Help Me With A Choice (again)- Change From Crystal To SB?

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

Hello!

 

I'm already booked on the Crystal Serenity this Summer, and the reason for that was the fact that the Seabourn Pride's voyage, originally priced at $6899 was stretching my budget. I'm doing two cruises this Summer, one with friends then a luxury cruise with family, as well as land tours in between, and adding $13000 on top of that would have been too much for my wallet.

 

Having a quick waltz through the Seabourn website, I see prices have dropped to $4699, which is almost $1,000 per person cheaper than my Crystal cruise- but this choice has nothing to do with the price, as much as it is that the Seabourn cruise has now become comfortably affordable.

 

The Seabourn voyage visits places I'd just much rather see- Lithuania, Latvia, the Kiel Canal, Finland... instead of doing Spain, for the fourth time (I would be in Spain with friends visiting some of the same ports I'll end up on the cruise). I'm doing this cruise for my mother, and she chose the Pride first, but we ended up on the Serenity.

 

I have no doubt about how great Crystal is, but I am now really confused. There would be a $1069 penalty to pay from Crystal, but that'd still make the Seabourn cruise about $300 less, so no problem.

 

What do you think ?

[Martita B.]

My vote: Go with your Mother's choice.....the beautiful "Pride, 'lit old Lady...."and the flagship Castle of the Seabourn fleet! She's always been the most popular of all of our ships!:p Her lights are always on and forever welcoming us home ~~

Have a great week!

Martita B.

[Caroldoll]

well. There is NO comparison between Seabourn and Crystal. If the ports are that important, maybe, but Crystal is way better. My opinion only.

[Mr Luxury]

 

 

What do you think ?

 

I think that you should stop talking about money and just go with what you are comfortable with.

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

I think that you should stop talking about money and just go with what you are comfortable with.

 

 

Thank you for that insight Mr. Luxury but at times to certain individuals making sure things work financially is important. I'd be quite comfortable to stop working and take the Quest's world cruise in the Wintergarden, but that does not work for me.

 

The reason Pride is now back on the table is that it has re-entered my budget. If you meant in regards to that, go with what I'm comfortable with, then yes, I do agree. However I do have two rather great cruises to pick from, and thought I would see what like-minded people, on this forum, thought, for is that not the purpose of it?

 

 

My best regards

[ajpeter]

We have done a few cruises on the small sister ships of seabourn which we like very much. It is small and intimate with very good personalized service. There is no glitz or glamour to be found.

I see you have done several different cruiseships, including a big sister. So you should be able to figure it out yourself.

 

I agree with Mr Luxury's opinion.

Have fun cruising.

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

I have decided to stick to my guns.

 

Thanks for all your replies.

[Emperor Norton]

Even though you've made up your mind Ill still chime in with "location, location, location". I personally would rather visit someplace new than make a 4th repeat visit someplace where I may already be stuck in a rut with regards to the sights. Variety is a spice of life.

[Seabourntraveller]

I have decided to stick to my guns.

 

Thanks for all your replies.

 

So you are staying on Crystal or switching over to the Pride?:confused::confused::eek::eek:

[sananda]

I have only been on 1 Seabourn cruise, on the Sojourn. I have been on two Crystal cruises, but both before they decided to go all inclusive. If it was my money, I would go on Crystal. Here's how I stack the two lines up.

 

Food - Pretty much a tie, both excellent.

 

Wine - The wine selection aboard Crystal is vastly superior. Seabourn serves many wines that retail in the 5-10 dollar range. Some were undrinkable, some were O.K. to good. The wines available for purchase aboard Seabourn were not very inspiring.

 

Cabins - The cabins on the Sojourn were more modern and larger than the cabins available on Crystal for a similar price. I stayed in a penthouse suite on the Sojourn, very nice.

 

Crowds - There were a lot more people on the Crystal ship. I don't like crowds so Seabourn wins.

 

Entertainment - The casino aboard Seabourn is very small and is essentially dead. The shows and the variety / quality of entertainment was better aboard Crystal. Advantage Crystal.

 

Excursions - There are more choices of sponsored excursions with Crystal and I feel they have vetted them more thoroughly. Crystal again.

 

Service - The Seabourn website and brochures want you to believe that their service is world class and over the top. That is not what we experienced. Everyone was competent, but only one waitress and the bartender in the observation lounge went the extra mile. Our service in both the pre and post-cruise hotels was strikingly better than on board. Despite the larger number of passngers, Crystal provided excellent service when we were on board. If you have become used to the Four Season's and the like, you will be very disapointed with Seabourn. Crystal again.

 

Fellow Passengers - You will find many fun and interesting people aboard both of these lines. Both lines have a very good atmosphere. This is in contrast to our experience with Silversea which is much more stuffy / pretentious. The only caveat is that there were a number of return passengers on Seabourn that spent a large portion of the cruise complaining how the quality on Seabourn has gone down substantially since they lowered the price point. Sort of dampened our enthusiasm a bit. Tie

 

Miscelaneous - There was a very bad raw sewage smell centered on deck 5 near the main stairwell aboard the Sojourn. The crew would pointedly avoid any discussion of the odor. The problem diminished as the week progressed, but every now and then you would get a whiff that would knock your socks off. Also the couple three cabins down from me didn't have any hot water all week. Engineering couldn't figure out why. Water was extremely hot in my cabin. There were no strange occurances on the two Crystal cruises

[marchanxiety]

I've done several Seabourn cruises and many more stays in Four Seasons hotels. Service on the ships has always been up to and mostly much better than at FS. (Except for our daughter's wedding, when we had the event exclusivity at FS Washington DC, as they marketed it to us. That service was in line with the price, unbelievable!) As for the pre and post cruise hotels, give me the ships any day!