Crystal Cruises
 

When not flying, has anyone had any experience with cruiseline called Crystal Cruises? Good? Bad? Hearsay?

strictly hearsay! My friend who cruises a lot says and thinks Crystal is the top of the line.

Check out the rating edition on Conte Naste Traveller for more data

No personal experience, but heard from my in-laws cruise often that Crystal is the best.



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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

Crystal Cruises is definately the way to go if you can afford it!!!!!

Many consider their twin ships, the Harmony and the Symphony, the best afloat.

We've been on both the Harmony and the Symphony--we liked them both. A more upscale clientele than, perhaps, on Carnival.

I liked the ships fine, but having been on the Royal Viking Sun once with their bigger cabins, I felt the cabins on Crystal were a bit on the smallish side by comparison (and we had a cabin with a balcony). I believe, however, that Crystal's cabins are in line with the size of cabins on ships in service these days.

Most of the food & beverage/stewardess crew are European.

You may email me with any detailed questions you might have. Bon voyage. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cool.gif

True! The two Crystal ships, at about 960 passengers, top a niche of "medium" size ships (small being the Seabourn/Silversea all-suite 300 passenger ultra-luxury products, and large being the mega-behemoth 3000+ Carnival, RCCL et al). This sizing is thought to be big enough to allow the offering of things like extensive spa facilities, but still small enough to ensure personalized service.

The cabins are sized for the longer iteniraries that Crystal features, and a large number of the outside cabins feature verandahs. Crystal was one of if not the first line to feature alternative gourmet restaurants, an idea that has been copied hroughout the industry. Lastly, Crystal has a very strong lineup of lecturers and educational programs on the seas.

I have sailed with several cruise lines, but CRYSTAL Cruises are the best.

Fortunately, had a very GOOD special fare @ $200.00 per day for an inside single cabin on lower deck in the slow January 1999 season. My favorite location for calm sailing. I have not seen any good fares since. Too many travelers like the airlines.

The most outstanding aspect of these ships compared to other cruise lines is the food. Excellent! More sophisticated experienced 'mature to senior' passengers. Few were cruising on their welfare check. LOL. Ship size is most comfortable. Definitely, not geared for the masses and amateur traveler.

The specialty restaurnants without an extra charge encourage tipping. Small Japanese restaurant served the VERY best, anywhere. My Favorite spot in place of tuxedo and baked alaska nites in the main dining room! The Crew were the only other guests on those nites. Plus more casual dress was acceptable. Sportcoats and ties are not my idea of relaxing in the torpical Panama Canal weather.

The other special choice was the Italian spot. It was very good for 1 nite, but I didn't get over the Japanese specialties!

If only an airline or two followed Crystals example, flying would be a lot more enjoyable. Of course, Midway might be that airline. I will have to fly it, soon.

I had a problem with the mirrored ceilings in the dining room, which caused the conversations and sounds to echo creating a deafening noise.
The Harmony was recently renovated and work some work was done on the dining room. I think the Late Buffet was eliminated. VERY few passengers used it.

Crystal is a class act.

As we were watching some of the Olympic events last night, they showed a picture of Sydney Harbor, and right there sat one of the Crystal ships. She looked gorgeous right behind the Opera House. Sigh

My wife and I had the pleasure of sailing on the Crystal Symphony during their "millennium cruise" from Auckland to Los Angeles. We wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

If anyone is interested, there is a fairly long trip report posted at http://www.triptalk.com.

^bump

We are thinking about doing the Med with them this summer. Any recent experiences here?

Thanks in advance! :)

You just missed a great promotion they had for SBC to spend on shore events..... I think it was up to $1000.00 a cabin. 2012 is the first time Crystal will go all inclusive (booze, grats etc). The standards should remain very high.

I just got a brochure from a national travel agency that shows pricing for Crystal that is much improved over a year ago including the 'all inclusive' elements. (not truly all inclusive as there are things not included.)

Now if they would just junk there fancy dress codes, I would sail with them again.

That's why I prefer Regent over Crystal - the dress code is definitely more relaxed.

Regent is on our list for future travel.
 

Now that Mr. Penny is nearly retired and I will follow him in a couple years, we don't want to haul formal attire around the globe.

Regent looks good to us.

We enjoy the Crystal cruiseline. Enjoy dining in the Main DR with going to the Nobu Japanese-Peruvian specialty restaurant. Great food choices! Lovely staff! A nice variety of activities. No longer on a go-go, must see and do drive (like on the bus !) Enjoy the ship, not mega-peopled= rarely have max capacity occupancy of 960/1060...rare to see a line of people on-board for service.

Only 2 ships and many staff have been with the line many years. Low turnover. Very nice to reconnect with past passengers and loyal staff.

For us it comes down to the formal dress code on Crystal and the fact that we just want a more casual atmosphere.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Crystal as its loyal passenger base ages out of traveling.

They have a dress code? Hooray! That's a selling point for me and usually a sign of a more polite clientele ^

for dress code - queens grill on cunard

Maybe one day I'll try Crystal; until now it's the fixed dining times and smaller cabins than the competition that have put me off, but I understand they've introduced flexible dining times, so may give them a try.

If you want great service, good food & no formal dress code then try Oceania - I'm hooked! :)

Crystal is still offering special savings for bookings thru 4/7 with
up to $800 per couple in complimentary shore excursion credits. Cruise only fares starting at $2865 pp on 10 different Transatlantic & Mediterranean all inclusive voyages on Crystal Serenity. Departures from 5/8 thru 8/25. Some of these are Virtuoso Voyager sailings.