Keith1010

Yes, we want it to say 90 days. Previously you could only make them 60 days before the cruise and now it is 90 days. That is good news. I just looked at my account (I said my chart but I should have said my account) and it said the following which is perfect. Keith PLEASE NOTE THAT RESERVATIONS FOR SHORE EXCURSIONS, DINING AND SPA CAN BE BOOKED 90 DAYS BEFORE EACH SAILING.

You will get the full $1,000.00 back. It is automatic and no administrative fee. Keith

I thought a separate thread was in oder for this and it applies to all voyages. With final payment made, you can now book reservations for specialty restaurants, shore excursions and spa and salon appointments 90 days before the start of your cruise rather than 60 days. You do this through My (well your) Account. Keith

Good question since I do make a good number of typos. But it is $1,000.00 per room for the open booking and it is good for 90 days from the time you make the booking. NC does it differently than old Crystal. The changes are: Open bookings are $1,000 per booking and are good for 90 days from the time you book it rather than six months after the cruise ends. Voyage specific bookings require a full deposit as oppose to a partial deposit. And rather than this being charged against your shipboard account you have them charge it directly to your credit card. Keith

That's correct. Keith

Hi Muriel: Do you happen to remember when Bob Ray will be on board Serenity and Symphony. No worries if you don't but I thought I would ask. Enjoy the Supper Club this evening. Thanks to you and others on board for your posts. This is the most guests on board so it's also been nice to hear how things are going. It's good preparation for the Holiday Cruise which at the present time is either sold out or close to being sold out. Continue to enjoy. Keith

Serenity nine years ago in Puerto Vallarta. Keith

Let me try to help. Serenity rooms are larger than those of Symphony. Aquamarine on deck 10 are all classic. On deck 9 Aqumariine are all the former Seabreeze from 2017. I don't see any new Aquamarine on Symphony. If you need more time to study this you could make an open booking which is good for 90 days from the time you make it and is $1,000 per room. Or you can make the actual booking on board and get some help from the one of the two on board booking folks and pay the full deposit. Glad you enjoyed Umi Uma and wishing you a great time on your return to Osteria. I hope this helps. Keith

It is understandable that one would be a little gun shy given what happened with the parent company of Crystal. All I can say is this is a different parent and one that is highly diversified. This is their website and I do like the fact that in addition to the owners vast experience in luxury travel that this company has holdings in a wide range of companies. https://www.heritagemonaco.com I have certainly learned a lot from the previous owner. I use a credit card company that came through in the last two go arounds (last two because we had the 2020 temporary shutdown and money back on canceled cruises with certain Card Companies was a nightmare) and of course the bankruptcy of the former parent of Crystal. I am careful about when making final payments. Should I need to cancel a cruise unlike before I will avoid rolling large sums of money from one cruise to another and I will make final payment closer to when it is due instead of very far in advance. In fact, there is no early payment discount plus reservations can only be made for on board services 60 days in advance and even final payments are not due as early as they used to have been. So between all of this I feel very good. Does that mean nothing can go wrong. Well in life anything could go wrong but I feel good enough that I have a "boat-load" of cruises broked with Crystal in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Now this is me. I do not give financial advice to others but just sharing that I feel as good as I could feel about this for me to make the bookings. Keith

A view while we were in Tahiti 12 years ago while on a Crystal tour. Keith

I agree. It would not thrill me to send it this way but then again all of this is on a check at least in the USA. This is why I go out of my way never to write checks anymore. Keith

Muriel, so you are saying you can now view it on the smart phone. I know that was the plan but wasn't sure they had it yet. Keith

Adding to Patty's post. On Serenity: New ones from 2023 are on Deck 9. 9001 and 9002. On Deck 10 they are a mix of Classics and former Seabreeze (2018) On Deck 11 they are all the Classics. This will take you to Deck 10. https://www.crystalcruises.com/ship/serenity?sm=undefined&d=10 From there you can go to Decks 11 and 9. Keith And the others classic. For

I agree. I think the key is getting it right and if that means taking longer that is fine but not going at too slow a pace to be wasting money. I believe they found a good balance. I also appreciated their website. Keith

I agree with Ibis. They wear them throughout the evening and my wife and I do as well. Keith

Not at this time. On the ship in each room/suite, they provide a tablet in each room. This has a lot of capabilities on it and does include reflections, newspapers, shore excursions ability to make reservations etc. They do plan to expand this so it could be loaded onto smart phones. Keith

For those who think everything was positive I would watch the video they did in the new Sapphire Suites. I have stayed in the Classic Sapphire many times and toured this one a couple of time in August. I thought he gave a very informative report and he did highlight some areas where it could be improved or things they needed followup on. He noted it would be good to have an App for the iPhone that mimics what is on the tablet. He said the nightlights were great but too bright. He said in the bathroom if you stood on the threshold it would rattle and might disturb the other person. He noted that there was a rattle the first night on the verandah and the AC was not working properly and it was too cold. He did note they corrected both after it was reported. He thought the square top toiletries were hard to handle in the shower. He noted there was no full length menu in the suite. He also noted that not every suite on Serenity has been refurbished such as the Sapphire suite he and his wife were in. Yes he really liked the Sapphire. And some of his suggestions others have made. If he promoted anything it was the Visa Company they used to get their passport renewed. Like most things you might not agree with it all including what he liked or even some of his suggestions. Keith

Someone who lives outside the USA posted this on another site: I received an email from them together with a form and a letter explaining how they will pay: Option 1: If you reside in Canada, the United States, or Mexico, a check will be issued as your payment method once we have your complete mailing address. Please assist us by responding to this email with your claim number and the correct mailing address. Option 2: If you currently reside outside of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, distributions will be made via wire transfer. To proceed, we require your wire transfer information. You can find the necessary form attached to this email. Kindly complete the form with all the requested details and return it to us via email.

I enjoyed the video. I would hope they wouldn't pay for the cruise. As to the length of the cruise it varies. Obviously the shake-down cruises were short and they were shake-down cruises so everything was not perfect. That is why they are called shake-down. As to other cruises it depends. They certainly aren't going to be on the longest of cruises Often it is something like 7 to 10 days. This is not something new. The only thing that is new is some call these people influencers. I am not sure if all of you have watched all three videos but it was not all accolades. By the way, on the shake-down cruises travel agents were on board. Some posted on social media. Others sent notes out to their clients and/or to their colleagues to send to their clients. Not everything was glowing. Same went for the media on board. Crystal or any company cannot control what is said. True if someone is completely negative they likely won't be asked to return but as I've watched this and similar videos, read articles, whether it is Crystal or some other line it's not 100% glowing. As to this not being new even back in the day if you would pick up magazines on cruising such as Porthole and another one whose name escapes me, they would cover one to three ships in each edition and the write-ups were pretty positive. In fact, I would argue more positive than some of the current videos and write-ups. Only difference is back then they weren't called influencers. But as I said I enjoyed the video so really could care less whether or not someone got a free cruise. And for those who have not yet sailed old Crystal or sailed old but not new Crystal it's a great way of seeing what things look like today IMHO. Keith

I did check. It is something being looked at in terms of what is involved to do this. Before someone says just turn on the cameras there is a lot more to this including how it plays with the new website. But it is something that is in queue to determine do ability. Keith

2008 marked our second visit to Monte Carlo and first with Crystal. Keith

Hopefully the third time will be a charm. $2,225.00 per person is the the maximum amount times 2 people equals $4,450.00. Keith

Ed, I saw Tracie's response and my apologies. It is 2,250.00 per person. In our case two people $4450.00 so I had 50.00 on the brain. Keith

I remember when we saw him last he was working on a project which was songs associated with the sea. His wife is lovely. I remember one one of the sailings when there was live music outside by the pool each time he passed by the band would play Turn Turn Turn. I had that LP. And probably wore it out playing it so much. Not as much as the Beatles but a lot. Keith

I want to clarify that if eligible then everyone received $2,2,50.00 per person. However, in some cases people received less than this. Examples included what they were owed was less than $2,50.00 or in several cases their Credit Card companies reimbursed them for most of what was owed and the remaining balance was less than $2,250.00. Keith