AtA

We liked our classic Aquamarine so much that we booked the same cabin for our 2025, 22 day cruise. It is always our go to choice.

Hopefully on the new builds they'll keep the Crystal Plaza and the promenade.

12 minutes ago, History&Wine said:

Anyone know what the cancellation policy is for excursions on Crystal now? 

I believe it's 48 hours before

3 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

Agree with you 100% about activities. We would never do TA on Oceania, and probably not Caribbean as well. Our cruise on Crystal in 2019 Caldera to San Diego was fabulous in terms of entertainment and activities, and we both agreed that it's a different league and Crystal is the line to go for the Caribbean. In fact, we booked 3 more cruises on Crystal before Covid because we found a lot of value, considering what we get. 

 

But since we found food and service on C comparable to O, and on port intensive cruises entertainment and activities are less important, we just don't find value in C at the current prices. 

Isn't it great we have so many choices?

We almost always try to find cruises where there is a good mix of port days and sea days. We just finished the first cruise on Serenity and the Venice to Rome cruise on Symphony. Both very port intensive and we both agreed we needed a vacation after our vacation. 😄

On 10/27/2023 at 9:56 AM, Keith1010 said:

Sixty days before your cruise you can go to "My Account (your account) and you will see the pricing for each shore excursion.

 

Thankfully, Crystal does not include excursions in the cruise fare.  I hope this continues.

 

Keith 

I hope they NEVER include shore excursions. Regent used to have great shore excursions with busses only half full. The minute they went to all included the busses filled up and the shore excursions were more basic unless you paid the upcharge for the better ones. And the upcharges were sometimes the same as it cost to do similar shore excursions on Crystal!

On 10/29/2023 at 9:57 AM, ak1004 said:

 

We must have very different friends.. all friends that we have love O food and the line in general. We did not see any difference between our first sailing on O in 2018 and our last few sailings. But people like to complaint.

 

O has 7 ships and the ships sail at 80-100% capacity most of the time, so they must be doing something right..

I found the food good on our first cruise in 2016 and awful on my second in 2020 right before the world shut down. Since you prefer port intensive cruises I can see why you like Oceania. We personally love sea days and on Oceania they are a bore. Very limited activities which was fine with our first Oceania cruise which was to Cuba but not my son's and my second one which was the Caribbean with unexpected sea days where the only activity the ship planned was Texas Hold Em contests. And of course you had to PAY to join.

As Terr implies if it's for the holiday cruises, people do tend to glitz it up a bit but normally a nice skirt, summer dress or pair of pants and a nice top suffice in the Caribbean.

17 hours ago, Cruisecyp said:

We are also on Symphony at the moment and totally agree with ‘Old Sea Dog’.

 

The ship is ultra luxury primarily because of the immaculate service and attention to detail.
 

‘Missing reservations on board for restaurants and shore excursions.  No record of transfers.  Etc.  Bring all your paperwork and back up on Board’

My tickets didn’t arrive so I contacted my TA and they popped up a few hours later.  This didn’t put me off. Minor glitches happen all the time in every walk of life.  You do something about them and carry on.  
 

Are your clients totally hopeless that they cannot sort out minor issues themselves?

 

Did we have glitches on our Symphony cruise? Yes we did. However Crystal more than made up for it with their service. 

Yes they have an umbrella in each suite and on rainy days, they have additional ones available

On 10/16/2023 at 11:34 PM, RLK33853 said:

Thanks everyone.  We pulled the trigger today and Crystal will be the first of our trial cruises next April/May.  We do the Athens to Rome on Symphony, disembark, get on the Silversea Whisper, disembark, and end with a Viking Jupiter cruise.  All of them look like they have things they do well - now we can see which suits our style best moving forward.  Like LouChamp said, we are done with the mainstream lines and hopefully we will find our new home on the oceans of the world!

 

I will say that the Crystal board is WAY more positive and helpful than some of the others on Cruise Critic.  That in itself is a plus.

 

So bear with us - we will no doubt have lots of specific questions before we sail in April.

 

Thank you

 

Ray and Ann

 

 

We too will be on the Athens to Rome cruise so hope to see you then. You picked a great itinerary.

I will tell you we did 21 days on Whisper last September with 3 friends and none of us will do SS and Whisper again based on that cruise. There was a huge lack of service, etc. I have heard that the newer SS ships are better

For example, I mentioned to our butler one day that there was no place to get a chocolate chip cookie after 2 PM. His response? On the other ships you can get it at the cafe. (There is no cafe on Whisper) He didn't offer to go find one for me and just walked out of the room. Note that if I had mentioned about not being able to get something on Crystal, they would have gone out of their way to get it for me, even if they had to bake it for me!

Another example is another time at lunch time, I went upstairs to get a cookie. They had none out so I asked if they had any. The waiter outside found the platter, opened it and reached in with his bare hand to hand me a cookie. Obviously I refused.

Additionally now SS is all-inclusive and their tours, unless you pay for the upgraded ones, are no better than mass market tours. The upgraded ones are very good.

I have not been on Viking but hear wonderful things about them.

We used to be Regent cruisers until they went all inclusive. Then their tours went downhill, so in 2014 we decided to try Crystal. We never looked back. The difference was obvious from day one. And as good as Crystal was back in 2014, the NC is even better with better food.

See you in 

On 10/14/2023 at 12:28 PM, avalon1025 said:

I’d say wait a bit,  I’ve placed some clients on the new crystal and though on board product is still great,  there are still issues with this start up.  Missing reservations on board for restaurants and shore excursions.  No record of transfers.  Etc.  Bring all your paperwork and back up on board,  not what I’d call luxury right now 

Actually it very much is luxury right now. 

On 10/10/2023 at 3:05 PM, Whipsnade said:

No cookies on Silversea!!??  Quel domage!! But not  true. Arts Cafe has coffee, cookies, brownies, pastries etc. Also some soups and sandwiches. Available all day and evening. They also deliver. 
We spent 70 days on Moon this past winter. My wife is walking challenged. Staff could not have been more helpful both at gangway and boarding tenders. Literally carried her down a couple times. 
Service in Atlantide and Terrazza couldn’t have been better. Of course a kind word usually helps. 

There is no Arts Cafe on Whisper. Hence our butlers comment

1 minute ago, Stickman1990 said:

Silversea have 13 ships and thousands of crew and you’re judging an entire company on a response from a single crew member?

No I judged it being on the ship for 21 days and having overall lousy service, from the butler to staff to in the restaurants. We were with 3 friends and NONE of us would ever choose SS again based on the service etc. 

Another example? One in our group needed some help getting down the VERY steep gangway at most of the ports. He had booked a bus tour (no walking) and was told that no one could help him down the gangway, so sorry he has to stay aboard.

2 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

Not all new ships are designed the way you’ve described - as just one example, Explora has full decks of public areas and seperate decks of suites - and they’re building a fleet of 6 ships to that specification

 

If a promenade is your thing and a “must have” you’re going to have a very limited range of options going forward 

 

As to the crew being unique in their anticipation I don’t agree with that - we’ve experienced it on other lines as well but I will agree that in the past many of the Crystal crew had been very good at doing that 

Of the "top" lines we've sailed, Seabourn came closest to service like Crystal, although our cabin stewardesses couldn't seem to get certain things right. Silly things which kept us laughing. The issue with Seabourn was the food was nowhere near the quality of Crystal. Actually none of the other 3 were. Hoping if we eventually do try Explora, we'll be wowed by the food and service.

Roy, I'm enjoying your descriptions of both ships. Thank you.

26 minutes ago, Whipsnade said:

New Crystal just moved a top category all the way forward where in addition to bring a long way from midship elevator will have some rocky seas. Both Silversea and Explora have some larger configurations adjacent to midships. As far as access from outside,  I don’t know where that comes from. Certainly don’t know what AtA could be referring to. 
 

On Seabourn and on SS.

BTW: You wouldn't get me on SS again. We were on Whisper and I mentioned to my butler in the afternoon how there was no place to get a cookie. His response? "The other SS ships have a place to get a cookie." Not, "let me go find you one. What kind would you like?" And that was just one example of day after day of what really was sub par service on SS. 

1 hour ago, Whipsnade said:

 Think Explora, Regent, Seabourn, Silversea. Between them five new ships in last/next 18 mos. And another four at least in next couple years. How can a couple 30 year old vessels compete with that?  Cannot win on nostalgia alone. And the reputation of Crystal is it is a line for over 70s. When I first started with Crystal we were among the youngest on board (late 40s). Now we are among the oldest (mid 80s). No one is chasing our age group as we are all expected to be dead or in memory care in less than a decade!! 
The Whip and spouse are just going to take it one year at a time. We are booked up for the next two years on Crystal, Silversea and Explora. Let’s hope we live that long. And, yes, we have insurance protection!!!!
 

We've been on SS, Seabourn and Regent and the one HUGE thing that sets Crystal apart is the crew and how they anticipate. The other three are good, IF you ask but they lack that something extra that the Crystal crew and staff have.

The other thing that sets Crystal apart is the ships. Yes they're old but the new, blingy ships feel more compartmentalized without a "central core" and without the promenade deck. Plus rooms on these new ships tend to be forward or aft on each floor versus having several floors just for rooms. To access the very top deck rooms, one is limited to one elevator or walking outdoors to access the rooms. Just one example. And those most expensive rooms are forward of the pool.

My feeling is if Crystal can somehow keep the feel of the ships they have while updating them, they will be far ahead of any of the other cruise lines.

19 hours ago, Sweetpea711423 said:

Hi.  I have a question regarding the afternoon tea service that might seem a bit odd.  It looked to me like there was whipped cream on the tray for the scones rather than clotted cream.  This surprises and greatly disappoints me.  I remember even at the Bistro, where they usually had scones available for some portion of the day, they always also had tins of clotted cream.  My husband and I are big clotted cream fans, and this was always something for which we gave Crystal high marks. We really wouldn't bother having scones (or afternoon tea at all) if only whipped cream is offered.  Please tell me that I'm wrong, and that clotted cream is still offered.

I don't remember if there was clotted cream on the inaugural Serenity sailing. I'm not sure we even made it to tea, but on Symphony last month, they definitely had clotted cream,

14 minutes ago, 2bobs said:

The caddy was definitely in use during our Barcelona - Lisbon - Lauderdale BTB in late 2019.

Too much good food too hard to resist that close to our old-folks dinnertime!  (So we skipped tea one or two days)   Bob & Bob

Yes it was there on that trip. Honestly I find it wasteful as much of it doesn't get eaten. I go to tea for 1-2 sandwiches and 1-2 scones plus tea. I don't need or want all the other stuff and from what I can see, most other people don't either. Personally I wish they'd come back with the old way of bringing just what we wish to partake of. 😞

4 hours ago, travelberlin said:

Maybe this helps? I had to retrieve the email from the trash because I was not interested…

 

https://www.silversea.com/lp-singles-fares.html?cid_email=em_UK_EM2307196465_OTHER_AGN_DEM_LINK&utm_campaign=UK_EM2307196465&utm_source=UK&utm_medium=Email&cid=144247&mid=370888302

You wouldn't catch me on Whisper again if it was free.

17 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

However, some cruise lines are having zero solo supplement. I have received two days ago a mail from Silversea in which they send me the offers with zero solo supplement.

Ivi

On which of their ships?

19 hours ago, travelberlin said:

Plus 1.

 

Since my main meal is at lunch time, I enjoy having a good meal in a nice environment. This on land, while cruising and at home. I have liked the Waterside very much for lunch. And yes, this was part of the luxury experience that Crystal offered. And no, hot dogs and hamburgers are not my idea of luxury. They do not go well with the champagne I like to drink bevor my meal. 
 

I have skipped dinner once in a while at Crystal, because I do not eat that much at dinner time. I understand all the reasons given in this thread why Waterside is being closed for lunch. No need to repeat them.  But that is not the point. We are expressing what we like. If others do not find it important good for them. I respect their opinions. Since we have different priorities, we will not agree on this. The same for having or not a casino. I do not care at all for a casino. But for other people seems to be important. I respect that. However, I am giving my opinion now about the closing of Waterside for lunch on port days, in case someone with power to decide at Crystal would like to take our opinions into account.

 

Ivi

 

Ivi it's one thing to give an opinion especially since you prefer your main meal to be lunch. And of course I respect that. However it's rude and might I say uncouth for anyone (not you) to imply that the rest of us need to be taught what luxury is just because we do not find the need to eat lunch in Waterside. (Note you of course did not imply that!)

1 hour ago, Roland4 said:

As I recall from our Quest cruise last year, you didn't miss much!!

No he didn't.

On 10/1/2023 at 3:58 PM, Stickman1990 said:

I don’t believe the concierge staff have worn uniforms in the past on Crystal so not sure it’s a change with new Crystal. They may wear uniforms on formal occasions but it’s not their day to day dress 

 

Some lines like Crystal do have a lot of crew in uniforms eg Cruise Directors but Explora tend not to. Interestingly when I spoke to Monique - quasi cruise director (not her official title) as I can’t recall the names Explora call her role she confirmed her ranking around the ship was senior when she explained she would be one of the last people (a handful) to leave the ship in an emergency 

The concierge on Crystal has always worn a "uniform". Not one like the officers but suit type with tie, etc.

On 9/29/2023 at 8:23 PM, Txcotn said:

We've shared meals with you and you are NOT uncouth!😁

Does that mean I now have to eat lunch and breakfast only in Waterside?