New Crystal - storage - single and double guest rooms with ocean view - with and without veranda

[AtA]

14 minutes ago, nancygp said:

We found the suites on Seabourn to have plenty of storage, similar to Crystal

 

Nancy

Not enough drawers and half of the hanging space was BEHIND the cabinet in the closet making it difficult to see what you had. Unlike Crystal and Regent, few drawers in main cabin

[Mr Luxury]

11 minutes ago, AtA said:

Not enough drawers and half of the hanging space was BEHIND the cabinet in the closet making it difficult to see what you had. Unlike Crystal and Regent, few drawers in main cabin

There you have it two people with different experiences.

It only takes two to Tango 😁

[claudiaYVR]

I find that storage is always more than adequate at the beginning of a cruise and it seems to get smaller and smaller as the trip progresses, regardless of the actual storage. Also, all flat surfaces appear to grow an inordinate amount of stuff as we go along. That's why I only take pictures of the cabin on day 1. 🙂 

[MsCrystalina]

Even the more expensive veranda suite ( ? aquamarine) does not even have a walk-in closet.   

[Txcotn]

33 minutes ago, MsCrystalina said:

Even the more expensive veranda suite ( ? aquamarine) does not even have a walk-in closet.   

I believe you are mistaken, both ships show a walk-in closet on their aquamarine floor plans.

[crickette]

9 hours ago, nancygp said:

We found the suites on Seabourn to have plenty of storage, similar to Crystal

 

Nancy

Just off the Encore, in a penthouse suite on 11.  Ridiculous multiple narrow shelves adjacent to the walk in closet.  I have no idea what these shelves were intended to hold.  Not that the storage is inadequate - just that these particular shelves had no useful purpose for us.  And the shoe shelves always jammed with my shoes.  Our shoes ended up on the floor of the walk-in closet, just as they were on Crystal.

[nancygp]

2 minutes ago, crickette said:

Just off the Encore, in a penthouse suite on 11.  Ridiculous multiple narrow shelves adjacent to the walk in closet.  I have no idea what these shelves were intended to hold.  Not that the storage is inadequate - just that these particular shelves had no useful purpose for us.  And the shoe shelves always jammed with my shoes.  Our shoes ended up on the floor of the walk-in closet, just as they were on Crystal.

we stay in a veranda suite and the storage is more than adequate for us.  

 

Nancy

Edited February 14, 2023 by nancygp

[crickette]

1 minute ago, nancygp said:

we stat in a veranda suite and the storage is more than adequate for us.

 

Nancy

Yes, we had lots of empty cupboards.  It just those narrow shelves.  What was the designer thinking?

[BWIVince]

3 hours ago, MsCrystalina said:

Even the more expensive veranda suite ( ? aquamarine) does not even have a walk-in closet.   

 

2 hours ago, suzeluvscruz said:

I believe you are mistaken, both ships show a walk-in closet on their aquamarine floor plans.

Yep, I think the hierarchy goes CP, Junior CP, then Sapphire and Aquamarine…. All 9 versions of the above on both ships would include a walk-in closet according to the renderings.  
 

Not that a walk-in closet is in itself superior — many people remember Harmony’s “innovation” of walk-in closets in all its windowed staterooms on decks 7 and 5, and what an upgrade it was when they got rid of them for Symphony and Serenity’s standard staterooms.  😁 

 

Vince

[Mr Luxury]

5 hours ago, crickette said:

Yes, we had lots of empty cupboards.  It just those narrow shelves.  What was the designer thinking?

Socks

[Keith1010]

I wouldn't get too caught up with the renderings because I don't think the end result will necessarily mirror this.

 

I do think for the size of the staterooms that the original Crystal standard rooms provided a lot of draw space and I commend them for that.  I think that in the PS and PH they could have done better in the original design. In time, they did with the PH on Serenity when they created the two desks and the additional shelving on the side facing the bed with the regular desk. And when they moved the TV they enhanced that area with an additional shelf.

 

On Serenity we alway preferred the PH over the PS because of the storage and even the desks and chairs. On Serenity in the PS the make up counter in the master bedroom is very small and the desk in the main area is so so with a stool. In fact, that is why some put their computer on the dining room table.

 

People who design do not think IMHO. I see this everywhere including when they built a fitness center nearby us. They have a wrap around track but the wall in that particular workout room were not down to the floor and halfway up to the ceiling. Before they created a dedicated indoor cycling room the music we would play would be too loud for the walkers but when they taught Yoga and you want it quiet the walkers who were talking disturbed the yoga. The first time we got a tour of the center my wife said this design will not work. She was right. Eventually they added more wall but because of the AC they couldn't have closed it up entirely unless they spent even more money.

 

So what looks nice in terms of a design is often impractical.

 

But in the end somehow we all find ways to manage. My wife and I on our first world cruise had a standard room and we had something like 8 full suitcases and I remember the closet was fully used with not an inch to spare and we figured out how to make it work.

 

Same issue at hotels.

 

The good news is we aren't buying the place or living there on a full time basis.

 

Keith

[Mr Luxury]

4 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

I wouldn't get too caught up with the renderings because I don't think the end result will necessarily mirror this.

 

I do think for the size of the staterooms that the original Crystal standard rooms provided a lot of draw space and I commend them for that.  I think that in the PS and PH they could have done better in the original design. In time, they did with the PH on Serenity when they created the two desks and the additional shelving on the side facing the bed with the regular desk. And when they moved the TV they enhanced that area with an additional shelf.

 

On Serenity we alway preferred the PH over the PS because of the storage and even the desks and chairs. On Serenity in the PS the make up counter in the master bedroom is very small and the desk in the main area is so so with a stool. In fact, that is why some put their computer on the dining room table.

 

People who design do not think IMHO. I see this everywhere including when they built a fitness center nearby us. They have a wrap around track but the wall in that particular workout room were not down to the floor and halfway up to the ceiling. Before they created a dedicated indoor cycling room the music we would play would be too loud for the walkers but when they taught Yoga and you want it quiet the walkers who were talking disturbed the yoga. The first time we got a tour of the center my wife said this design will not work. She was right. Eventually they added more wall but because of the AC they couldn't have closed it up entirely unless they spent even more money.

 

So what looks nice in terms of a design is often impractical.

 

But in the end somehow we all find ways to manage. My wife and I on our first world cruise had a standard room and we had something like 8 full suitcases and I remember the closet was fully used with not an inch to spare and we figured out how to make it work.

 

Same issue at hotels.

 

The good news is we aren't buying the place or living there on a full time basis.

 

Keith

Indeed Keith,but we are paying a lot of money and want it right as there is so much choice and competition out there if it doesn't work for us.

I'm looking forward to those that get on board first and report back.

[lincslady]

I think shelves was an attempt to answer the problem of those neighbours who slammed drawers shut, but agree they are not as useful.

[FlyerTalker]

9 hours ago, BWIVince said:

Not that a walk-in closet is in itself superior — many people remember Harmony’s “innovation” of walk-in closets in all its windowed staterooms on decks 7 and 5, and what an upgrade it was when they got rid of them for Symphony and Serenity’s standard staterooms.  😁

 

Fact of the matter....walk-in closets eat up available floor space.  Especially in a limited area such as a ship cabin.  Now perhaps in your home, that "openness" is attractive.  But on a ship, whatever space you put into your closet, comes from the overall area available in the cabin.

 

It really is a zero-sum game.

 

 

 

 

[Txcotn]

The reason we need walk in closets on a ship is that we always bring too much stuff!🤣 We've scaled down every time we cruise, we're down from 4 suitcases plus 2 carry-ons to 2 suitcases and 1 carry-on, and we still go home with clothes we never wore! 

[FlyerTalker]

6 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

People who design do not think IMHO. I see this everywhere

 

So what looks nice in terms of a design is often impractical.

 

DING DING DING....we have a winner.

 

Speaking of impractical, I can remember when they put the leather topped tables in the Serenity bridge room.  From looking in the windows while walking by, the embossed green leather looked so beautiful -- and must have cost a fortune.  On later cruises I found them gone and wondered.  Turns out that the playing cards stuck like crazy to the leather and Crystal had to supply tablecloths to make them usable.  And later the leather was removed and replaced, I think, with felt.

 

Same with the Avenue on Serenity.  That round bar had such close tolerances -- if people were standing anywhere on the sides, you couldn't get through the tight passage in or out of the rest of the room.  But it looked good in the brochures.

 

I could go on, but Keith is spot on.

[BWIVince]

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

DING DING DING....we have a winner.

 

Speaking of impractical, I can remember when they put the leather topped tables in the Serenity bridge room.  From looking in the windows while walking by, the embossed green leather looked so beautiful -- and must have cost a fortune.  On later cruises I found them gone and wondered.  Turns out that the playing cards stuck like crazy to the leather and Crystal had to supply tablecloths to make them usable.  And later the leather was removed and replaced, I think, with felt.

 

Same with the Avenue on Serenity.  That round bar had such close tolerances -- if people were standing anywhere on the sides, you couldn't get through the tight passage in or out of the rest of the room.  But it looked good in the brochures.

 

I could go on, but Keith is spot on.

 

+1 on ALL those points.  I absolutely adore Alison Clixby and all of her work, but The Chair comes to immediate mind as well.

 

I'm honestly surprised that Serenity's Avenue wasn't redesigned at some point, given the challenges with the bar.  I know there's no easy fix for it, but plenty of harder, less needed changes have been made to Serenity over the years.

 

To Keith's point about designers, and maybe a little in defense of them, no matter how many questions they ask and no matter how many use cases are provided, there are always incorrect assumptions, bad information, missed requirements, etc. in the design process.  This is why things get so extensively modeled digitally these days, and why things like staterooms get mock ups that people have to actually use and provide feedback on before fabrication begins...  And this is also why refits take 2-3 years (normally) from the beginning of the planning process to completion of the punch list.

 

That said, even with the mockups and test rooms, some things get clearer after full scale deployment with a broader group of customers...  Again: The Chair.

 

Vince

[FlyerTalker]

American Airlines decided to redo their narrow-body interiors in a project named "Oasis".  Turns out that after the project was underway, with seats ordered and many planes already adapted, AA figured out that they had made a big mistake with their project.  Customers hated the new design and it also generated some operational difficulties for FAs, as the new seats severely limited underseat stowage.  So they then came up with "Kodiak" to fix the errors.  But first, they would convert aircraft to Oasis design and then redo them to Kodiak.  Nope, can't make up this stuff.

 

And one big reason for the Oasis problem:  They never did an actual mock-up of the new cabin with real seats and configuration.  It was all done on paper by some folks who made the assumptions that it would work.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by FlyerTalker

[Mr Luxury]

I am hoping that New Crystal come up with things that work for everyone.

You can't beat designing a ship from scratch rather than converting older areas on older ships.

[KenzSailing]

Designers are the marketing department of the physical world.😁

 

More seriously, I am one of those people who can look at a floor plan but can't really get a feel for a layout until I do a walk thru.

 

I'm not alone.  I've been looking a lot at Regent.  There newest ships are Explorer and Splendor, same class of ship, almost identical.  One change they made from Explorer to Splendor: they reversed the direction of the grand staircase that leads to the MDR on deck 4.  In Explorer, the bottom of the stairs dead ended into the back of the elevator bank that everyone else was exiting to head to the MDR after an early show, so the folks coming off the stairs had to do a u-turn into that same flow to get going where they wanted to.  On Splendor, they reversed the stairs so the bottom of the stairs flows directly toward the MDR.  I'm sure someone eventually thought "what were we thinking?"

[May B]

2 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

DING DING DING....we have a winner.

 

Speaking of impractical, I can remember when they put the leather topped tables in the Serenity bridge room.  From looking in the windows while walking by, the embossed green leather looked so beautiful -- and must have cost a fortune.  On later cruises I found them gone and wondered.  Turns out that the playing cards stuck like crazy to the leather and Crystal had to supply tablecloths to make them usable.  And later the leather was removed and replaced, I think, with felt.

 

Same with the Avenue on Serenity.  That round bar had such close tolerances -- if people were standing anywhere on the sides, you couldn't get through the tight passage in or out of the rest of the room.  But it looked good in the brochures.

 

I could go on, but Keith is spot on.

FlyerTalker, can you please come over to The Bistro thread? I’d like to ask you a question about commercial flying.

[Keith1010]

28 minutes ago, Mr Luxury said:

I am hoping that New Crystal come up with things that work for everyone.

You can't beat designing a ship from scratch rather than converting older areas on older ships.

This is not something new for Crystal. They have converted areas for years and often the newer areas look great.

 

Problems that someone might have with a room would likely be the same wether it was a new ship or a conversion.

 

In terms of public space the Symphony had more conversions than Serenity but in both cases the newer public areas look better than ever.

 

New doesn't mean one will like it.

 

You have missed out on ten years of changes. 

 

Keith

[FlyerTalker]

23 minutes ago, May B said:

FlyerTalker, can you please come over to The Bistro thread? I’d like to ask you a question about commercial flying.

 

On my way.

 

[LoveBora]

13 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

People who design do not think IMHO.

I think this goes for seating, too. Does anyone even try sitting on the chairs or sofas before purchasing? Makes me think of the Symphony’s chairs for The Cove. So many people found them uncomfortable. 

[BWIVince]

1 hour ago, LoveBora said:

I think this goes for seating, too. Does anyone even try sitting on the chairs or sofas before purchasing? Makes me think of the Symphony’s chairs for The Cove. So many people found them uncomfortable. 

 

Those specific Cove chairs (and many more) were a running joke between my mother and I...  (This is going to sound horrible, but to those of you who knew my mother and I offline and our humorous teasing relationship, know this was perfectly fitting for us.) I always joked it wasn't the chair's fault she was built funny!  😄  I'd be sitting there super comfortable, and her arms and legs were so out of proportion with the chairs, the furniture looked like it was from a different planet than her.  😆  I could only get away with that since she made me...

 

So yes, those chairs definitely don't fit everyone.  🙂 

 

Vince

Edited February 14, 2023 by BWIVince