Crystal Serenity Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We love Crystal and were interested in exploring the Amazon River. For us, this is a once in a lifetime destination both because it is so exotic and because once was great but enough. The Amazon is very hot and humid, and the blast of air conditioning was a welcome relief each time we returned to the ship.
There is not a whole lot to see from the ship itself, because the river is so wide that we were close to shore only in ports. But the ports were interesting. The jungle hikes were billed as "strenuous" and we were probably more timid than necessary about them. The two "strenuous" activities we did were really not so bad, and we should have done more. They were the most interesting of our excursions -- the Rubber Museum and native village in Manaus and the Jungle Trek in Santarem.
Crystal, as usual, did a fantastic job of providing a lot of interesting lectures and on board activities, especially on the sea days. And the food was outstanding. This was a Food and Wine theme cruise, so they added some cooking demonstrations and wine tastings, which were very nice.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Stateroom with Verandah
Very nice, standard balcony cabin. It is right next to the "partial obstruction" for category B2, and in my opinion 8072 should also be rated B2, but the partial obstruction is mild enough that next time I might book it intentionally.
The beds and pillows were very comfortable. We were expecting to need to ask for mattress toppers (which we did on Symphony 2 years ago), but did not need to.
The refrigerator did not keep things very cold. The refrigerator door is bolted to the cabinet door, and I suspect that it was not able to completely close. There was no way to check, since when it was closed the cabinet door also had to be closed. But our room attendant brought us fresh ice twice a day, so we were still able to have cold beverages when desired. She kept the refrigerator stocked with our favorite beverages.
Crystal's standard rooms are on the small side for a luxury ship, but we found it very adequate in size.