Keith1010

FYI. Keith https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/people-opinions/pr-pro-robyn-fink-direct-communications-crystal

New Crystal Cruises Communications Director: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/people-opinions/pr-pro-robyn-fink-direct-communications-crystal Keith

I know they just hired a Director for Public Relations so that should help quite a bit. I suspect that is why there have been very few press releases. I think that what we don't see is that they are still in the hiring stages and some departments are quite thin and will be hiring over the coming months. This can be frustrating for us who are used to things rapidly occurring and I suspect challenging for those who are there who are working in overdrive. It is a start up company from this perspective but in time will have many seasoned professionals some from the old Crystal and others who are from other companies. This is what we've seen with the land based hires to date. Keith

I saw a couple but I saw that before AI as well. In the end, going AI to me was much overdue and overall had many more positives than negatives IMHO. Keith

KenzSailng, agreed. The fact that the vast majority of the crew are coming back including many of the senior officers and senior staff says a lot IMHO. It says the new owners made a very serious effort and investment to bring them back. But let's not forget a few of the so called experts even recently said that would not be the case. In fact, some said no o e would buy the ships because their scrap value was worth more than anyone would pay. They have somehow gone silent on those issues. Keith

This is a bit different than an entirely new product. You know the ships. They aren't going to be very different. You know the crew. They aren't' going to be much different. This is reminding me of the discussion about what those Bahama cruises would be like. Too short. Terrible itinerary. No enrichment. Poor entertainment. Not the same type of guest because of low prices. Guess what. Most who sailed them both new to Crystal and past guests had a great time. Same about going inclusive. There will be drunks out. People passed out. on the floor. Anyway, Best to see. But often people worry so much about something new. Why not sit back and see what happens. I am very simple. I can read all the reviews in the world but I have to see it. Touch it. And experience it. What I do know is if I was sailing on board a cruise right now, I wouldn't have time to be checking out this board. Oh well Keith

So do you remember when some said not many would return. All four Hotel Directors returning is a big deal along with two of four captains in my book. https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/02/crystal-announces-return-of-hotel-directors/ I suspect on the first sailings the vast majority of the crew on board will be from old Crystal and since we all know it was the crew who made the biggest impact I would say a lot of what we loved about old Crystal will be part of new Crystal. I still don't get it why some seem to think the worst. Is it possible new Crystal will be as good as it was or is it possible it will be even better. Time will tell. Keith

I bought a Taurus based on renditions. You know. It was wonderful at the time. Crystal we know what the vessels look like and pretty much 90% of the ship. Keith

I have never read an unbiased review in my life. If you want something unbiased read a fact sheet. As to a review they all have their own set of biases. Why? Because we are all human. For example was the pizza excellent, great, good, fair or poor. Who is right? Who is biased? If you want to know for sure you have to experience it yourself. JMO. I am glad I will experience it so we can decide what we think. The same goes for pretty much everything. Do you all read trip advisor reviews? How about Amazon reviews? Are any unbiased? I don’t think so. Keith

I agree. On a related note I have many friends who have not "moved on" but have sailed other lines and the vast majority of them have booked a Crystal Cruise(s) including the World Cruise. In the end, people will do as they please. I don't worry about them and they shouldn't worry about me. There seems to be a concern that it is bad or something is wrong when some of us say the new company will have attributes of the old company. Of course some of the same people said, no one would purchase Symphony and/or Serenity or that the crew would not return. Well, they are zero for two and before anyone asks me how I know so many people are returning let me say I do and I would say how do you know they aren't. Time will tell but you know it won't be too much longer. Keith

They are not doing anything to the rooms that are not being converted so one would have to ask why would they remove these. It makes no sense. The only thing I can say is see if there is someone your TA can go to. Keith

Insurance will be your best friend. Most cruise lines do not do this and I would not expect Crystal to do it. So if this is important i would look at insurance or sail a line that offers this. Keith

Many of the guests in the new term will include lots of Crystal Society members. In addition, there were always first time cruisers so we will see that too. It is human nature for people to want things from the past they enjoyed. And yes, we will all find out starting July 31 and continuing to the future. It's all good at least for those who want to return. Keith

When you say Covid not sure what you mean these days. In general most cruise lines are not even testing but if you want protection getting an insurance policy is your friend. Wouldn't the same apply to cancellation protection. I guess I need more clarity on your question. Keith

It's funny how some forget. I remember all the insults about "old Crystal's" website and that was after it had been around for many years and went through modifications. This is a whole new website. Yes they rolled it out with incomplete information. Yes, they could have waited and just delayed the ships and the selling of cruise until it was 100% right. Anyway, old Crystal was not perfect. New Crystal will not be perfect. Do you remember River Cruise vessels and itineraries announced only to have some completely moved such as the one doing France which we were on? There was the point in time that several Ocean vessel itineraries changed. Anyway, yes there is a lot of work to be done as part of the restart not only on the website but in other areas. I continue to believe that the end product will have many similarities to the old one and will build on new areas. Yes, time will tell as it always does. Having so many former Crystal members come back and that includes so many on the ships and some of the past executives coupled with some new ones from other companies along with other expertise such as from A&K sounds to me like an excellent recipe for a successful product. The poof will be in the pudding and I am looking forward to trying out the pudding as are many of our friends. The funny thing to me was a couple of months ago through a search I found old posts from I believe 2004. We were still newbies on our third cruise and I read from some Crystal was not like it was. I also heard that in 2004 when there were complaints about changes to Crystal Society. This is because old or new, or who was the owner, or who was the President, Crystal continued to evolve. So when it comes to old my question is what year is someone thinking and for some who didn't sail Crystal as long as some, there was quite a bit of the evolution which you may have missed. I missed some and I started cruising Crystal in 2002. Keith

Nobu was always on Serenity. In 2010 it was called Silk Road. Yes a few years ago when they renames Crystal Dining Room to Waterside they Tastes to Silk and renamed Silk Road to Umi Uma.. The cuisine was the same. Over the years a few changes were made to the Nobu menu but the style of food remained the same. Keith

Fantastic. A reminder to keep looking at the website as they add new information. Thank you for mentioning this. Keith

Nancy, you are welcome. On Serenity, I prefer the Traditional suites over the Sea Breeze for sure and my preference are the classic PH's followed by the classic PS. Unlike Symphony the Sea Breeze equivalent of the PS does not have the washer/dryer combo. Also we prefer being mid-ship and the Sea Breeze Suites are not mid-ship on Serenity . On Symphony I have always preferred the PS over the PH until Sea Breeze came along. We enjoyed the Sea Breeze equivalent to the PS as it does have the washer/dryer combo, the rooms were added to Deck 9 and we were able to get one pretty close to mid-ship and we did like the rain shower (it does have another option other than rain shower). We don't use a bath tub other than hanging wash that doesn't go in the dryer. We liked how you could set up the toilet to have access from the main room or as a guest toilet and little features such as a closet near the entrance way. Keith

I saw Paul McCartney perform in Dallas. I think around 2003. I remember George Martin was in the audience. We had great tickets. He came to Austin a few years ago but we were on a Crystal cruise. If he does another tour which includes the USA we will plan to go. It would be nice if it could include an appearance by Ringo. The closest I ever came to feeling like I was at a Beatles Concert was going with my brother and grandmother to see Hard Days Night. I just remember that each time the Beatles were on screen together (a lot of times) the girls were screaming as if we were at The Ed Sullivan Show. One thing about The Beatles when they stopped performing and went into the studio they created music that no one had done before. Sometimes when I bought one of their albums and listened to it some of the songs didn't appeal to me and I would hold off playing it again. Six months later I would play the music and love it. I just think it had to do with being ahead of their time and I had to get used to it. I remember when they first performed on The Ed Sullivan show my parent's like many of the time didn't care for them. You know. Long hair which today would not be considered long. Fast forward to 1991 when they visited us and I took them and the family on a drive and played, what else, The Beatles. My mom looked over at our children who were quite young and said the four musicians were wonderful. It does go to show you how people can change their views. Keith

Nancy, before Crystal ceased operations they priced the Sea Breeze lower than Classic and on a full World Cruise versus one cruise there is a large variance since the total price is quite high. Why? Room is smaller because of the door for the two rooms which ate into space. Some do not like the furniture finding the sofa too hard and the table in the PH equivalent does not raise up. I know people who on the first world cruise after this work was completed and who booked their Sea Breeze rooms wanted to be moved. At the same time some people do like them but more people than not preferred the classic. The other factor is the location. The new ones on Serenity on Deck 10 are not mid-ship which has the higher pricing now. Again, if all of this was on the deck plan it would make things clearer before rooms are booked. Keith

I agree with Vince. This is not an issue of how Crystal treats past Crystal Cruisers. The problem is not showing pricing by specific room on the deck plan. Before Crystal stopped sailing there was a price differential between the Seabreeze suites and what back then were called PH and PS. They charged less for the Sea Breeze because they found less people liked them compared to what is now the classic. What has changed with the new Crystal is that because they have added so many new suites they are pricing them based on location which is something they didn't do before other than standard staterooms. This is why they say pricing is from x dollars. They do understand the need to reflect all of this on the deck plans. They also need to clearly note on the deck plan which rooms are classic and which are the newer ones and for suites which are the former Sea Breeze. They know this but in the meantime, I understand how one will be upset in your situation. Keith

This is not something new for Crystal. They have converted areas for years and often the newer areas look great. Problems that someone might have with a room would likely be the same wether it was a new ship or a conversion. In terms of public space the Symphony had more conversions than Serenity but in both cases the newer public areas look better than ever. New doesn't mean one will like it. You have missed out on ten years of changes. Keith

What I loved about Nobu was seeing so many people learn from the experience. We loved Nobu from day 1. I remember some people even on this board were afraid to try it. All they could think of was "raw fish" and it took awhile for them to realize it was far from that although I certainly enjoyed my share of the sashimi. Many were also afraid to go not knowing what to order. Other than a few people who just don't like this type of cuisine I rarely heard complaints and that is a big contrast to many complaining about Silk. I remember the people waiting to sit at the Sushi Bar and it was always fun dining there by ourselves with two other people or in a group of 8 or so people. What made Nobu stand out at sea was not only that it served the cuisine developed by Nobu, and the chefs Nobu trained but the amazing wait staff team who added to the experience. And at the evening unlike being on land we didn't have to sign a cheque for several hundred dollars which was the equivalent of what we ate or drank. I know it was part of the cruise fare, but the cost of the cuisine was certainly more expensive than you might find at the typical specialty restaurant. Keith

Happy Valentine's Day. As one band would sing, "All You Need Is Love". Keith

Not sure what you mean by truth but what you will learns is each person's opinion and just like every ship afloat and every cruise line opinions will vary based on many reasons. Take the opinions of five people who sailed the same cruise and sometimes they vary so much one wonders were they really on the same sailing? And the answer is yes.Same applies to reviews on hotels, cities, tours, automobiles and the list goes on and on. One thing I learned along time ago is if I am recommending something or not recommending something to say "this is my view". You might not have the same view. The other factor is I've never stayed at a hotel or take a cruise where there are no differences each time we return. So many things come into play. But the only opinion that matters is your own and you won't know until you experience it yourself IMHO. And this isn't to say that you should or shouldn't try Crystal and the same applies to my view on whether or not I want to try a cruise line or any product I have not used before. Keith