KenzSailing

Even for Phileas, this is something. Good on you Roy.

We haven't been on it but, as to trains, we are giving serious consideration to the Rocky Mountaineer. Might be worth a look.

These periodic and evergreen PVSA dust-ups are perhaps the only subject about which there is agreement on CC. Anybody wanna talk dress codes/tipping/casinos next?

Hmmm, somehow I don't think Crystal's casino marketing slogan is going to be "loosest slots on the seven seas."

Way past time for the ships' photographers to go the way of the Strolling Strings and the Baked Alaska parade.

Crystal was our cruise line before, well, you know. After looking hard at alternatives we settled on giving Regent a try and boy are we glad we did. We were on a holiday cruise last December on Grandeur, booked another Grandeur cruise while on board. Spectacular new ship, had a great time. (Keep in mind we haven't been on New Crystal, so any comparison I make is to the prior product.) Service: very similar to Crystal. We found the crew to be very solicitous and accommodating. Food(it's subjective and this topic is a minefield) That said, the MDRs are pretty equivalent. Regent has a more expansive menu. Italian: again, if you liked Prego you'll be happy with Sette Mari. Pan-Asian: Umi Uma is of course a Nobu thing. Pacific Rim is more pan Asian in its menu, with much less focus on sushi and sashimi. PR actually fit our taste buds better, but I know the Umi Uma diehards(and they are legion) would disagree. Steak: Regent has a steakhouse, Crystal doesn't(but I am aware of the coming Beefbar.) French: again, Regent does this, Crystal doesn't. We liked Chartreuse very much. Entertainment: Mainstage shows roughly equivalent. Well done productions, solid guest artists. Both companies know their clientele and are not trying to reinvent the wheel(ie, neither is Virgin.) Where I think Regent does have an advantage is in having more venues for artists to perform. For example, after the mainstage show, we loved going to the Meridian Lounge where the house show band would do a solo set after their mainstage gig. Crystal has always had an excellent show band, but no space to showcase them alone, which always struck us as a pity. Regent has a late night piano player in the Observation Lounge. On our cruise he was Geno DeLuca, who is as good as anyone we heard in the Avenue Saloon(and we are Avenue devotees.) The OL isn't an intimate space like the Avenue, OTOH, you can always get a seat. Also, I believe Regent typically has a late night duo going, but never got to their show. One thing: on our cruise the first night mainstage was a sampler of the various house artists. Really helped us figure out our preferred evening flight pattern. Excursions: we were in the Caribbean, never got off the boat. In the end, there's only one way to find out. Like I said, we've already booked another cruise on Regent.

@BWIVincethanks for the kind words pal, I appreciate them. I should have known you'd have beaten me to Gallagher's, by several decades even. Thought of one more anecdote about our NY trip. While I was oblivious to it(kind of my specialty) OLoPP noticed that the Hilton was very busy with young people who were uniformly...pretty. Well, we found out just as we were leaving that the hotel was HQ for some big confab of the IMTA: the International Modeling and Talent Association. Who knew?

Eh, ce n'est pas grave.

Trip Report(deja vu edition): New York, New York; The city so nice we went there twice. Yep, three weeks after our whirlwind sojourn to the City that Never Sleeps, we authored the sequel. I'll spare most of the details except for a morsel or two and this dining report mostly for @BWIVince: the day we got in I wanted to find something that was convenient to our midtown hotel, but still a very much in NY place. One thing or another led me down a path we don't usually trod: a steak joint(I mean, hey, I can cook a steak, and so can you.) Anyway, we ended up at Gallagher's and boy are we glad we did. This place couldn't have been more NY steak house unless Frank was in the next booth over hitting on...(well, you take my point.) Great food(protip: order the prime rib when you make your reservation, they run out) great atmosphere, and the service was even better(none of that gruff waiter shtick like that joint in Brooklyn.) OLoPP loved her carpaccio app and was over the moon about the creamed spinach. No need to mention the banana split for dessert. Also, this from me: the Clams Oreganato are not to be missed. Moving on, note to Vince: the Stephen Starr tie-in to Acela seems to be both real and working well. The coq au vin in first class is pretty good, at least by the Chez's standard. But the real improvement is in biz class: we had one ham and one turkey sandwich(they were fancier than that) and they were GOOD. The bread was fresh, it was moist, the protein was high quality and the accompanying sauces were in little packets so they didn't soggy-up the mains.) Really such a revelation from the hot dog and a bag of chips days(still available for the diehards.) Finally: "Merrily We Roll Along" is the best musical to come down the Broadway pipe in a very long time. Quite the privilege to have seen its absolutely, positively final performance. This doesn't come close to capturing the audience reaction:

Some lucky Crystal employee has just won the longest running office pool in history. It spanned four management teams and one shutdown. It's title was "Pick the date @BWIvince mentions that burned out light." 😁

Exactly right. I just figured that with you, the(un)official Crystal Eggs Benedict Whisperer onboard, you'd be in position to report if Crystal had abandoned that rather idiosyncratic practice of lacquering the sauce to the eggs. Just a bit of fun.

Don't let my silly suggestion detract for a moment from enjoying every minute of your cruise. I take it from your comments the ship is at capacity?

Now this would be a fun cruise to be on, lots of local color, both onboard and off. If only I didn't have a Mediocre Bistro to run... @BWIVincehere's a research project for you. At breakfast in W/side, order the Eggs Benny. Leave it at that, don't specify anything else. See what happens. You know, for science. 😁

I appreciate your perspective. Interestingly, we're sort of starting at the same point and reaching different destinations. Last year my spouse and I cruised on Regent with their included laundry. She was sure she'd never use the service, I was the opposite. Anyway, neither of us ever even searched out the self-serve laundry, and I took great delight in unwrapping the tissue paper from a pair of socks(and other things.) Silly I know, but we all have these little things that put a smile on our faces while we cruise.

This is not an airport, you do not have to announce your departure.

I respectfully disagree. Remember what happened to the specialty restaurants after OC went AI? Demand absolutely exploded. And the only change was that Crystal dropped the (IIRC) $7pp suggested gratuity. Even at the lux cruise lines price point, people can be mighty sensitive to additional charges, even if they're trivial.

Agreed.

Great news, and the timeline is completely understandable given recent history, but in terms of money hitting the cash drawer, 2028 is a long way away.

Crystal has a render up on Instagram.

Yeah, that's us, as soon as the lottery cooperates. We've already got Splendor and Grandeur, but Prestige is over the top? Eh, just give me a cold martini and the lobster tempura in Pacific Rim.

I'll just say this: go Oilers!

Agreed. I CG render isn't exactly a set of blueprints. I'm not getting too excited until some specs come out.

Crystal should leave it to ChatGPT. I hear the results it produces are bullet proof...

Trip report: New York, New York, it's(still) a helluva town. Jaunted off to NYC this past weekend, and hoo boy, 48 whirlwind hours in the Grosse Pomme. Friday, up on the Acela to the Moynihan Train Hall. Dinner that night at Benoit. Great food, service was impeccable, very much like being in a Michelin starred joint in Paris. Striped Bass for OLoPP, quenelles for me(yes, they still serve quenelles, gotta love it.) Next day, breakfast at our favorite diner: Astro. I swear this joint is in every European budget travelers guide ever printed. It's like a mini-UN in there. You're packed cheek to jowl, and learn quickly to stick to the basics on the menu. Love it all. That afternoon, off to the heart of the matter: a production of Steven Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along" on Broadway. This show premiered on Broadway a little over 40 years ago, and (in)famously closed after 16 performances. Now it's commanding some of the highest average ticket prices the Great White Way has ever seen, and Sunday night snagged four-count-em-four Tonys(fun fact, the Tony Award is named for Antoinette Perry.) Starring Jonathan Groff(King George in Hamilton), Daniel Radcliffe(surely I don't have to mention his CV) and Lindsay Mendez(Carousel, Wicked.) Just a transportive experience. I really don't have the words to do it justice. That evening, dinner in the Tavern Room at Gramercy Tavern. Tilefish for me, duck meatloaf for OLoPP. A perfect close to a magical day. Coda: Astro's again, followed by the Acela home. Once back in the door, wow, did that whole thing really happen? A taste of the cake: And this just melted my heart. The arts matter.

I think you're exactly right. One thing I haven't mentioned: when we booked our 2026 cruise, we cancelled the back end of our 2024 BtB. After doing that our front end cruise reverted in My Account to "deposit needed" from paid status, and the Manage my Booking button disappeared again. Fun times.