New booking(s) anyone besides me?

[BWIVince]

5 hours ago, suzeluvscruz said:

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.🙄

In fairness, we haven’t gotten to day 1 yet — we’re still in the presales phase, and in the travel industry that’s ALWAYS in flux to some degree until planning is finished, and even then some changes still occur (to a smaller degree) until implementation is complete and the product is launched.

 

This is HARDLY the last thing that’s going to change until their plans are finalized — or even we get through shakedown…. That’s going to be a whole other adventure of changes.

 

Vince

[BWIVince]

48 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

In fairness, we haven’t gotten to day 1 yet — we’re still in the presales phase, and in the travel industry that’s ALWAYS in flux to some degree until planning is finished, and even then some changes still occur (to a smaller degree) until implementation is complete and the product is launched.

 

This is HARDLY the last thing that’s going to change until their plans are finalized — or even we get through shakedown…. That’s going to be a whole other adventure of changes.

 

Vince

I just got a question on this via email so I wanted to expand on something I said…. Pre-sales means pre-opening sales, meaning the sales base before the launch…. Not the sales phase before sales open, because that’s not a thing.  😊 

 

Vince

[NWX]

7 hours ago, BWIVince said:

In fairness, we haven’t gotten to day 1 yet — we’re still in the presales phase, and in the travel industry that’s ALWAYS in flux to some degree until planning is finished, and even then some changes still occur (to a smaller degree) until implementation is complete and the product is launched.

 

This is HARDLY the last thing that’s going to change until their plans are finalized — or even we get through shakedown…. That’s going to be a whole other adventure of changes.

 

Vince

I hear you but it should have been right day 1 for bookings, with complete and correct information on rooms and locations and prices. And at least some idea of the plan. Manfredi has been wanting to buy Crystal for a couple of years, surely he knew what he was buying and what it offered in the past that people loved. That's why we're holding off - will there be similar enrichment with lectures? theme cruises? headline entertainers? Surely there are some plans in the works even if not solidified. I would hate to get on board and have nothing to do but a jigsaw puzzle.

[Texas Tillie]

2 hours ago, suzeluvscruz said:

I hear you but it should have been right day 1 for bookings, with complete and correct information on rooms and locations and prices. And at least some idea of the plan. Manfredi has been wanting to buy Crystal for a couple of years, surely he knew what he was buying and what it offered in the past that people loved. That's why we're holding off - will there be similar enrichment with lectures? theme cruises? headline entertainers? Surely there are some plans in the works even if not solidified. I would hate to get on board and have nothing to do but a jigsaw puzzle.

 

I'm not as concerned that the details of enrichment, entertainment, etc., are

not available yet. It does bother me that being able to tell which cabin is what iteration and what that cabin's fare will be for a specific cruise is still not available on the website.

 

Patty

[NWX]

6 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

I'm not as concerned that the details of enrichment, entertainment, etc., are

not available yet. It does bother me that being able to tell which cabin is what iteration and what that cabin's fare will be for a specific cruise is still not available on the website.

 

Patty

I'm not so concerned about details of enrichment, etc, I just want to know it will be there. I'm with you on the web site, we're 2 weeks in and it's still not complete!

[May B]

2 hours ago, suzeluvscruz said:

I hear you but it should have been right day 1 for bookings, with complete and correct information on rooms and locations and prices. And at least some idea of the plan. Manfredi has been wanting to buy Crystal for a couple of years, surely he knew what he was buying and what it offered in the past that people loved. That's why we're holding off - will there be similar enrichment with lectures? theme cruises? headline entertainers? Surely there are some plans in the works even if not solidified. I would hate to get on board and have nothing to do but a jigsaw puzzle.

The likelihood of that happening, imho, is zero.

 

I guess I’m a more trusting soul than you are.

[AtA]

On 2/16/2023 at 11:28 AM, suzeluvscruz said:

I'm not so concerned about details of enrichment, etc, I just want to know it will be there. I'm with you on the web site, we're 2 weeks in and it's still not complete!

Actually Crystal is/was the only line that actually gave you the details of who the entertainment/lecturers etc were going to be. The other big 3 have been vague and on 2 we were disappointed.  Only Regent has lived up to expectations for both. The other 2 lines were amateur hours. 

Now having said that i’m guessing Crystal will be going all out to get the best in those aspects. I’m hoping that like in the past they will be post all the details on their website 

[bitob]

We had excellent entertainment on our 2 Silversea cruises

Every cruise is different

The speakers were former Crystal speakers!!!

The singers were outstanding -- tremendous talent.

 

 

 

 

[NWX]

37 minutes ago, AtA said:

Actually Crystal is/was the only line that actually gave you the details of who the entertainment/lecturers etc were going to be. The other big 3 have been vague and on 2 we were disappointed.  Only Regent has lived up to expectations for both. The other 2 lines were amateur hours. 

Now having said that i’m guessing Crystal will be going all out to get the best in those aspects. I’m hoping that like in the past they will be post all the details on their website 

I am not so concerned about details NOW but will want them as we had them in the past. I won't be guessing anything at this point, it's all too up in the air for me to blindly book something, not knowing anything about what the expected on board experience might be. Crystal could give us some idea.

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, bitob said:

We had excellent entertainment on our 2 Silversea cruises

Every cruise is different

The speakers were former Crystal speakers!!!

The singers were outstanding -- tremendous talent.

 

 

 

 

Now the question is will the former ones stay there and or come back home.

 

Time will tell.

[bitob]

18 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

Now the question is will the former ones stay there and or come back home.

 

Time will tell.

Nothing precludes a speaker or entertainer from working on multiple cruise lines. Crystal doesn’t own these folks. They are not employees.   
 

and with only 2 ships crystal cannot provide full employment for any of them 

Edited February 18, 2023 by bitob

[Keith1010]

5 minutes ago, bitob said:

Nothing precludes a speaker or entertainer from working on multiple cruise lines. Crystal doesn’t own these folks. They are not employees.   
 

and with only 2 ships crystal cannot provide full employment for any of them 

Time will tell.

 

Let's see what happens.

 

Speakers don't have full employment. Most I know come on a few times in a year. Only a few go longer.

 

And as to entertainers it depends who they are. Crystal had a couple of them on enough that they didn't need other gigs at sea and supplemented them on land.

 

Others of course went from ship to ship.

 

Again time will tell.

 

It always does.

 

 

[travelberlin]

I have just returned from a cruise to Tierra del Fuego and the Falklands. We had two very good speakers: Dr. Jean Kenyons and Dr. Joe Coffey. Does anybody know if they were also once guest speakers on our original Crystal?

Ivi

[BWIVince]

6 hours ago, suzeluvscruz said:

I am not so concerned about details NOW but will want them as we had them in the past. I won't be guessing anything at this point, it's all too up in the air for me to blindly book something, not knowing anything about what the expected on board experience might be. Crystal could give us some idea.

I think we’re at least a couple months away from knowing details, but no one “expects” anyone to book before then either — it’s just an option.  Bookings are open for people that want to book, the early adopters per se, but a lot of people expect more details before they book a vacation of this magnitude, and that’s great as well.  Booking other trips until the details or actual reports appear is fantastic for everyone that works best for.

 

Vince

[trlagt]

I would like to know if the bridge program will be part of the enrichment.  As said, I don't require details just want to know if it will exist before booking.  Holding off until it is announced.

[TER777]

19 minutes ago, trlagt said:

I would like to know if the bridge program will be part of the enrichment.  As said, I don't require details just want to know if it will exist before booking.  Holding off until it is announced.

I have heard from multiple reliable sources that it will.

[FlyerTalker]

On 2/15/2023 at 11:28 PM, Keith1010 said:

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.

 

From the days of the Flying Fjord Woman.

 

I remember the roasting that ER took.

 

 

[Stickman1990]

27 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

From the days of the Flying Fjord Woman.

 

I remember the roasting that ER took.

She earned it - the stupid 1% club was one most did not aspire to be associated with 

 

Yes sadly the Crystal website and customer portal never quite got there - memories of how many times I had to repeatedly long into it - and the never ending change your password prompts - not something I’ve had to endure with other lines recently 

[SpanksfortheMemories]

4 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

From the days of the Flying Fjord Woman.

 

I remember the roasting that ER took.

 

I found this somewhere online today, and while I don't think it's funny, it shows to go that it's hard to get rid of a Flying Fjord Woman once she is on the Internets.

 

Edited February 19, 2023 by SpanksfortheMemories
Note it was dated October 8, 2016.

[NWX]

10 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

 

 - memories of how many times I had to repeatedly long into it - and the never ending change your password prompts -

I thought I was the only one and doing something wrong!