Booking question

[Emdee]

22 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

As is the norm, Vince is "spot on". I was on the Silver Muse last month and the room, cabin, suite (whatever you choose to call it) was lovely and spacious. That, however, was the only thing "better" than Crystal. Most things were worse, in some cases much worse. I went in knowing that the entertainment and enrichment would be inferior. What actually surprised me was how inferior the food and service was compared to Crystal. A very minor example, I ordered the same cocktail 4 nights in a row before dinner, 3 of those nights in the same bar. It was never the same twice. Hoping the new Crystal will be close to the old Crystal. We shall see (time will tell is getting a little shopworn 🤪).

 

Patty

I so agree with you. Felt the same with both the SS cruises we did the last two years. 
SS itineraries are excellent though. We are still itinerary driven for everything except the Caribbean. So hoping for some new and interesting itineraries along with favourite ones in the days to come. 

We were recently looking over some of my Serenity dining pics with a former Crystal chef and were amazed at the huge wow factor of those dishes compared to the pedestrian offerings we have received on other luxury lines. I can do a lamb shank on a pile of potato mash as well as anybody and Jon Ashton’s short rib recipe is a sure winner. 

[ak1004]

22 hours ago, SnoBirdCruiser said:

There is an old saying: that once you stay in a veranda stateroom you will never go back to a window stateroom.We started out in window cabins back in 1991 our very first cruise. We were young and it didn't matter. These were 10-12 day cruises(we never did any 7 day cruises). then one year we were lucky to get an upgrade to a veranda cabin and we never booked a window one again.

Having said this, it will be entirely up to you....if all you do is sleep there, you might not miss the veranda...we enjoy using it for reading,  and the enjoyment of a private drink overlooking the ocean.

 

If you are cruising on Crystal, remember, once you leave your cabin, everyone  enjoys the same benefits of these fabulous Crystal ships. There are no "separate" lounges or dining rooms for the higher class of staterooms. This is one of the reasons we love Crystal.

Pat and Ray

 

 

Everyone is different. As you mentioned, for us the cabin is a place to shower and sleep, so we couldn't care less about a veranda. On our last SS cruise we booked OV and were upgraded to veranda, used it mostly to dry the swimsuits.. 

 

And yes, everyone is treated the same on Crystal, as on all luxury/premium lines.

[ak1004]

2 hours ago, BWIVince said:

 

…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

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

After our first cruise with Crystal in 2019 we booked 4 more, and the main reason was that the entry level cabins were significantly cheaper than SS or SB. I really hope it stays this way with the new Crystal, otherwise it will not really be competitive. We don't care much about the cabin size, but if we can book a 300+ sqft cabin on a 5 years ship for the same price as 210 sqft cabin on a 25 years old ship, the choice is pretty obvious.

[Texas Tillie]

6 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

After our first cruise with Crystal in 2019 we booked 4 more, and the main reason was that the entry level cabins were significantly cheaper than SS or SB. I really hope it stays this way with the new Crystal, otherwise it will not really be competitive. We don't care much about the cabin size, but if we can book a 300+ sqft cabin on a 5 years ship for the same price as 210 sqft cabin on a 25 years old ship, the choice is pretty obvious.

 

However, if the food, service, entertainment, etc. is inferior on the 5 year old ship, is the cabin size the be all and end all. Seems to me you need to consider the entire package.

 

Patty

[ak1004]

5 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

However, if the food, service, entertainment, etc. is inferior on the 5 year old ship, is the cabin size the be all and end all. Seems to me you need to consider the entire package.

 

Patty

 

Absolutely!! 

 

But it also depends on the itinerary. For port intensive European itinerary, the entertainment/enrichment is less important since you are in port most of the day. Out of all luxury lines, we sailed so far on Crystal and SS, and while overall Crystal was better, I would say they were comparable to me in terms of food and service, maybe with slight edge to Crystal. 

 

For us, the ship is not the destination. We are itinerary driven, but still want a small ship experience, with no lines and crowds and good food and service.

[KenzSailing]

Well, we've moved on from a verandah vs window cabin discussion to that oldie-but goodie: how much cabin is enough cabin?

 

To which I say: toe-MAY-toe, toe-MAH-toe.  We all have different wants and needs, and those can even vary by cruise. We've always said that two people who get along can do just fine in a Crystal standard cabin.  Then, I recall that years ago there was a drop-in from the Regent board who concluded that she and her spouse could not possibly cruise Crystal again without being in CP.  She's definitely a toe-MAH-toe.  Fine, feel free to subsidize my cruise fare.

 

This discussion is also why I'm completely comfortable that Crystal is going to preserve plenty of cabins at the old dimensions(note I said "plenty" not "as many as before.")  Crystal, IMO, has a loyal set of customers who are more price sensitive than the folks on deck 10 and are traveling solo. In fact, while they may be underrepresented on this board, it's reasonable to argue that this is Crystal's most loyal passenger cohort.  These folks are willing, anxious even, to trade sq footage and knowledge that they're stepping onto a 25 year old(impeccably maintained and updated) ship for a lower tariff and a genuinely lux experience once they step out their cabin door.   I'd even argue that the category of cruise line Crystal fits into could be called "luxury where it counts."  Of course, this all hinges on them delivering with the new product.

 

As always, YMMV.

 

TWT.

 

XYZ, ETC.

 

 

[SnoBirdCruiser]

4 minutes ago, KenzSailing said:

Well, we've moved on from a verandah vs window cabin discussion to that oldie-but goodie: how much cabin is enough cabin?

 

To which I say: toe-MAY-toe, toe-MAH-toe.  We all have different wants and needs, and those can even vary by cruise. We've always said that two people who get along can do just fine in a Crystal standard cabin.  Then, I recall that years ago there was a drop-in from the Regent board who concluded that she and her spouse could not possibly cruise Crystal again without being in CP.  She's definitely a toe-MAH-toe.  Fine, feel free to subsidize my cruise fare.

 

This discussion is also why I'm completely comfortable that Crystal is going to preserve plenty of cabins at the old dimensions(note I said "plenty" not "as many as before.")  Crystal, IMO, has a loyal set of customers who are more price sensitive than the folks on deck 10 and are traveling solo. In fact, while they may be underrepresented on this board, it's reasonable to argue that this is Crystal's most loyal passenger cohort.  These folks are willing, anxious even, to trade sq footage and knowledge that they're stepping onto a 25 year old(impeccably maintained and updated) ship for a lower tariff and a genuinely lux experience once they step out their cabin door.   I'd even argue that the category of cruise line Crystal fits into could be called "luxury where it counts."  Of course, this all hinges on them delivering with the new product.

 

As always, YMMV.

 

TWT.

 

XYZ, ETC.

 

 

Surprise, I agree with you. The regular cabins are small but there was more than sufficient drawers and closet size to accommodate us for longer cruises.

For us, the ship was the destination and to be honest, it still is, regardless of what line(only Regent) that we cruise with .

[BWIVince]

2 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

After our first cruise with Crystal in 2019 we booked 4 more, and the main reason was that the entry level cabins were significantly cheaper than SS or SB. I really hope it stays this way with the new Crystal, otherwise it will not really be competitive. We don't care much about the cabin size, but if we can book a 300+ sqft cabin on a 5 years ship for the same price as 210 sqft cabin on a 25 years old ship, the choice is pretty obvious.

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

[sullaRaffaello]

To me, the ship is the destination. Except for the WC, the itinerary is irrelevant. That's why I mostly book crossings. A cabin is just to bathe, change clothes, or sleep in. Otherwise, I'm in the public areas. The last two years, I was on Seabourn and Silversea. While I had a great time, the ships couldn't hold a candle to the Serenity or Symphony. With their narrow corridors and low ceilings, I felt like I was in an office building. There's nothing on those ships that remotely compares with the  two level Crystal Plaza, or the Starlight on the Symphony, or the Promenade on deck seven. I've never booked a balcony on any ship. I've been upgraded to them and they're  very nice, but not worth the money that's charged for them. My first experiences on ships were on 2 and 3 class transatlantic liner tourist class inside cabins that make Crystal's window cabins on deck seven look like penthouses. In the final analysis, a passenger ship is about dining and service.