BWIVince

That was November of 2009...Though similar carpets remained until the Seabreeze refit when the penthouse corridors got an update similar to what Serenity got in 2011, with the new wall coverings, artwork and lighting. Vince

Totally agree we need more details…. I’m sure we’ll hear more shortly. On a normal timeline, the cabin components would normally be entering fabrication roughly between now and the next month or so, for installation late spring or early summer for Serenity, and mid-to-late summer for Symphony. If this plays out on a typical timeline, it will be months before we have actual photos, so updated descriptions will be important before then. In the case of Symphony, I wouldn’t be bothered by unconverted penthouses at all. They’ve only seen a handful of months of service since their last softgoods renovation (furniture and carpets), and I prefer their old bathrooms with whirlpool tubs and separate shower to the shower-only layout, personally. I’d take a classic in a heartbeat. Vince

I have Deck 10’s carpet from that time period at my fingertips, but I’ll have to dig a little for Deck 8’s. 😁 I bet Larry is right though, I’m pretty sure I have a pic of that generation of carpet somewhere. Vince

Totally agree…. The location complicates the options. Clearly Crystal doesn’t see a clear path through that yet either, or something would have been marked on the deck plans. Vince

Keith probably answered what you were looking for, but in case you want all the deets, the full docs are up on the website too... Terms & Conditions: https://www.crystalcruises.com/legal/booking-terms-conditions Cruise Contract: https://www.crystalcruises.com/legal/contract Vince

I'm with you on that... The designated single cabins really don't interest me at this time. I don't think that says anything about the future though... Old Crystal's single supplement policy was an iterative creation based on historic sales data -- something new Crystal has none of yet, from all these new variables. I'm sure their approach to singles will change significantly over the next couple of years, and possibly a bit even before they start sailing), so I don't blame anyone that waits to see before entertaining Crystal as an option. (And for other factors too.) Vince

Your instinct is right (as usual)... It's Symphony. 🙂 Vince

Agreed, but just to be clear I wasn't referring to the CS milestones, I was talking about the actual money A&K paid that goes through the assignment process to the creditors and passengers owed money. But I get it... Vince

This was a popular repositioning itinerary in the past -- Crystal did it in some form almost every year with similar ports. Norfolk, Jacksonville, Charleston, Savannah, Hamilton, Nassau and Baltimore all rotated though in some combination on those itineraries. I did that cruise a couple of times I think, and would happily do it again. It's not exotic, but not everyone is looking for exotic every cruise. (And some, ever.) Vince

If that's true, then does A&K get all that money back they paid for the CS history? And considering that's one of the biggest chunks of change to be paid back to passengers owed money in the assignment pool, I would think people with claims would be more excited about that data being used for something moving forward, since it's one of the few sources of cash back to them coming up. Vince

As Rob mentioned they were run in-house... If Genting feels stiffed, well... Finding a vendor to operate just two small ships at this point is problematic -- most of the vendors have revenue threshold guarantees that Crystal would be unlikely to hit with their passenger load, demographic, and hours the casinos are operated monthly. This was the main reason Crystal couldn't get another vendor when Caesar's exited the cruise vendor segment -- and the dynamics were a lot more friendly to the situation back then. Vince

Not so amazing... It's funny how this keeps getting overlooked. They deliberately BOUGHT the CS Milestone data, which indicates they might have an interest in using it. Maybe, maybe not, but they paid a lot for it. They not only did NOT buy the detailed financial transaction data, but they aren't even legally allowed to it under current data security standards. Apples and oil filters. Vince

How is that supposed to work? 🙂 The Canadian Dollar isn't at par -- why should Crystal sell to Canadians at more of a loss than the rest of us? 🙂 I'm afraid there's logistically going to need to be some kind of fence around that service... There are just too many "Suites" now to be served by that galley, and it's not feasible for the room service galley to do the menus of the main two specialty venues (even if the others did their own). THAT SAID, I wonder if that text wasn't just pasted together too quickly and not accurate updated? It feels like that number needs to be more than the few rooms with Penthouse in their name now, but fewer than the almost the whole ship, that are now "suites"? Vince

+1 to all of that, including the Connie Club... I just hope they update the ventilation system for it -- on Symphony it had been getting kind of "leaky" the past 5 or so years if service, pushing the smoke out in the hallway and up the aft stairs a little sometimes before dissipating. Vince

To be honest, I'm pleasantly surprised at the initial pricing of some of the new lower-end suites... With all the new inventory, the price point may lower still, but even if it doesn't, I'm kind of pleased by the new pricing in this way. Gone is that HUGE gap between staterooms and penthouses. Vince

My only BAD items so far are things are things that I UNIVERSALLY can't stand as trends across the entire travel industry right now... Like few-to-no drawers in the regular rooms. I'm 0-2 for hotel rooms this month with drawers. The elimination of the desk drawers in the rendering for the regular rooms, if true, is on-point for where the industry is going, but is a real 👎 for me. The renderings show a shallow desk drawer like the previous desk, but assuming the two door handles in the symphony rendering are the safe and the fridge, that leaves a loss of 8 drawers and the corner cabinet. 😒 I'll post some random good points for me because I'm sure everyone will cover the "real" ones quickly... 😄 (All points below for Symphony) GOOD - They seem to have flipped Symphony's Tastes so the bar and dining space combine on one side, leaving the Trident seating on the other (where Silk's lunch/dinner window seating was). I appreciated the attempt to create a lounge and bar space that wasn't overwhelmed with table waiter service and galleys, but the awkward zig of the tables for Trident being on the opposite side was disjointed. GOOD - BUH BYE to the original bathroom tiles in the standard rooms. Finally. Finally. Seriously. Finally. GOOD - The renderings seem to keep the a similar color-coding of the previous bedside lamps. That would be kind of cool if actually true, for absolutely no functional reason. Again, I'm trying to post fun random points... 🙂 Vince

Welcome home, Roy! Hope you're finally able to rest up.

Ahh, yeah, I'd have them re-quote it and reference the website, requesting a breakdown. Vince

Sorry I haven't posted more this week... I've had my hands full onsite. I've dug into Symphony a bit this week, and it's pretty much what I expected in the time frame I expected it (with some specific delights and specific disappointments). Serenity's timeline I do have some questions about, but it might make more sense when I get a chance to see what exactly they are doing. This is spot on... I think a culinary arts center is probably feasible -- it wouldn't require a much heavier lift, transport-wise, than the Bistros do, which have a service pantry and no galley access. I think it's less likely that we'll see a restaurant galley that isn't on the existing galley complex service stack though, the way Waterside, the deck 6 (Symphony)/7 (Serentity) venues, Serenity's Stardust, Marketplace and Trident/Tastes are. Not impossible, but definitely challenging, costly, awkward, and not preferable to not have direct access for supplies and prepped food like that. Vince

I'm not sure I understand? All of the cruises I've seen show valid fares on the menu page for each cruise. Vince

I agree completely, but we simply don't know where this is going to land yet. As many will recall I'm not a fan of designated single cabins because they are almost always in less than ideal locations, as we see here with Crystal, but most lines make those one component of their offerings for singles, AND I was in the minority on that opinion on the board. No matter what Crystal says their single supplement ladder is at this point, give it 6 months until the schema has been market tested. Vince

Totally agree…. To that point, that’s why I’m not losing my mind over whatever gets released this week. It’s not the entire future of Crystal, it just represents one moment in time. For example, if the pricing doesn’t meet the market, it will change. If the restaurants don’t meet demand, it will change, etc.. So even if the new entry-level prices are initially out of my price range, some of these market forces have almost certain odds to catch up to them on the very bottom end of their product. Not this week, or this month, but I’m not looking to sail immediately anyway. I’ll add my neighborhood-adjacent rant about people that measure age vs. refit age. Age often locks in general arrangement proportions because in both hotels and ships, it gets VERY costly to make guest rooms fractionally larger/smaller (without combining or splitting whole units), along with most public space allocations. You can affordably change a lot of things after a hotel or ship are built, but it’s crazy expensive to reallocate guest room dimensions and convert rooms into public space or vice versa. In the 70’s and early 80’s there was a turn to bigger guest rooms and bathrooms overall, but since then, general arrangement has been more about density and less about guest amenities and comfort, no matter how the BS is spun. I take the good with the bad on this though, and in Symphony’s case that GA works against us on standard stateroom minimum size and main dining room size, but then swings back in my favor on things like wraparound promenade, public space allocation proportion, and number of public lounges and enrichment areas…. And in the end I value those more than the cabin size. A million times over I’ll take a well renovated and maintained older hotel or ship that allocates space in a way that benefits me than some new ship that doesn’t, just because it’s new. Serenity is in better shape with nicer decor than many ships half her age, including many competitors — a trend I expect to only become clearer as Crystals ships are refit again this year. Vince

…But for a lot of us, it IS about the money. A lot of us (especially singles) can’t afford the fares of other luxury lines because they DON’T have those “small” non-suite staterooms that Crystal did. That doesn’t mean I disagree with your point that Crystal needs to address the perception that the standard staterooms are uncompetitive — their smallest rooms are mostly smaller than any other luxury line’s smallest rooms. From a business plan perspective, of course they want to close that gap and charge the higher per diems that the other lines get for their entry level rooms, but for a lot of us the near-impossibility to combine some of the rooms preserves the potential that some of us will be able to sail with the food, atmosphere and service we need, without the wasted space we don’t. Not all of us want to (or even can) waste all that extra money on space we have no use for. Vince

Especially true with Symphony…. Nothing is impossible if you want to throw enough money at it, but it would be especially challenging to add balconies to the Deck 7 staterooms since they don’t align with the promenade deck and have the ventilation system over the windows in most cases (or under in others). Vince

Isn't that supposed to be a fun of an online forum? 🙂 Airline forums are (generally) worse -- everyone is an armchair CEO. Vince