A week ago Saturday we got off the inaugural Crystal Serenity cruise. It was a fabulous 11 days aboard her and I look forward to being on Symphony in 3 weeks and back on Serenity in January.
We had one of the new Sapphire suites on deck 9. The room was beautiful and spacious with a small walk in closet, large shower, comfortable seating and a large balcony. There were also lots of places to plug in your phones, IPads, etc as well as an assortment of other plugs. We brought a strip but never used it. The TV’s had a lot more channels than in the past. One could watch, if one wanted, the news channels as well as channels such as the cooking channel and HGTV. The internet was much better than before shutdown. In our 11 days there was only one time I couldn’t access the net and that was only for a short 5 minutes or so.
Igor our butler, who before the shutdown worked on Symphony was truly excellent. We lacked for nothing! Our housekeeper had only been working for Crystal for a week. She was efficient and friendly, but was still learning the ropes. I think she will wind up being excellent with a bit more experience.
The food was better than ever. I used to find Waterside hit or miss. No longer. It’s a hit! And of course Umi Uma was as fabulous as always. I have heard people complaining about “New Prego”. Let me just say, before you gripe, try it. It’s more northern Italian and we found it to be very good. Tastes was also excellent for a lighter bite and Marketplace, the Bistro and Trident Grill were the same great quality as before. (And yes, for those who love them, they had the tarts!) However Scoops was better than before with fabulous gelato. And the cookies were just as good as before.
We went to all the shows and they too were better than before although I agree they could use some new shows. However every show was still lots of fun and the cast were even better if that’s possible. Loved the magician. Lectures were also good to excellent.
Seeing the staff and crew was like coming home to family you love. Over the past 18 months we tried SS, Seabourn and Regent. The difference is with Crystal, the staff feels comfortable getting to know you and letting you get to know them. They are comfortable with light banter and not afraid of “saying the wrong thing” or even chatting for a bit with us. This was unlike what we found on the other lines where if they engaged for more than a minute or two they’d get the “look”.
On the other lines the staff and crew would respond to requests. And many times the answer would be no, we can’t do that. On Crystal the answer is either yes, or “let me see what I can do” and almost always the answer would be yes. On Crystal staff and crew anticipate our needs. One example? Some days I’d come to the Bistro to needlepoint, have a snack and have a latte with almond milk. One afternoon, I sat at a table in the bistro talking to a friend. Not 5 minutes after I arrived, without my asking for one, a latte was put down in front of me.
The negatives?
In the past, when we would board, we’d be given a time slot to get onboard which was based partly on one’s cabin. So being in a Sapphire, we assumed we’d be able to get on fairly quickly. This was not done this time. We got to the desk to check in and were given the number 4, while the couple on the line next to us was given the number 3. (And the numbers had nothing to do with which cabin you were in). Additionally, we met up with some friends a bit later who checked in after us but were given the number 3 too. So we wound up waiting longer than them to get onboard. I think they need to figure out a better way of checking in everyone.
Now having said that, it was wonderful to see Carmelo handing out glasses of water for those waiting. We had to wait around ½ hour to get onboard. Once onboard, after hugging everyone hello, we headed to our suite.
The phones didn’t work for the first 3 days we were in the suite. We kept being told they were working to fix them. I finally went down and spoke to Scott Peterson and 10 minutes later we had a working phone.
There was only one phone so if we were in the living room, we had to run (ok, walk swiftly) to the bedroom to answer the phone (Yes I know, a first world problem.)
Additionally unlike in the older suites and PH’s, there was no phone in the bathroom. (Again a first world problem.)
The first 2 days the TV was hit or miss with the sound going off, but that was eventually fixed. However, if we turned the TV on in the living room, the TV in the bedroom also turned on and visa versa.
In the bedroom, the cable box which was behind the TV, kept flashing all night long. We solved the problem by putting a napkin over the box.
The carpet in the new Sapphires had yellow streaks running through it and I kept thinking the carpet wasn’t clean because of that. I think that carpet wasn’t their best design choice. LOL.
The closet in the new Sapphire could have used another hanging bar so that one side had full length hanging and the other side had a double for hanging shorter things like shirts and jackets.
Also if the door in the closet was open, the drawers in the dresser didn’t open fully because they’d bang into the closet door.
The drawer at the desk was too shallow to really put anything in it. I like to put my glasses and hairbrush in. My hairbrush was too fat for the drawer as were 2 of my eyeglass cases.
There was no full-length mirror in the suite. I was told it was backordered so hopefully it will be in there soon.
I prefer drawers in the bathroom versus the shelves they put in. Certain things do not have to be on display on shelves. Also the garbage can was under the bottom shelf so to throw something away, one had to squat down to get it into the garbage can. (Yes I know. Another first world problem!)
The shower had no door on it. I thought that would be an issue with being cold, but I was quite warm in there. I also liked that it was push buttons to turn the shower heads and sprays on and off. What I didn’t like was that the choice was an overhead rain head (which I dislike) or a wand that was set too low on the wall and had only one choice of spray. And the only way to use it was to hold it in your hand. No way for it to work on the bar even if it had been set higher. Oh and there were 3 body jets. The problem with those was if you used them, the water sprayed out of the shower! Personally while I liked that the shower was large, I still prefer the smaller shower in the older suites because they have the choice of spray and height.
Lastly in the past if one were in a PH or PS, one would be able to go to the specialty restaurants for no additional charge anytime, if there was room. Now even in a Sapphire, one has to pay the additional $50 pp. And no longer can we have a cocktail party in our room. In the Sapphire, one does get 5 items pressed a day, plus 5 items dry cleaned a day and 1 bag of laundry washed once on cruises 11 days or longer. However I personally don’t believe it’s worth the extra money compared to an Aquamarine. We were always happy with the space in a PH (now called Aquamarine) and feel that for the future, with the money we save by booking an Aquamarine instead of a Sapphire, we can pay the $50 pp every night of the cruise to go to the specialties, or pay for laundry and still be ahead in terms of savings.
So what are my final thoughts? We met one of the entertainers on another cruise line in March. This entertainer said it so well. Crystal is family and none of the other lines feel like family. Crystal is back and is overall better than ever!
