avalon244

Prices also went up across the board.

Has the restaurant made any additions or subtractions from the menu over the past 2 months?

Point taken! Actually I had and have no problem with any of the verbiage in Keith's post. It was the 18 photos that followed which seemed like overkill to me.

Don't understand why you need to super- promote this restaurant. Sounds like the natives behind this enterprise are getting restless. Let people decide for themselves. My own single experience was extremely negative, but of course we didn't try everything on the menu. We would never return under any circumstances with the current menu intact. Just our opinion.

See Post#36 on the Any news/comments from Symphony.

Vince, I was never in love with the old Prego either. I liked it and did think it had a lot of options. I tend to be adventurous when it comes to trying new foods. My wife not so much. So when I first read the menu online a month or so ago, I too thought it looked interesting. Buy when your waiter has difficulty explaining what's in a particular dish, it's a sure sign of trouble ahead. To each his own, but if someone about to board the Symphony in the next month asked for my opinion, I would tell them to use all of their specialty restaurant comps at Umi Uma.

My wife and I are also on this cruise. Having a wonderful time, except for 1 issue (which I'll get to later). The service is excellent as always. Lots of familiar crew faces, many of whom recognized our faces. Food at Waterside is better than ever. Umi Uma is still spectacular. And I think the entertainment is a notch better than I remember. There are a few slightly annoying design flaws with closets and drawers, but these are minor. However (and, remember, I am one of Crystal’s biggest supporters), the menu at the new Italian restaurant is a COMPLETE DISASTER. We had a horrible meal there a couple of nights ago. My wife and I are not from Northern Italy nor are any of our families, so I can't judge whether the food is authentic Northern Italian cuisine, but the concept from start to finish is totally ill conceived. Americans, in particular, will never get onboard with it. I predict the entire menu will go down in flames within 3 to 6 months.

Now I'm confused. The price IS $9100 pp.

You just made my point. It's common industry knowledge, but a novice cruiser wouldn't know that. And that's why you need to rely on an experienced cruise TA who knows the ins and outs of the business. No need to get snippy. I will be sailing on the Symphony soon and can't wait. Have a nice day.

Of course you are free to do what you want and complain to Crystal, but imho most of the blame for this misunderstanding falls squarely on the shoulders of your cruise TA who should understand basic cruise pricing. This is a common practice to combine 2 segments into 1 longer cruise and frankly, it's ridiculous that a cruise TA doesn't know that.

Let me add a couple of points that may lessen your angst. I've been sailing on Crystal since 1998 and pricing can be very tricky. For example, various discounts only come off the cruise portion of the fare, not the port charges and fees. I don’t believe Crystal is charging you a fee for being on a waitlist or has raised the price for the 2 segments. They are simply presenting the cruise in 2 different ways ($9600 with discount and $9100 without discount). In the end, the final price is pretty much the same. Now a savvy TA should understand this. But in my experience, that is often not the case.

I agree that Crystal should be explaining the situation better, but I'm fairly certain that the $9100 price you're seeing includes the 5% discount from the actual $9600 price. Now if you have another cruise booked directly after the 20-day cruise, you should get a 5% discount on that segment.

It looks that way, but there's probably a few extra dollars gained on the society discount at the higher rate and perhaps port charges. Either way, the difference is pretty negligible.

Here's what happened. When you originally booked, it was booked as 2 btb segments. Segment 1 is $5,300. Segment 2 is $4,300. That equals $9,600. So you received the 5% btb discount. However what you're looking at on the website is a 20- day cruise at $9,100. But there is no 5% btb discount. Crystal isn't trying to scam you. Glad to be of help.