Keith1010

I am doing this by memory but believe they added 170 suites. Could be wrong but a lot. Also Nobu would not allow them to serve in the suites other than a handful of them. For those who have ever seen the size of the Specialty restaurant Galley it is small. None of the food is stored there either other than what they prep. In the end there is not one size that fits all. What oner person prefers another one does not. For example, I don't like the original seabreeze on Serenity but some people do and that applies to Aquamarine and Sapphire. I did like the new Aquamarine and Sapphire suites but didn't stay in them so my experience is obviously limited. I like the former PH over the former PS but the former PS is larger. Anyway, there is a lot of choice since there are three types of Aquamarines and three types of Sapphires and the new Junior CP and the new double and solo rooms. Keith

We did receive a cruise survey from the evening after debarking Serenity. I am posting this so that everyone knows there will be a survey and because I know of a couple of people who after the first cruise didn't get their surveys within a few days after they debarked and I am unsure if they ever did. The survey was more comprehensive than previous surveys. It does us a one to ten scale and N/A as before. It covered more categories including butler service since everyone has a butler. Lots of whole sections on various categories such as Fitness Center, Spa? Salon, Outdoor Pool, etc. Keith

I'll post this in other areas but wanted to note that today we received the Crystal Survey for our cruise. I am not sure if this was available for this on the first cruise only. Keith

Thanks you so much for your kindness as usual. It was a great two cruises and the best way to celebrate our Wedding Anniversary as well. Keith

Yes. 50 miles from the port. Meant to have said between home and port. Keith

You are correct. I just want to note the price shown is a "from price" and while for most of our bookings the from was the price I know of one case when it was not. Early on I was told by another member of this board they were using dynamic pricing but not sure if that is still the case. Keith

Remember as I posted those who live in Florida within 50 miles will get transfers from and to home. Keith

I'll post this in other areas but wanted to note that today we received the Crystal Survey for our cruise. I am not sure if this was available for this on the first cruise only. Keith

Oops. I should start a TV show with all my blunders. If it's butter it must be the butler. LOL. Keith

I am glad that many of you provided feedback. This will get addressed. Flyertalker is so right. Airlines might let you know of changes and sometimes they do not. A good friend of ours was on a cruise with us ending in Singapore and with the wonderful Singapore Airlines showed up to the airport and the time had changed, they were not notified and missed the fight. As to the port substitutions as Texas Tillie said I am always reminded that you never can count on a port whether that is due to a change made months before or bad weather or even a terrorist issue. But don't mess with Liverpool. LOL. As I said I am sure Crystal will correct this but like us they are human and sometimes make mistakes. Keith

Butlers have no impact on the number of dining room staff. Overall capacity correlates to dining room staffing across all dining venues. The butler will stock your refrigerator with water, soft drinks, wine and spirit and fruit so if you want that you will at least need your butter to do that for you. Your cabin attendant cleans the room. If you have other questions, please let me know. Keith

Gelato is the new ice cream. Keith

I ended up getting some additional information this and it might be as you said but just want to clarify that if you do not live in Florida you do not get transfers between home and home airport in either direction. As you note it applies to Florida residents only who live within 50 miles of the airport and I have no idea about California residents. Keith

The answer is it depends. Factors are how many butlers are on board because they cannot add and reduce per cruise and what the overall occupancy is. Regular rooms will likely be between 15 and 20 rooms per butler. They back each other up so that is not an issue with Crystal. Regular rooms typically have less requirements as they don't receive the afternoon Canapé's and less people dine in. I know this number sounds high but it is not. In suites you might find a butler handling 12 rooms. How they do this is beyond me but they've always done this and it works. Be award they have runners (they use another name) who brings the food from the galley to the pantry. Keith

Thanks you so much for the kind comments and for the good wishes. I am so glad to hear you will be back for a cruise on November 2nd. I looked at the itinerary and it looked great. I did try to be as balanced as possible as you noted. The things we liked we highlighted along with items that need to be addressed. We are so happy to have been part of the inaugural and the cruise which followed. Thank you again. Keith

Thank you for following along and for the good wishes. Keith

All of this varies by room. My advice is to bring chargers, adapters and cords with you to be on the safe side. I have a lot of apple products and now us a wireless devise with a regular plug allowing me to charge our iWatch, iPhone and AirPods simultaneously Use one at home and first time when traveling and Anne Marie and I each have one so between that and plugging in our respective MacBokk Air computers in an outlet we cut way back on cords. Keith

As our 22 wonderful days come to a close my overall observation is that overall this has truly been Crystal and the Crystal we know. High marks in service, cuisine, enrichment, entertainment, the ship, and the overall experience. Once again as they did in the past the crew did a terrific job adopting to changes including having more suites, less standard rooms, an overall lower capacity. This means overall less crew, and reallocating crew to other areas such as having more butlers, less in the restaurants, less attendants, etc. New crew members were welcomed and are learning the ropes. We've met several of them and were impressed. The internet experience has been positive. As I've mentioned it does go up and down intermittently but hasn't knocked me off the system and just means on occasion I've had to reopen mail. Crew getting used to new systems and these undoubtedly will go through some rework. Phone system better as the on board crew corrects contractor issues such as the one we had where both phones wouldn't ring. TV's still freeze more often than they should and in port not getting stations. In the scheme of things for us all minor nuances but they will need to be addressed. There is more work to be done on back office systems including My Account, getting e-tickets out sooner, having an app in place, having a customer survey, etc. At the same time pretty much all systems are new and if they waited to have all of this in place before sailing it would be several more months before the ships sailed. For us the overall experience exceeded our expectations because after all this included the inaugural cruise and so much had to come together to make this a reality. I do want to mention since it has come up over the years that Waterside was often closed for lunch. I say this as a few on this board like having lunch there. I didn’t hear from on person on-board complaining about this but figured I would mention it. I believe it allows for crew to go ashore and to support increased demand for Marketplace with people desiring a lunch there or even at Tastes and the Trident Grill than a lunch at Waterside. In the end, Crystal has never been perfect nor are we. All the things many of us have enjoyed about Crystal are present today and I see the product as enhanced with the makeover of portions of the ship (specialty restaurants, salon, improved signage, more suites, etc. And I am impressed with the ownership and senior executives in terms of their approach and vision. If you have always enjoyed Crystal, I expect you will enjoy the experience because it was Crystal as we know and now better. And for all those who speculated that those of us who thought the majority of crew would return, that Crystal would be more like Crystal Cruises than not and who repeatedly pushed back on this and even went on to say Crystal would be closer to SS you were thankfully wrong. As some of us observed from the beginning, Manfredi didn't keep the Crystal name just because..........He kept it to take all what was unique and positive about Crystal and to build upon that. I believe those who thought differently on this completely missed the boat. I am glad the boat sailed with us who believed Crystal as we knew it would live on. I do like change though and am happy to see changes being made. But like all change it never ends. Some of you will not like the new Italian Restaurant. Some will. Maybe some will evolve over time. But I am reminded that when inclusive rolled out the vast majority of Crystal Society members were upset about this change. I would say 8 out of 10. So, let's see what happens. I will publish a review in time. And yes, surprise is good. We didn't know everything ahead of time and I like that. I was happy to answer as many questions as I could but as many as I answered remember things change so while something was valid today it might be different for those sailing soon or not so soon. Same was true for the Hotel. I didn’t have all the answers ahead of time such as what cords would work where but somehow it all worked out. Finally, it was very nice meeting members of CC who I never met before and those who I have including several of you who don’t post and are lurkers. I look forward to sailing with you again. Cheers, Keith

We enjoyed our final time on Crystal Serenity yesterday and evening. Yesterday included visits to the spa and the fitness center for myself and the salon for Anne Marie. Unfortunately the visit to the Fitness Center was not for my daily workout as I've hat to put that on-hold but it was worth the visit. I ended up getting a treatment at the Fitness Center with a unit which was perfect for the swelling in my ankle. It utilized an air compressor. The chair reclines and you lay all the way back. Each leg fits into a sleeve which goes up above your legs. Before I forget, some of you ask what ice cream is served at the Scoops Ice Cream Bar? The answer is Gelato. As to brand it is Bruno Gelato. We enjoyed dinner in our room. A tradition of ours the past several years is to make the last evening Pizza night. Cheers, Keith

As our 22 wonderful days come to a close my overall observation is that overall this has truly been Crystal and the Crystal we know. High marks in service, cuisine, enrichment, entertainment, the ship, and the overall experience. Once again as they did in the past the crew did a terrific job adopting to changes including having more suites, less standard rooms, an overall lower capacity. This means overall less crew, and reallocating crew to other areas such as having more butlers, less in the restaurants, less attendants, etc. New crew members were welcomed and are learning the ropes. We've met several of them and were impressed. The internet experience has been positive. As I've mentioned it does go up and down intermittently but hasn't knocked me off the system and just means on occasion I've had to reopen mail. Crew getting used to new systems and these undoubtedly will go through some rework. Phone system better as the on board crew corrects contractor issues such as the one we had where both phones wouldn't ring. TV's still freeze more often than they should and in port not getting stations. In the scheme of things for us all minor nuances but they will need to be addressed. There is more work to be done on back office systems including My Account, getting e-tickets out sooner, having an app in place, having a customer survey, etc. At the same time pretty much all systems are new and if they waited to have all of this in place before sailing it would be several more months before the ships sailed. For us the overall experience exceeded our expectations because after all this included the inaugural cruise and so much had to come together to make this a reality. Crystal has never been perfect nor are we. All the things many of us have enjoyed about Crystal are present today and I see the product as enhanced with the makeover of portions of the ship (specialty restaurants, salon, improved signage, more suites, etc. And I am impressed with the ownership and senior executives in terms of their approach and vision. If you have always enjoyed Crystal I expect you will enjoy the experience because it was Crystal as we know and now better. And for all those who speculated that those of us who thought the majority of crew would return, that Crystal would be more like Crystal Cruises than not and who repeatedly pushed back on this and even went on to say Crystal would be closer to SS you were thankfully wrong. As some of us observed from the beginning, Manfredi didn't keep the Crystal name just because..........He kept it to take all what was unique and positive about Crystal and to build upon that. I believe those who thought differently on this completely missed the boat. I am glad the boat sailed with us who believed Crystal as we knew it would live on. I do like change though and am happy to see changes being made. But like all change it never ends. Some of you will not like the new Italian Restaurant. Some will. Maybe some will evolve over time. But I am reminded that when inclusive rolled out the vast majority of Crystal Society members were upset about this change. I would say 8 out of 10. So, let's see what happens. I will publish a review in time. And yes, surprise is good. We didn't know everything ahead of time and I like that. I was happy to answer as many questions as I could but as many as I answered remember things change so while something was valid today it might be different for those sailing soon or not so soon. Keith

On the aft of the guest decks most have a table on each side with an ashtray. One of the aft desk has the shuffleboard court. Right now is no expertise equipment. Kieth

The crew has been amazing and that includes the vast majority of crew who returned plus the new additions to the crew. i mentioned this before but others have joined this voyage and will be joining the ship over the next few months who worked not only on Serenity but also on Symphony. Same with Symphony with others returning who worked for Symphony but also for Serenity. Keith

My view is this is a very legitimate issue which should be posted here. What I am saying is that in addition to posting it here this needs to be fed back to the TA's so they can feed it back to Crystal. IMHO it is a very legitimate issue ( and a complaint is not to put down what was posted) but rather say get it teed up to Crystal too because when changes are made to the itineraries those booked and their TA's need to know about the change. Keith

Thank you David. Douglas Ward is the author of a book that comes out annually which is published by Berlitz with a two page writeup on cruise ships of the major cruise lines. I find it a very useful book on cruising. Keith

Well, today is a combo observation. As we get ready to debark tomorrow the bottom line to our sailing is that it has exceeded our expectations. Why you ask? Because it is a restart and we knew there would be challenges. As it turned out they were related to IT and in the scheme of things not major. I don't care if you are on land or in the air a sports team or a company when you have been closed for 17 months and restart there will be challenges. Yes, Crystal pulled it off and kudos to the crew. I will post a review but not for awhile. Other observation and that has to do with those on CC and another platform. I know everyone wants answers to lots of questions but sometimes it's nice to be surprised. In our early years of cruising and when we first sailed Crystal all we knew was what a TA told us, was in a brochure, what a few friends knew and what we ready in the book by Douglas Ward. In other words some information but not a lot. In short, we were surprised and that was good. These days people want to know everything. Why not be surprised. You know for the first time in several years we arrived to Waterside not knowing what was on the menu. That was great. So my recommendation is don't feel the need to know everything. A little surprise in life spice up ones life. Cheers, Keith