It’s A Crystal Family Affair – Return To Crystal & Crystal Serenity

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, USC Adventurer said:

keith

sure looks like you and anne marie had a marvelous day in the country and a wonderful lunch.  thanks for the pictures and taking the time to show us where you have been.  enjoy the sea day.

Thank you so much David.

[ctjon]

Keith and Anne Marie - don't take this wrong - how could you spend so much time and effort on great eating and look the way you guys do.  I gain weight just looking at the food pictures you take - not even eating all that food.😄😍

[360Guy]

Keith,

So very grateful for all the posts along with amazing pictures.  We were originally booked for a Crystal cruise in 2020 but COVID and Canada closed the ports.

Now looking at a similar Lisbon to Dover in July 2024 you just sailed on Symphony or the Quebec City to New York late September 2024 on Serenity.  
 

Any thoughts on these for Crystal first timers?

 

Thank you!

 

Bob and Ray

[USCAdventurer]

hello 360 guy,

i saw your post and thought i'd let you know i live in scottsdale too.  i am booked on the serenity cruise on sept. 24, 2024 from quebec to new york.  if you decide to go on it, i'd like to meet you.

cheers

[JusttheTwoofUs]

Doing the "Happy Dance".  Electronic cruise tickets just arrived for our 9/19 - 27 cruise from Quebec to NYC.  Now it's real!

 

Phyllis

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, JusttheTwoofUs said:

Doing the "Happy Dance".  Electronic cruise tickets just arrived for our 9/19 - 27 cruise from Quebec to NYC.  Now it's real!

 

Phyllis

Phyllis, great news and glad that they are available closer to 30 days prior to the cruise.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

6 hours ago, 360Guy said:

Keith,

So very grateful for all the posts along with amazing pictures.  We were originally booked for a Crystal cruise in 2020 but COVID and Canada closed the ports.

Now looking at a similar Lisbon to Dover in July 2024 you just sailed on Symphony or the Quebec City to New York late September 2024 on Serenity.  
 

Any thoughts on these for Crystal first timers?

 

Thank you!

 

Bob and Ray

Bob and Ray you are very welcome.

 

Both are terrific cruises.

 

The Symphony cruise is longer so that's a plus and has some very interesting European ports and the overnights.

 

Serenity would allow you to get a feel for Crystal and do it at less cost given that it is four days shorter and would involve shorter flights and potentially more reasonable hotel stay(s) for hotels should you arrive early and/or stay after the cruise.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

12 hours ago, ctjon said:

Keith and Anne Marie - don't take this wrong - how could you spend so much time and effort on great eating and look the way you guys do.  I gain weight just looking at the food pictures you take - not even eating all that food.😄😍

Thank you so much.

 

At home we are very disciplined and on longer cruises too. In fact on our first World Cruise we each lost weight.  My goal on long cruises is to leave the ship at the same weight as when we started.

 

With that said on the cruises we did in 2020 and on this one since we are not on as long as we have been in the past we are eating more and gaining some weight but as soon as we are home we will adjust and take off the weight. At the same time, breakfast and lunch are cereal/banana and a salad entree. 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Good morning from Serenity and good evening for many of you.

 

Yesterday, was the only sea day of the cruise although the other day was an unofficial one with a late night arrival to Bordeaux.

I am unsure if I mentioned it here but the other day the back area of foot and ankle were bothering me and I believe it was from lacing up my tennis shoes to tight.  Felt like sore achilles tendons. Ugh!  I over compensated and my right calf muscle was strained. Next day left ankle find but right hurting. Of course, I played Paddle Tennis on that unofficial sea day and at one point said I couldn't do more.  The first full day in Bordeaux I did more walking than I should have.  I realized what hurt was the bone area towards the bottom side of foot.  During our tour it hurt and by evening we noticed ankle and foot sore so yesterday morning I saw the doctor. Good news it's not the Achilles and either strained ligament or tendon (( forgot what he said) and yesterday I wore a slipper all day and a new ankle brace (more comfortable than what I had) that the doctor prescribed for me, iced the area, applied the ointment he prescribed and took the  medicine to reduce swelling.  

 

I didn't want to push the dress code with the slippers so we enjoyed a great dinner in our room.  I did come down once to reception to get the open house listing in a matching mask and slippers. LOL.

 

I hope to be back to normal for the flight home.

 

Speaking of attire which I know bothers some either when people don't follow it or they don't like the attire recommendations.

 

We did dine at a two star Michelin restaurant at lunch and while we enjoyed it this is not important to us and a basic restaurant would have been fine.  I am only mentioning it as the dress for lunch was no flip-flops and no shorts.  I believe there were 12 or so tables. Guess what. Over half the men arrived in shorts and a couple were what I would call short shorts and a couple of people had flip flops and the highlight was the crocs one man was wearing.

 

Now if I was smart I would have worn the slippers. LOL.

 

I only mention this as sometimes people say they don't enforce the attire on the ship. Well, even in France at a two star Michelin restaurant they didn't do it either. 

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

 

 

Yesterday there was an open house and I visited some of the open rooms in the afternoon.

 

The numbers are my photo numbers so just ignore them.

 

First is Classic Aquamarine (former PH).

 

 

Second is Classic Sapphire Verandah Suite (Former PS)

 

 

 Sapphire Veranda Suite - (New as of 2023)

 

 

Aquamarine Veranda Suite (Former Seabreeze)

 

I don't like the Seabreeze and as a reminder while I am very positive this is one of the few items that does not work for me. I do like the look of the new Aquamarine and love the former PH.

 

 

Last evening we enjoyed a nice dinner.

It was a formal night and that is the reason we ate in our room.  We enjoy formal night and the original plan was to dine in Waterside. However, my foot and ankle had swelled from the injury making it very painful to wear shoes and we don't think me wearing Crystal slippers would quite fit the definition of formal attire.

The Waterside menu did feature special items we enjoy on formal night including caviar (me), mushroom soup (Anne Marie), and lobster which each of us enjoyed.  As usual, we enjoyed outstanding cuisine, food and conversation with lots of laughs.

 

Although today we are anchored off Saint-Malo, France given I am on the injured list (LOL) and two-full days remain until we debark Serenity on the 22nd of September, we stayed on-board.  We each had our hair cut at Aurora Salon and then there is packing to do. 

We will close now and post more tomorrow.

Cheers,

Keith
 

[LouChamp]

Aloha.  Sorry to hear about your injury. All the best for a positive recovery.  

Thank you for the pictures.  

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, LouChamp said:

Aloha.  Sorry to hear about your injury. All the best for a positive recovery.  

Thank you for the pictures.  

You are very welcome and thank you for your kind comments.

 

Keith

[USCAdventurer]

keith,

hope your ankle and foot are improving.  so sorry to hear what happened to you but it seems you always have a plan B just in case and your plan B was terrrific.  hope you feel better today.

[Keith1010]

19 minutes ago, USC Adventurer said:

keith,

hope your ankle and foot are improving.  so sorry to hear what happened to you but it seems you always have a plan B just in case and your plan B was terrrific.  hope you feel better today.

Thank you so much David.

 

Keith 

[braxx20]

On 8/15/2023 at 11:24 PM, Keith1010 said:

I didn't ask if the price from previous private VR's went up so am unsure of the cost at this time.

 

When I do these they have kept to what is the standard cost, but we normally keep to five to seven people so you can keep to one bottle pairing. We like them to build up and included one or two very special wines.  We've gone with themes at times and I remember one-time having guests figure out did it come from Napa or Bordeaux.

 

Keith

ALL of them looked like VERY special wines! Retail, four figures for each!

[Keith1010]

8 hours ago, braxx20 said:

ALL of them looked like VERY special wines! Retail, four figures for each!

Great wines but not four figures for each one for sure.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

I’ve included some photos from yesterday morning including the amazing sunrise. We should have taken photos in the afternoon. We learned later in the day that the views were the best of the season. The views from the ship were spectacular.

 

We enjoyed a wonderful evening on-board Crystal Serenity.

 

We returned to Tastes where we dined with friends including one of our beloved CC members.

 

This is our second time to Tastes since we boarded on July 31. 

 

We tried a combination of items; some of which we had on the first cruise along with items such as the salmon which we hadn't had before.

 

We were up later than usual but the good news is we set the clocks back one hour prior to going to sleep.

 

Today we are anchored off St. Peter Port, Guernsey a charming town we have visited several times in the past. If not for my ankle the original plan was to take a tender over there. The good news is a future cruise we have booked includes this port.

 

So what did we do today?

 

Attended, with passports in-hand, mandatory face-to-face inspection with British Immigration Officials.

Pack.

 

A medi/pedi for Anne Marie which originally was scheduled on the day we realized was the Bordeaux tour. A massage for me which we added too. This was followed by a medi/pedi for me which like Anne Marie's was originally scheduled for the day of the Bordeaux tour. Full disclosure.....I have never had a medi/pedi before and if not for his strained ligament would not have had this. Why? Because I would be on the Paddle Tennis Court.

 

We are spending the rest of the afternoon packing, visiting with fellow guests and the extraordinary crew.

 

Keith

 

[Keith1010]

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 

[Keith1010]

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

 

[USCAdventurer]

Keith, everything was very well put here and thank you for making all the comments you did. I’m so glad that Crystal is back and I can’t wait to sail on the symphony and the serenity next year will you be home tomorrow night or are you staying in London overnight and flying home on Wednesday? Have a safe and wonderful trip home. Thanks again for everything you’ve done to help us follow along with you and Annmarie.

[Ibis]

Keith,

Thanks so much for all your reports; positive but at the same time well balanced and honest about the inaugural cruise and second segment. We realize nothing in this world is perfect and change is not only often a good thing but also inevitable. With that approach, we are eagerly looking forward to November 2 and boarding Serenity for the first time since October 2019. Your photos are super and we can’t wait to try Osteria d’Ovidio, gelato at Scoops, and return to Umi Uma! And just be on board Crystal again❣️ Thank you again for your time and effort to share your super journey. It is greatly appreciated. Looking forward to your next report on your next cruise, whenever that may be. Hope you both have a safe and comfortable trip home.

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, Ibis said:

Keith,

Thanks so much for all your reports; positive but at the same time well balanced and honest about the inaugural cruise and second segment. We realize nothing in this world is perfect and change is not only often a good thing but also inevitable. With that approach, we are eagerly looking forward to November 2 and boarding Serenity for the first time since October 2019. Your photos are super and we can’t wait to try Osteria d’Ovidio, gelato at Scoops, and return to Umi Uma! And just be on board Crystal again❣️ Thank you again for your time and effort to share your super journey. It is greatly appreciated. Looking forward to your next report on your next cruise, whenever that may be. Hope you both have a safe and comfortable trip home.

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

 

 

[ctjon]

Keith - thanks

On one of your recent posts you said you wer saying goodbye to Serenity - I assume you mean for now.

 

 

[braxx20]

Our thanks too for the great news!

I have a question regarding butlers. We have had them on occasion but much prefer to be left alone. Do we also have "cabin attendants"? You have said as the result of having butlers there are less staff in the dining rooms? Not good!

Look forward to your comments  and to our forthcoming trip in November (Miami b2b)

[Keith1010]

18 minutes ago, braxx20 said:

Our thanks too for the great news!

I have a question regarding butlers. We have had them on occasion but much prefer to be left alone. Do we also have "cabin attendants"? You have said as the result of having butlers there are less staff in the dining rooms? Not good!

Look forward to your comments  and to our forthcoming trip in November (Miami b2b)

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