We are prior Crystal cruisers and CS members.The staff and crew of the Ravel are caring and warm - the highlight of our trip. This river experience was unfortunately a disappointment. It is not Crystal’s fault that the locks near Batslavia, Slovakia were out for repair and we had or trip shortened by a day missing out on a half day of tours and most importantly the use of the ship and culinary/beverage services. It is misleading though, to think of the extraordinary cost we paid ~ $1K+ per person per day for a river cruise when in fact we had less than 4 hours of daylight cruising, the rest of the time we were docked, sandwiched between other ships with no view, moving “cruising” in the middle of the night. (Several guests commented this cruise is more like a floating hotel tied to a dock without a view that moved around at night.) What was most disappointing was we only had 1 day of 7 where we actually could enjoy our room and view. Literally every other port and day was looking into an adjacent ship tied abreast of us, or into a concrete/rock bulkhead as positioned on the dock. Yeah for us..:-( This coupled with a paltry $75 euro pp credit for 24 hours in Budapest to somehow compensate for a $2K ship room, with full food and bar suddenly wiped out, is borderline insulting - shame on Crystal! I realize this was not Crystal’s doing and you did the best to accommodate the situation (as the other lines did) and we appreciate that. However, the relationship of cost and what we paid versus value delivered for all the aforementioned reasons, was well below expectations and what we believe is due of Crystal. We feel we missed out on an experience and greatly overpaid for what we received.

We have completed an after cruise survey and sent a letter directly to Crystal with the above feedback. After 3 weeks, still no reply or acknowledgement. All you need to know!