New booking(s) anyone besides me?

[wearesiamese]

Well today bookings are open to CS members who didn't place an open booking deposit.I look forward to seeing what people are going to book from here on out 🙂

[bonnieg]

I just booked the 2nd sailing on Serenity, Lisbon to Southampton. I had a similar itinerary canceled on me the summer of 2022. I'm excited to be back on Crystal and hoping that these first sailings run smoothly. 

[Texas Tillie]

8 minutes ago, bonnieg said:

I just booked the 2nd sailing on Serenity, Lisbon to Southampton. I had a similar itinerary canceled on me the summer of 2022. I'm excited to be back on Crystal and hoping that these first sailings run smoothly. 

I had a similar cruise booked on the Symphony in 2020. It was 2 days longer and almost 50% less expensive, so this one better be good! 😱

 

Patty

[nancygp]

21 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

I had a similar cruise booked on the Symphony in 2020. It was 2 days longer and almost 50% less expensive, so this one better be good! 😱

 

Patty

Are you booked?

 

Nancy

[Texas Tillie]

1 hour ago, nancygp said:

Are you booked?

 

Nancy

 

Yes, didn't book until day 6 after they started taking bookings and I had to get the most expensive "double" on Deck 7. In 7075, so a good location. The flights on United for business are $1,600 LESS than what I'd booked for 2020! Got all that money refunded as planes weren't going anywhere in June, 2020.

 

Patty

[History&Wine]

6 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

Yes, didn't book until day 6 after they started taking bookings and I had to get the most expensive "double" on Deck 7. In 7075, so a good location. The flights on United for business are $1,600 LESS than what I'd booked for 2020! Got all that money refunded as planes weren't going anywhere in June, 2020.

 

Patty

I don't understand.  You said the MOST expensive double on Deck 7, which would indicate there are different prices for doubles on deck 7.  Looking at the deck plan, it appears all of the doubles are the same category, and I was thinking therefore the same price.  No? 

[Texas Tillie]

3 minutes ago, History&Wine said:

I don't understand.  You said the MOST expensive double on Deck 7, which would indicate there are different prices for doubles on deck 7.  Looking at the deck plan, it appears all of the doubles are the same category, and I was thinking therefore the same price.  No? 

 

It is my understanding that the ones near the front stairs/elevators are a little less than the ones near the middle stairs/elevators. Have they updated the deck plans to show which cabins are which category? This is what my TA understood from the Crystal agent, a week ago Monday.  Of course, we all know that not everyone is getting the same answer to the same question.

 

Patty

[History&Wine]

[History&Wine]

As per the diagram, the forward cabins in orange are the designated solo cabins.  The ones in blue are the doubles, which i would assume are the same price. 

[Stickman1990]

36 minutes ago, History&Wine said:

It may be too early in the morning here and my memory failing me but doesn’t two lots of laundrettes seem unusual on deck 7 of new Serenity or have they always been there?

 

 

[travelberlin]

1 hour ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

Yes, didn't book until day 6 after they started taking bookings and I had to get the most expensive "double" on Deck 7. In 7075, so a good location. The flights on United for business are $1,600 LESS than what I'd booked for 2020! Got all that money refunded as planes weren't going anywhere in June, 2020.

 

Patty

Looking forward to your impressions. Amazing that you got good business tickets. We are struggling with the prices from Europe to South America. They are now the double than last year and  unfortunately lots of cancellations, strikes. etc.

Ivi

[juicyjuju]

My TA let me know that Crystal is not designating any cabins as triple cabins below sapphire suites. Not even in Acquamarine suites

[May B]

3 minutes ago, juicyjuju said:

My TA let me know that Crystal is not designating any cabins as triple cabins below sapphire suites. Not even in Acquamarine suites

Bummer, Julie.

 

On Symphony, there are two connecting on Deck Five. I’m guessing you’re looking at Serenity, though.

[nnn]

4 minutes ago, juicyjuju said:

My TA let me know that Crystal is not designating any cabins as triple cabins below sapphire suites. Not even in Acquamarine suites

 

Wow -- that's a big change from old Crystal.

[Stickman1990]

42 minutes ago, nnn said:

Wow -- that's a big change from old Crystal.

Check everything - never assume that new Crystal with deliver or act like old Crystal - that is becoming increasingly obvious to me 

[wearesiamese]

1 hour ago, nnn said:

 

Wow -- that's a big change from old Crystal.

Seems like a way to discourage families with young /children? Also their total passenger count is based on single occupancy up front,some singles elsewhere, and double occupancy for most staterooms/suites .#rd person or 4th in room would change their  announced  capacity on each ship

[NWX]

50 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

Check everything - never assume that new Crystal with deliver or act like old Crystal - that is becoming increasingly obvious to me 

Interesting because Manfredi bought Crystal because he loved it (or so we were told). If he loved it so much, why so many changes or omissions? Why not give Crystal cruisers what they want, what he "loved" about Crystal? We're getting more turned off by the day...

[Texas Tillie]

3 hours ago, History&Wine said:

 

The deck plans have not been corrected to show the various levels within a category.  Remember how the regular cabins on the old Crystal were A1, A2, A3; B1, B2, B3 - based on location with the fares higher for the ones and the twos higher than the threes.

 

Patty

 

[juicyjuju]

2 hours ago, May B said:

Bummer, Julie.

 

On Symphony, there are two connecting on Deck Five. I’m guessing you’re looking at Serenity, though.

Yep Muriel. It never occurred to me that they wouldn't allow triples except in the largest suites. Back to the drawing board 😞

[NWX]

1 minute ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

The deck plans have not been corrected to show the various levels within a category.  Remember how the regular cabins on the old Crystal were A1, A2, A3; B1, B2, B3 - based on location with the fares higher for the ones and the twos higher than the threes.

 

Patty

 

Why is it so difficult to get it right on day 1?

[bonnieg]

5 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

I had a similar cruise booked on the Symphony in 2020. It was 2 days longer and almost 50% less expensive, so this one better be good! 😱

 

Patty

I know what you mean 😏.  Let's hope for the best!

[Texas Tillie]

1 minute ago, suzeluvscruz said:

Why is it so difficult to get it right on day 1?

 

Know you weren't directing the question to me. ☺️ Wondering myself how long it's going to take to get all this stuff fixed??

 

Patty

[NWX]

12 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

Know you weren't directing the question to me. ☺️ Wondering myself how long it's going to take to get all this stuff fixed??

 

Patty

That's fine. DH has a business and when they have a "roll out" it better be right day 1 minute 1, a carryover from his corporate days! And he's just a small business person, you would think that with the vast resources of A&K they could figure this out. Maybe their resource aren't so vast after all.🙄

[May B]

2 hours ago, juicyjuju said:

Yep Muriel. It never occurred to me that they wouldn't allow triples except in the largest suites. Back to the drawing board 😞

So we should presume they don’t even have a third berth available? I hope you figure something out!!!

[Keith1010]

It's funny how some forget.

 

I remember all the insults about "old Crystal's" website and that was after it had been around for many years and went through modifications.

 

This is a whole new website.

 

Yes they rolled it out with incomplete information.  Yes, they could have waited and just delayed the ships and the selling of cruise until it was 100% right.

 

Anyway, old Crystal was not perfect. New Crystal will not be perfect.

 

Do you remember River Cruise vessels and itineraries announced only to have some completely moved such as the one doing France which we were on?  There was the point in time that several Ocean vessel itineraries changed.

 

Anyway, yes there is a lot of work to be done as part of the restart not only on the website but in other areas.  

 

I continue to believe that the end product will have many similarities to the old one and will build on new areas. Yes, time will tell as it always does.  Having so many former Crystal members come back and that includes so many on the ships and some of the past executives coupled with some new ones from other companies along with other expertise such as from A&K sounds to me like an excellent recipe for a successful product.

 

The poof will be in the pudding and I am looking forward to trying out the pudding as are many of our friends.

 

The funny thing to me was a couple of months ago through a search I found old posts from I believe 2004.  We were still newbies on our third cruise and I read from some Crystal was not like it was.  I also heard that in 2004 when there were complaints about changes to Crystal Society. This is because old or new, or who was the owner, or who was the President, Crystal continued to evolve.  So when it comes to old my question is what year is someone thinking and for some who didn't sail Crystal as long as some, there was quite a bit of the evolution which you may have missed.  I missed some and I started cruising Crystal in 2002.  

 

Keith