This is the Title

nowhere special, i always wanted to go there
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Re: BoSox and the Crystal Skye

Post: # 2401Post bodogbodog »

drib wrote: Tue Jul 02, 2019 1:52 pm It's not just you
I've been told - apparently it's fine - just what the client ordered - I bet they didn't order THAT

Some of the posters seem to think we don't have charter aircraft down here in Australia - or that the old Stickman couldn't possibly have flown in one...

To me that looks like a very poor effort on the catering front - particularly from a luxury airline
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Future Cruises - who knows if cruising ever resumes? But maybe they’ll include these ones
May 2022 - Silversea Silver Muse - Tokyo to Vancouver - 21 days - nope Japan was closed
Dec 2022 - RSSC Explorer - Singapore to Sydney
Feb 2023 - Silver Muse - Cairns to Singapore
September 2023 - RSSC Explorer - Vancouver to Tokyo
December 2023 - RSSC Explorer - Sydney to Auckland
Dec 2023 - Crystal Symphony - Auckland to Melbourne - 16 days - nope Crystal went belly up

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Re: This is The Title

Post: # 2404Post SuziQ »

They lost me at the yellow pus-coloured stuff poured "artistically" on top of the dreadfull looking hunk o' cow. Such artistry. Yuk! LOL and the vegies look a bit dire too. Nope, I'd be sending it back. I'll just have some cheese instead please. :? Or perhaps more :drink: ?

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new to Crystal question

Post: # 2454Post drib »

I think this should stand, but just in case ...
LHT28 wrote:On BTO night is there a place to eat dinner if you do not wear a Jacket or are you stuck with room service in your cabin?
ellbon wrote:Yes there is. It is their idea of a Brazil Steak House. I never been as I really hate red meat. There are soups. salads, veggies etc. Much easier to bring a jacket as 90% of the ship has one on. You have a choice of 4 other places to eat on BTO night. I am not sure if i ever seen anyone without a jacket unless very late in a bar. There also the supper club on most BTO nights.
Stickman1990 wrote:Maybe not but they would be in a minority in terms of dress code which is BTO in all venues except those where Crystal Casual is allowed. You will note I did say “theoretically” in my first post. It’s interesting Crystal say no jeans allowed in the casino and other venues on BTO so presumably that’s a firm rule

Sure there are always those who think the dress code doesn’t apply to them
LHT28 wrote:Yikes sorry I asked 😲
Stickman1990 wrote:I wasn’t referring to you - but you will see them on most cruises
Stickman1990 wrote:There are Chicken and Prawn, Pineapple skewers as well as the salads and hot dishes on offer so you’re really not limited to red meat. Maybe worth trying - what’s the worst that could happen?
NottheMonkey wrote:She [LHT28 or ellbon?] could go, choke on a prawn, and we would be in thirty days of mourning on this board. Keith would wax eloquent about everyone's preference is theirs and should not be judged, whether they leave her a flower adorned wreath or just a card. Vince would be on point and throughly contrite at the same time. Roland would remind that the offering plate is value based and one should not skip because the preacher does put forth an effort and is just not here to offer heavenly credit. Cats and dog will sleep together. The end is nigh!
The only thing that got skewered there was the chicken, prawn and pineapple.

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Re: This is The Title

Post: # 2462Post Stillnotmonkey »

Woot! I made the hall of fame. I want to thank all the whiskey that made the humor possible... :clap:

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, are either the product of the author's imagination or fair representations without any malice or judgement. :cheers:

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Re: This is The Title

Post: # 2463Post drib »

Oh no. There can be no victory laps until a moderator (on that other message board) deems your post unsuitable and removes it. And you cannot enter the Hall of Fame until you've been banished!

However, I must admit that getting eight likes and such on a single post is pretty impressive.

Image

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Re: This is The Title

Post: # 2464Post Stillnotmonkey »

:bow:

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Re: This is The Title

Post: # 2490Post Stillnotmonkey »

Bringing up swinger cruises? Good or bad? :whistle:

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Re: This is The Title

Post: # 2491Post drib »

Stillnotmonkey wrote: Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:59 pm Bringing up swinger cruises? Good or bad? :whistle:
Is what good or bad? Talking about it, or going on one?

I never had an issue with there being such cruises. But I thought it was an indication that Crystal was in trouble, that they would book them - one ocean cruise and two river cruises that I know about. Crystal is under different management since they booked those, so maybe they wouldn't do that again ... no matter how bad sales are. I'll look on that known web site for new swingers cruises, just in case.

======

I did not see anything that was obviously Crystal, but I was surprised to see Paul Gauguin and Azamara Quest both jumping into the Fuck Pile in 2020.

https://www.llvclub.com/package/tahitian-rhapsody-2020/

https://www.llvclub.com/event/desire-re ... 9-26-2020/

I think Azamara has had such charters before.

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Re: This is The Title

Post: # 2492Post Stillnotmonkey »

No, thought someone was talking the dates of one you had mentioned in the past here but realized it was an older thread here - different year. My memory was bad. Was just going to have some fun with it.

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Regent Splendor - When is it going in the water?

Post: # 2526Post drib »

I thought the song was pretty innocuous, but I had a feeling they might remove the Natalie Wood joke later on. Instead, they removed the whole thing!

Caroldoll wrote:When will it be in the water
...
drib wrote:
:music: She was afraid to come out of the dockyard,
And we're as nervous as we could be.
She was afraid to come out on the water,
And so we wait till she sails out to sea.

[chorus]
Two, three, four, tell the people about Splendor!

[refrain]
She is a ritzy-glitzy, hippie-shippie, perfect metaphor martini,
That sets sail only four months away.
A ritzy-glitzy, hippie-shippie, fish eggs on a rounded blini,
And through the nose we are willing to pay.

[chorus]
Two, three, four, what's the ship that we adore?

Bop, bop, bop, bop, B-dop, bop, bop, bop, bop.

:music: She is built from much steel and much marble,
And the mistakes from her sister are no more.
She is built from much steel and much marble,
And on the theater aisle we'll not trip on the floor.

[chorus]
Two, three, four, what's behind the galley door?

[refrain]
She is a ritzy-glitzy, hippie-shippie, Sette Mari bowl of clams linguine,
That sets sail only four months away.
A ritzy-glitzy, hippie-shippie, built in the land of Mussolini,
And through the nose we are willing to pay.

[chorus]
Two, three, four, the all-inclusive they will pour!

[added verse]
:music: Now she is billed as luxury perfected,
And I wonder what I'm gonna do.
Can I write these true lyrics undetected?
Without telling Cruise Critic fuck you.

[added chorus]
Two, three, four, the censor is a dirty whore!

[added refrain]
She is a ritzy-glitzy, hippie-shippie, words disappear just like Houdini,
And she sets sail only four months away.
A ritzy-glitzy, hippie-shippie, censorship is so obsceni,
And Cruise Fucking Critic is going to pay.


The original quote continues ...
drib wrote:From the dockyard to Barcelona,
From Barcelona to Miami shore,
From Miami to San Diego,
Guess there isn't any more.
Hambagahle wrote:That is FUNNY !!! But there is (to me anyway) a SERIOUS error in the lyrics. She sails Feb 6. Which is, believe it or not, three months away!!
Will Work for Tiramisu wrote:Splendor in the Seagrass!!
drib wrote:From Halloween [1] up to Thanksgiving [2],
From the Turkey to Santa Clores [3],
From the Santa up to the Groundhog [4],
That's how I count the months by fours.
Bellaggio Cruisers wrote:I bet most people don’t get the connection. They are too young. Splendor in the Grass was one of my favorite movies. Natalie Wood. I think it was from the 50’s.
drib wrote:Oh dear ... I hope the connection isn't that neither Natalie Wood nor Splendor could pass a sea trial.

Note that Bellaggio Cruisers is also wrong about the release year for Splendor in the Grass. It was 1961.


If you're not familiar with the tune, it's this:

itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny

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Re: This is The Title

Post: # 2527Post bodogbodog »

They gotcha good! - the censors are alive and well on CC
Email - bodogodog@gmail.com

Future Cruises - who knows if cruising ever resumes? But maybe they’ll include these ones
May 2022 - Silversea Silver Muse - Tokyo to Vancouver - 21 days - nope Japan was closed
Dec 2022 - RSSC Explorer - Singapore to Sydney
Feb 2023 - Silver Muse - Cairns to Singapore
September 2023 - RSSC Explorer - Vancouver to Tokyo
December 2023 - RSSC Explorer - Sydney to Auckland
Dec 2023 - Crystal Symphony - Auckland to Melbourne - 16 days - nope Crystal went belly up

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Re: This is The Title

Post: # 2537Post Stillnotmonkey »

True art is never appreciated the way it should be.

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true art

Post: # 2540Post drib »

Well, we will never know why it was removed. It probably was not because of the Natalie Wood joke though, which I think is objectively funny. More likely is that Regent didn't like their new ship sharing couplets with Mussolini - or the moderator was being proactive about that.

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Whole Maine Lobster in Prime 7

Post: # 2541Post drib »

There's nothing about this thread to indicate that it's in danger of being censoratized (yes, that's a word *). I just like it and want to do a running commentary about it here.

kjbacon wrote:Could a lobster lover order two whole lobsters for dinner in Prime 7 (or even 3, our friends tell us his record is 5 whole lobsters)?
BBWC wrote:Definitely yes. One time my husband ordered “two or three” and they understood 2x3, so brought him six!
kjbacon wrote:That’s positively awesome ... Regent rocks!

There's only two degrees of separation between this guy and Slater's 50/50.

wcsdkqh wrote:Awesome, maybe. Disgusting, definitely.
ronrick1943 wrote:That would be a lot to eat at one seating.😁
poss wrote:Just to say that twice when I ordered lobster, it came very over-cooked. (The lobster on board has also been frozen, as I'm sure you know, and as is to be expected. Not at all the same beastie as one would be eating if it had been pulled out of the water moments before.) Since I do love whole lobster, even lobster that's been frozen faute de mieux, I decided to try once more. I asked the server please to bring me an undercooked lobster. Et voila! So if you're a major lobster lover, and want to be sure it's not overcooked, maybe just ask to have it slightly on the undercooked side?

Something I can't remember: the size of those lobsters. I suspect that they were around two pounders, since I don't enjoy picking at the chicken lobsters or even the pound and a halfers. So there, too, if size matters to you, maybe tell your server you don't want anything under two lbs.

Bon Appetit!
kjbacon wrote:This made me laugh. A child could eat 2 lobsters!

I once ate a lobster in my pajamas. How it got into my pajamas, I'll never know.

SWFLAOK wrote:I definitely agree.
wcsdkqh wrote:Go back and re-read. Talking about 6 lobsters.
SWFLAOK wrote:A child could eat 2 chicken lobsters, and that's not what they should be serving at Prime 7. I don't want to encourage Regent to serve undersized Maine Lobster onboard the ship so I was once and done. And mine was not only undersized, but overcooked.

https://www.quora.com/Why-are-1lb-lobst ... n-lobsters

SWFLAOK wrote:Ordering 6 lobsters is disgusting, definitely.

So this user name sounds a lot like a dating acronym starting Single White Female Lesbian 👌. (As opposed to male lesbians.)

johncb7 wrote:No wonder there are so many obese people these days!!

Sonya Thomas once ate forty-four lobsters totaling 11.3 pounds of lobster meat in twelve minutes. Sonya Thomas, also known as the Black Widow, looks like this:

imgy

jagoffee wrote:Except no one actually ordered 6 lobsters. 2 or 3 according to the post.

Maybe they meant 2^3? Eight lobsters!

orvil wrote:I've always found the lobster disappointing because it is so overcooked. I avoid it for that reason.

Thanks for the tip to order it undercooked.

Don't try this trick with eggs.

kjbacon wrote:There are 27 calories in one ounce of lobster and 79 calories in one ounce ribeye steak. The ribeye steak in Prime 7 is 18 ounces, that’s 1,422 calories. With 3.25 ounces of meat being the average in a one pound lobster and 4 ounces in a 1.5 ounce lobster, averaging up to 3.75 ounces, it would take 14 whole lobsters to equal the calories in that single steak.
johncb7 wrote:What about the cholesterol !!!!

* source Travis Bickle

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Re: This is The Title

Post: # 2543Post Stillnotmonkey »

That deserves a full "Bork, Bork, Bork"! :lol:


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swedish chef

Post: # 2544Post drib »

Why do I have the feeling that I'm being set up for a bacterial streptococcus joke?

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Re: This is The Title

Post: # 2548Post Stillnotmonkey »

:laugh:

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gone in 60 minutes (or less)

Post: # 2555Post drib »

Under the title "Where is Travel2Cat?"
KiscoB wrote:I have not seen her post in a few months. She has been very helpful answering my questions, and I had some more for her regarding an upcoming cruise.

does anyone know if she is okay or her husband? Thank you!
ronrick1943 wrote:I was thinking the same thing. I don't always agree with her, however I do get a lot out of her post. Hope all is OK, I think they should be cruising in March from San Diego to Miami. So if your reading CC let us know you're OK.
WesW wrote:If you click on Travelcat's avatar you will note that her posts are now severely limited by CC, "Members Limited Reaction to Content." Tho, she is allowed to post on her Explorer Roll call thread.

Do know since you asked about another Regent cruise critic that has been sanctioned by cruise critic management--you can expect this thread to be deleted in short order.
CBWIR wrote:I've also noticed the recent civility on the Regent board.
EAGLESLOVER wrote:Are you saying that TC2 has been censored by CC?
WesW wrote:Hi Eagleslover (btw, love that the Niners r 9-1), if you click on your avatar or others, it says "Members.". When u click on Travelcat's avatar it says, "Members Limited Reaction to Content." So, yes it appears so.
rallydave wrote:Well, she did post several times in the past week or so on a Roll call for a TA Lisbon to London that she was leaving on Thursday for Lisbon and would be posting a Live From for the cruise. Not sure where she will be posting but, that appears to be her next cruise starting the end of this week.

And, isn't the civility lately a wonderful thing on the Regent CC Board?
PinkMEB wrote:I’ve been wondering why she she wasn’t responding also. How do you click on your avatar?
rallydave wrote:simply click on your avatar which in your case is a capital P on an orange background on the left side of any of your posts. to see anyone's avatar, click on theirs wherever it appears. Provides information about the member as well as a list of their recent posts and reactions plus reactions by others on their posts.
I have two takeaways from this exchange. First is that there is a restriction that can be placed that doesn't effect Roll Calls. (Although I couldn't see the text that WesW referenced.) And second, that someone had to ask how to click on an avatar.

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Holiday 2020 Cruise Fares - Crystal vs. Regent

Post: # 2571Post drib »

I don't think I'll try to save everything from this thread ... it's too late, some posts are already gone. For example, prior to writing "I'm going to double down on the "struggling" narrative," Keith1010 objected to my characterization of Crystal as struggling. Both my first post using that word, and Keith's objection to it are already gone.

But this post is still there, so I'll save it here:
drib wrote:I'm going to double down on the "struggling" narrative.

Crystal struggles, and will continue to struggle, because they are slow to identify and implement trends. They were slow to implement all-inclusive, they were slow to implement open seating. They were slow to implement business casual attire. They were slow, and still are slow, to implement new ocean ships. (New management has been in place since mid 2017 - that new ship should have been announced by now.) They were slow to add or "spice up" new specialty restaurants.

Earlier today, I was writing about how Magic Castle at Sea has been around since 2013, but instead of figuring out the next new thing, they're going to continue with that under a new name. They're always skating on their reputation, and frankly, their ocean ships, physically, aren't really luxury anymore. They're lagging behind Viking in that respect. (If Crystal wanted a foothold on river ships, those too should have come online five years earlier.)

Crystal management is made up of followers, not leaders, and I think that's why they're always struggling to fill their ships.

I will fully stipulate that Crystal service is second to none, that their cuisine is excellent most of the time, and that their enrichment programs are better than most ... but even so, their sales force has to work way too hard fill those ocean ship, despite now having fewer cabins. *

======

* Observer was right that they often fill them with travel agents, which I experienced first hand in 2014 at a table for eight, six of whom were travel agents. It was very frustrating for me because they couldn't talk about the business!
There are a lot of good posts on the thread, so I'll save the HTML, and dig it up later if it appears anything else is missing.

I'm not planning on posting there again - I generally like to state my case and leave. But there are two cases on the thread, one about the actual topic, which is well described in the subject, and one about how Crystal is living in the past. But I will say something here about what Vince wrote there:
BWIVince wrote:I don't disagree one bit that Crystal is the most conservative line about evolution, but I point that finger not at Crystal's management, but their passengers. IMHO I've heard lots of great ideas over the years -- some tried and some that never made it that far -- but at the risk of offending people here, as a whole Crystal's passengers are among the most change averse I've ever seen in luxury travel. I feel like the lack of changing, and the massive amount of engineering and transition that goes into making big transitions feel small, is actually considered a feature by many of Crystal's clientele and not a bug like you present it. Crystal's management knows from market research what the market wants -- but you can see the process they have to go through every time they need to implement these changes.

In case anyone needs backup documentation for my observation, please see hundreds of pages of complaints about All Inclusive, trash can doilies, alternative dining themes, toiletry brands, bedside linens, lounge pianists, smoking policies, dress codes, and so on.

Again, that doesn't make your point untrue, I just see it through a little different lens. ...
My problem with that is - and I hope I'm not mischaracterizing Vince - that he's giving Crystal Management (CM) a free pass.

Nobody gets a free pass!

Maybe CM actually believes that their press releases are true. But all their best in class awards, 25 years running, are bogus in the present. If all those awards were true, and not just living in the past, then CM should not be struggling to fill up their ships. (And why is it that they's never even won a Wilburrrr? Their CEO is even named Wolber! Why aren't they bribing me, instead of their passengers, to get the award?)

CM should be taking lessons from Viking Ocean Management (VOM). How is it that VOM is filling up their many, many, ocean ships while requiring full payment one year in advance? Their fares are not inexpensive, in fact they're pretty similar to Crystal where there are similar cabins. I don't think VOM is worried about change at all. They're just doing something right that CM is not.

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Shorter Itineraries and their impact on cruise experience

Post: # 2572Post drib »

This:
keith1010 wrote:ak104, I looked up your itinerary . You booked a great one ...
drib2020 wrote:Dubai to Rome was once a great itinerary, but this route has turned into a gauntlet of terror. The Captain metaphorically presses the petal to the metal and tries not to make eye contact until the ship reaches the Mediterranean Sea. Clearly, would-be passengers are supporting my position by voting with their dollars, pounds, and euros, or not voting, whatever the case may be.

Until recently - and my data only goes back to 2014 - Crystal has avoided the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, taking the route around South Africa, from Dubai, instead. Those trips always sold well. (Of course the Crystal ocean ships were a lot younger then!) Going forward, my guess is that Crystal will return to that route, because they are really struggling to unload cabins on the Dubai to Rome route, in both 2020 and 2021.
You don't have to tell me that I use unnecessary commas. I already know, that.

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