This is my 4th Crystal cruise, my 3rd on the Symphony, and it was wonderful in so many ways. I love the Symphony, because it is luxurious but casual (I feel like I can take my shoes off and put my feet up on the couch to read), and carries a nice amount of passengers (about 750-ish) - not too few that I see the same people everywhere, but not too many that I feel crowded or anonymous. I was traveling solo on this cruise, but knew a few people on board from previous cruises and met several more mutual friends while on board. As I said in the title, there's been a little slippage in the food and service on the ship since its drydock, but in other ways there's been a lot of improvements since the drydock. There are 2 additional dinner restaurants on board, both of which outshine the main dining room ("Waterside") in service and food quality. Both of the new restaurants do not count towards your allotted number of included visits to specialty restaurants -- those (Umi Uma and Prego) still remain the premiere dinner spots on the ship, in my opinion. Crystal put a limit on the number of included visits to those spots several years ago (generally 2 per week) in an effort to keep people from monopolizing them, but now that there are more dining options, I wonder if they will continue to do so (extra visits beyond your allotted amount are $30 each, which is still an incredible bargain for that quality and ambience). Of the new restaurants, I particularly recommend Churrascarria, which is Lido deck aft, in the same location where the breakfast and lunch buffets are......you get views of the sunset, and excellent food. Salads, veggies, and side dishes are available as a buffet, and 6 varieties of grilled meat are brought to your table on skewers (chicken, shrimp, pork, lamb, beef). Be sure and stay for some grilled pineapple for dessert. My friends on board very much enjoyed the evening shows, but I never attended (I don't, on any cruise), but I did enjoy the musicians who played in the lounges throughout the ship. Afternoon tea is served every afternoon (even port days), and it was a good time and place for our friends to meet up to chat before dinner. Going through the Panama Canal was interesting, but I don't feel the need to do it again. As this was an August cruise, in general the ports were all hot and humid, and I stayed on board for most of them. A warning should you take a Crystal cruise that stops in Bimini: The tender to port is at least 30 minutes, so you should take that into consideration before deciding if you want to go ashore. I did not, as there wasn't much on shore I was interested in seeing, especially if it meant an hour (round trip) in a crowded tender. Service is known to be wonderful on Crystal, but this trip I found it to be lacking in several places. Some was still wonderful (restaurants other than Waterside, cabin attendant, library and computer room), but some had slipped from terrific to merely good (Lido deck) or from terrific to pretty bad (Waterside). I submitted my concerns to Crystal in their post-voyage survey, so I hope these are just growing pains that will be worked out now that there have been some significant changes since the dry dock. Read Less

We had done the 2017 World Cruise on the Pacific Princess (OUTSTANDING) and felt that we wanted to see Iceland and Greenland that were not included on the cruise. Signed up for this segment of the 2018 world cruise to capture those ports. I must say, that I was spoiled by the small ship cruise on the Pacific Princess. The Sea Princess was just too big for my taste. So many people on board that there was no feeling of community. Service was very good and food was excellent, but if you want to know your fellow passengers- you are out of luck. My other comment leaves me a bit conflicted. I hold stock in Carnival (the parent company) and was heartened to see that Princess was attempting to save money on various items. On the other hand as an Elite passenger, I enjoy my little "precs" for my loyalty. I fear that Princess may be "nickel and diming" the passengers to the point of harming loyalty. It seemed that many items that had been gratus in the past were now chargeable items. Gone was the free ice cream cone. Gone was the availability of a slice of pizza. Those may seem petty, but when the alternative is a $5 ice cream cone and a $15 pizza, one begins to think about their Elite status' value. This may all seem petty, but if one has spent several hundred days traveling with a certain cruise line and thousands of dollars- an ice cream cone is not too much to ask. Too many art auctions and boutique sales for comfort; I went on a cruise to relax- not be constantly bombarded with sales pitches. It soured me on the entire experience. Read Less

This was our fourth cruise on Oceania, and second on the Insignia. Check-in in Los Angeles was a breeze, and I had no trouble bringing on board 6 bottles of good quality wine, for which I payed the high corkage fee of $25 per bottle; yet I would do this again considering the very high prices they charge for wine. Food in all the restaurants and buffet was outstanding, and service was excellent, except for my cabin attendant who had to be reminded to do things. I really like the size of the old 'R ships', but the cabins, although in good repair, are way too small. While the ship had no dance or zumba lessons, the five piece band was outstanding, and there were usually five or six couples dancing each evening. Another high point was the wonderful bridge lessons taught by Harold; a very gifted teacher, and there was almost bridge play at several levels each afternoon. The internet was far-faster than any other ship we were on. There were never any lines for the restaurants or the tendering. There were some negatives besides the tiny concierge cabin. This was the last stage of the around the world cruise; avoid booking any segment of an around-the world- cruise; you'll be a second class citizen. Some of the staff seemed 'burned out' and exhausted. While the Panama Canal is excellent, the other ports are quite bad. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of the itinerary (Panama Canal). We’ve heard great things about the R ships because of the size and we thought we’d do a comparison with the O ships as we have sailed with the Riviera last year. Insignia is too tired and could use a lot of makeover. Paint peeling, rusting, carpets buckling, smelly, you get the picture... We chose a penthouse suite because we needed a little bit more room. The bed is very comfortable and very nice. The bathroom could use some work too. We had a bathtub/shower combo and I don’t know how a person taller than me could comfortably take a shower. I’m 5’3 and barely had the shower above my head. Bulgari amenities were nice which is the standard for the suite. Dining is of course excellent in which Oceania prides themselves. There were only two specialty restaurants (Toscana and Polo) on Insignia compared to Riviera which has four. But to be fair, the grand dining room features specialties from the Red Ginger and Jacques often enough that we didn’t miss those. Afternoon tea is always divine but watch that you don’t spoil your appetite for dinner. It’s so easy to do with those scrumptious treats! Entertainment is sorely lacking on this cruise. The guest singers were okay. The guest comedian, Fred Klett was good. The Insignia production show artists/singers were awful! One couple got up in the middle of the show and muttered “their singing is dreadful!” which I agreed. They’ve been better off having karaoke singers as they could have been better. In fairness, the Smile String Quartet and the Insignia Band were excellent. Except when they accompany the Insignia singers who drown out their music with the singers’ caterwauling. There is enough activities on board like bridge lessons and lectures which my husband enjoyed. There was a lame line dancing lesson. Trivia and bingo also. And of course, there’s a beautiful library on board that has beautiful and comfortable sofas and lounges to read and snooze and relax. Spa on board has various services offered at a very expensive premium price. It’s no wonder, they were never busy. There’s a separate steam room, showers and locker rooms for ladies and gents. It would have been nice to have a sauna. There’s also a nice fitness room with various machines and weights and have some free group exercise classes in the morning. And of course, there’s the usual up sell on personal training, coaching and nutrition training. The service on board is excellent which is expected for an upscale cruise line. Although we sometimes felt like those who were not part of the Around The World cruisers were the after thought. There were about 195 ATW cruisers on board and this ship fully catered to them. I guess, you have to follow where the $ is. We didn’t do shire excursions through Oceania as they were overpriced. My husband and I hired a van with another couple to take us around in Acapulco, Cartagena and grand Cayman and did our own thing. We spent a total of $150 for all tours which is the equivalent of one shore tour per person if we did it through Oceania. Disembarkation was a little messy for my liking compared to embarkation which was a breeze. But then again, a lot of people (ATW cruisers) were already on board and everyone had to disembark in Miami which was the end of the tour. Would I go on Insignia again? Probably not. I like the Riviera ship better because it has more to offer. Bigger staterooms, bigger hallway, bigger elevator, ones that can fit more than 4 people. But if Oceania continues to improve or maintain their cuisine and service level, we will continue to sail with them. Read Less

I have taken 2 other Regent cruises they were perfect Regent has to take a serious look at their WiFi offered for free. Most times it was either so slow or not available definitely not a good experience The crew excellent the food especially the new Compass Rose menu was perfect The complimentary laundry was another disappointment why not extend the hours? The big negative was our disembarking in New York The process was smooth until you left the terminal # 88 not a Regent representative in sight Carnival reps directed us to our bus area Then the fun began I was group grey 3 The buses for grey 1 & 2 were there (for 40 minuets) finally our bus to JFK arrived loaded and left my flight was departing at 1: 00 pm the driver enters the airport at 11:35 am dros off some at Delta then drives out of the airport and come back in. He stopped the bus at a traffic signal leaves to get directions! 4 of us got out opened the luggage compartment retrieved our 8 bags and walked to our terminal we got there at 12:16 I think Regent should look at Academy Bus Co and maybe don’t use a low bidder shameful for my wife and I to unload our bags and run to the terminal I did write a note to Regent with no response I guess now that Norwegian owns them it will go down hill from here! The 4 of us will look at Crystal or Seaborne next trip Read Less

I wanted a daylight transit of the canal.That was great! The ship skipped 2 ports... Nicaragua and Guatamala...no compensation for that. I was disappointed that coming back to New York we passed the Statue of liberty at 4AM so I missed that and I was so much looking forward to it. The officers were invisible. I saw the captain only once the whole trip. Ray was a great cruise director. Some of the entertainment was very good. The bridge lessons were very helpful...Judy was terrific. Despite the long voyage and good food I managed to lose weight! That was a shock! I ate a lot of fruit. Maybe that is the secret. I will probably try another ship for my next cruise. The Navigator is getting tired. Meeting people from all over the world is the best part of any cruise. I have many new friends from Europe and Australia. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we have always wanted to go through the Panama Canal. Going through the Panama Canal was the highlight of the trip and the only part of the cruise that I would recommend anybody doing. The stop in Costa Rica was absolutely awful. Puntarenus, Costa Rica was our excursion for that day. Excursion was titled “scenic Costa Rica”. We saw nothing but trees, shack‘s and trash all along the route. I asked the excursion desk people why they even stopped in this area. They said their stops on the cruise ship came from the corporate office. I showed them the pictures I took from our excursion and they agreed, it’s an awful place for the cruise ship to stop, but their hands were tied. I advise them to call it something different then “scenic Costa Rica” because we surely did not see anything scenic. The room stewards were very accommodating, however, the staff in the dining room appeared new to the cruise line and very inexperienced. We had to wait great lengths of time to get our food, which by most standards, was just mediocre. The steaks were tough and the soups were the same almost every night, had very little flavor and not very interesting. There was nothing on the menu in the main dining room that I would write home about. The specialty dining’s were good, not great . The buffet in the upper deck were always crowded because there was not enough room for a more variety of dishes on the service line. They had the same thing almost every single night. Their nightly shows were OK but nothing that I would ever returned to see again. The movies that they showed in the movie theater were geared to children 8 to 15. The movie selections on the TV we’re also geared children. They had the Terminator II, a lego movie and Batman movie and some other child’s movie, They only had five TV channels, three news stations, one TV show station and movie station, again geared to children. TV stations were so bad that even the comedian in one of the shows joked about how bad the TV choices were. I have to say, the average age on this cruise was 65. The activities, movie selections and shows in the main theater should have been geared to a more mature audiences. We did not buy the drink package but we did find that the same glass of wine in one bar would be two dollars more in another bor for the same wine. I will not recommend Norwegian Cruise line anymore. We have been on several Norwiegian cruises, including the Sun the Epic and the Pearl and we will no longer recommend cruising with Norwegian. Read Less

We chose this cruise to celebrate both Jerry's 78th birthday and our anniversary. It was perfect! Once again, we enjoyed our mini-suite and Club Class and met some wonderful people. The waiters went out of their way to accommodate our somewhat unique dining choices, and Oscar, the maitre d' was always cheerful and funny. He told us some hilarious jokes and was better than one of the comics. Josko was our head waiter, and he was nice enough to have the sugar-free, mango cheesecake made for me when I whined about not having it for over a week. He also made sure we had gluten-free rolls and asparagus and broccoli until it started coming out of my ears. The entertainers were some of the best we've ever seen, and Ian, the guest speaker, was excellent. I loved going to Sarah's Zumba every sea day. She is the assistance cruise director and a permanent member of the Pacific staff so I hope to see her again. Jerry and I enjoyed all of the dance classes, both line and ballroom, taught by Tash who was a member of the dance group. She is an excellent dancer, and we're hoping to see her again too. We got a kick out of the unique personality of the Cruise Director. His name is Peter Tredgett, and Paul Chandler-Burns (over favorite cruise director) trained him. Read Less

Chose cruise for the Panama Canal Transit. Explored Los Angeles prior to cruise. Getting on and off cruise ship went well. Did a disembarkation tour with drop off at Miami Airport. Would highly recommend as didn't have to spend all day at airport prior to flight. Small ship only 670 passengers but not too small and still lots of activities. Service, cabin, dining, entertainment all excellent. Ports and shore excursions all good. Didn't travel with children. Activities were offered for children but seemed limited. Only noticed 2 children on cruise, feel Pacific Princess more suited to adult cruising owing to its size. This ship offers a more intimate style of cruising. Would highly recommend this ship and cruise. Was nice to really get to know the staff and saw the Captain and his other Officers around the ship lots talking to us and other passengers. Which made the experience even better. Read Less

After visiting family on the west coast, we chose to sail home to Florida instead of fly. This was our first time on such a small ship. So, we viewed it as an adventure. We had been assigned late seating for dinner and wanted early dining. We always choose "Anytime Dining"--however that was not available. On arrival, a visit with Oscar, the Maitre d' offered a compromise. He allowed us to come at 6 p.m. and he fit us in to an available space. On the 4th night, we were assigned to the best table ever! There were 8 of us and dinner became a highlight of our day. We had so much fun together and were the last table finished nightly. There are 2 big "lounges". One takes the place of a theatre, but you are seated close to the show--the dancers are on a floor right in front of you. The seating is arm chairs--like in a living room. Arrive 30" early. The production shows were beautiful, and the guest entertainers were quite good. The dancers doubled as activity staff, and were delightful. The other lounge is smaller and that is where the gameshows take place, zumba, some lectures, etc. Our room steward spoke excellent English and was very personable. The Buffet was on deck 9. Our cabin was deck 7, and the show lounge was on deck 5! It was so easy to get around--2 sets of stairs and 2 sets of elevators. And the elevators were not crowded. The buffet was small, but had a pretty good variety of food. Seating was not a problem. In 17 days we visited 5 ports. Of course, the Panama Canal was very interesting. The new ports for us were Puerto Chiapas, Mexico and Santa Marta, Columbia. We took ship tours and they were satisfactory and decently priced. The pool area (one pool) is small with 2 hot tubs--always looked to have available loungers. There is a running track overlooking the pool--also not crowded. There were the usual sales presentations in the spa area. The cruise director is humorous, friendly and visible around the ship. The ship was in good repair. Embarcation and disembarkation were very timely. Read Less