Sky Suite Millennium V Oceanview Crystal Symphony - same price

[livingasia]

We currently have a booking for a 12 night cruise on the Millennium all booked in a Sky Suite in November. Stumbled across a 12 night similar price Asian trip on the Crystal Symphony for February 2017. Timing is not critical to us, we can pretty much go when we want and both itineraries seem fine, albeit the Crystal one a little bit more.

 

Just curious as never been on Crystal and only once on the Millennium. We were on our first cruise and pretty much enjoyed all of it on the Millennium (also in Sky Suite) which is why we currently have two more reservations for November 16 & March 17.

 

In a bit of a quandary on this. Price is essentially same give or take a hundred dollars. This is really our maximum ceiling price wise. Is it worth going on Crystal and losing the sky suite perks? I figure between them, the key reasons for booking a Celebrity suite are the perks. The cabin size is not so important to us and nor is the balcony. Crystal seem to offer the free drinks, gratuities that Celebrity suites get.

 

One concern I have is we did enjoy the entertainment on Celebrity. Are we likely to see much difference on keeping occupied of an evening with Crystal?

 

Crux is, on a same price deal, would you be Crystal in an oceanview or Celebrity in a Sky Suite?

 

Thanks in advance for sharing any experiences you may have had.

[lisalovlee33]

We've been on the Crystal. Oceanviews and Balconies. Food (buffet, breakfast, lunch or dinner) and service are light years above Celebrity. Of course you also pay through your ears. Service is excellent. We would only sail Crystal for transatlantic cruises where you get to truly enjoy the ship. In the case of a port intensive cruise, we would not pick an expensive ship like Crystal. I think you should take that into consideration as well.

[xmarksx]

I was doing a similar Sky suite comparison of Celebrity to Crystal/Regent/Oceania but have never sailed on anything other than NCL and Celebrity. My TA is a huge Crystal fan and when I was leaning towards a Crystal cruise he cautioned me about the cabin size and location on the ship. That would be my only caution. That and that the Crystal ship is going to be far smaller, for most that is a plus.

[lisalovlee33]

Entertainment on Celebrity and Crystal are comparable. Crystal shows are located in a smaller venue than Celebrity. It's a personal taste but comparing the grand production shows, I prefer Crystal even though it doesn't have all the lights and glitz like Celebrity does. It felt a bit better in terms of quality. Other shows, are pretty similar really. But I can't write how good the food on Crystal is. If you like to eat and drink on the ship, then go for Crystal. If the size of the cabin and balony is your priority then I'd go for Celebrity. But I still think you should do a Crystal on Transatlantics or a cruise with many sea days.

[livingasia]

We've been on the Crystal. Oceanviews and Balconies. Food (buffet, breakfast, lunch or dinner) and service are light years above Celebrity. Of course you also pay through your ears. Service is excellent. We would only sail Crystal for transatlantic cruises where you get to truly enjoy the ship. In the case of a port intensive cruise, we would not pick an expensive ship like Crystal. I think you should take that into consideration as well.

 

Thanks for that. The pricing is basically $250 per day. The $250 gets a Sky Suite 1 on Millennium or partial obscure ocean view on Crystal. Both include tips and free drinks.

 

Must admit I am leaning toward the Crystal option right now. Not sure if the pricing is a bit of a come on or if they really do sell cruises at these (original) prices. It looks like it is two travel for the price of one and then they discount another $1000 from the price. End result is nets down to just over $3,000 per person.

 

Anyhow thank you for the info.

[BEAV]

Good luck with your decision. As you can see from my signature we have sailed the most on Celebrity and Crystal. We love both products! If you end up selecting Crystal, be sure and check out the sticky thread for first time Crystal cruisers over on that board. It's very helpful for first timers.

[fninsn]

Hi, I've also sailed on both Celebrity and Crystal and given a choice, I'd go with Crystal hands down.

 

The ship will be much smaller with approximately 1000 passengers but that gives you an opportunity to really connect with the crew and other passengers. I've stayed in a balcony on Celebrity and a Category E obstructed oceanview on Crystal and although the cabin was smaller on Crystal, it had everything I needed and was quite comfortable, even without the balcony.

 

The food on Celebrity is good to excellent, but it was amazing on Crystal. There wasn't as much choice of dining venues on Crystal, but the dining room is always top notch and the two specialty restaurants (Silk Road and Prego) are out of this world. Also note that Crystal allows you to eat in each restaurant once for free on each cruise. Additional visits are about $30 per person so in my opinion, this is a huge bonus!!

 

Although the drink package is included on both cruiselines, on Crystal everyone has the same 'package' so you don't need to use your seapass card when you want a drink and you can get more than one drink at one time if you want. Just much easier and no trying to figure out if it's included or not.

 

As for sports and entertainment, although it was a bit of an older demographic on Crystal, I found the entertainment to be excellent for all ages. They had a selection of production shows and excellent guest entertainers. They have an in-house magic show that is quite interesting and several musical acts around the ship throughout the day. They also have lots of guest speakers, gameshows (liars club etc), computer classes, art classes, golf lessons, dance lessons etc. Lots of activities to keep you as busy as you would like.

 

Buy what really sets Crystal apart however is the service. It is absolutely second to none and that was my favourite part of this line. The staff and crew are amazing and they made my experiences on Crystal very special.

 

Happy Sailing,

Linda