artbcpa

This thread is so interesting because we were just on Symphony and were told that the decision had already been made; that it would only be on Serenity and would be ready in time for next year's world cruise. Since we were told by a Crystal official, we thought it was approved. Maybe not?

16 hours ago, skybluewaters said:

Thank you @artbcpa

But I can’t agree with you regarding the reasonableness of the pricing of their excursions. The price on quite a few of them on my upcoming June 24 - July 9 cruise on Serenity can best be described as outrageous or absurd (that varies by specific excursion). But Crystal must know what it’s doing, because we signed up for four excursions nonetheless.

 

 

Perhaps your cruise has a higher occupancy or alternative excursions are more limited. Whatever the reason, why don’t you investigate private tours from companies like Tours by Locals and Viator. There are others if you browse online for the location. The quality will be better, you can decide how long to stay at each place you visit and the price may not be much higher. You should be able to cancel your Crystal excursion if you find something better.

One more suggestion. You can hire a guide at most ports yourself, BUT it is critical that you do some vetting first. This is how I do it; others may have additional suggestions. Ask the guide what they would suggest seeing. Based on his/her answer, you can decide:

1). if you can understand their accent and

2). if they know their city.

I NEVER hire someone who says I can take you wherever you want or asks what you want to see. To me that indicates that they don’t really know their city.

Enjoy.

13 hours ago, skybluewaters said:

 

Thanks for your review!

Could you explain what you mean by Crystal being more flexible with regard to pricing.

Crystal offers many more specials then they did in the past. Their excursions are also much more reasonably priced. The only negative change I have noticed is on their single supplements. Old Crystal used to have the best single supplement on the seas. Other lines now offer equal or better choices.

Just now, 360Guy said:

We are sailing first time on Serenity 7/2 Vancouver RT.  If you wouldn’t mind elaborating further with respect to your thoughts on the “mixed” food.   Reviews on this board for Waterside have been very positive.  Thanks!

We agree that Waterside's food and service are excellent. On many ships, we prefer their speciality restaurants, but we felt Waterside was the best on this cruise. We particularly loved their menus, not only for dinner, but for lunch as well. We only ate breakfast there one day, but it too was outstanding. My only complaint would be that sometimes the food did not have as much flavor/spices as I would like, but that is a personal preference. 

My favorite surprise was when Waterside served the famous "Prego" mushroom soup. I have the original Crystal recipe book as well as the later one from Nobu. I have made the Prego soup myself, but it was not as good as having it on Crystal.

We understand that Crystal may be considering replacing Tastes. We love Tastes both for lunch and dinner. If they do decide to that, my choice would to return the Brazilian Churrascaría. I know the trend is to reduce the amount of meats being served, but I am still a carnivore. Speaking to that Eleanor is much more into vegetables, but she simply loved the filets at Waterside and even ordered them two nights in a row. 

Just now, Pudgesmom said:

Thanks so much for posting. How did you find the shore excursions? Do they have onboard lecturers?

Their speakers are the best on the seas. They also have so many that they are available on your in cabin TVs in case you missed one. The shore excursions are of mixed quality, but WAY cheaper than old Crystal. We still prefer booking private, but in some locations, that may not be practical.

On 2/15/2024 at 11:47 AM, Pudgesmom said:

Thanks for the reply. I hope you’ll come back to share your experience after your “new” Crystal cruise.

Just completed our New Crystal cruise Hong Kong to Singapore. Overall Crystal is FAR superior to Explora Journeys. Comparing it to old Crystal, I believe there is not much difference with these exceptions:

Bad: The ship is much too old. Even with the renovation, the internet does not compare with other newer ships.
 

Good: They are much more flexible with regard to pricing. That may be due to their eagerness to have previous passengers return. Their staff, service, welcoming feeling, speakers, and entertainment are all equal to or better than old Crystal. 
 

Mixed: Food - some better, some worse but overall equal. New Italian restaurant not anywhere near as good as Prego. Waterside main dining room better.

Avenue Saloon is still the hit of the late evening. We did miss the casino. We understand they are bringing it back.

If you have any specific questions, please ask.

On 2/29/2024 at 4:13 AM, commodoredave said:

While one can nitpick any set of facts, the bottom line here is that Crystal is more expensive than Explora at this point in time. Rather than arguing this fact, it would be more productive for Crystal fans to explain why they believe the higher price is worth it, as has been done on another thread. For me, the fact that Crystal has a librarian and a magician is certainly enough to justify the higher fares!

As I have recently done both Explora and New Crystal, my comparison would be quite simple. MSC should sell their ships to A&K, Explora has by far the more beautiful newer ships. Unfortunately they have No Idea how to run a luxury cruise line, something that Crystal and A&K are masters of. Crystal badly needs newer ships. Explora badly needs better service, training and systems. When you board Crystal it is like a family welcoming you aboard. Plus their entertainment is better; their activities are better. Food on both is inconsistent; some outstanding; some good and some not up the standards of a luxury line. At the moment I would still choose Crystal, but hoping they somehow find a way to merge the two.

PLEASE NOTE: We have done a lot of cruising including on the former Crystal ships, but our first cruise on New Crystal will not be until later this month.

Excursions: We have not found there to be much difference between the ships. We much prefer private excursions from outside companies. Having said that we have scheduled several excursions with Crystal on our upcoming voyage. Part of the reason is that we are interested in experiencing whether the influence of A&K will make a difference. We were also pleasantly surprised at the reasonable prices Crystal is charging for their excursions. The prices on old Crystal were exorbitant and the quality was hit or miss. We are hopeful that things will be different.

Size of the ship - We have traveled on everything from the mega ships (over 6,000) to the fairly small ones (250-300). We have enjoyed the most those between 700-1,000 passengers. We love the entertainment and variety of activities that ships of that size can offer. When he have traveled on smaller ships, there were just too many things we missed. The large ships are just not our cup of tea. They often do have great entertainment, but the long lines and the pettiness of charging for every little thing is a real turnoff. 

Service - For the most part, service on the luxury cruise lines is outstanding. We don't tend to use the butlers as much as those who are constantly entertaining in their cabins.  From top to bottom, Crystal's service was the best.

Onboard lectures.- Of all the luxury cruise lines we sailed, Crystal lecturers and daytime activities were the best - until Edie (former President). We are hoping that things will return to the pre Edie period. Crystal always had excellent port lecturers, but they also had the most interesting lecturers in unique topics.

Some of things that sets Crystal apart, that we hope A&K retains. Every couple of years when the Olympics were going on, Crystal hosted its own shipboard games and had former Olympians as speakers who also gave out the medals. Formal nights (now fully optional). We love to dress up, especially  in Asia. Some of the gowns the women wore were out of this world. Unlike other ships, Crystal always made sure a staff person was present to supervise the activities. We were surprised when some other luxury ships did not. 

Amber, Thank you so much for your review. Keith is absolutely right. You need to post your review on Cruise Critic's reviews. But it is not just for newbies. It is also for those of us who have not experienced New Crystal. It brought tears to our eyes to hear that Crystal is fully back. We will be on the Symphony at the end of this month and now we are extra excited.

We are long time Crystal devotees going all the way back to the Harmony. It is has been several years since we have sailed Crystal due to the pandemic and our experiences with Edie. (Someone might have explained that period.) We did sail on several other luxury lines including Regent and Seabourn. We were on both of their other two new ships and, you may be right, they are extraordinarily beautiful. We loved them. Yet they still didn't have that extra special "family" feeling that Crystal used to give us.

Your review brought that back to us. Thank you.

Art & Ellie

12 hours ago, JTor said:

Hi everyone on board,

We have a cruise specialist agent and they are normally very good but they have tried to help us deal with Explora and we are still getting no where.. We are told they do not send cruise documents, we can only get them electronically on their website.. We have not been able to do this because we can’t figure out how to “link”our booking to our newly created account.  I have tried to call them, the agent has called them, I’ve emailed etc and we are getting no where.. Someone did finally respond and promised to do it but 2 working days later it still isn’t done.. 

 

How did you get your documents and get on the ship? Were you unable to book dining/spa/excursions until you were on board? this is so disappointing compared with what we are used to on other lines (oldCrystal, Silversea etc).

 

Not to mention my 86 y/o mother is coming with us and has her own booking and is NEVER going to be able to navigate this… I will have to do it for her but I cannot use my email on her account so there likely will be no solution other than me making a physical trip so I can sit at her computer with her and do it with her so the email “authentication” comes when I am present.. Definitely NOT an elderly-friendly policy!!

 

We had similar problems linking our account and making reservations.. So sorry they are still having them. We were able to make the dinner reservations by calling them. However that was not possible for the excursions. They promised several times to get it fixed, but never did. Considering that their parent MSC has been in business for such a long time, I don't understand why their systems are so screwed up. Their onboard billing was no better. When we asked about all these problems, we received their standard answer, "We WANT to be different".

6 hours ago, Hlitner said:

There are guest speakers and then there are GUEST SPEAKERS.  In our 50 years of extensive cruising the really great speakers have been few and far between (and not on our recent 18 day EJ1 cruise).  Our most memorable speaker was on a long transpacific HAL cruise.  Dr. Alan Wright, a retired astronomist, packed-in standing room only crowds (at the large main theater) for most of his 9 amazing lectures.  He has now moved on to a small ship luxury line where I am sure he is still very popular.  Many other speakers hardly generate a ripple on most cruises.  The cruise lines generally get these speakers for the price of a free cabin.  We have listened to lectures on far more then 100 cruises and can only remember the names (and some of the lectures) of only 3 speakers!  

 

Funny story about our recent EJ1 cruise.  During cocktail hour (which for us is more then an hour) a fellow passenger asked us if we had gone to that day's lecture.  When I responded in the negative I asked him about that lecture.  His response was "I really don't remember and fell asleep."  

 

Hank

 

 

Your comments about guest speakers reminded me of why we cruised on Crystal so many times. Crystal was best known for their sea days and guest speakers. I do remember many of their speakers including a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, famous actors from Hollywood and Broadway and even political experts which would probably be impossible in today's world. However, even Crystal's speakers declined after Eddie came on board.

I haven't yet sailed with the new Crystal, but I believe Abercrombie and Kent, the new owner of Crystal, is trying to maintain their specialties. They were the very best for sea days.

One note: Unlike most cruises the gratuity is included. That does bring the prices down since some of the cruises we have taken automatically add on a 15-20% gratuity.

Sad to hear that the IT problems continue. Explora Journeys was NEVER able to resolve our problem before we boarded. As for those who continue to defend EJ against EVERY negative comment, remember that in today's world they are probably getting paid either through free cruises or directly. I ignore their comments. A true critic reviewer will acknowledge the good and the bad. A good company will pay attention and learn from their customers and make appropriate changes where possible. We will see how EJ responds.

In honor of Explora's desire to create a different type of cruise experience, we did something very different for our first night. We have sailed on most of the luxury lines,  several of the mid-line ships and even a couple of the mega ships. The first night we go to the opening show and then spend time at the casino and one of the lounges.

We ditched it all last night and went swimming in the indoor pool and spa - The Conservatory. That was extremely interesting.
 

The spa is very unique. A very long rectangle that could accommodate more than 20 persons comfortably. We really enjoyed it. 
 

The pool is a lap pool. It is heated which I love and salt water, not my favorite. 
 

Overall it was a very different first night. No show, no casino and no lounge.

4 hours ago, uktog said:

Can you be more specific what the communication issue was?  
 

I try and avoid anywhere that is select yourself so am absolutely delighted to hear no one can do that on Explora.  I was so disappointed when Azamara and Viking went back to the pile it on yourself model.
 

But I’m interested in understanding what the issue was - was your request basic or unusual for example?  

Excellent question.
 

I am not sure if you have worked in a commercial kitchen or where you are working with sous chefs.
 

My problem was two fold. Since Explora has decided to make things fresh - a noble effort (to put ingredients together for each order) it is important that the people doing this have a good knowledge of how to do that. In more than one station, the person behind the counter had to ask their supervisor how to do that. (Ex. My Udon soup and my caesar salad). In effect Explora is asking each server to be a mini chef and they were obviously not trained to the extent they needed to be.
 

Secondly, in cases where the  amounts could vary by taste, we encountered a language problem which made it more difficult to get the dish served how we would like it.

While neither is a major issue, they did impact our enjoyment of the experience. I am sure with time they will be resolved.

More photos. I love that chandelier 

Photos of the ship

Boarding was extremely easy. The staff was welcoming. They helped with carryon luggage and I saw a sign where they offer hand luggage assistance. Our staff person took as directly to our gorgeous suite. (Photos to follow).  Within a very short time our checked luggage was at our door.

Lunch was at the Emporium marketplace on Deck 11. A beautiful display with far too many choices. Unfortunately, the quality was mixed. I started withe the caesar salad which the made to order. It was fabulous (9-10). Looking for soup to go with it, I opted for the Udon soup, something I usually love. It was tasteless. I went back and asked to add the spicy soy sauce. Didn't help. (0-1). I was trying not to spoil my dinner, but the sliced rare roast beef looked so good. Unfortunately, the taste didn't match and I also needed a steak knife to cut it. (5-6).

In addition both Ellie and I had trouble communicating with the staff behind the food counters. We have found this to be true on other cruises where they don't allow you select your own food. 
 

So far a mixed day.

3 hours ago, florisdekort said:

 

Well, that’s a bit last minute. 
 

And it’s Corner Brook, not Corner Book 🤣

 

On the positive side, I’ve never been to Newfoundland. 
 

Are you kidding? We have outside tours booked.

Today is departure day. Our hotel is just down the street from where our ship is docked; so before breakfast we walked over to the ship and met disembarking passengers from the previous cruise. We took the opportunity to do our own exit poll. It was unanimous. They loved the ship, the food and even the entertainment. We are definitely even more excited to experience it for ourselves. 
 

Just one more item. We never received our luggage tag holders. They promised in their e-mail that they would be available upon boarding. We hope that will be true and there won't be any complications boarding.

A couple of surprises as well

The weather was nice too

Day 2 in Quebec with a short drive to the Montmorency Falls followed by many more views of the fall colors and ending at the Basilica Sainte-Anne-De-Beaupre.

Here are a few more photos from our tour