hypercafe

It's true, so far unless you want to sail Crystal no matter what their trips, pricing, web site and ship info is not inspiring.

The deal here is there are two camps here. One would sail the N Crystal no matter what while the other says waite and see. Each group is busy trying to prove their position. Time will tell.

Many spaces on a cruise ship are not used by everyone. I hope they bring in a cassino. I would never use it but then I would never use a dance host, take a computer class, play bridge or sit in the library however I don't wish for their demise.

I don't know what the N Crystal is going to do, as for SS smoking was never a problem for me on their ships. For me I have nothing against new or old Crystal but I would not invest tens of thousands of dollars on a unknown line. It's just me, if reviews are positive, price point is OK and I like the trip I would sail with them. At this point I am in Waite and see mode.

A position I wouldn't want to be in.

All these questions will be answered after fokes come back from the first trips. Then people can make informed decisions if N Crystal is a fit for them, until then it's all just speculation.

I have a trip booked for this Fall on SS Silver Nova, NYC to Barbados in a superior veranda door to door pricing without air. Price of $560 pp per night. A similar trip on Crystal Serenity this fall, Quebec to Miami in a similar size cabin, Aquamarine Veranda is $741 pp per night. Crystal is $181 pp per night more than SS in this case.

I would think anyone in the know about travel today knows flying is like buying a lottery ticket, odds are against a good trip. I also wonder how anyone today can trust an unknown company with no track record to plan your vacation and give them money and your time. At least with other lines we can read reviews, talk to an experienced air department and make a choice based on passed performance.

Guess having the last word is only great for cheer leaders as it's very common on this board.

If someone is happy to pay $1000+ a day for a vacation it's really hard to believe free laundry would be a big deal. I also wonder who goes on a vacation just because they can attend a few hour talks about cruise ships, space or the civil war. It's all fun but my goal is to see something different, meet different people and just relax. I enjoy trips from NY at least one way and the Crystal trips so far are inferior IMO. If better ones come up, time will tell.

Let's just the new Crystal is a carbon copy of the old, only it costs a lot more with different cabin configuration. People have to decide if it's still a good value for them. No matter what old doesn't equal new.

I am sure there will be unbiased reviews however I also read a lot here about booking long trips and the world trip. I love cars and have many both old and new. I wonder how many would buy an unknown brand in the six figures with just a artist rendering, no test drive and no review and have it delivered to their driveway?

People want storage, bridge games, a casino, dance hosting, better trips, really a rebirth of the old, out of business Crystal. I don't care about any of the above, I want the old Crystal prices back as they were my cheap ride. That's pie in the sky so I want to read unbiased reviews and decide what their value is compared to other lines. I feel at this point booking with Crystal is like like buying a mystery box, could be good or really disappointing.

I really don't thing getting your CS points from the defunct company is any consolation for loosing thousands of dollars. That said this is all a dead horse both defending the defunct Crystal and complaining about them. As I said we should all start from zero just like we were booking a trip on any new Cruise line.

For me it has gotten old to read here from the cheer leaders forget the old Crystal, they have no connections to the new company, have no obligation to your loss just forget it and move on. Then the next post is I want my CS points and as a past cruiser of the other company I want special treatment. To me it's a new company and we ALL start at zero.

Viking ocean does not one and is doing very well. I bet Crystal is trying to get someone to run one but maybe the old Crystal stiffed the industry.

In the same talk he talked about how great Crystal was as it won all these awards however these awards were from the Crystal he just disemboweled from. Double talk.

Things like these statements really turn me off to the new Crystal. Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards winner for 27 years in a row Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards Winner 24 years in a row. They haven't sailed one trip, in a different part of the same PR they talk about not being part of the old Crystal when it comes to money but then want to talk about 27 years of awards they had nothing to do with.

Some I was interested in also had too many sea days. I was thinking Crystal may be locked out of some ports as they are late trying to get spots.

I often wonder about these blanket food comments. I have had great food and service and not so good on all lines. The worst Italian dish I ever had, I sent it back, was in Prago on Crystal. My last Crystal cruise was with fixed dinning. We were forced to eat second sitting at a two top stuck in the back corner of the dining room, no matter who I asked to change to first sitting I was told NO. Best table side roast was Queens Grill on the QE2 and best brunch I ever had was on Celebrity Summit trans Atlantic. Best pool party on Europa2.

No, the itineraries are the same old as I would expect. The choice is price and what value you base on the cruise line.

Nice web site, the ships look very nice and the pricing and on board experience is what I expected. Next step is to read reviews as people return from some trips. I expect they will be like the others, some will like it and some will not. I will let the dust settle before I book a trip

Funny, with the ships size and new passenger numbers they are the same as the Silver Nova, a new class for SS.

Seeing the itineraries would be great, I hope they will be accompanied with the new deck plans of the ships. There has been no talk of that

Just got a call from Crystal Cruises in Miami. As a valued past guest they wanted to give me a chance to give them $500.