Cruise Critic Sailing Aboard Crystal Symphony Sept 1 - Ask Us Your Questions

[AtA]

3 minutes ago, sasejm said:

Does anyone know if the new Crystal has a once-a-cruise buffet near the Crystal Cove like the old Crystal Cruises had prior to bankruptcy?

They didn't on the inaugural Serenity cruise, but that was very port intensive also.

[Keith1010]

4 hours ago, sasejm said:

Does anyone know if the new Crystal has a once-a-cruise buffet near the Crystal Cove like the old Crystal Cruises had prior to bankruptcy?

No idea as the cruises to date were port intensive so even old Crystal wouldn't have had them for those.

 

Keith 

[sasejm]

1 hour ago, Keith1010 said:

No idea as the cruises to date were port intensive so even old Crystal wouldn't have had them for those.

 

Keith 

Thanks, Keith!

[nancygp]

10 hours ago, sasejm said:

Does anyone know if the new Crystal has a once-a-cruise buffet near the Crystal Cove like the old Crystal Cruises had prior to bankruptcy?

The last few years on Old crystal, they did the buffet on cruises with 4 or more sea days.

 

not sure what new crystal will do.  The current itineraries have been port intensive.  The upcoming Serenity itinerary, Reykjavik to Quebec City has several sea days.  Perhaps you can ask again during the cruise.

 

nancy

[sasejm]

8 minutes ago, nancygp said:

The last few years on Old crystal, they did the buffet on cruises with 4 or more sea days.

 

not sure what new crystal will do.  The current itineraries have been port intensive.  The upcoming Serenity itinerary, Reykjavik to Quebec City has several sea days.  Perhaps you can ask again during the cruise.

 

nancy

Thank you, Nancy! 

[Roland4]

4 hours ago, sasejm said:

Thank you, Nancy! 

We will be on that one, so I will let you know.

[sasejm]

1 hour ago, Roland4 said:

We will be on that one, so I will let you know.

Appreciate it, Roland!

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, Roland4 said:

We will be on that one, so I will let you know.

Either way maybe you can ask if they plan to do Grand Gala Buffets

 

I say either way as I went back to an e-mail I had received awhile back and it had said Gala Buffets were on cruises great than 12 days with at least 4 sea days. I believe your cruise is 11 nights.

 

With that said this new day and a new era.

 

Keith 

 

[Roland4]

1 hour ago, Keith1010 said:

Either way maybe you can ask if they plan to do Grand Gala Buffets

 

I say either way as I went back to an e-mail I had received awhile back and it had said Gala Buffets were on cruises great than 12 days with at least 4 sea days. I believe your cruise is 11 nights.

 

With that said this new day and a new era.

 

Keith 

 

I know we will be talking to Rick Spath, so I will ask him.

[BWIVince]

This is just a random observation, and I'm pretty sure not an actual driving consideration, but I'll throw it out there anyway.

 

Prior to Covid, cruise lines were pretty happy to violate CDC Vessel Sanitation Program regulations in comparably low-risk ways on days when they knew the CDC wasn't going to pay a visit...  At Crystal I think the most obvious one was the Grand Gala Buffet being held in the Crystal Plaza.  (Improper holding temperatures, no contamination protection, inadequate time tagging, etc.)

 

Even before the shutdown, at the beginning of the pandemic a lot of lines started walking a lot of those practices back pretty quickly, to the point many of the lines operating from CDC-eligible ports just started creating one set of rules to operate from that conformed to CDC VSP regulations, if not for safety reasons, for cost and efficacy of having one set of rules that everyone worked from every day, every meal.

 

Obviously we're seeing a huge shift back to pre-pandemic practices in a lot of our daily lives -- landslide and aboard ship...  But that said, I can't say I've seen too many lines (at least in the reviews, reports and videos I've seen) say, "ok, now's a good time to go back to doing our own thing when the CDC isn't looking."  This could be an interesting measure of that.

 

Vince

[KenzSailing]

4 hours ago, BWIVince said:

 

 

Obviously we're seeing a huge shift back to pre-pandemic practices in a lot of our daily lives -- landslide and aboard ship...  But that said, I can't say I've seen too many lines (at least in the reviews, reports and videos I've seen) say, "ok, now's a good time to go back to doing our own thing when the CDC isn't looking."  This could be an interesting measure of that.

 

Vince

 

Interesting observation.  I'm probably in the minority, but I find buffets unattractive. Did one on our first cruise, that was enough.  You can get the same thing, more comfortably, and much more safely in Marketplace(minus the ice sculptures.)

 

However, I do think the age of Instagram and YouTube means the gala buffer is here to stay.  For a lot of folks, more is more. 

[Cruise-y]

The only time I ever saw a Gala was on a 14 day cruise with 4 sea days so that follows the guideline. We usually booked more port-intensive cruises. 

 

I’d be surprised if that returns. It was entertaining in some ways, but my vague recollection is a giant crowd around the table with cold rock lobsters on ice. So many people were piling their plates with huge heaps of them that I could barely nab the last one. I had to snake my hand in (underneath) from 3 rows back - and almost got my arm stabbed by a fork. I remember thinking it reminded me of mass market cruise lines. And that was all pre-Covid of course. 
 

Any other food from that buffet, which I ate on my lap in the Cove (rather than carry it into Waterside to find an empty table), remains unmemorable. 

[CruiseCriticAaron]

On 9/5/2023 at 3:22 AM, AtA said:

They didn't on the inaugural Serenity cruise, but that was very port intensive also.

Not on Symphony currently, but perhaps on longer segments or transoceanic crossings.

Edited September 6, 2023 by CruiseCriticAaron

[CruiseCriticAaron]

On 9/5/2023 at 12:36 AM, Princess Calee said:

Would you have the opportunity to post a photo of a Double Guest Room with Veranda please or one without a veranda? I have reviewed what is on the Crystal website but want to make sure the photos on the website are correct. I appreciate all your help.

Unfortunately, those are booked -- I wasn't able to tour one. I did, however, see the Solo Oceanview Guest Room, which is roughly identical to the Double Guest Room. I've put a photo of that in my Live From report: https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/live-from-crystal-symphony-s-return-to-service

[Princess Calee]

11 hours ago, CruiseCriticAaron said:

Unfortunately, those are booked -- I wasn't able to tour one. I did, however, see the Solo Oceanview Guest Room, which is roughly identical to the Double Guest Room. I've put a photo of that in my Live From report: https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/live-from-crystal-symphony-s-return-to-service

Thank you for taking the time to reply with great information!

[Jimmycruiser]

Can someone confirm Starlink internet has been installed, and if yes, what is your experience and are there any up charges for more devices or faster speeds. Thanks!

[ryndam]

For those interested in a point-of-comparison to the current single, ocean-view and ocean view/balcony rooms after the current refit, here are some pictures of Symphony's "regular" balcony room taken in January 2020. The PDF file is taken from Crystal's current online brochure for comparison.

 

Rob

Symphony Guest Room with Verandah.pdf

[BWIVince]

I'd just add this pic to Rob's excellent series, since it summarizes the biggest changes from the refit prior to the 2021 restart...  Symphony's non-PH rooms new carpet, loveseats, cocktail tables, reading lights, artwork and soft goods.

 

The surplus loveseats and tables from Symphony appear to have been used on Serenity's equivalent cabins, but also those items and the new prints seem to have survived on Symphony as well.  At least all those new items didn't go to waste.

 

 

Vince

[crickette]

Does the cocktail table elevate for comfortable eating height?

Edited September 6, 2023 by crickette

[BWIVince]

2 minutes ago, crickette said:

Does the cocktail table elevate for comfortable eating height?

 

Unless they changed it recently, it has a fixed pin in it locking it into meal-table-height.  (I had a similar table at the same height in my (at the time) PH (now Aquamarine Classic), and I ate at it comfortably several times.) 

 

What it doesn't do anymore is lower to coffee table height, but honestly, at my height, it would have been incredibly inconvenient if it had been lower.

 

Vince

[CruiseCriticAaron]

On 8/27/2023 at 1:01 PM, claudiaYVR said:

Would you please post pictures of the fitness equipment. In particular the weight lifting machines. Thanks

I took this photo thinking I knew what you meant and now realizing that no, this isn't the thing...but the weights are just to the left of the photo. I'll see if I have a better image floating around somewhere.

[CruiseCriticAaron]

3 hours ago, Princess Calee said:

Thank you for taking the time to reply with great information!

You're most welcome!

[CruiseCriticAaron]

3 hours ago, Jimmycruiser said:

Can someone confirm Starlink internet has been installed, and if yes, what is your experience and are there any up charges for more devices or faster speeds. Thanks!

So the Starlink panels are indeed installed on the raised roof just below the forward radar mast. I don't think they're operational just yet; speeds on board were quite slow. There is, however, a "faster" internet package that was unavailable during our sailing; that might be Starlink.

[claudiaYVR]

1 hour ago, CruiseCriticAaron said:

I took this photo thinking I knew what you meant and now realizing that no, this isn't the thing...but the weights are just to the left of the photo. I'll see if I have a better image floating around somewhere.

This is exactly what I meant. Thank you so much for taking the time. 

[CruiseCriticAaron]

18 minutes ago, claudiaYVR said:

This is exactly what I meant. Thank you so much for taking the time. 

My pleasure!