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Amber14

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About Me

  • Location
    VA
  • Interests
    running, sunning, anything to do with the water and the beach, and reading
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Celebrity
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Caribbean

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Amber14's Achievements

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  1. Thanks so much! I don't write many reviews so I was nervous about it. I am glad you enjoyed it. Hope you have an amazing time on Symphony. We don't hope we can find a Crystal cruise that works for us in 2026.
  2. You will love the Aquamarine Suite! It truly spoiled us so much that I'm not sure we can ever go back to a veranda cabin again.
  3. We also loved the itinerary. We enjoy the smaller, quainter islands and wasn't it nice that we were the only ship in port on many of the islands? We also enjoy exploring on our own or going with smaller excursions we book ourselves so taking more ship excursions will be new to us also. Thanks for the well wishes and happy sailing to you also. I am sorry you didn't have the same VIP experience. I think it may have been because we were first timers and not because of the suite we were in but who knows? We never could figure out why we were invited.
  4. Oh, and I forgot to mention that we had dinner one night at the Supper Club in the Stardust Lounge. We asked our butler to make us a reservation the day we boarded and he was able to get us one on the last formal night. If you have never experienced it, you should. It was so fun. We sat with another couple we met and were entertained and served in a way that felt so intimate and unique. The food was fabulous and we had Alaskan King Crab Legs which we have never had on any cruise!
  5. Thank you! We are booking the Grandeur, their newest ship. It looks beautiful but maybe a bit over the top for us. We will see! It has a wonderful Southern Caribbean itinerary which is similar to the one we just did on Serenity. Most ports are smaller, less frequented islands, some that are new to us. This is another thing we enjoyed about Crystal. The itinerary was so different from the big cruise lines and most of the days we were the only ship in port. It will be the same on Grandeur.
  6. Even though we really enjoyed our experience on Oceania Riviera, I believe Crystal topped it in every way. As many have said, it is hard to really describe what it is but everything just seemed to be a notch above Oceania and many notches above other cruiselines. Oceania's specialty restaurants were equal to Crystal's food but their main dining room didn't come close to Crystal nor did the buffet. We liked the shows on Oceania also even though others do not. We don't need crazy acrobats, complicated stories or magicians, just some good musical and dance shows and Oceania had that. Crystal, however, had the same type of shows but were so much better. The quality of the singers and dancers really impressed me on such a small ship. We thought we would never find a ship as beautiful as Oceania but again Crystal took it one step further and we were wowed. Our room was decorated beautifully with colors of the sea. I love that the artwork was all ocean-related instead of gaudy, modern, abstract, etc. Our room on Oceania was beautiful also with light colors but without the turquoise & blue, it lacked that special feeling of the sea. As I said before the only thing that was lacking was the variety of music played in the evening. We felt it was geared to a much older crowd and we are 64. I don't want Crystal to stop playing this kind of music but they need to add some variety. We enjoyed the piano bar on Oceania more than on Crystal. He would play requests and most of his songs were 60's,70's, 80's rock ballads/songs. The piano player on Crystal was very personable and extremely talented but it was more of a show and he spent a lot of time talking to guests that he apparently knew from other cruises. (Not a criticism, just our take...he was very popular and everyone loved him!)
  7. Thanks Keith! I will try to post a review soon. All of your info and others on this board really helped us decided to try Crystal and I am so glad we did.
  8. Thank you! We are definitely branching out and trying more things. I had many amazing fish dishes and delicious pastas which are my favorite things for dinner and my husband had lots of beef which he loved. I do love the different sauces also and the flavors they create and I like when they come on the side or plate as opposed to on the meat. I guess fancy is probably not the right word. We just aren't adventurous eaters and stay away from dishes like octopus, sushi, liver, lamb, caviar, snails, etc. Many nights I had to use Google to figure out what items were on the menu. Believe me, it was never hard to find something we wanted on the menu and most of the time it was hard to choose! We were so glad they had such a variety. We are getting more adventurous on every cruise though so maybe one day...
  9. We sailed with Oceania on Riviera in 2022 but I guess many don't consider that a luxury line but we loved the ship although Crystal was way above in terms of service and entertainment and food. We have always been in a regular cabin, never a suite, so Crystal was our first suite. I'm not sure we can ever go back to a non-suite now. The extra space and the big closet were so nice especially since we are now traveling more nights. This Crystal cruise was 13 nights, the most for us. We could never have fit our clothes in the tiny closet in the regular veranda room. We did look at getting a suite on Celebrity but since the cost was so similar to Crystal and Regent, we decided to stick with the luxury lines. I just love the smaller ship and less passengers and you are so right...everyone is so polite and kind. It felt like an experience I have seen on movies from the 50's like "Affair to Remember" and the way cruising was when we started in 1990. We have also gotten a little old for the extremely loud pop music everywhere and from what I've read that is the norm on Celebrity now. Thanks for the well wishes and happy sailing to you, too!
  10. We have been back for couple of weeks now from our first Crystal cruise on the gorgeous Serenity for 13 days. Since I learned so much from all of you I thought I would share some of our experience with you. The ship & our cabin - Loved everything...the light colors, the lighting, the artwork, and the shiny surfaces. Never seen a ship so clean & bright! We had an Aquamarine 2018 cabin and it was by far the best cabin we have ever had. I think I could have lived there. The bathroom was so beautiful and roomy with the double sinks and the shower was amazing and so easy to use. The only thing we missed was lounge chairs on the deck overlooking the pool but on the last day we discovered a nook on the upper deck which was pretty private and breezy so we were happy. The food - We are pretty simple eaters and were always able to find something we liked. There were many things that were way too fancy and out there for us but glad they had them for all of you. We enjoyed all of the restaurants but I was most impressed with the Marketplace for breakfast. We are used to buffets on the bigger cruise lines and this one was just so nice. The food was fresh and delicious and the staff that prepared it were the best. Just loved interacting with the "toast guy" every morning. We also really enjoyed the Grill for lunch...much better than others we have been to. What really impressed me was that everyone was so polite and relaxed. Noone was piling up the food, being rude to the staff or pushing to get ahead of you. It is because of this I have never liked the buffet on a ship. I do on Crystal! The shows & music - We loved the Crystal singers and dancers! Their shows were so fun especially the Broadway tunes and Icons of Rock (probably not what they were actually called, sorry). I love that the lounge and theater were small and you could always see and hear them. The Stardust Lounge was really great as you felt like you were right there on the stage with them. After one of their shows, they opened it up for dancing and we actually danced with some of the dancers. That was one of our favorite nights. The other was the White Night. They played more upbeat music and again we enjoyed dancing. The comedians and the Frank Sinatra singer were good also but the best show by far was the Billy Joel one...wow, incredible! The only downside for us was the lack of variety in the music. We felt that most of it was geared to the ballroom dancers. We loved watching them and occasionally joined them doing our own thing but we would have loved to have had some more classic oldies rock to listen and dance to. The night of the NCAA College Football Championship was really special. We were rooting for Michigan and hoping we could watch it. Crystal had it in the Stardust Lounge on 3 big screen TV's and served us Pigs in a Blanket, popcorn, pizza and beer...it was perfect! The crew - Yes, they were as amazing as all of you said they were. Not a frown or unkind word from anyone. I don't know how some of them knew our names but they did and remembered them everyday. This was in the Marketplace, by the pool, in the bars and in the main restaurant. An example for you...on the day we found the out of the way spot on the upper deck to lounge, our favorite server, Bryan, found us somehow and brought us ice water and beer the entire time we were there. Shore excursions - We don't usually do many ship excursions but we did a few on this cruise. It was cool that a member of the ship went with you and actually interacted with everyone. We did a beautiful hike in Les Saintes and a relaxing sail in St. Barts. The catamaran trip in St. Thomas we did was so much like all the trips we have done on other ships (which we thought was fine) but Crystal thought it was not up to their standards and refunded everyone's money. Now, that is pretty amazing! Overall impressions - We just felt special and happy the entire time. That is the way the ship and the crew made us feel. We were invited to dine with the Hotel Director and three others. He entertained us with his ship stories throughout dinner. We were also invited to the Captain's Quarters for before dinner cocktails. I will never forget these two experiences that make us feel like celebrities. We will definitely be sailing with Crystal again. As I am looking at another cruise for next winter to the Caribbean I can no longer imagine going on Celebrity, Holland America, Carnival or Princess. We couldn't find a Crystal cruise that worked with our schedules so we will be sailing with Regent for the first time. I know it can't live up to Crystal but hoping it will come close.
  11. We will be new to Regent and Grandeur in March 2025 so looking forward to reading all about your experience. I hope you have an amazing journey and enjoy "hydrating" on the beautiful ship! Our first stop is also Aruba! Hope you post what you do in each port. Bon voyage and thanks so much for taking us along!
  12. They have it in the Avenue Saloon.
  13. As first time Crystal cruisers we are in heaven! We have the most beautiful cabin with colors of the ocean and more storage than we have ever had on a ship. Love the "Bubbles up" wall hanging! (Jimmy Buffet reference😊) The ship is sparkling clean and gorgeous. And the crew...wow is all I can say! All that I have read about them is accurate. We love the food...so many choices and all good. We ate at Umi Uma last night and it has been our least favorite meal but still good but we aren't adventurous eaters. Last night's Billy Joel show was simply amazing. Best show we have ever seen on a ship. People were really getting into it which makes me wonder why they don't have more music like this in the bars and venues. This brings me to our only complaint... the lack of fun music to listen to and dance to especially before and after dinner. Today was our best day by the pool because the duo actually sang upbeat music from 50's - more recent. We so enjoyed it. I am all for having music for the wonderful ball dancers but if Crystal wants to attract a different group they need to offer more of a variety of music. We were invited to dinner with Hubert the hotel director on our last formal night. He was such a fascinating man. We really enjoyed it and were honored to eat with him. We are also so happy they are showing the national championship game in Palm Court tonight. It's going to be a fun night. I think we are starting to feel like Crystal family.💜
  14. Geo, we will be on board with you and are headed to Miami on the train. Hope we meet as we would love to hear about your alpacas. Hope your flight is smooth.
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