gaspari

Not been to Alaska , but spent 3 weeks on Nova in December. It is a lovely ship, but much more suited to warm weather cruising than cold, with the outdoor dining spaces and lack of space in the main dining room, which effectively creates a 7pm and 9pm two seating arrangement

We have just returned from Serenity, and have done a CC review, but you have to scroll right to the bottom on the main CC review to find it! Was a good cruise, good food, entertainment and mostly good service. Found some supervisory staff/management aloof, not natural communicators. The ship is much the same as we remember it, with some significant enhancements/upgrades, but it is way off being fully refurbished. The long term regulars do still seem to love everything about it, and don’t see the dated, unchanged elements. They perhaps prioritise onboard activities and familiarity over destinations/experiences?
 

We had warmer more personal service, and equivalent quality on Seabourn recently, and think that the newer ships have moved things on apace, which perhaps suits us better. We like a more stylish interior. Pricing on Crystal is a bit steep for equivalent staterooms, which is not warranted in our opinion. Only experienced the older Silversea ships, so can’t directly compare. Looking forward to Nova in November.

17 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Hear hear! Rather tired of seeing ads and posts on social media from all the millennial influencers. Thanks for your excellent review.

Quite agree. We join on 18 November too, and have really enjoyed your insights and balanced reviews. Have just returned from Crystal Serenity, which we enjoyed, but the CC forum for that line almost seemed like a ‘cult’ where all was wonderful, no criticism could possible be warranted, and Crystal was in another league to other ‘lesser’ luxury lines 😂

2 minutes ago, gaspari said:

Hi CruiseCriticAaron

 

For info, I just noticed a mistake on the updated CC review of Serenity. It says in the text if you want modern, go for the classic stateroom when I think you mean the opposite!

Also the passenger count figure is the old one

Hi CruiseCriticAaron

For info, I just noticed a mistake on the updated CC review of Serenity. It says in the text if you want modern, go for the classic stateroom when I think you mean the opposite!

13 hours ago, AtA said:

And I hate the 2018 "new" Aquamarine cabins. Love the old classic ones and requested it for our next sailing on Serenity.

‘Hate!’ -   bit strong……it’s only a stateroom 😂

12 hours ago, Princess Calee said:

Would you kindly go into a little further what you saw with the Classic Aquamarine Suite such as cluttered furnishings and dated bathrooms. We have this category on Symphony reserved. Thanks for your help.

I am sure you will be comfortable wherever you are on the ship, and it may just be a matter of taste. We like modern stylish interiors with space and a relatively simple design, which our suite provides. Our observation of the classic was that it has a large sofa and armchair, with a double desk area which protrudes into the room - just more furnishings. The bathroom looks dated and contain a bath which we do not need, and a smaller more traditional shower cubicle, whereas we have a large walk in shower with a super three way shower head, very stylish design, and no bath. Design wise the classic is traditional, warmer colours and a bit more fussy versus light and bright and modern. Some people may prefer it, but we were expecting renovated on the newly reimagined ship, which it is not. The classic locations are more midship though. There are a couple of comparison pics showing the classic and 2018 styles on the Crystal website.

Yes, we are on board at the moment, and enjoying our cruise. Some very brief first impressions, just a few days in.

Our 2018 refurbed Aquamarine Suite is looking great, modern spacious and comfortable with a lovely bathroom, shower only. Beds and linens are super. Our Butler  and stewardesses are super too.

Food so far good, and nicely presented, although our meals to date in Waterside were as good as last night’s Osteria. Not a great fan of the rather limited Italian menu or the over fussy presentation there, and won’t revisit on this cruise. Not tried Umi yet.

Staff mostly very pleasant and helpful, but service quite impersonal compared with our recent experience on Seabourn and other cruise lines where it felt warm, personal, and intuitive. Management mostly cool/distant and don’t interact much with us.

No one ever asks for a name, so one feels a bit anonymous. Many long-standing mature male senior and waiting staff, and surprised at how few female staff are employed in these positions.

Shuttle services provided when needed have been excellent.

Musicians and evening entertainment universally excellent, with plenty of options.

Just a word on the refurbishment, it is partial, not full. Some public rooms and staterooms are looking super smart, and some areas are much as we remember from many years ago. Palm Court and most dining venues looking great. Bistro very utilitarian. We would have been disappointed with a classic aquamarine stateroom, which are in the majority, particularly their very dated bathrooms, and cluttered furnishings. However, seen a couple of the brand new rooms which look really nice.

First impression is this is clearly a quality cruising experience, albeit on an older ship, which we are enjoying, but question whether it would be worth any price uplift over the smarter, newer, more stylish ships of Seabourn / Silversea etc

41 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

I have to correct myself as on deck 8 and 9 are the new sapphire suites not Aquamarine. 
 

I do want to add on Serenity I prefer Classic Aquamarine over the ones created in 2018. The classics are larger, have two desks and a coffee table which can be raised.  
 

Keith. 

Thank you Keith.  Good to know. May be sensible to just wait and see on our suite then. Looking forward to the cruise anyway.

11 hours ago, crickette said:

 

The 2018 refers to the SeaBreeze decor, most easily recognized by the bed without a bedskirt (edit to add: and turquoise items).  See Bayonejoe #150 on this thread - it seems to say minimal refresh.  For photos, the best I can offer are on Keith's blog when he captured the show suites:

https://www.followourtrips.com/cruising-the-bahamas/archives/09-2021

Thank you camillus, crickette and seaworthy for all the helpful information and pics. Will see if there are any 2018 updated ones available for next week.

2 minutes ago, crickette said:

If you go to the Crystal website, call up the deckplan of Serenity, and hold your cursor over your room number, you will see a descrption as to when the room was renovated. I know there are 3 choices for Sapphire - classic, redesigned 2018, and redesigned 2023.  I am unsure if the same 3 choices apply to Aquamarine.

   https://crystalcruises.com/ship/serenity

Thank you. Have done this, and ours says  ‘classic’. Guess this may mean older than 2018? The pic on the website looked lovely and modern?

3 hours ago, bayonejoe said:

My post was intended to merely point out a fact which may or may not affect one’s choice in booking the classic or a newer suite. And thank you, We will enjoy every minute of this cruise.

We join next week in an Aquamarine on Deck 10. We were expecting the lovely looking suite shown on the Crystal website, and will be very disappointed to get an older unrefurbished suite showing its age on what we thought was a ‘newly updated’ ship. Are there new Aquamarines we should investigate as an alternative? 

21 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

Some excellent photos,thanks Stickman for posting.

I do find some of the decor too busy amd dated in some suites amd areas.

The patterned carpet is very dated now when you look at newer ships.

Agree, some areas look dated, and not very stylish, especially staterooms, but some public areas look lovely. Hope the bed linens aren’t as crumpled as they look!😂  Food, drinks and menus look super though. Joining in two weeks

Not for us at these surcharges! Hope the don’t downrate the quality in the  other restaurants, as would be the start of a slippery slope

We’re on Nov 18 cruise too, and just had the email. Appears only first 4 nights are bookable for the two upcharge restaurants? Not value for us, at these upcharge prices, when there are plenty of other options!

We are from the UK and on board from Lisbon. Looking forward to the trip, and hope to meet you.

We love Lisbon, but were not that impressed with the HOHO bus, which went around some less than attractive modern areas outside the immediate centre. The centre is quite compact and very walkable, much of it not that suited to big buses. Belem is lovely too, but a bus, tram or taxi will quickly and easily take you there

We join Serenity on 12 Aug in Lisbon, to Southampton. Last minute booking. Looking forward to experiencing new Crystal after big issue with old Crystal refunds during Covid. However a fairly straightforward low risk trip travelling from UK

We are due to call at Golfito, Quepos, and Puerto Caldera on our Dec cruise, and definitely want to see some of the local countryside, flora and fauna in these three ports. We normally avoid Cruise ship tours, and do our own thing with local operators or taxis on arrival. Never been to Costa Rica before. Is this feasible at these three ports, or are we likely to find ourselves stuck in port if we haven’t pre arranged things? Any advice gratefully received, thank you.

Will try and summarise.

Shuttles were provided in Civitavecchia to a walkable but not very convenient location, which was completely unmanned. Schedule supposedly half hourly, but no timings and didn’t seem that frequent. We walked to the Costa ship and used theirs in the morning, and got the MSC one in the evening, then walked, as no sign of anything for Azamara.

Shuttle not needed in Santa Margherita, Sorrento, or Kotor, as good tender locations. No shuttle in Livorno, but fairly close to town of Livorno (such as it is!) or Giardino Naxos (we taxied to Taormina).  Infrequent half hourly (full) shuttles to get from Port to town in Monopoli, so we walked about 1 mile to town intending to get the shuttle back, but pick up location in town didn’t exist, according to tourist office, so we walked back too. Two shuttles booked by Azamara and provided by port to take us to Ravenna town half hourly, but long wait as full.

Overall, just felt a bit limited, and unmanaged, not reflecting that everyone gets off in the morning

Just returned 17 Aug from Journey. Still a really nice experience on the whole. Excellent housekeeping/internal standards/hygiene and decor. Cabin steward exceptional. Balconies and balcony furniture showing their age. Officers almost invisible until we commented mid cruise, and some with very poor personal standards/ image - needing to wash with Persil! Certainly not like the old days with Heike/Eric and the like. Cruise Director not really front of house at all, but does have a nice voice! Many pleasant staff, some inexperienced, but growing into the role as the cruise progressed. We felt the casual/daytime food offer was pretty good, especially Windows breakfast. Discoveries food seriously hit and miss, speciality restaurants better. We were not a fan of the limited a la carte evening offer in Windows, but perhaps a reflection of the 450 load factor. Shuttles where they were provided were infrequent and not managed, with not enough, no schedules, and sometimes pick up points that didn’t exist. Overall this last minute cruise was enjoyable at a very good price point,  the ship was looking very nice, and the clientele charming. No Covid issues we were aware of. Although some aspects, especially management team need work, we would certainly rebook again.

We are joining Azamara Journey around Italy on 6 August. Just wondering when Azamara typically allocate stateroom numbers to customers with a Guarantee? Is it at embarkation?

We have been offered a bid upgrade from Oceanview to Balcony on 23 May (Pursuit) at a “weak” minimum rate of £160pp, when we could have bought a specified Balcony anyway at that amount extra. Doesn’t seem very honest?

We are on a short 5 night last minute cruise on Pursuit departing Nice on 23 May. Received two emails so far inviting us to bid for an Oceanview to Balcony stateroom. The absolute minimum “weak” bid is £160pp yet we could have booked our choice of Balcony stateroom for £360 total extra  ie. £160pp. 

Seems disingenuous, verging on dishonest to try and encourage people to bid more than the regular cost, implying they are getting a better deal!

Can anyone give an idea of the type of wines by the glass included in the classic drinks package limit? Is there a Prosecco or Sparkling Wine? Thank you. Trying to asses whether the wine options are OK or whether we should upgrade to Premium? Also, can only one person in the stateroom have Premium, and the other Classic?