty restaurant fee. It was just an affinity reward. When I had one cruise and met people with many more I never thought of them as being an elitist. And when someone says they are getting something free, I say to myself really. Think how much money they spent to take 50 cruises. If I had 5 cruises and paid $50.00 (total $100.00) for a couple of extra nights in the scheme of things it will have meant a whole less amount of money out of my pocket than if I took enough cruises not to pay the fee. 😁 But like all things we all see things through our own eyes. Keith

I had shared summaries for the first three voyages of each vessels showing entertainment and enrichment. Some of them include magicians. The plan is to have them on each ship and voyage even though some of the listings didn't have them. Suggest looking at the first post on the following thread to get a feel for them. Keith

As long as we are on the topic of money I bring more money than I think I need. Why you ask? I want to have cash so if something should happen where we can't get back to the States for awhile or if something happens in the States where the Banks close I have money. Far fetched? Not after 9/11or the Great Recession. Just my two cents. Keith

My sense is that they won't do that. But in the past they had local comes on where you could purchase local currency.

Thank you Claudia and my pleasure to take some photos for you. Keith

You are so right. Or is it when the cat is away the mice play. 😁 Keith

AM is always number one around here. But we spread items in case of a lost bag. On a humorous note on the World Cruises before we would ship luggage we would have something like 8 or 9 large bags. At check in at the airport I would say 7 of them are my wife's shoes and sometimes I think they believed me. 😁 Keith

The reason on the crew is that citizens from certain countries have a tough time entering Italy. This happens all the time during the year where crew comes on board to relieve other crew and that is part of the planning the goes into the scheduling of the crew. Keith

It only says suggestions. For example it is saying you could wear a sports jacket which I do but most don't so that doesn't change. It actually lists jeans which is what I was always told verbally when I was asked years ago but for the first time it is in writing. And it lists shorts which it never did before. The key word is suggestions and what they are showing is a range of them. Keith

I will be giving the internet a good test for sure. 😀 Keith

Yes that one was also in the Q&A's. This one says you can cash travelers cheques if I remember correctly. Good advice to plan accordingly. Keith

I agree with everything you have said. This has nothing to do with new Crystal. Thank you for taking the time to lay this all out so people understand how this works. Keith

Ivi, sorry you have to go through this once again. We were fortunate that what we submitted they concurred with other than the fact that we are limited to what we can get but at least we didn't have to submit more paperwork. Good luck with this. Keith

You are right that there is some information that still needs updating on the website including the Q&A's and a handful up updates under suite amenities. I realize it can be frustrating but I would say the last few weeks they have gotten out a wealth of information. They are still in catch up mode. There is still more to go which needs updating some of which you mentioned. Please note that there were some items such as smoking which they recently finalized as I had reached out a while back for History & Wine's questions on that and it was work in progress. The luggage item looks to be something that is indeed a recent change as I had a friend asking about that as well. I do want to mention that inside the ship the connoisseur club is the only place for smoking; cigarettes, cigars and pipes but since you mentioned cigar smoking it is permitted on the aft of decks 8-10 both ships and 11 Serenity. As you say a lot of good news. I know we all want to know everything at once and that it all be consistent. I would only say the amount of work these folks have had to do is incredible. Initially very few people to do it. I think we are seeing the benefits of more people being hired into some of the land based groups. Keith

I want to add the package won't be as glamorous as Crystal intended but it was the fastest way they could get this out to everyone. Just being back on board is glamour enough though. Cheers, Keith

WIth each passing day we are learning more and more about Crystal. We will know more when each ship sails including seeing close up all of the enhancements made to each ship. We know there are changes and that includes the look of several public rooms and spaces inside and outside the ship and other changes such as no casino. We know there are changes with the new Italian Restaurant, Tastes replacing Silk and even some changes to evening attire. In time we will see additional changes as Crystal evolves but some change takes time to implement. At the same time we know there will be several similarities to what Crystal was like. It was not too long that some speculated the new line could be very different than the former line with respect to crew returning, the on-board experience and how things are organized and the on board amenities. WIth 80% or more of the crew returning we have a good idea of how service will be like and the warmth which the crew brings to the guests. A review of the Before You Sail Guide shows many similarities to the past with some tweaks. The new nutritionalist will undoubtedly allow some of the recipes to evolve. With more time to plan and more staff to do the planning, we will see additional enhancements. I stand by the view I have shared early on which is the new ownership will take many of the positive traits from Crystal Cruises and integrate new elements to enhance the overall product. I continue to believe this is a recipe for success. Personally, taking the best and building upon it with additional enhancements. We will soon see for ourselves. And on a related note, I realize on an inaugural cruise there will potentially be some start-up items. Even though not an inaugural there were items which had to be figured out when inclusive rolled out, when open dining was implemented, when the major dry dock of Symphony and Serenity completed in 2017 and 2018 respectively. The same was true when Crystal restarted 2021. There are many new suites and as much as they are checked out things will be discovered one finds in a new home or a home which has gone through extensive modeling. When I went on Endeavor an entire venue was not yet open but we had a wonderful time. So given the choice of sailing early with Crystal or waiting it out I am pleased I chose the former even if there are some start-up issues. Bags are packed. Ready to go. Can't wait. Looking forward to sharing this journey with several of you from this board. Stay tuned. Keith

This might have been covered already but just in case the good news is for those guests with 50+ Milestone Crystal Society sailings the reservation fees are waived at the specialty restaurants. It is noted on page 22 of the before you sail guide. Keith

I wanted to pass along some good news for those of you who are on the July 31, 2023 sailing. I chedked the UPS site and now see that a package is scheduled to arrive to our home via one day shipping on Monday, July 24. It is from the company Crystal is using to print the materials for those on the 7/31/23 Crystal Serenity Cruise. Some of the materials in the package include a letter and luggage tags and I believe you will only need to fill in your suite/guest room number. For those of you who won't be home or if you live outside the USA and it doesn't arrive in time a reminder that luggage tags will be available to you at the pier. Travel safely. Bags packed. Ready to go. Can't wait. Keith

So glad we got to experience both ships when they were part of Crystal. Keith

For those of you on the 7/31 sailing who might not have received your e-tickets on line in addition to being able to see the before you sail guide which was noted in the thread started by TER777 found at the end of this post, your e-tickets are also on line in the reservations section and like the pre-cruise guide click on the reservation documents tab. My understanding is the goal assuming final payment has been made to have the e-tickets available 45 days prior to your sailing. If you are sailing 45 days from now please remember they are in catch up mode right now. As to luggage tags I have seen no indication at this time that they have been sent so plan to just fill them out at the pier. There was a start up problem which delayed them. In the scheme of things not a big deal. For those on the 7/31 sailing travel safely and the same goes for travel for all cruises. Cheers, Keith

Glad you caught this. I was thinking of you when I went through the guide a little while ago and was going to post this section on the thread about smoking. Great catch on the luggage too. Also there is some additional information on the Vintage Room lunches and dinners which is consistent (thank goodness) to what I posted a few weeks ago.

I got the answer. Because the third cruise is so port intensive they decided not to have a formal night on this cruise. Keith

World Cruise 2015 Balloon Drop. Seems like yesterday. Keith

We will be on the 7/31 cruise and will be posting about it. Keith

This is why they will be flexible on the early cruises. The communications vehicle was supposed to be the distribution of luggage tags with some type of booklet which would have provided more information about the attire but at this stage we either are not going to get it or we will but very shortly before the cruise. WIth that said for those who hadn't visited the Crystal website the TA's could call for them and that includes getting clarification or they could call Crystal. In short, they will be flexible and they will also observe the first several sailings to see how it goes. With that said, since I was provided with the information by them I went ahead and posted it here and on one other site. Keith