Stickman1990

I suggest you check out this current thread as well for some info - although sadly “just the facts” in the title closest really reflect the content 

4 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

…having read every post on this forum and remembering the history of this new cruise line, ….And then Crystal came back, the same and better!  So Explora's job now is to find that new-to-cruising audience they seem to be bent on catering to

Glad you have faith in the posters optinions on here as I understand you haven’t actually sailed on new Crystal or Explora. I have so can talk from first hand experience - are you planning on doing so or will you rely on others opinions?

What do you base the “Crystal came back, the same and better!” comment on? Some won’t agree with that 

But the big issue is what’s important to those cruising these lines - and what they deliver. Of course how people judge restaurants and service vary markedly - so unless you know that person and their tastes match up with yours then you are relying on others opinion

You've bought up how Explora failed to deliver on some things - while not the same company let’s not forget that the old Crystal cost many cruisers a lot of money

2 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

.Now, if The Lounge is not going back to being a casino, just where are you going to put a casino?  Tear out the Bistro?  The Hollywood?  Elsewhere?  Whatever the choice, it's going to have negative blowback.

Way to look for a reaction throwing out the Bistro and the Hollywood theatre!m as possible locations!

I suspect the Pulse nightclub would be a better alternative on Serenity - although a bit out of the way (not much more than the Hollywood I guess). Haven’t thought about on Symphony but I’m sure there’s a smaller location that could be used 

Right now as much as I like the objective of the Lounge for activities like games and puzzles I think it’s too big and the temperature settings need some work as it’s very cold in there - or at least it was for the last 3 weeks. Seeing people rugged up with clothes and with blankets on playing poker as we cruise across the Pacific was very unfortunate and I know they raised it with those responsible but it never got resolved 

Interestingly I didn’t get the survey today - so maybe it’s targeted 

We've cruised on a few different lines over the last year and aside from Regent who had a larger casino area the others, Silversea and Explora have very small casinos with a coupe of tables and slot machines - I wonder if that were the scale adopted by Crystal if it was acceptable. Interestingly on those other lines the casinos have never been busy when I’ve checked them out including on the evenings 

6 hours ago, magnus1977 said:

Anyone have any thoughts of Explora vs Crystal? 

I’ve been on both lines recently (just got off Serenity two weeks ago and was on Explora last September) and do plan to do a bigger comparison but I’m still working on that to be fair to both lines 

Bottom line is both are excellent luxury lines - for different reasons and we’re booked for a month on both Crystal and Explora Over the next year

We felt the food and service was excellent on both lines (in most cases) and in each case there are some restaurants we prefer over others - so for us we don’t see any major difference when compared across all the options - both lines have very high quality options across a range of cuisines - we did 18 nights on Explora and never tired of the options available to us and I struggle with some of the negative comments I see about menus and dishes - but o guess everyone has different tastes 

The entry level Explora cabins are much larger than the Crystal solos

It depends what’s important to you as to which you might prefer - if you like dancing and entertainment Crystal wins but the physical features of Explora are hard to beat

As I say I’d be happy on either and I don’t think it’s a case of one being better than the other - there are differences and it depends what’s important for you

The itinerary would be one important factor for us as both lines are limited at the moment with 2 ships each (once Explora 2 comes into service). I know you’ve shared the itinerary options elsewhere but I can’t comment the Caribbean is not an area I’m familiar with 

The other thing would be to look at what you like on your cruises and that will guide you - if you like shows and dancing then it would be Crystal. If you like pools, fitness centres and spas then I’d be looking at Explora

I see someone raised the issue of comparing similar cabins - if that were to happen you’d be comparing an entry level OT1 with an Aquamarine suite (no butler on Explora - but other than that pretty similar

For those of us who remember Crystal Air

https://simpleflying.com/boeing-787-ex-vip-scrapped-parts-roswell

An 'Almost New' Ex-VIP Boeing 787 Will Be Scrapped For Spare Parts

….According to ch-aviation data, Boeing delivered the aircraft to Crystal Luxury Air, later renamed to Crystal AirCruises, a subsidiary of Crystal Cruises, which was planning to operate it as a VIP charter aircraft. In addition to the 787, the company acquired a Boeing 777-200LR and Bombardier Global Express XRS….

49 minutes ago, Noggins said:

And here are steps to reach one of the lift lobbies.

 

I fell down those particular stairs which lead down to the specialty restaurants reservations desk - only to rescued by one of the officers (great way to meet officers) and the landing was on luxurious carpet so no injuries

The way they have the dark marble strip at the bottom always gets me as it’s hard to tell whether it’s another step or the floor

Pleased to say there were no stairs incidents on our recent Crystal cruise - I think given the age of the ships the design concepts are different and steps are easily navigated 

1 hour ago, Texas Tillie said:

Crystal would not be Crystal unless they have ships at least 600 passengers. 

There’s capacity - and then there’s actual number of guests….

Sure 600 would be nice but Crystal is Crystal with significantly lower guest numbers than 600 

Making it easy to find Noggins work in progress

I’m still in “Middle Earth” on holiday so my comparison won’t be until next week 

57 minutes ago, History&Wine said:

I am currently onboard Serenity.  Perfectly happy with the “basic” Internet….

interesting that no one has mentioned charges for laundry, Vintage Room, spa massages, shore excursions, etc.   No line is ALL inclusive….

But there are lines that choose to include some of those items eg laundry and/or shore excursions - of course guests are paying for that in the overall fare

Then there are those that choose to charge for things like “specialty” restaurants where Crystal has adopted a hybrid model on - charging in most cases after the first visit 

But I don’t know that any line would not charge for a Vintage Room type experience or Spa services - they’re options that I think it’s fair that users pay 

I certainly hope we don’t move to an a la carte service menu when we opt in or out of most services on offer - I’m happy taking some of the things I don’t utilise in combination with those I do use

But in this day and age a decent internet service is something a luxury line might be expected to include as part of their core offering

So now we’re debating what level of performance they should deliver and my point is that one line using the same provider is delivering a much better service than Crystal are - and I’m simply hoping that Crystal can aspire to achieve the same 

They definitely lose out to Crystal when it comes to included wines - they have some work to do on this as they don’t even have a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Having said that I must have something to keep me happy back in September - looking back at my pictures I see they had a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc on the list then 

By way of comparison here’s Crystals all inclusive list from last week 

Here’s what we had on offer on Explora last September 

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

Just what kind of speeds are you requiring?  And why?

 

I have gigabit fiber at my home.  Do I expect anything close to that while moving on a ship in the middle of the ocean?  I expect to be able to move simple text back and forth with no problems.

 

FWIW, the ability to upload photos and videos and stream downloads of bandwidth is NOT on the list of why I choose a luxury cruiseline.  Lemme see here.....I can get fast internet or stellar service.  I guess I'll choose.....

 

 

How can you describe 6 Mbps down and 2 up as “fast”

No one is suggesting Gb internet speeds - what people are asking is for the speeds delivered on other luxury lines using the same provider as Crystal are now using - is that unreasonable? My post above shows what speeds are possible - I’d settle for anything close to them on Crystal or some explanation why it’s not possible given it’s the same service provider
 

We all have different needs on board - hey if I had my way the fitness centre would have a single yoga mat as the equipment but of course there are thousands of dollars of equipment in there to provide the type of experience many luxury cruisers want when onboard - and the expectation from some around internet service is similar 

1 hour ago, ctjon said:

Do you know or they say what enhanced means?   Does it go 10 times faster or??

When I spoke with them onboard last week they said the increase in speed would be a couple of Mbps both up and down - given we averaged 6 down and 2 up across the Pacific that meant a probably 8/4 - one guest did buy the package and reported results similar to that - and certainly not 10x

Here’s the announcement from Reflections and a FAQ they gave me on just what the enhanced service provides - it’s very generic and certainly not specific on speeds. I really don’t see the increase in concurrent devices from 3 to 4 as a major benefit 

For those saying it’s “good enough” - well it’s not for VOIP calls as they often drop out or for streaming as it will stutter and it won’t allow backup of devices including photos to cloud services. It’s good enough for email and browsing and that may well suit many but if you want to do anything more data intensive you’re out of luck 

By way of comparison with what’s possible we had high speed StarLink service on Explora throughout our cruise in Iceland and Greenland - we consistently got 120/20 or better - that allowed me to do everything I could do on land including backups. I’d love to see Crystal replicate that sort of performance using the StarLink service they have implemented and wonder how the two implementations are delivering such different results 

Results from Explora 

Crystals Reflections announcement 

crystal FAQ on the enhanced service 

4 hours ago, Noggins said:

 

Not unpleasant but just not what I expected. Our other main dish was grilled tomato and mushrooms and camembert like this...

 

 

 

Where's the Camembert?

Sorry you’re not getting the same great experience we got last September and I’m picking up on some changes which don’t fit with the luxury experirnce - although service levels shouldn’t have changed for the negative 

I hope they start delivering a consistent quality experience for you - and soon! 
 

They certainly have some work to do 

Day 20 & 21 - Sea day cruising to Auckland and Disembarkation in Auckland 

Sorry I’m running a couple of days behind (again) as we got caught up in getting ourselves ready to disembark and head down to our first stop on our road trip to Wellington over the next week

On our penultimate day aboard we just relaxed and started to ready ourselves for the not so fun task of packing while saying goodbye to the crew members we’d got to know over the last few weeks and with fellow cruisers, many of whom are continuing on for the full World Cruise which is getting towards half way completed now 

We went to the Cove area to see the display by the knitting group and the art group - it looks like everyone had lots of fun. I think the Odyssey Art at Sea programme is a really good part of Crystal’s enrichment programme and a great opportunity for guests to meet each other 

Trivia result was ok but we were well behind the winners for the segment - wishing our team mates staying on better luck on the next segment 

We dined in Waterside restaurant for both lunch and dinner - it’s a great venue to eat a la carte and makes portion control easier plus the selection and quality of food is top notch. We lingered over dinner so didn’t get to the show but I did stop by the Avenue for a farewell drink 

 Our bags were packed and out ready for collection by 11pm. Disembarkation was very smooth, no delays and very easy and we were off the ship by 10am and headed off to collect our car and get on the road to Rotorua 

The temperatures have definitely changed as we cruised south but I’m pleased to say the weather in Auckland turned out to be quite warm 

While we haven’t booked another Crystal Serenity cruise we have a month on Crystal Symphony to look forward in December so we have that to look forward to - and needless to say I am looking at next years Crystal itineraries

Some pictures loaded but it seems anything over 2mb won’t load - sorry but I don’t have the time to resize them all 

Enjoy - and here’s the embarkation Reflections for yesterday that I downloaded before we departed 

Reflections 9 March 2024.pdf

7 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

On other cruise lines in which I have sailed, the concierge is clearly performing concierge tasks like booking transfer reservations, booking restaurants on ports of calls and similar. He/she has also a special desk and is not at the front guest relations desk.
 

The guest relations manager on the other hand, handles everything that the guests might have as a concern and it has an office behind the guest relations front desk.

 

This is why I am asking the question. Is there a guest relations manager on the ships or is the concierge at the same time the guest relations manager?

Good question - depending on the issue my first stop would be the front desk but often they’ll need to talk the relevant department - but if it related to a particular issue eg food and beverage or housekeeping or bars I’d talk to the relevant department head directly or ask the front desk have them contact me. I can’t think of an equivalent of a specific onboard Guest Relations Manager on Crystal but I’ve come across that role/designation on another line

I very rarely use the concierge’s service as I have limited use for things like onshore bookings or other arrangements that they handle

Some might start at the top with the Hotel Director but my preference is to not to do that 

1 hour ago, Noggins said:

Jumping back to our further exploration this morning, it turns out we had missed quite a few features yesterday. Hardly surprising as what the designers have done so well is to create very many small public spaces with different furniture and features. It is very well done, very classy - and is going to be very expensive to maintain in tip top condition.

Enjoying your commentary as always 
 

We loved the layout and lounge areas around the ship - but tell me how are your knees holding up getting in and out of the low seats?

Must have been designed by a fit young thing who is not seizing up yet

1 hour ago, travelberlin said:

Does anybody know who the guest relations managers are on the Serenity and on the Symphony? Are they the same as the concierges?

Ivi - you could try this email address - guestrelations@crystalcruises.com

1 hour ago, Peribit1 said:

Do they still have a Guest Services Dept that I can call and get the info? 

You could try this email address - guestrelations@crystalcruises.com

4 hours ago, travelberlin said:

It would be interesting to read about your comparison from this Crystal experience with your Explora Journey one. Will that be possible?

Thanks - Yes happy to do that - probably next week 

Sadly disembarkation day for us so hoping someone takes over the baton of posting menus and Reflections each day 

I will make a few catchup posts soon and hopefully post some more pictures 

Needless to say we’ve had a great time and enjoyed being back on Crystal 

9 March

Waterside Lunch

Waterside Lunch 9 March.pdf

Waterside Dinner

Waterside Dinner 9 March.pdf

Reflections 

Reflections 9 March 2024.pdf

For those keeping a lookout for their emails from Crystal to confirm they’re on “the list” one more came out today headed “JOIN A VIP VOYAGE AROUND THE JEWELS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN” 

8 March 

Waterside Lunch

Waterside Lunch 8 March.pdf

Waterside Dinner

Waterside Dinner 8 March.pdf

Reflections

Reflections 8 March 2024.pdf

7 March

Waterside Lunch

Waterside Lunch 7 March.pdf

Waterside Dinner

Waterside Dinner 7 March.pdf

Reflections

Reflections 7 March 2024.pdf