If not Oceania, which cruiseline?

[Mrs f.]

Just now, Mrs f. said:

Food was good. Many nights in the specialty restaurants.  Sometimes there were hiccups. One night in Polo, a server noticed my husband not eating his food. Quietly came over to see what the problem was.....took care of it immediately.  Same restaurant, last night......I left almost all of my salmon on the plate. Server came over to ask if it was not to my liking. I explained this time it was not the food but seasickness.   A sliced green apple was brought.   They really do try to please.     If you are on Regatta you might want to check out our rollcall notes.  We did a 35 day circumnavigation. 

Spent 8 days in Sydney before.  Love it!

[mnocket]

On 1/27/2023 at 9:58 AM, oskidunker said:

Crystal is coming back. Just got an email from them. Never cruised them but would consider after they start if the reviews are good .

A lot of customers lost a lot of money when Crystal went belly up.  I was actually considering booking with them at the time.... dodged a bullet😬  It will take some time, and as you mentioned good reviews, before I would consider booking with them.  It's just not a good time for any cruise line, but perhaps the debt relief of bankruptcy will give them a leg up on other cruise lines?

[GeezerCouple]

7 minutes ago, mnocket said:

A lot of customers lost a lot of money when Crystal went belly up.  I was actually considering booking with them at the time.... dodged a bullet😬  It will take some time, and as you mentioned good reviews, before I would consider booking with them.  It's just not a good time for any cruise line, but perhaps the debt relief of bankruptcy will give them a leg up on other cruise lines?

 

That's an interesting thought!

They won't be starting out in 2023/24 way behind.

Did a new company take them over or was it a re-organization with pretty much the same people in charge; that could make a difference, too...

 

We were just beginning to think about trying Crystal when... that plus the pandemic. 😱

 

GC

[LHT28]

40 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

That's an interesting thought!

They won't be starting out in 2023/24 way behind.

Did a new company take them over or was it a re-organization with pretty much the same people in charge; that could make a difference, too...

 

We were just beginning to think about trying Crystal when... that plus the pandemic. 😱

 

GC

The 2 larger ships are owned  by  A&K Travel Group Ltd.

[Jancruz]

4 hours ago, Mrs f. said:

Anybody know anything about ATLAS CRUISE LINE?    Don't know if they are new. Looks interesting.     Going to check them out

I know them very well as the President is a friend of mine..Feel free to ask me anything right now they have an unreal deal!!

Jancruz1

[GeezerCouple]

31 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

The 2 larger ships are owned  by  A&K Travel Group Ltd.

 

That's very interesting.

Does A&K own other ships?

 

I know that Kensington, at least, often has groups on other ships (maybe full charters; not sure), but I'm not sure if they own any. I guess I assumed that A&K was the same.

 

Are there other Crystal ships?  Or "formerly Crystal" ships?

 

What sized ships were the Crystal ships?

We find the O-sized ships really a really great match for us, but part of that includes the actual deck plans and also "what's on board".  DH likes to be able to "wander around" a bit.  And that large Therapy Pool on Riviera's spa deck is something we really enjoy a lot.  Funny how certain things make a difference.  So although the Marina is otherwise pretty much the same, we'd choose the Riviera IF it were a tie.

However, the itinerary is the main attraction.  We've been delighted on one of Hurtigruten's older ships, too, which was one of our favorite trips ever.

 

One important thing we've found that is very helpful are "expectations", and CC is really an incredible help with that! 🙂 

 

GC

 

[LHT28]

6 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

That's very interesting.

Does A&K own other ships?

 

I know that Kensington, at least, often has groups on other ships (maybe full charters; not sure), but I'm not sure if they own any. I guess I assumed that A&K was the same.

 

Are there other Crystal ships?  Or "formerly Crystal" ships?

 

What sized ships were the Crystal ships?

 

GC

 

I think Endeavor was bought by Silversea    but  you can probably google   where  Crystal ships went

 Symphony & Serenity  I think are about 900 pax  similar size to the O class ships   Serenity had a huge casino  lots of wasted space IMO

Too  many smoking areas   hope the new owners change that 

[zalusky]

2 hours ago, ruthnlarry said:

How was the food on Regatta?  We board her next month in Sydney.  Thanks.

Service was great as mentioned but I thought the food was somewhat repetitive. The mussels when available really skimped on the garlic.  I know it was Australia but it was too south asian focused.  For a long sailing like this I would have preferred more around the world like some Mexican and barbecue nights.   More variation in the soups as well.  For example they had a Chef seafood night in Terrace and they would repeat it the next night.

[GeezerCouple]

4 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I think Endeavor was bought by Silversea    but  you can probably google   where  Crystal ships went

 Symphony & Serenity  I think are about 900 pax  similar size to the O class ships   Serenity had a huge casino  lots of wasted space IMO

Too  many smoking areas   hope the new owners change that 

 

Oh, THANK YOU for mentioning the smoking!

As flexible as we are (I think backpacking is just about the only thing that is now a definite "no" 😉  - oh, and "shared bathrooms" down the hall maybe), if it's difficult to avoid smoking areas, that would be *OUT*, for a variety of reasons, one of which is our health, and not just in principle.  I guess we have sort of started taking that for granted, and we should be more alert...

 

Thanks again, for the reminder, very seriously!

 

GC

[njhorseman]

15 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

I think Endeavor was bought by Silversea    but  you can probably google   where  Crystal ships went

 Symphony & Serenity  I think are about 900 pax  similar size to the O class ships   Serenity had a huge casino  lots of wasted space IMO

Too  many smoking areas   hope the new owners change that 

Yes, Endeavor was bought by Silversea and renamed Endeavour . A&K bought Symphony and Serenity as well as the rights to the Crystal name .

Symphony's capacity was about 950...Serenity about 1,040. Reportedly A&K may be reconfiguring the ships to reduce capacity. They may be combining some staterooms to create larger suites. We'll know more shortly as A&K is supposed to begin to take  bookings as early as Feb. 1 .

Edited January 28, 2023 by njhorseman

[Spotbattman]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

The 2 larger ships are owned  by  A&K Travel Group Ltd.

The original owner of Silversea,  Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio & Geoffrey Kent of Abercrombie and Kent have together formed the new Crystal Cruise line. They will have 2 fully refurbished ships and sail in 2023/24. 
Our first cruise was in 2001 on Silversea and I am really hopeful that the new Crystal will offer the same quality and service as SS did back then. They have  also already wooed several high profile senior SS long term crew members , including their Venetian Society chap, Fernando.
Cruises go on pre sale on Feb 20th and general sale later in the month, I shall certainly be very interested to see what is on offer. 
The Crystal Endeavour,  which had only just started sailing when the company collapsed, was snapped up by Silversea, and has been sailing the Antarctic since late 2022 as Silver Endeavour. 

[TERRIER1]

6 hours ago, Mrs f. said:

Anybody know anything about ATLAS CRUISE LINE?    Don't know if they are new. Looks interesting.     Going to check them out

Their reviews on the Cruise Critic Member Reviews aren't that great. 

[PhD-iva]

6 hours ago, Mrs f. said:

Anybody know anything about ATLAS CRUISE LINE?    Don't know if they are new. Looks interesting.     Going to check them out

I was reading a review of Atlas Ocean Voyages on cruisecritic, and now am less interested. I wasn’t able to copy the URL, so here is just the one off-putting part. The rest of the review is glowing, however one of the best aspects of cruising on Oceania &Regent has been the WONDERFUL pax!

”There is, however, one hiccup: your fellow passengers might not be all that you would wish for. There were only a handful of Europeans, almost 50% American and the other 50% or so originated from the country with the largest population in the world. This meant that you have to accept that there will be passengers who always barged to the front of the queue/line, who hold their phones up in front of you in the auditorium, who talk on their phones in the auditorium, who eat, drink and rustle sweet papers in the auditorium, speak English but the words 'Please', 'Thank you' and 'Excuse me' rarely pass their lips (if ever) and whose table manners left an awful lot to be desired (an attractive young woman on the table next to me at lunch actually spat out her food).”

[Jancruz]

31 minutes ago, PhD-iva said:

I was reading a review of Atlas Ocean Voyages on cruisecritic, and now am less interested. I wasn’t able to copy the URL, so here is just the one off-putting part. The rest of the review is glowing, however one of the best aspects of cruising on Oceania &Regent has been the WONDERFUL pax!

”There is, however, one hiccup: your fellow passengers might not be all that you would wish for. There were only a handful of Europeans, almost 50% American and the other 50% or so originated from the country with the largest population in the world. This meant that you have to accept that there will be passengers who always barged to the front of the queue/line, who hold their phones up in front of you in the auditorium, who talk on their phones in the auditorium, who eat, drink and rustle sweet papers in the auditorium, speak English but the words 'Please', 'Thank you' and 'Excuse me' rarely pass their lips (if ever) and whose table manners left an awful lot to be desired (an attractive young woman on the table next to me at lunch actually spat out her food).”

Oh for heavens sake..James just became President and relaunched a few  months ago..dont read old reviews ..he is changing up everything on the ships..and I know it will be wonderful..

Didnt you ever just try something because you wanted to without going to the computer..I only believe a small portion of what is written and always important whos writing it..

Thats my last word on this subject..I repeat if you need to know anything ask me..

Jancruz1

[PhD-iva]

5 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

Oh for heavens sake..James just became President and relaunched a few  months ago..dont read old reviews ..he is changing up everything on the ships..and I know it will be wonderful..

Didnt you ever just try something because you wanted to without going to the computer..I only believe a small portion of what is written and always important whos writing it..

Thats my last word on this subject..I repeat if you need to know anything ask me..

Jancruz1

The sail date was December 2022. 
https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=694566

Edited January 28, 2023 by PhD-iva
Add url

[TERRIER1]

8 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

Oh for heavens sake..James just became President and relaunched a few  months ago..dont read old reviews ..he is changing up everything on the ships..and I know it will be wonderful..

Didnt you ever just try something because you wanted to without going to the computer..I only believe a small portion of what is written and always important whos writing it..

Thats my last word on this subject..I repeat if you need to know anything ask me..

Jancruz1

 

8 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

Oh for heavens sake..James just became President and relaunched a few  months ago..dont read old reviews ..he is changing up everything on the ships..and I know it will be wonderful..

Didnt you ever just try something because you wanted to without going to the computer..I only believe a small portion of what is written and always important whos writing it..

Thats my last word on this subject..I repeat if you need to know anything ask me..

Jancruz1

The sail dates were recent.

[LHT28]

New Crystal is coming soon but you can give them money now  for undisclosed sailings

will wait  to see

if they operate like the Old Crystal  I will pass

[Jancruz]

34 minutes ago, TERRIER1 said:

 

The sail dates were recent.

Ok that was  the only problem the rest was a really nice review..I bet that lady isnt on a cruise you go on..and if she is report her..

LOL

Jancruz1

[TERRIER1]

8 minutes ago, Jancruz said:

Ok that was  the only problem the rest was a really nice review..I bet that lady isnt on a cruise you go on..and if she is report her..

LOL

Jancruz1

????  All I said was that the reviews I read were recent. I have no idea what "lady" you are referring to.

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

I was reading a review of Atlas Ocean Voyages on cruisecritic, and now am less interested. I wasn’t able to copy the URL, so here is just the one off-putting part. The rest of the review is glowing, however one of the best aspects of cruising on Oceania &Regent has been the WONDERFUL pax!

”There is, however, one hiccup: your fellow passengers might not be all that you would wish for. There were only a handful of Europeans, almost 50% American and the other 50% or so originated from the country with the largest population in the world. This meant that you have to accept that there will be passengers who always barged to the front of the queue/line, who hold their phones up in front of you in the auditorium, who talk on their phones in the auditorium, who eat, drink and rustle sweet papers in the auditorium, speak English but the words 'Please', 'Thank you' and 'Excuse me' rarely pass their lips (if ever) and whose table manners left an awful lot to be desired (an attractive young woman on the table next to me at lunch actually spat out her food).”

I spent 4 years traveling to that country once a month for business and you just cured me from cruising with Atlas. Thank you.

[Jancruz]

1 hour ago, TERRIER1 said:

????  All I said was that the reviews I read were recent. I have no idea what "lady" you are referring to.

Sorry wrong board

You are so correct  recent reviews are always great to have..

Jancruz1

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

On 1/23/2023 at 11:30 PM, ak1004 said:

Very timely and relevant topic.

 

We base our cruises on itinerary and price. Probably won't go back to the big ships, but would consider any of the luxury/premium lines. Currently booked on 3 Oceania cruises, one SB and one SS. Checked Regent, but they always came out way too expensive. We liked Azamara, but would probably book a suite only if the itinerary is really good and price is reasonable. Same for Oceania R class ships. So far from what I checked, PH prices on R ships don't make sense, can book SS or SB for a similar price.

 

Oceania reducing time in ports is a concern, the question is if the trend continues. We probably won't book a cruise where all or most ports are 9am-5pm. 6-7pm still fine.

I've heard a lot about the reduced times.  But our cruise has only one hour that's recently been reduced on a 14 night cruise.  And it was in one location where I'm guessing most people won't even need the 9 hours we're still  scheduled to have.  And in one port we gained an hour, though both changes could have just been completely unrelated to the initiative we're discussing. 

 

In any case, my focus is 75% itinerary, and I love the port intensive cruises Oceania offers.  I can't afford anything more expensive than Viking, which for us is a little more expensive than Oceania, given the way I book and my priorities.  But with Viking, times aren't even reflected on their website up front, so I have no idea how long we're even likely to be in each port.  And my experience has been that Viking ships are more likely to skip a port, which makes me a little wary of booking an itinerary that goes somewhere I really, really want to go.  But it's a great cruise line, especially for new cruisers, and cruisers who expect to be well taken care of.   I just prefer Oceania, and my cruise in May showed no decline from before the start of Covid, so unless/until I notice any real decline, I'm quite likely to continue using them at least 3 out of 4 times.  

[MSEm]

We have completed many ocean and river Viking Cruises. Service has always been excellent. We enjoy the variety of food, including the spicy entrees and the salads in the buffet. If we order something from the grill at the pool, we always split the item, such as hamburger or hot dog.

We have not purchased the Silver Beverage plan. On Viking the mini refrig in the Penthouse & above are stocked with soft drink and mini bottles of rum, gin, etc. I normally check the wine offered at lunch and dinner.  I have sampled the offered wine.  If I did not care for the wine, the waiter has always asked why and brought a different wine for me to try.

Both O and V have "free" launderettes now. I wonder if I can exchange my O laundry tokes for OBC?

On Viking in PH and higher cabins there is "free" laundry no limit on number of bags or items. On Oceania the PH free laundry is limited to 3 bags of 20 items.

I have always asked and received a delay in final payment.

If you want a Casino or Big shows, Viking is not for you.

At this time I would cruise with either O or V.  The itinerary is the  deciding factor.

[Jmoondance]

Playing card and bean bag toss for entertainment is too much for us to handle on Viking Cruise.🙃

One and done for us!

 

 

 

[jonthomas]

19 minutes ago, Jmoondance said:

Playing card and bean bag toss for entertainment is too much for us to handle on Viking Cruise.🙃

One and done for us!

 

 

 

 

and NO O points....lol