Keith1010

I learned about this from a fellow cruiser. In short, all of the former PH, PS and CP suites were not redone . Also as I posted earlier if you have visibility to the former deck plans and you overlay the newer ones you can tell which of the former rooms have not been redone and if they had tubs they still do. At the same time a TA can simply check with Crystal to verify this.

Yes for sure. I did not list the specific PH's on Deck 10. There are something like 45+ former PH's on deck 10 that all have tub. Keith

Julia, my guess and you can have your TA confirm is that the following rooms would have tubs as I think they are not being redone and they had tubs before. 8016 thru 8019 8032 to 8035 8046 - 8049 8064, 8065 10032 - 10035 10076 10077 10084, 10085 10092 - 10095 Those are the standard rooms. On top of it all of the former PH rooms and all of the former PS rooms would have tubs. Keith

Alrighty....Let's go with something healthier. Now which one is healthier? A or W Or is that A&W not the soft drink. Keith

Julia, there are old rooms left such as some on deck 8 which have the combo bathtub shower. On deck 10 all of the former PH suites have bathtubs and the same would be true of the former PH's on Deck 11. They remain the same as they were. So I think the question is what former staterooms rooms are open for your cruise.on other decks which are open. If none are open then the former PH would be the lowest price with the bathtub. P.S. It's pretty easy for me to pick out former rooms not changed by looking at a former deck plan with the new one on line. Keith

Julia, maybe that is all that was left as I don't know what cruises you booked but if you want the lowest price rooms I would ask your TA to take another look for you. It costs you nothing and that is why you have a TA. At the same time you did not mention what category you desire but on Serenity on Deck 11 it is all suites. If you desire a suite with a bathtub I get it. There would be alot on Deck 11 and several on Deck 10 but if you wanted a standard room with a bathtub decks 9, 8, and 7 should be what your TA is looking for. Again details as to the type of room you want would be helpful and I am just trying to help. Keith

Julia, forgive me but this just doesn't make sense to me. On Serenity it would be on decks 7, 8, 9 and not 10 or 11. In fact, I don't think 11 would have anything which would meet your criteria. On Symphony it should be lower decks versus Deck 10. I am thinking 7, 8 in particular. Keith

Inside joke. Keith

On Deck7 on Serenity it refers to rooms that look out to gangway where it is stored. Similarly there are rooms on deck 8 which have a partial obstruction when the look out/down to this. Keith

Sdancer, thank you for posting the video. I have seen his videos before and I have found him to be knowledgeable and gives a good talks which are easy to follow. I saw this one shortly after it was posted as a friend shared it with me. He was right about the previous owner and warning signs, particularly as we look back and see what unfolded. Many of us have learned a lot from the experience as we normally do in life from other experiences. Two key lessons are which credit card company we use, and knowing that travel insurance (and the right kind) is your friend. The devil is in the details. And one additional one is to be more knowledeable of the companies you purchase goods and services from. His video does not change my thinking on any of this and I have booked with Crystal and don't feel driven to book with the largest of companies many of whom have had to implement cutbacks over the years. What happened with the former parent company changed some of my approaches for certain purchases including our travel. Thanks again for sharing this. Keith

I would have no concerns about bridge noise. This will be one of the new suites. Your verandah will be deeper than most which is a plus and I would not be concerned about the view. I see two cons with the room: The first one you said you would be OK with and that is motion as In rough seas you will have a lot of motion being on a higher deck and all the way forward. The second is simply a greater distance to walk to get to areas such a Marketplace. Keith

Craig, you are correct. All you say makes perfect sense. Thank you. Keith

Bags are packed. Ready to got. Oops. Wrong thread. What we meant to say is we need two more of you for a foursome. Any takers? We don't have a casino but we love to bet. And we never lose.

As I said I have shared experiences from two sets of friends who sailed SS (two different sailings) the past two months. I then said some of what they experienced was the same I did 6 years ago and gave examples of that. On a related note, I don't see you raising the same concern when one poster provides comments from 10+ years ago about Crystal.

Yep, I am well aware of that. So when most of the crew returning to Serenity and Symphony that is a big plus IMHO. As to the days before Covid, I though on SS that the wait staff in their equivalent of the dining room lacked training and those little touches that you see on board Crystal. I can name many examples of that so to me pre-covid still needed a lot of work. Keith

I'm not sure how we got onto food since this thread is about Hotel Directors but so it goes. Yes sourcing can be a problem just as food preparation and other factors can be a problem. Not every Lobster we have had at the same restaurant on land or say at Crystal was the same. In general we had much better success with the quality of food in the dining venues than we did on other cruise lines including two cruises on SS and yes last one was six years ago. An observation. On Crystal if there was a problem in Waterside and you told the Senior Waiter in minutes or less a Head Waiter came over and made it right. An example would be food not hot enough or food incorrectly cooked in as quick as possible they would bring a new item out to you. My experience on SS and the experience of a good friend who was just on board one of the new ships less than two months ago is when problems occurred including one member of their party not served while the other three were not once but I believe three nights and on another occasion for breakfast when orders were wrong is there was no head waiter to rectify the problem and in the case of the three dinners it often took 20 minutes to get the meal out to him meaning the others had no choice but to eat. Another thing I was told was that there were a lot of new waiters and that just added to challenges. And there was never an apology given. Again, not every meal we had on Crystal was the best. The vast majority were but things happen but if we brought it to their attention it was rectified with an apology. I thought on our cruises with SS the dining venues were very pretty and the specialty restaurants were more intimate but the food was not close to Crystal. Again a subjective view as most are. As to Lobster the key is fresh not frozen and cooked to the correct temperature. Yes, the taste and look and texture does vary based on where it came from whether say Maine Lobster, South African Lobster or Australian Lobster which is the three we had with Crystal. What sets the dining venues apart in my view is when you have a "seasoned restaurant team". This includes waiters, head waiters, head waitress, maitre d' and having strong F&B managers and Hotel Directors who know what to look at when going through the galley or other areas such as the food stations. Keith

Thank you so much. Yes, when we return will blog and also post on this board. Keith

I just took another look at the Crystal website. If I was a betting person (no pun intended) logic says there will not be a casino. If there was one would think it will be listed. I have to think if there was a casino it would be shown somewhere. So, I would take the odds of no casino. Maybe it will be open space for now where people can sit and enjoy conversation. Maybe down the road it will be used for some other purpose. We shall see or is it time will tell. Keith

It seems whenever someone say something nice about New Crystal you keep saying this. WIth most of the crew being former Crystal crew I think it is very reasonable for us to assume that the service and how the crew deals with guests will be the same. I guess if people are happy about this why is there a need to make them feel any different. Just be happy for those who are happy. My apologies Flash G as I didn't plan to post on this thread as I am second generation baby boomer which used to be considered young but not anymore. Keith

Bags packed. Ready to go. Can't wait. 😃 Keith

I think you are now talking about different skill sets and also some issues such as when you say waiters I would not think a casino would want their employees in that role for a number of reasons. In fact, I am not sure if they would want them in any role other than the casino but that is above my pay grade. Anyway, we don't know what the final decision is on this and what the reason(s) were. Crystal has been adept at putting people in all sorts of rolls as they made adjustments including inclusive and open dining whether that was introducing junior waiters, moving folks who use to mainly be on the lido deck to other areas, moving waiters around to other venues, utilizing some members of other departments such as housekeeping to escort guests to tables just to name a few. So I am thinking if there were considerations such as efficiency/allocation of staff that would have already been considered. Regardless, I am sure the decisions have been made on this so we can all offer suggestions but it won't change anything. Keith

Those in the casino could already escort tours. I a not sure why you think someone in the casino needs to perform other positions other than the casino. Anyway, none of this will change Crystal's plans whatever they are. Keith

I see this very differently. Maybe some of this has to do with different approaches. When I worked we had a joint venture with a company in the UK and what I saw first hand was a totally different approach to rolling out products and how each company ran their business. Plenty of startups move quickly at least that is my experience in the USA . That is part of being a start up and things are not always perfect when they roll out products and they didn't get one chance. In the USA there are some companies who move very slowly (not startups) and I can tell you often they try to figure out how can they move faster with a start up mentality and to do so sometimes they create a new subsidiary to do just that. I know of at least one cruise line who launched their product with a web site which lacked a lot of details. This one is unique because they start with a name and ships and former customers who are very familiar with Crystal Cruises and add to that veterans of Crystal on land and at sea along with others from other companies on land. At the same time they have had to create a lot of new things and build an organization from ground up. So you can wait until everything is perfect and that will take several more months or launch early and get everything in place before the cruises begin. The latter is what many startups do. The key is let's see what this looks like with each passing week and month. Most people I know (and I know a lot of people) who have booked are understanding of this. Having done another new booking this past week I know the process was far better than just a few weeks ago reflecting progress. Keith

That's not how it worked. This was their only job no different than those who work in the stores. That's their job and their hours vary each day depending on times at sea and times in port. There are some days when they work very long hours and other days when they work less. There are others who share your view and others who do not. 'm not saying whether it is a good or bad idea to keep or not keep the casino and I certainly have no idea about the financials. I do have my own opinion but in the end what I think won't change the plans. I wasn't being flippant but I know people have lots of views on this but in the end Crystal has likely decided. I also think that is true of many things over the years. There were programs that went away and some didn't care while others did. Keith

They did before Genting bought them and took it over. The dealers didn't have other jobs. You might have seen some escort guests on tours since they could put in for that. I know everyone has an opinion but the only one that counts is what Crystal has planned. Keith