Texas Tillie

The Gulf Freeway (I 45, downtown Houston to Galveston) was started in 1954 and there has been construction somewhere along the road every second since then!! 😉🤣😱

The situation with the World Cruise is not unusual. All cruise lines hold a certain number of cabins in all categories hoping that they will get more bookings for the full World Cruise. At a certain point they will release those cabins to be booked by segment. Patty

As a longtime Crystal cruiser/Cruise Critic participant, the decline in the people posting on Roll Calls started a while before Old Crystal went kaput, actually before the Covid shut down. The reasons are probably as varied as the people who no longer post. I have 2 bookings with Crystal but haven't posted on the roll calls and probably won't. I have my reasons, others have theirs. Patty

Oh, I know about Tilman, just surprised that large food operations would allow a "competitor" to own even one of their franchises.

Are you saying they own a Chick-fil-A (correct spelling) franchise and an IHOP franchise? Surprised about that.

It's there if you scroll to the bottom of the page! Patty

Why don't you try the new Crystal, since it's now owned by your favorite Italian? 🤪😉🤣

The answer is almost always $$$. Expect more of this now that Royal Caribbean pulls the purse strings.

No, they don't. The I stands for Intercontinental!

As Texas as you can get! 💖 Patty

Time will tell

Don't I recall that during Edie's "reign" there were some TV ads for Crystal? Patty

I’m much less concerned with the decor than their serving the variety and quality of food we had come to expect at the Bistro. Hint, hint, Portuguese tarts!! Patty

Agree. Tried it once and decided there was no way I'd want to waste calories on it. Think that must be another Royal Caribbean cost cutting. Patty

Both Ancestry and 23andme update and make small changes about once a year. Their numbers are similar, but not identical. 23andme has more detail. Their Jewish % is 9.8 vs. 11 for ancestry. Ancestry doesn’t do fractions, so that’s why 23andme has more detail. My most “interesting” is 0.3 Northern India/Pakistan!!! Go figure!! 😵‍💫 Patty

Yes, and it “counts”, my mother’s mother’s mother. In fact, according to 23andme.com, my haplogroup is K1a1b1a, which is Jewish. Patty

According to ancestry.com I'm just 11% Jewish, so could you please tell me what that is in the second photo? It's a little "suspicious" looking and I need to know before I put it in my mouth! Patty

Uber has made an agreement with the Port to pay the fees necessary to access picking up passengers.

No, these days everyone is doing it. Have certainly seen the same from Silversea.

I'll stay with my original position. Why would Crystal allow people to "game" the program? I'm sure someone will "test" it and let us know.

Saw a post on Facebook that the art instructors will also be back. All of this is very encouraging. I'm excited about the mushroom soup and the carpaccio. Since Nobu is back, I'm expecting all the goodies there. Patty

This sounds like a promo for people who have done trips with A&K before.

Why don’t you try doing it and see if it works?! I can’t as I don’t have any certificates as I was either smart enough or lucky enough to use all my outstanding credits with the old Crystal before they went kaput. Patty

I don’t believe Crystal would allow that as a way to “get around” how they are allowing certificates and B2B. You’d also loose the discount allowed for B2B bookings.

The way I understand it, all cabins have “butlers” but the lower end cabins have “junior butlers”. Guess that means, don’t expect much.