This was my 7th Crystal Cruise. We normally book Penthouse cabins on the Crystal Serenity so the Symphony, with its older staterooms, was a bit of a let down. Service was very good, as usual. Food was not as good as it usually is. There was more than one meal where neither my father nor I ate more than two bites of our entrees. Thank goodness for Penthouse room service from the specialty ...
I chose this line for the first time because of its prior reputation. I have traveled several times on Silversea and Seabourn and wanted to try Crystal. The Symphony is a lovely ship although considerably larger than I expected. It is due to go to dry dock in September for major changes.
We had a Balcony cabin but it was only 245 square feet including the balcony. I could go on any large ship ...
Loved the pampering and special attention of the wonderful staff. Although they have to, most of them were very genuine.
Our head waiter worked with us each night to ensure our dietary needs were met at dinner. Did not have a bad meal. All special requests were taken care of. Wines in the main dining room were a good choice and the price of the higher end wines was very reasonable - almost ...
Relaxing, luxurious, fun, friendly, warm are just a few of the words to describe the great time we had onboard this ship. The ports were great (even though the weather didn't cooperate as much as we would have liked), but the most memorable part of our cruise was the time we had onboard the ship. From the time we embarked in Stockholm, to the time we left Berlin (we did the 3 day post ...
I was very very disappointed with Crystal. I took the advice of the travel agent but now realize that she might have recommended it because she gets a bigger kickback from them. I have been on many cruise ships of all sizes from the largest RCL to Norwegian and Seabourne. She told me that Crystal was the best by far. I decided to bite the bullet and take a cruise with them. Wow this ship has ...
I was assuming that the high price somehow assured the level of quality that you can find on Seabourn...trust me it does not. This ship is dated and dirty throughout. The decor is a worn holiday inn, circa 1980.
On the day we checked in our TINY room (a suite with a balcony) had been painted that same day and the workers left their mess behind...can you imagine this? The smell of paint in our ...
I read the negative reviews before we left the usa and started to get nervous. Having done the full cruise now -- they are ridiculous. This was an incredible experience from top to bottom. We are a young couple (34 and 30) and this was our first cruise.
I mostly want to address the negative stuff that has been written or that I noticed.
First of all, the rooms are fairly small - it's a boat ...
The cruise: We sailed from Stockhom to London with stops in St Petersburg(3 days),Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Berlin. The theme was food and wine.
Embarkation/Disembarkation: Very efficiently done. On board check in was a breeze and took only a few minutes.The staff appeared genuinely happy to see us and many greated us by name from previous cruises aboard the Symphony.Food and drinks ...
Background Information
We are a couple in our mid-fifties. We have been on 15 cruises, but only the last three have been without the kids. This was our first luxury cruise.
Travel To Port of Embarkation
We flew SAS business class to Stockholm. Crystal had a good deal on an upgrade and it was well worth the extra money to fly business class. The flight and taxi ride to the hotel went ...