Roland4

I had a chat with our Explora DSM at a trade show yesterday. They have heard the "complaints" about food not being available between 2:00 and 5:00, and plans are afoot to address that issue.

March 2020 with Stickman!! And other than some of the fries, we finished it!!

Since you are going to be there four nights, I highly recommend a trip out to Doyle's at Watson's Bay for lunch. You can take the ferry from Circular Quay out to Watson's Bay, and the restaurant is right off the pier to the left! Some of the best seafood in the Sydney area, as Stickman, a good friend, will attest! Reservations recommended, and try the Seafood Tower!!! Just don't plan on a big dinner that evening!!!!

But apparently, room service is only for those who have not been "trained" to have lunch in Waterside! The arrogance in that post is almost breathtaking!

Waitlists are unpredictable. I have put clients on a waitlist that cleared the next day, and others that never cleared. As a minimum, you might not find out until after the final payment date when people decide to cancel rather than make the final. If you work with a TA, ask them to contact Crystal and see how large the waitlist is. Some lines will tell you, some won't, but it never hurts to ask.

I suspect the mistake they made, and to some extent it is inexcusable, was to install non-dimable LED bulbs. We have this problem in our dining room fixture, if you dim them too far they begin to flash on and off, but it was installed seven years ago, and we know how to deal with it. To make that mistake in 2023............. 😮 😮

Having just come off Serenity a week ago, you will feel like you are "coming home" when you board her. Looking forward to your thoughts on the entire trip! Great that you are able to travel again! 🙂

Okay, let me break this down in terms even YOU can understand. Assuming we have two EI slices worth $2,500.00 each which have NOT been applied to a booking. We get back from Moecker $1,000.00 each. Crystal will reduce the EI for each of us to $1,500.00 each on the UNAPPLIED credits. On the other hand, if we have already applied the entire $2,500.00 each to a new booking, then there will be NO reduction of the EI credit. This really is not that complicated. The moral of the story is apply your EI credits ASAP!! The simple fact is, the most any of us is going to get back is about $2,500.00/person and New Crystal had no obligation to do anything. Be thankful that they did and stop whining about it!

I hope the government has relaxed the "dress code" for female tourists! In 2010, all the women had to wear an abaya (sp?) and there was much stressing over how much hair could be allowed to show! In the end, the immigration officers just stamped the passports and moved the line along almost without looking. Best line of the port stop goes to the barkeep in The Cove; "All these people in dark robes going back and forth, I thought I was working in a monastery!"

There seems to be no "middle ground" on the Osterria. People either love it or hate it. We did a Vintage Room on Serenity a week ago and the topic came up. Of the five couples, one loved it, we were "on the fence" (I guess we are the middle ground😄) and the other three were almost violently negative about it, saying they hated it and it was a deal-breaker for them. And these were all long-ttime Crystal guests. As to the menu, we felt the same way about it. On a longer cruise, or the World Cruise, the menu is going to get "old" in a hurry.

Well, for it is worth, he wore it in Waterside, in the Galaxy, for both shows and lectures, and in the Avenue. He looked rather out of place in Waterside, and no, he did not take it off. In the Great White North, we call men who remove their hats inside "gentlemen".

On the 2020 World Cruise we crossed the Dateline Sunday night and the schedule for the Monday said "The day does not exist"! Talk about the perfect way to deal with the "Monday Blues"!!! 😄 😄 😄

I have to say that on our just-completed (we got home today) Serenity cruise, adherence to the published dress guidelines, other than the clown wearing a stetson, was pretty much 100%.

Actually the 180/120 thing may not be an error. Other cruiselines, Oceania and HAL come to mind, on longer voyages have cancellation penalties that kick in 30 to 60 days prior to the final payment date. We just booked 24 days on Serenity next year and the Admin Fee of $250.00 applies up to day 121!

It's a cocktail party idea that OC "stole" from Azamara, and that NC has continued. For the most part it is a non-event and is easily avoided as it only "applies" in the Cove. If you are not wearing "white" I don't think anyone would notice.

Don't hold your breath!! On our foodie tour yesterday we were accompanied by a very nice young lady from A&K in the LA office who designs the shore excursions for the two ships. We had a far ranging chat during the tour and she confirmed there are no plans to bring Symphony back to North America.

Have a great trip!!!

Home again! Left the ship just before 8:00 AM in pouring rain, and arrived home to brilliant sunshine and 20 C/70 F warmth! This was a great trip, as I am sure you have figured out by now. I can best describe it as the exception to that old saying "You can never go home again." Yes you can! 😃😃😃

And now we are in our room, the suitcases have been picked up, and we prepare to leave the ship tomorrow! We did a great "foodie tour" this afternoon in Old Quebec. Four different restaurants over four hours! Started with Heirloom Tomatoe salad in one, followed by French Onion Soup in another, followed by table-side sauteed jumbo shrimp in a third, and wild boar ribs and dessert in a fourth!!! Back on the ship, we still had room for dinner with Jim and Steve!!!! We are now packed up, the big suitcases are gone, and we are ABSOLUTELY NOT ready to leave Serenity tomorrow!! You know you are a "regular" when all of the bar staff give you a hug and ask when you are coming back!

And in other news, that same poor, dead horse continues to receive a beating!!! Give it a rest! 😵😵

Had a chat with Leo, the Matre'd, during dinner this evening. He said they have removed tables from the centre area of Stardust for the Supper Club, and have reduced the maximum capacity to 80 guests to make the experience more comfortable for everyone. He also confirmed that the tables on the upper level on the port and starboard side, other than two two-tops, were not there before.

We left Havre St, Pierre at 6:00 last night and it looked like it might be rough, but the winds, running counter-clock-wise around the centre of the low, meant they were dead astern, so it was a quiet night. We ran out from under the cloud shield about 1:00 PM and sailed in cloudless blue skies the rest of the day. We are getting a bit more movement now as we are running into the current, and the river is beginning to narrow, but it is very comfortable. We are running at 10 knots, as per Canadian regulations in the St. Lawrence, and will arrive in Quebec City early tomorrow morning.

I looked when we were leaving Waterside last night, and other than folded napkins, I guess so it is not obvious, the upper ring tables were not set. Waterside seemed busier last night, but the simple fact is, unless you slow them down, you are literally in and out in about an hour. We didn't mind as we were later eating and we wanted to make sure we got to the 9:00 show. Speaking of which, the show was a new one to us, The Crystal Showband and Friends with Karen Kochakova and Bruce Hammond, the guest entertainer. It featured the brass section of the band and was quite well done! Interesting announcement in today's Reflections. A small "sidebar" article announcing that the mushroom soup would be on the Waterside menu for this evening's second Formal night dinner. There is also a Supper Club tonight, we are not attending, and it will be interesting to see if mushroom soup is on that menu too! Another interesting sidenote, is that even though it is a Formal night/Supper Club, it is the Osterria that will be closed.

Indeed it is, but apparently some prefer to continue to beat the poor dead horse! 😵😵

FWIW, three different staff members, all in a position to know, and whose opinions I trust, have said that guest numbers will increase substantially ("are looking very good") starting in November and leading up to the Holiday Season and the World Cruise.