New Crystal - the Good, the Bad and the Indifferent

[bitob]

2 hours ago, Jimmycruiser said:

I thought you moved on but you obviously have difficulty leaving this subject and separating the two. Seabourn accepted our Crystal society level to attract our business so why wouldn’t the new Crystal do the same? Most of us recognize the difference and know that the new Crystal will not be identical to the old Crystal but expect it to provide an excellent experience for the cost. If not, it will be easy to jump ship since most of us also know there is plenty of competition. I will give them a chance to prove it by sailing with them early next year. I view it as low risk but not no risk.

Because the new crystal is not seabourn

 

and seabourn did it when crystal was defunct as a smart marketing tool to attract crystal refugees 

Why would the new crystal need to attract your business?  The devotees are going no matter what 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by bitob

[Sweetpea711423]

9 hours ago, Sweetpea711423 said:

BAD (for my husband and me): No Nobu!!!!  We absolutely adored that restaurant, and would go multiple times during a cruise.  Even if another Japanese restaurant is substituted, I expect it would be unlikely to be the caliber of food (and service) provided by Nobu.  The presence of Nobu was actually one of the reasons we returned to Crystal after our first cruise on them.

My bad -- of course I meant Umi Uma!  Sorry!

[Stickman1990]

On 2/3/2023 at 9:53 AM, claudiaYVR said:

what discount if any will Crystal Society members get?  

 

 

5% on these bookings - long term who knows but I believe it’s currently a double discount so probably 2.5%
 

By comparison another luxury line does offer past cruisers a discount - but only on selected cruises - it’s not on everything

[ak1004]

5 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

 

5% on these bookings - long term who knows but I believe it’s currently a double discount so probably 2.5%
 

By comparison another luxury line does offer past cruisers a discount - but only on selected cruises - it’s not on everything

 

On board discount on Crystal was 2.5% if I remember correctly? The other line has 5% for past cruisesr plus 5% on board discount, but the first 5% is on selected cruises only. But they also have an extra 5% discount on all cruises once you pass certain number of nights, so potentially you can get a 15% discount on certain cruises booked on board.

[Roel94]

On 2/2/2023 at 11:01 AM, Texas Tillie said:

Just noticed something when reading about dining, and it must be considered a negative, in suite dining from the specialty restaurants, only for the Crystal Penthouses.

 

Patty

Well, that sucks. I eat in cabin a lot and use the mushroom soup

[Midtowngal]

23 hours ago, Sweetpea711423 said:

BAD (for my husband and me): No Nobu!!!!  We absolutely adored that restaurant, and would go multiple times during a cruise.  Even if another Japanese restaurant is substituted, I expect it would be unlikely to be the caliber of food (and service) provided by Nobu.  The presence of Nobu was actually one of the reasons we returned to Crystal after our first cruise on them.

I hope that is not the outcome.  Do you know this to be true?  I was under impression that negotiations were not yet finalized.  My 🥢 are ready!

[oakridger]

I believe that all the new restaurants on board this new cruise line will have new menus.

 

~Nancy

[Stickman1990]

3 minutes ago, oakridger said:

I believe that all the new restaurants on board this new cruise line will have new menus

I hope so - time to move on

 

except I’m sure the Cobb Salad will still be there 😉😂

[AtA]

3 hours ago, Midtowngal said:

I hope that is not the outcome.  Do you know this to be true?  I was under impression that negotiations were not yet finalized.  My 🥢 are ready!

I believe negotiations are not finalized 

[Roel94]

5 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

I hope so - time to move on

 

except I’m sure the Cobb Salad will still be there 😉😂

Salad can go but need raw fish.in AU in less than three weeks maybe 6 times. Tonight after opera house not sure 

[Sweetpea711423]

21 hours ago, AtA said:

I believe negotiations are not finalized 

I was just going by the restaurants listed on the current Crystal website.  Hopefully that will change, and the negotiations will be successful.  That would be a big plus!

[cruisr]

On 2/4/2023 at 3:57 AM, Stickman1990 said:

 

5% on these bookings - long term who knows but I believe it’s currently a double discount so probably 2.5%
 

By comparison another luxury line does offer past cruisers a discount - but only on selected cruises - it’s not on everything

Yes, certain cruises and I have received 10% past guest discounts on these cruises.

[BWIVince]

On 2/3/2023 at 8:21 PM, bitob said:

It’s a different company in regard to monies lost

its not a different company if you want your crystal milestones/status back

 

i find that amazing

 

Not so amazing...  It's funny how this keeps getting overlooked.

 

They deliberately BOUGHT the CS Milestone data, which indicates they might have an interest in using it.  Maybe, maybe not, but they paid a lot for it.

 

They not only did NOT buy the detailed financial transaction data, but they aren't even legally allowed to it under current data security standards.

 

Apples and oil filters.

 

Vince

[hypercafe]

3 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

 

Not so amazing...  It's funny how this keeps getting overlooked.

 

They deliberately BOUGHT the CS Milestone data, which indicates they might have an interest in using it.  Maybe, maybe not, but they paid a lot for it.

 

They not only did NOT buy the detailed financial transaction data, but they aren't even legally allowed to it under current data security standards.

 

Apples and oil filters.

 

Vince

For me it has gotten old to read here from the cheer leaders forget the old Crystal, they have no connections to the new company, have no obligation to your loss just forget it and move on. Then the next post is I want my CS points and as a past cruiser of the other company I want special treatment. To me it's a new company and we ALL start at zero.

[BWIVince]

5 minutes ago, hypercafe said:

For me it has gotten old to read here from the cheer leaders forget the old Crystal, they have no connections to the new company, have no obligation to your loss just forget it and move on. Then the next post is I want my CS points and as a past cruiser of the other company I want special treatment. To me it's a new company and we ALL start at zero.

 

If that's true, then does A&K get all that money back they paid for the CS history?  And considering that's one of the biggest chunks of change to be paid back to passengers owed money in the assignment pool, I would think people with claims would be more excited about that data being used for something moving forward, since it's one of the few sources of cash back to them coming up.

 

Vince

Edited February 7, 2023 by BWIVince

[hypercafe]

31 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

 

If that's true, then does A&K get all that money back they paid for the CS history?  And considering that's one of the biggest chunks of change to be paid back to passengers owed money in the assignment pool, I would think people with claims would be more excited about that data being used for something moving forward, since it's one of the few sources of cash back to them coming up.

 

Vince

I really don't thing getting your CS points from the defunct company is any consolation for loosing thousands of dollars. That said this is all a dead horse both defending the defunct Crystal and complaining about them. As I said we should all start from zero just like we were booking a trip on any new Cruise line.

[BWIVince]

6 minutes ago, hypercafe said:

I really don't thing getting your CS points from the defunct company is any consolation for loosing thousands of dollars. That said this is all a dead horse both defending the defunct Crystal and complaining about them. As I said we should all start from zero just like we were booking a trip on any new Cruise line.

 

Agreed, but just to be clear I wasn't referring to the CS milestones, I was talking about the actual money A&K paid that goes through the assignment process to the creditors and passengers owed money.  But I get it...

 

Vince

[Keith1010]

Thank you Vince for your logical posts.

 

As you correctly note, the new company bought the name rights and other customer information.

 

They did not for the reason you mentioned get information on those owed money.

 

For anyone tired of reading certain -posts, don't read them.  No one forces anyone to read posts they don't want to read.

 

Vince welcome to the world of being accused of being a cheerleader just because you express a view that someone disagrees with.

 

Keith

[BWIVince]

Sooooooo…. I admit I’ve been pretty tied up with an on-site event for the past few weeks and haven’t had much time to study the deck plans, but are we to assume that the public space renovations on both ships will be limited to some furniture (and maybe carpet or soft goods) here and there, and that the only public spaces being “extensively renovated” will be the two with renderings supplied (Bistro and former Prego on both ships)?

 

Vince

Edited February 11, 2023 by BWIVince

[Keith1010]

Vince, we don't know. Specifically, are there planned renovations not reflected in the renderings. I wouldn't go to the bank based on the renderings and that includes the guests rooms at this point in time.  JMO.

 

Keith

[BWIVince]

On a different note, they seem to have made some progress on the suite differentiation, at least on Symphony.

 

”Redesigned 2023,” “Redesigned 2017,” “Redesigned 2013” (CP), and “Classic” all now show with appropriate photos and diagrams — now just to update the deck plans accordingly and we’ll be all set.

 

Vince

[Keith1010]

3 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

On a different note, they seem to have made some progress on the suite differentiation, at least on Symphony.

 

”Redesigned 2023,” “Redesigned 2017,” “Redesigned 2013” (CP), and “Classic” all now show with appropriate photos and diagrams — now just to update the deck plans accordingly and we’ll be all set.

 

Vince

Yes, each room on the deck plan needs to be designated where there is more than one version.

 

Good catch Vince.

 

Keith

[BWIVince]

Crystal never got updated press photos for the new furniture and carpeting for Symphony’s Classic suites, so the photos are a little out of date, but they’re technically accurate enough to pick a room type at least.  (Once the deck plans reflect the descriptions)

 

Vince

Edited February 11, 2023 by BWIVince

[BWIVince]

Also, seeing the three generations of Symphony’s Sapphire Veranda Suites side by side kind of reminds me of the movie Multiplicity, where Michael Keaton gets a little quirkier with each generation of copy.  Although the design of the 2023 version is a little closer to what I originally envisioned they were going to do in 2017, it really accentuates the size difference with the originals and the location of the toilet seems especially problematic.

 

Vince

[Cancun01]

On 2/1/2023 at 7:00 PM, JTor said:

Agree! Price per person per night is way up and the US dollar exchange is very painful for Canadians right now. We need a Canadian dollars at par promotion 

We may be dreaming in technicolour  for that to happen! At least being able to book in CDN dollars eliminates the potential price increase of several thousand dollars at final payment because of the fluctuating $ .That is a big plus IMO.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Cancun01