A food and Wine themed cruise appealed enormously to us, when we booked this lovely ship sailing from Barcelona back to our "home" port of Southampton. An easy early BA flight from the excellent London city airport was perfectly times to arrive in time for embarkation on Crystal symphony. Her lovely, more traditional, lines stretched out before us, and embarkation was speedily accomplished. A delightful, though rather small, Promenade deck cabin was soon reached, and to our surprise, the anticipated obstruction consisted of a tiny strip on a lifboat suspended from the deck above. The Promenade deck was well below cabin windo level, so did not cause any inconvenience. the Promenade deck itself was wide, uncluttered and, to our delight made of gorgeous teak, as was the spacious Pool deck.

Our cabin was nicely decorated in subtle colours, elegant and well planned, with ample drawer and closet space, and proved to be very comfortable.The small bathroom had a tiny tub, twin glass sinks and quality Aveda toiletries.Cabin service was excellent, discreetly provided by a charming stewardess.

A small drawback soon became apparent as we made our way to get lunch, as after 1.30 or 2pm,the only available choice proved to be a Grill bar, mainly offering typical meat-based fare, though grilled fish was available on request, but no salad to accompany it. We quickly learned to go earlier than our usual time for lunch at the lovely Lido, which had huge choice, and the most irresistible tapas-sized desserts we have ever seen. Read more