For me: safety and sanitation, destination of cruise (ports), value for my US$ and general ambiance. We understand food on mass market cruise lines in not going to be wonderful, but as long as it is decent, we are OK.

Average age of passengers is an issue, but isn't a deal killer. My husband refuses to travel with a tux and will not book a ship that has assigned main dining and fixed dining times unless there are enough options to avoid the MDR.

I'm not kidding anyone when I say that with its price increases, Crystal has marched itself out of what we are willing to pay.

I have no earthly idea why the name of this thread is Cruise Critic. It should be entitled Disgruntled Crystal Cruisers.

I like "Freedom of Information Action" better.

Would you feel the same way if all these negative posts were about HAL?

If HAL oversells and over-hypes and over prices itself, let 'em have it. HAL has earned my loyalty, but am no blind apologist. Nor should the candid discussion of Crystal get silenced the way it does on Cruise Critic. You can't even say their perfectly awful breads are perfectly awful.

The problem comes when you keep repeating yourself over and over and over.
So much of your own personality is exposed that you should feel a bit naked(uncomfortable). I'm happy you are happy with HAL. There are so many options in this industry, there is no reason to be stagnant. Within the Carnival family, they have a line ready after you tire of HAL....and you will.

No one is silencing Carnival fans here. That is the point. Post away. I recently sailed 42 days on Voyages of Discovery. Keep reading and you will learn about a lot of cruise lines here, even from me.

I've read most of your posts on FT. You have taken four cruises. The first being Crystal, for which you hold great bitterness. Had you done your homework, you would have known you were setting yourself up for disappointment. Two on HAL and the recent 42 day Discovery voyage.

Six years ago, light consideration was given to Crystal. Ten minutes of research and it clearly was not my bag. I've looked at HAL, but cannot pull the trigger. Tried a weekend on Celebrity two years ago and that was enough for this lifetime. Forty days spent on ships this year and another thirty+ booked, but I'm open to learning more from you. But please, let us know about your most recent trip and give it a rest on your first. Thanks!

The problem is you keep reading me over and over again. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. You have my number. Now move along, nothing more to see here.

You failed to count 60 days going around the world on the Galileo, two separate cruises 10 day Mediterranean cruises on the Chandris Fantasia, 7 day Amur River Cruise in Russia Far East. That adds up to over 150 days cruising on the high and low seas on 7 different cruise lines.

Now go to bed, and stop stalking me. Life exists before one starts posting on Flyertalk. I am now a Travel Century Club member (102 countries visited). I know of what I speak, when it comes to travel...... and cruising.

And finally, Crystal took us to places we wanted to see. The ship was safe and clean. The food was okay. It was a good cruise on these specific points and those qualities are ones we look for in any cruise. HAL cruises have been in the same category, as was Voyages of Discovery.

If you had read my posts closely (read them again) my primary gripe about Crystal is its price and its hype and lack of value for the price it charges.

Crystal does a lot of things poorly, like shore excursions, baked goods, cabin size, claustrophobic dining room, intrusive and cloying staff, their specialty restaurants and onboard lectures and enrichment activities. There is nothing special about its service or its clientele that adds value.

The only thing Crystal has that sets it apart is lavish marketing and better interior public room decor but outside decks are totally lacking in comfort or amenities.

But hey, you have already heard me say this.

Crystal has raised its prices on land tours and excursions (according to those posting on Cruise Critic about this) in order to eat up the free cruise credits it gives passengers when they book at the new sky high prices for the cruises.

Crystal has now priced itself out of the upper end of the main stream market for people in North America. Even with all the 'As you Wish' cruise credits, the costs are so far out of reasonable for us, that as far as I'm concerned Crystal is no longer an option for this family.

It doesn't matter what Crystal offers or does, we are no longer considering this company for future bookings. We will travel with other companies both by sea and at land resorts.

Having experience now with shore excursions with HAL and Voyages of Discovery, the ones we took with Crystal were exceptionally poor in comparison. Inferior guides, too much "shopping" emphasis and shallow exposure to the ports. And they were not cheap.

Interesting to see they con passengers with onboard credits only to suck it back with higher excursion prices. Why should this surprise me. Crystal was too large to get into many of the downtown docks, which was an advantage for the much smaller Discovery, which made one dependent on some sort of pricey port arrangements on your own or the ships now even pricier shore excursions.

Crystal promised free "shuttles" which never happened in most ports allegedly due to taxi driver complaints, except Dubai which took one only to a remote shopping mall.

And in the interests of full disclosure, this also happened on the Discovery when it was not close to a town or a safe area as in some of the South African cities like Port Elizabeth and Durban - and the shuttles cost five pounds sterling RT.

All of this is illustrative showing the brochure price for a trip ..... is only the beginning. It is the credit card you pay off once you get home that is the real cost of a cruise line.

I am the OP (orignal poster) of the thread and if you read my first post you will see I had questions on cruisecritic since someone claimed a negative post on Crystal was deleted. I heard that Cruisecritic was owned by a travel agency thus biased. The fact that it is owned by Travelocity makes me believe it is NOT on the level of "consumer reports magazine" etc. Welcome to the world of a hijacked thread.

A recent CC post reminding people about getting robbed in Antigua two blocks from the ship, and the really awful incident a few months back where some passengers on a Caribbean island ship excursion were ambushed and robbed resulted in the entire thread vanishing, which was on the topic of choosing to use ship excursions or trying to do things independently at certain Caribbean ports.

The memory of these tragic events was apparently too painful for the powers that be that run CC. So they leave their customers uninformed and unaware so that nothing dampens future sales. Caveat Emptor.

No matter how tragic any circumstance may be if it has nothing to do with the original post it should be removed. If one wants to warn others about something start a new post with the salient information in the title of the thread so it will attract those interested. Otherwise, like in this instance where people might be interested in Cruise Critic all they find find out about is peoples' dissatisfaction with Crystal. This thread, as Centurion mentioned, was well and truly highjacked.