Air Through Crystal Is Available and Pre & Post Hotel Program Coming Soon

[Keith1010]

A friend of mine mentioned that you can know get quotes from Crystal about getting air through them so I wanted to pass that along.

 

For those of you who are interested in pre and post hotel programs they are coming.  TA's should know this but for those who didn't have their TA's ask wanted to pass that along.  And yes many never use a Cruise Hotel Program but some people prefer it even if it costs more such as single travelers or those who just need a helping hand.

 

Keith

[StoryMag]

Great news Keith! Already booked my air, but still need a Lisbon hotel. I will give it another month for the hotel and transfers to be nailed down.

[AtA]

1 hour ago, bitob said:

The air program could be great if it functions the way SS and Regent handle it.

When I cannot find a good mileage deal (rare), I have gotten some amazing rates from each airline

 

Silversea -- London to Tucson on Delta Business/First class - $599 pp!!!

Regent - LAX to Qatar in a Qsuite! - 2000 pp 

 

Those fares are amazing. 

 

Regent includes a hotel stay precruise in certain categories of suites but you can take the credit.  I find most included hotels are not located where I want to be.

SS air program is a disaster. Tons of posts talking about the issues. Including them waiting till the last minute to let you know what airline, etc

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, AtA said:

SS air program is a disaster. Tons of posts talking about the issues. Including them waiting till the last minute to let you know what airline, etc

Excellent point.

 

For us I want to be in control so I would book my own air.  I am very particular about that.  When it was included as part of the World Cruise I used the Crystal air but back then we could tell them what we wanted.  A couple of times purchased it for the family but we were specific with the flights we wanted. I don't want surprise at the last minute plus if we change planes I like much longer times than the airlines say are safe.  I do believe in Murphy's Law.

 

 

Keith

[ctjon]

A suggestion - we don't usually use the Crystal hotel program but have booked separately at the same hotel.  Depending upon what city/port have also booked the Crystal transport to the dock.   We have been treated the same at the hotel as the booked through Crystal folks with help from the Crystal desk, luggage transport.

Sure it doesn't always work but has worked for us several times.

[Stickman1990]

2 hours ago, AtA said:

SS air program is a disaster. Tons of posts talking about the issues. Including them waiting till the last minute to let you know what airline, etc

Certainly not our recent Silversea Air experience - booked well in advance, using first tier airlines, good communications on flight changes initiated by the airlines and gate details at the time we flew - and great value for money in terms of the air value as part of our overall fare 

 

Have you actually used Silversea Air yourselves or are you relying on here-say?

[bitob]

3 hours ago, AtA said:

SS air program is a disaster. Tons of posts talking about the issues. Including them waiting till the last minute to let you know what airline, etc

I got my SS flights 7 months in advance.

No problem whatsoever.

[bitob]

53 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

Certainly not our recent Silversea Air experience - booked well in advance, using first tier airlines, good communications on flight changes initiated by the airlines and gate details at the time we flew - and great value for money in terms of the air value as part of our overall fare 

 

Have you actually used Silversea Air yourselves or are you relying on here-say?

Same here -- great experience

[Texas Tillie]

1 hour ago, Stickman1990 said:

Certainly not our recent Silversea Air experience - booked well in advance, using first tier airlines, good communications on flight changes initiated by the airlines and gate details at the time we flew - and great value for money in terms of the air value as part of our overall fare 

 

Have you actually used Silversea Air yourselves or are you relying on here-say?

 

I didn't have a problem either, but I suggest you read the various threads on the Silversea board. The air department can be described as hit or miss, at best. So, it's not just us awful Crystal "cheerleaders" saying it.

 

Patty

[AtA]

1 hour ago, Stickman1990 said:

Certainly not our recent Silversea Air experience - booked well in advance, using first tier airlines, good communications on flight changes initiated by the airlines and gate details at the time we flew - and great value for money in terms of the air value as part of our overall fare 

 

Have you actually used Silversea Air yourselves or are you relying on here-say?

No we did not for a good reason. 

First they wanted us to use their car service to take us to an airport one hour and 5 miles out of their 50 mile limit for using the car service. Meaning we would have to pay the car service a premium to drive us one hour from our local airport. We were flying to NY. Our local airport which is 10 minutes from our house has 4-5 flights a day going to the 3 NY airports. 

Why would we do that?

And as for being here say, it is all the comments from all the CC pax who had issues directly with SS air. Way too many to be an anomaly 

[AtA]

Hear-say. Darn spell check

[bitob]

I am not required to use their car service when I use their air.

In fact, I just booked air one way -- the return home.  Booked my own air with miles to Reykjavik.

 

Better to post from personal experience.

 

[bonnieg]

7 hours ago, StoryMag said:

Great news Keith! Already booked my air, but still need a Lisbon hotel. I will give it another month for the hotel and transfers to be nailed down.

Per my TA, Crystal is using Sofitel Lisbon Liberdade $440/1 night, $800 for 2 nights, including transfer to ship. I'll be booking a hotel on my own. This one doesn't have the greatest ratings on tripadvisor.com.

[Texas Tillie]

24 minutes ago, bonnieg said:

Per my TA, Crystal is using Sofitel Lisbon Liberdade $440/1 night, $800 for 2 nights, including transfer to ship. I'll be booking a hotel on my own. This one doesn't have the greatest ratings on tripadvisor.com.

 

Interesting, since I'm a solo I'm sure they are charging $660, at least, for a solo. That's the hotel where I'm staying, room 250 euro (so $275 US or less), and I know taxis from the airport and to the ship won't be all that much .No, the Sofitel isn't as luxurious as the hotel old Crystal used at Lisbon, the Ritz Four Season, but it's more than fine for one night.

 

Patty

[Cruiseswithfamilyornot]

I cruised the Silver Endeavor in December to Antarctica and just came off the Regent Seven Seas Explorer within the last week after a trip from Sydney to Bali.    Both very recent trips.  I live in New York and so didn't have any issues with either, as flights were fine.  However, I read tons of complaints on Cruise Critic and heard from fellow passengers there were tons of issues with both Silversea and Regent air.  It seemed to me if you were flying from a place that wasn't a major hub, they sent you all over the place to get home and any kind of air deviation was a bloody fortune.  Many people were booked on multiple connections where they didn't need to be and there were seats available as per them.  This was not me, I am relying on what other passengers said to me(or to everyone when they were upset with a raised voice).   I can tell you I looked into doing an air deviation on Regent and the surcharge was outrageous.   So I think it all depends on who you ask and where they are located as to what their experience was with air.  Personally, I prefer to have more control as others have said as my flights on Regent were definitely not the best or fastest available but to make a change would have been out of this world kind of expensive.  

[bitob]

16 minutes ago, Cruiseswithfamilyornot said:

I cruised the Silver Endeavor in December to Antarctica and just came off the Regent Seven Seas Explorer within the last week after a trip from Sydney to Bali.    Both very recent trips.  I live in New York and so didn't have any issues with either, as flights were fine.  However, I read tons of complaints on Cruise Critic and heard from fellow passengers there were tons of issues with both Silversea and Regent air.  It seemed to me if you were flying from a place that wasn't a major hub, they sent you all over the place to get home and any kind of air deviation was a bloody fortune.  Many people were booked on multiple connections where they didn't need to be and there were seats available as per them.  This was not me, I am relying on what other passengers said to me(or to everyone when they were upset with a raised voice).   I can tell you I looked into doing an air deviation on Regent and the surcharge was outrageous.   So I think it all depends on who you ask and where they are located as to what their experience was with air.  Personally, I prefer to have more control as others have said as my flights on Regent were definitely not the best or fastest available but to make a change would have been out of this world kind of expensive.  

Wow. Guess I’ve been really lucky with air on both cruise lines. Couldn’t have been better if I’d booked the flights myself. It’s the only 2 times I’ve ever used cruise line air. 
 

With regent my ta told me to choose flights I wanted and I chose Qatar qsuites. No problem. Ss getting me back to tucson — not exactly a hub—.London to Denver/Denver to tucson on delta business/first.   

[AtA]

5 hours ago, bitob said:

I am not required to use their car service when I use their air.

In fact, I just booked air one way -- the return home.  Booked my own air with miles to Reykjavik.

 

Better to post from personal experience.

 

So if i didn’t have to use their car service, I’d still have to drive one hour from my house to get on a plane of their choice versus going 10 minutes from my house. 

[Cruiseswithfamilyornot]

I'm sorry Bitob but to say that there are no issues with Regent or Silversea Air when there are multiple threads on both of their cruise critic boards with stories that contradict this, I guess you were just very lucky I agree.  I respect your opinions and experiences and am not trying to be argumentative, but that does not correspond with my experiences over the last few months with both nor match threads on Cruise Critic about people complaining about the air departments of each( I had read these threads before I took my cruise on each which is why I was very familiar.  I do a lot of research):

 

 

Regent has many threads with people complaining about air as well here was one I saw with something on the custom changes in air from this year:

 

For the record, I like both Regent and Silversea and actually have cruises booked on both of them in the future.   I just came off cruises on both over the last few months as my OP indicates.   Like everything about cruising, it is a story of personal preferences.  While I was ok with the air(though would have preferred some changes which I would not do due to both of their high deviation fees) there were many passengers on both cruise lines that were very vocal about disliking what they got.  I could give some of the horror stories, but as these are things that I did not experience myself I don't think that would be fair and there are many posts on this topic from the people who actually experienced it.   Personally, I prefer the option of booking my own while getting a quote of going through the cruise companies air as many times I have found their air to be very attractive for most lines.

 

As a means of background, I have been on Silversea and Regent both pre pandemic and post Crystal's shut down.   Crystal was my preferred cruise line for luxury cruising(since only two ships they didn't always the itinerary I was looking for and had to book elsewhere sometimes), and I was very sad to see them shut down.   Many reasons for that, but those were personal to me of course. Both Silversea and Regent are two lines I quite like in many ways, and since I love cruising and am not going to stop cruising while waiting for a cruise line to return(under new ownership and there will be changes no doubt as discussed exhaustively), I am booking on those two as well as excited to try out Explora Journeys and new Crystal as well.  Hoping to find a favorite luxury line again that fits what I want which I know is different then what others want as well.

 

 

 

[Keith1010]

Hi there. This thread was supposed to be about Crystal air and the Crystal hotel program.

 

Would it be possible to keep to the topic?

 

I was hoping that as time goes along people might share information about the Crystal program. 

And before someone tells me this is CC for the consideration of those of us who want to focus on the new Crystal I am asking kindly that we get back to the Crystal programs.

 

bonnieg and Patty many thanks for the additional information about the program and Sofitel.

 

I have not stayed at this Sofitel but my wife and I have been in there several times most recently in the Fall of 2018 when our back to back cruises on Serenity ended there. The lobby area looked nice and like a typical Sofitel.   For those who wanting something more luxurious they are certainly available in Lisbon.  The Sofitel is in a location were it is easy to get out to walk on your own and not very far from the cruise terminals although distance depends on which pier Crystal gets but either way by vehicle they are relatively close. In my case we walk it when we are there for turn around days or transiting through.

 

I am glad to hear that the pricing is available for this as I knew they were working on this and the plan is to have pre-and-post hotels for the turn around locations.

 

Keith

 

 

[bitob]

2 hours ago, Cruiseswithfamilyornot said:

I'm sorry Bitob but to say that there are no issues with Regent or Silversea Air when there are multiple threads on both of their cruise critic boards with stories that contradict this, I guess you were just very lucky I agree.  I respect your opinions and experiences and am not trying to be argumentative, but that does not correspond with my experiences over the last few months with both nor match threads on Cruise Critic about people complaining about the air departments of each( I had read these threads before I took my cruise on each which is why I was very familiar.  I do a lot of research):

 

 

Regent has many threads with people complaining about air as well here was one I saw with something on the custom changes in air from this year:

 

For the record, I like both Regent and Silversea and actually have cruises booked on both of them in the future.   I just came off cruises on both over the last few months as my OP indicates.   Like everything about cruising, it is a story of personal preferences.  While I was ok with the air(though would have preferred some changes which I would not do due to both of their high deviation fees) there were many passengers on both cruise lines that were very vocal about disliking what they got.  I could give some of the horror stories, but as these are things that I did not experience myself I don't think that would be fair and there are many posts on this topic from the people who actually experienced it.   Personally, I prefer the option of booking my own while getting a quote of going through the cruise companies air as many times I have found their air to be very attractive for most lines.

 

As a means of background, I have been on Silversea and Regent both pre pandemic and post Crystal's shut down.   Crystal was my preferred cruise line for luxury cruising(since only two ships they didn't always the itinerary I was looking for and had to book elsewhere sometimes), and I was very sad to see them shut down.   Many reasons for that, but those were personal to me of course. Both Silversea and Regent are two lines I quite like in many ways, and since I love cruising and am not going to stop cruising while waiting for a cruise line to return(under new ownership and there will be changes no doubt as discussed exhaustively), I am booking on those two as well as excited to try out Explora Journeys and new Crystal as well.  Hoping to find a favorite luxury line again that fits what I want which I know is different then what others want as well.

 

 

 

Don’t be sorry. I said I must have been lucky. I only post about my own experiences. Doesn’t mean others don’t have contrary experiences 
 

one thing I wonder about in terms of my luck. I have a sensational ta. He worked out all the air arrangements for me with each cruise line. I never dealt with their air departments 

[PaulMCO]

It's not the air departments fault on any of these cruise lines.  Unfortunately it is the airlines.  They keep changing schedules.  My MCO to IST on LH (via FRA) has changed three times in the last 6 months.  The air departments are having a hard time.  So much so that Regent has changed the deviation program to 210 days (versus 270 days) prior to departure because of all these changes.   The scheduling issues can be attributed to many things including capacity issues, lack of planes, the Ukraine war etc..

 

Then when you have Terminal Fires at JFK, ground handling strikes in Germany, contractors cutting fiber lines in Frankfurt, outdated IT infrastructure at all US carriers, idiots at the FAA loading incorrect data into a NOTAM  system and earthquakes -- what do you expect peace and calm??

[oakridger]

@PaulMCOI would LOVE a little Peace and Calm right now.☮️

🌏🌍🌎

~Nancy

[BEAV]

[Keith1010]

9 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

It's not the air departments fault on any of these cruise lines.  Unfortunately it is the airlines.  They keep changing schedules.  My MCO to IST on LH (via FRA) has changed three times in the last 6 months.  The air departments are having a hard time.  So much so that Regent has changed the deviation program to 210 days (versus 270 days) prior to departure because of all these changes.   The scheduling issues can be attributed to many things including capacity issues, lack of planes, the Ukraine war etc..

 

Then when you have Terminal Fires at JFK, ground handling strikes in Germany, contractors cutting fiber lines in Frankfurt, outdated IT infrastructure at all US carriers, idiots at the FAA loading incorrect data into a NOTAM  system and earthquakes -- what do you expect peace and calm??

And I love when you plan your air and if like me I have a long layover after studying all the options. Then the airline changes the flight(s) and my very carefully planned flights become change of flights with almost no time to spare. Legal?  Yes.  Crazy? Yes, at least for me.  

 

I always say one if not the biggest challenge of cruising is getting to the port of embarkation and if you have a time commitment to be back home the second biggest challenge is getting from port of debarkation back to your home city.

 

I wonder if someday it will be beam me up Scotty. However what happens if they can't put us all back together and there is no Scotty or Mr. Spock to help us.

 

Keith

[travelberlin]

12 hours ago, BEAV said:

If only that were true…I could tell you several stories about the problems with the train companies…

Just to give you an example, in November last year I had book a journey from Irvine, California to San Luis Obispo. Amtrak canceled Irvine as a train station and did not even told me. The next place where I could get the train was Los Angeles. Fortunately, since I always double check my bookings 48 hours in advance, I was able to get to LA by car to take my train.

In Europe is not better. Currently Convois de Portugal is on strike from February 8th to February 21st! I was about to book a train ticket with them for April from Porto to Lisbon and after reading the reviews, decided to take a private car transfer instead.

Ivi

Edited February 21, 2023 by travelberlin