taxatty

No different in the US. Many establishments still have greatly reduced menus and operating hours for the same reason. The most commonly seen sign here is "Now Hiring."

Who knows why SS won't book you on the MIA-SCN-MIA flights, which how we went last December/January using their air department. Please note that some of those flights may sell out as a lot of Chileans use them to do holiday shopping in South Florida or to visit with family back home, and we only got business class seats (SS couldn't get them for us) through a combination of having AA status, paying cash and AA miles for the upgrades and a lot of sheer luck.

Another issue here--with the Silver Explorer leaving the SS fleet next year, without adding the Endeavor--what (if anything) will replace it in Antarctica, the Kimberley etc.? SS has already shifted from the Explorer to the Cloud beginning November 2023 for the Antarctica fly/cruise packages.

That is precisely what many people I know are thinking, especially because relatively few cruises are currently selling out well in advance. If not ensuring a top suite or another particular stateroom on a ship works for you, there is no compelling reason to have to accept a non-refundable deposit many months before final payment date.

Have you looked at SFO-MIA-SCL and back? The MIA-SCL-MIA flights leave late at night and arrive early in the morning, so you may not need overnight layovers in Miami.

Here's an article on the acquisition: https://thepointsguy.com/news/crystal-cruises-ships-bought-restart/

In addition to the great advice from carefreecruise, keep in mind when you try the parka on that you will be wearing various layers underneath it much of the time--so it may actually need to be a larger size that what you usually wear--I needed the next larger size up for that reason.