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BWIVince

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    Central Maryland, USA
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Crystal

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  1. Totally true!! I’ve just never had the luck of sailing into or out of Miami when the Crystal ship wasn’t the smallest thing in port, by a MILE. It’s luck of the draw, but the deck has some monsters in it. 😊 Vince
  2. 8 ships in Miami instead of 9 doesn’t sound like it’s much fewer, but in Miami that can mean 3,000-5,000 fewer people milling about that day. 😊 Vince
  3. This is the loop that the last 3.5 ocean new build programs kind of got caught in…. (3.5 = the 2007 project, the revisit of the 2007 project after the recession (the .5), the exclusive class, and the diamond class) On the updraft (the momentum to make the ships larger), you have the desire for larger standard staterooms, the demand for more, larger dining venues with more flexible hours, the need for more staff accommodations that’s needed to fulfill those, the wish to not lose any of the current amenities, the need for additional bells and whistles that new ships have added, and the need for a large critical mass of passengers to cover all this extra overhead. On the downdraft (the momentum to restrict the size), you have the need for the ships to navigate global ports, the intimacy needed for a luxury product, and the economic reality of lower demand at the top of the market pricing pyramid. You can’t just keep adding cabins to cover all the costs of all of the requirements in the updraft. …So Crystal has ended up in this cycle of designing a ship that checks all the boxes but the numbers don’t work, so they make cuts that make the numbers work better but hurt the viability of the project, then they have to add the amenities back but then the numbers don’t work again. Wash, rinse and repeat. (For anyone that’s new to this, where Crystal varies from its competitors, it’s ocean ship general arrangement formula was designed for smaller staterooms and more public amenities, because Harmony was not originally aimed at the luxury segment when that general arrangement was set and the brand standards established. Crystal has managed to close the gap on the numbers at many points in its history by tweaking the product strategically, but fundamentally the numbers have never really worked because you can’t charge enough for staterooms this small, or sell enough of them at higher prices to fill that many staterooms and cover all these costs. Similarly, you can’t just turn the pyramid upside down and sell more larger suites than smaller ones at the same premium as if the pyramid was right side up, so combining staterooms only goes so far before you shoot yourself in the foot.) So what’s changed now? Well, fares are up. If New Crystal can command pricing in a way that every prior management team and owner has failed to do, this could be a game changer on the calculations that have undermined Crystal for over 30 years. Similarly, if Crystal can make a different mix of suite composition work, it could solve the updraft/downdraft problem. Symphony and Serenity are a good temporary test model for where this can work and where it can’t. To keep this from being even more long-winded than it is I skipped over the importance of the adjacent market strategy that Genting tried (the other ships), but I will just point out that it’s no coincidence that NC is talking about expedition ships. There is almost no way they can break the cycle above with just ocean ships in the mix — they need to add inventory that’s not competing with the rest of its inventory to move the needle in a different direction and grow their base. We’ll see if they can finally find the mix that breaks the previous newbuild loop… Vince
  4. In fairness, this isn’t new…. It very frequently worked the same way at Old Crystal. Deep promotions (the highly restrictive ones with all the rules and the splashier discounts) at OC were rarely stackable with other discounts over 5% (and for that matter usually required new bookings). Those non-stackable discounts usually included any capacity controlled discounts, such as the single supplement. I can’t even remember the last major deep promotion OC offered that I was even able to take advantage of, because of the single supplement discount not being stackable. Old Crystal was wonderful when it came to combining standard discounts and repricing fares for yield management fare changes (Book Now fares), but we seem to forget the standard restrictions they had on the deep promos. Vince
  5. YMMV, but on the Crystal cruises I've been on, FAR more than 10% utilize the promenade deck. I know it's a generational thing, and Crystal's design team has always had to balance future trends with 1987-1990 brand standards, but at least among Crystal passengers there is strong demand for the promenade. Lets put it into perspective... On my last 3 cruises (to get a range of occupancy), more people used the promenade collectively through the day than many other amenities on the ship, including the gym, the cinema, the casino, the golf and paddle tennis amenities, the bridge lounge, the Connoisseur Club and the studio. More people probably used the promenade deck than any 3 of those combined. The general issue is that it takes up "space", but the specific issue is that no matter how you slice it, it causes design trade-offs on other spaces. We've seen many lines balance this, but it absolutely is tricky, and the smaller the ship the less opportunity you have to offset those downsides. I'm sure Crystal will continue to study this, and I hope they survey interest and demand to see how to successfully implement a promenade that impacts the other spaces as little as possible. There's a creative solution out there, we've seen many ideas from other designers. Vince
  6. It is indeed... And I kind of love it. 😊 Vince
  7. Serenity has two paddle tennis courts, and Symphony is the one with one court. Vince
  8. Your observation is totally consistent with Patty's observation! It definitely might have changed -- that recipe has been around a LONG time, and there are a variety of reasons it might be evolving. Vince
  9. That's definitely a significant change to the Crystal (WP) recipe... It used to have chopped pickled ginger in it. Vince
  10. I have to say that food is the one area where influencers kind of tread carefully on their wording more often than any other element…. It can be such a subjective subject that you have to be careful of what is your preference and what is an actual execution or conceptual error, and even the most critical bloggers seem to kind of tiptoe through it sometimes on high-end lines. That said, I’ve seen the same ones absolutely skewer dining on some ships where it’s deserved and there are legit problems…. Like so many vlogs on MSC, or especially Margaritaville. Lol Vince
  11. Thanks for posting that photo upthread, it made me smile…. The Chinois Chicken Salad is one of Wolfgang Puck’s last remaining contributions to Crystal, and remains a favorite for many. Vince
  12. Stumbled across something else in the collection last night... Crystal's first in-stateroom postcards, complete with the original Crystal Age branding that the line was launched with. Like the deck plans, you should be able to click in a couple of times to enlarge a little. Vince
  13. IME, there are usually shaded chairs available (they are further aft of this pic), so I haven't seen them move around the umbrellas too much... But the more comfortable beds and furniture under the overhangs go quicker, and are sometimes a different story on more tropical cruises that are heavier booked. Vince
  14. I don't know Serenity as well as Symphony, but it looks like the topper on the band canopy by the Seahorse pool, probably? I know both canopies get hisses and groans around here, but I have to admit Serenity's is slightly less obnoxious. 🙂 (I want credit for saying something nice about Serenity -- from everyone who thinks I spend too much time loving on Symphony!) I'm definitely looking forward to meeting you on the July cruise! Based on the martini in the picture, we'll get along great! 😄 Vince
  15. Happy Belated Birthday, Bill! I wish I could have been at your table for that -- it looks like a lot of fun! Vince
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