sasejm

4 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

No one ever said that this payment was going to make people whole.  And it was never going to be a differing amount, based on what you had filed.  It was a uniform X per claimant, irrespective of your claim - as long as you had at least that amount outstanding, NET any other repayments, such as from credit cards.

 

 

I really never expected anything let alone being made whole, so the amount we received was a huge surprise and no complaints from me.

12 minutes ago, TER777 said:

The priority amount is $2225 per person, thus $4450 per couple. A lot of typos going on. 

Thanks for the update.

10 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

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

 

 

Keith,

We each received $2225.00 and that did not make us whole by any means. However, I’m not complaining we didn’t get $2250.00, which seems like the majority on this thread. We did book a 16 day Crystal Cruise for January 2025. We have Explora 1 and RSSC Splendor cruises to complete before going back to Crystal.

Ed

USPS Informed delivery for today shows an envelope from MM&A for me and one for my wife.

On 9/30/2023 at 11:24 AM, DaisyUK said:

Hi, we are considering a 30-day cruise on Symphony in January. Neither of us has ever visited Australia or New Zealand and I am trying to get a feel as to whether it's worth the very long journey or not. Wondering whether any of you who have experienced this part of the world on a cruise think it is unmissable, or whether there are better options closer to home? I realise as I'm typing this that it's very broad question, but nevertheless any insights/advice would be most welcome.

About ten years ago, we sailed on Crystal Symphony from San Pedro, California, to Melbourne, Australia. It was around a 40-day cruise, and we visited Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand, Sydney & Melbourne, Australia. We were fortunate enough to be in Sydney on New Year's Eve. Crystal rented two large catamarans, included in the price of the cruise,  for the passengers to see the fireworks display on the Harbour Bridge. We really enjoyed our cruise and highly recommend a cruise to New Zealand and Australia.

When I booked an EJ cruise over a year ago, the deposit receipt showed the TA was getting an 18% commission on the cruise fare. I think there was an IT issue at the time because I never saw the commission amount on the subsequent receipts, and I'm sure they didn't want me to see it on the first receipt. Maybe your TA will provide you with more OBC, or maybe not. It doesn't hurt to ask.

6 minutes ago, Observer said:

 

This is precisely my situation. I would like to return to Crystal occasionally, especially with reduced guest capacity. As a solo, I can be comfortable in the smaller Crystal cabins.  However, I require a veranda attached to my cabin, and the Crystal fares for solos in cabins with verandas are far higher than can be found on other luxury lines like Silversea.

Observer - See post # 44.

10 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

Thanks for your explanation Vince. I am surprised that Crystal has an extraordinary number of solo cruisers. Maybe that was for Old Crystal. However, I have cruised in several cruise lines  also as solo, and I did not realized that this number was extraordinary higher for Crystal cruises. All cruise lines have a good number of solo cruisers, paying either a solo rate or full rate, what percentage of solo cruisers are cruising now with the New Crystal?  I know the few solo cabins get sold very quickly but how many solo cruisers do you estimate are going to be willing to pay double for the cabins after their cruise of  preference has been sold out?

 

I think, that well travelled solo cruisers, do have limits on which per diems they are willing to pay for an itinerary. I least I know some people, including myself, that would not pay per diems which are above other comparable cruise lines.

 

Ivi
 

Ivi,

I called Crystal last week to book a cruise on the Symphony. The reason why I called Crystal directly rather than contacting my travel agent, is that I had many questions my agent would have had to get from Crystal to get the answers. One of the topics we discussed was booking solo cabins. If I recall correctly, he said if you are interested in a particular cruise and want to book a double cabin as a solo within six months (could have been 90 or 60 days) of the cruise, the solo supplemental could be a lot lower than the posted 100%. So, if you are interested in a particular cruise and you want a double cabin, as a solo, not the big suites, I would check with Crystal directly or your travel agent. After I got all my questions answered, I booked directly with Crystal, not as a solo, and he transferred the reservation to my travel agent for their commission. I hope this makes sense and helps you.

2 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

I have a photo but have no idea how to post it. It's on the wall next to the bed on a mechanism where it can be slightly pulled out and pointed toward the bed or toward the sofa.

 

Patty

Hi Patty,

Your description is exactly what I need. I can visualize it perfectly. Thank you!

Ed

Does anyone know where the TV is located in the Aquamarine Veranda Suite, 2017 version, on deck 9 of Crystal Symphony?

5 minutes ago, KenzSailing said:

 

Oh my, with that track record, could you please provide me with the next lotto numbers?😁

I've had better luck with upgrades than I've had playing the lotto. 

2025 Crystal itineraries are posted on Crystal's website.

On the old Crystal Cruises, we were upgraded from a windowed cabin to a cabin with a veranda on several occasions. The first upgrade was the first cruise right after the fire in the engine room on the Crystal Harmony in October 1990. I thought we had been upgraded because we had to be rebooked because of the fire. Then, to my surprise, we were upgraded several times, maybe 3 or 4, on the Serenity. The last upgrade on the Serenty was from a windowed cabin to a PH for each of us since we had booked as solos in April 2019. The remainder of the upgrades were from a windowed cabin to a cabin with a veranda. We were never upgraded on the Symphony. 

28 minutes ago, vistaman said:

My review is published and all the items I wrote  are the truth in full.

I read your review and I'm glad to see you at least liked the potatoes with caviar. I'll be sure to look for the potatoes on our November cruise. 

10 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

Crystal has taught us a big lesson. We too are victims of that bankruptcy. Better to be careful, especially if an eventually rebooked cruise would be, outside of the refund limits from credit cards.

Good point.

2 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

My TA tells me I should receive my refund between 7-10 days, maybe sooner. Another client of hers had canceled last Wednesday and received his refund today.

So it seems that with the refunds Explora will do a good job.

Ivi

That's good to hear since my cruise has been canceled and I will probably pass on rebooking. My last experience with cruise lines was with the Crystal bankruptcy and I seem to be sticking out with my choices.  

20 minutes ago, CruiseCrew123 said:

Explorer 2 is off to Dubai 

Well, if that is what they are offering, that's not for me.

We are having our two-week Explora II booked cruise canceled by Explora. I looked at the available Explora 1 cruises, excluding the upcoming Caribbean cruises that we are currently booked on one of them, and there is absolutely nothing that appeals to me. If I don't see anything on Explora II's upcoming itineraries, I'll be looking at Silversea, Regent, and Seabourn, rather than rebook another Explora cruise. 

1 hour ago, Roland4 said:

We will be on that one, so I will let you know.

Appreciate it, Roland!

8 minutes ago, nancygp said:

The last few years on Old crystal, they did the buffet on cruises with 4 or more sea days.

 

not sure what new crystal will do.  The current itineraries have been port intensive.  The upcoming Serenity itinerary, Reykjavik to Quebec City has several sea days.  Perhaps you can ask again during the cruise.

 

nancy

Thank you, Nancy! 

1 hour ago, Keith1010 said:

No idea as the cruises to date were port intensive so even old Crystal wouldn't have had them for those.

 

Keith 

Thanks, Keith!

Does anyone know if the new Crystal has a once-a-cruise buffet near the Crystal Cove like the old Crystal Cruises had prior to bankruptcy?

33 minutes ago, Wheelhouse said:

Thanks sasejm,   I don't really think that is a particularly strong booking, but there is still better than 7 months before embarkation.   The cruise can be booked as two separate segments. I don't know how that might affect the tabulation.   We booked early with a fare considerably lower than that presently quoted, but I still feel that we will most likely cancel.  The hardware looks great, but the management to date appears substandard and the company is presently not very interested in longer cruises.   It also doesn't look like they are returning to Hawaii in 2025, so this could be a one off occurring only because  they have a few more cabins sold than many of the itineraries they have already cancelled.  And if they don't sell a bunch more cabins MSC may still cut it.  

Yeah, I didn't check the 9-day segments for passenger load. I would imagine it's not split down the middle. Explora has canceled one of my two booked cruises. I would probably cancel the other cruise except we are paid in full and would pay a penalty for the November 2023 cruise.

On 8/31/2023 at 6:33 PM, Wheelhouse said:

We are also booked on that 18 night Hawaii itinerary.   I was told months ago by an Explorer representative that the Hawaii cruise was their second best selling cruise after the initial TA.  Whether he was just blowing hot air I have no idea, but looking at the schedule I would think the Pacific cruises would have all been cancelled when they dropped Alaska if Hawaii hadn't been selling well.

 

We have some time yet to see what is going on before we lose more than the "administration fee" by cancelling. I personally am wondering what there will be to do for 10 sea days on Explora I.  There is only so much time I want to spend at the many pools and bars.  I've done R/T Hawaii before and numerous TA's, but Explora seems to be lacking in interesting onboard entertainment.  I guess I can spend my time waiting in line to get into the restaurants or maybe perusing the watch shops.  

Wheelhouse - I just checked the current passenger load for the 18-day Hawaii cruise and here is what I got from a travel company that allows you to see what rooms are available, supposedly in real-time. 

I will put everything in approximations since I can't confirm the exact number, but I will assume this is correct. 

Explora 1 has approximately 461 cabins (suites, residences, etc.)

There are currently approximately 172 booked cabins and 289 available cabins.

If each booked cabin has 2 persons, the current passenger load would be approximately 344. That should leave about 289 bookable cabins left and around 578 passengers. I hope this helps.

52 minutes ago, frankhi said:

New itineraries for 1 and 2

Explora Journeys - Journey Planner EXPLORA I EXPLORA II MAY 2024 - APRIL 2025 31082023.pdf 1.25 MB · 10 downloads

Thank you for the update on Explora 2. The Explora 2 itineraries have changed dramatically.