Well I’m finally getting around to writing this review of our cruise on the Crystal Symphony in December. I had wanted to check with Ngaire first and make sure she had no objections, since she doesn’t sell Crystal, and this is after all her board.


EMBARKATION:
We arrived in Ft Lauderdale right on time, got our luggage, and a cab, had him take us to the Crown Wines and Spirit store for some wine, beer and gin, and arrived at the pier about 12 noon. Normally we would have been able to check in immediately, as Crystal offers early boarding and a champagne lunch in the dining room for those who wish it. However, the ship had been 2 hours late arriving in port that day because of early morning fog, so they weren’t quite ready to open the check in yet. A representative was very apologetic and said we could make ourselves comfortable outside or inside of another door. We decided after coming from a snow the day before to just enjoy the mild Florida weather and sat outside, talking to several other people. About a half hour later, they opened the doors and check in began. Of course we always pick the slowest line, we must hold the record for that, so we finally jumped our line to the one next to us and about 5 minutes later were checked in and on our way to board. We were greeted with champagne and a staff member that escorted us to the hand carry check in desk, where it would be delivered to our room, and then she escorted us to the dining room for lunch.

CABINS:
They had said the cabins would be ready at 2:00, and we finished about 1:45 so wandered up to deck 9 where our cabin was located. Our delightful stewardess Marina, greeted us in the hallway and showed us to our cabin. We had a balcony cabin, similar set up to RSSC, although definitely much smaller, only 246 sq ft. The cabins though are very nicely appointed, every cabin on Crystal gets robes and slippers, a refridgerator stocked and replenished with water, soft drinks and mixes (all non alcoholic, water and soft drinks are complimentary on Crystal throughout the cruise), a nice bar cabinet with plenty of glasses and wine glasses, a small vase of flowers, a small sitting area with sofa, table and a writing desk, and a cabinet with a safe. Closets are not walk in, but are organized quite well, with lots of hanging space and plenty of wooden hangers, an umbrella, shoe horn and polishing cloth (Crystal also offers complimentary shoe shines) and a nicely laid out bathroom with double sinks, shower/tub combo and lots of shelf space. They currently use Aveda products, and anytime that we opened a bottle it was replaced at the next room servicing, which is twice a day. The beds had the duvets like RSSC, plenty of pillows, a throw blanket for naps or use on the balcony, which had two chairs with nice cushions and a small cocktail table. We were amazed at the storage drawer space, and in spite of initially thinking we weren’t going to have enough drawers, found ourselves with two empty ones when we finished unpacking.
Marina, kept our room spotless throughout the cruise, she was quick, efficient, and when we’d leave in the morning, had the room done by the time we came back from breakfast. They only have one room stewardess per cabin, she delivered room service and anything we asked for, brought the fruit basked, freshened up the flowers, restocked the refridgerator – did it all! Penthouse Deck cabins also have the service of a Butler, and some extra amenities to go along with those cabins. Frank even commented about the smallness of the cabin, and he never cares about the cabin, but we did fine and were quite comfortable.

SHIP:
In a word – beautiful!! The public rooms, dining room, show lounge, casino, atrium area were just beautiful and spotless, nicely laid out and we had no complaints there. The ship was decorated for Christmas, with a huge tree in the atrium area, and just amazing decorations all over – it was so festive and got us right into the Holiday spirit. The pool(s) deck area were very nice, and there is a promendade all the way around on deck 7, plus in the back, they had a covered area with really nice couches for just sitting and watching the wake – one of my favorite spots. Deck 8 and 9 also had a small deck out back with chaise lounges. One thing we noticed is that none of the bars had more than two or three bar stools at them – we like to sit at the bar, but I guess many of the older passengers on Crystal don’t do that, so they don’t have many. The Horizon Court was a wonderful spot looking over the bow, and our favorite was the Avenue Salon that had leather sofas, and comfy chairs and a nice clubby feel. The show lounges was all one level and good sightlines from everywhere, the Starlight lounge was very pretty and the Captain’s parties were there, as well as after dinner dancing and many of the guest lectures and such. The Crystal Cove at the bottom of the atrium, was small and intimate, and the Bistro, had European coffees, cappacino, lattes, plus snacks all day, continental style breakfast; cheese, pates, pastries and fruit in the afternoon, and desserts in the evening; a very busy place all day long. There were also cozy little nooks along the hallways where people would congregate or read. When the pianist was playing in the Crystal Cove, it would filter up thru the atrium and you could hear it all around the main staircase and shops area, which was very nice.

DINING:
The food was just plain fantastic – no other way to describe it. We had late seating, (and the fixed traditional 2 seatings is not a deal breaker for us, although we've come to love the open seating on RSSC) and a group of fun tablemates whom we enjoyed very much. Our table waiters were great, and the Table Captain was very attentive – we even did some special orders one night – and the dining room had lots of cherry like wood and brass, was a very warm feeling room. The food was fresh, nicely presented and always hot when it came. Prego and Jade Garden were outstanding, I always wanted everything on the menu and usually found myself over ordering – but it was excellent. We did not get a chance to try the Poolside Bistro either evening they had it, so can’t comment on that.

ENTERTAINMENT:
Without a doubt, probably the best, most well done shows I have ever seen on a cruise ship, and Frank and I don’t go to the shows very often, but we went to 4 of these and they were amazing. Crystal’s shows are done exclusively for them, from what I heard, they do not use any of the agencies such as Peter Grey Tehune, or the JeanAnne dancers, their shows are unique to them and them only, and they were very impressive.
The orchestra was wonderful, the Piano Bar entertainer was a lot of fun, and for whatever reason, the piano bar rocked every night (took us 3 nights to find it) and he commented one night that he never thought he’d be singing “YMCA and Time Warp on Crystal”. They had several other entertainer’s, good dancing music (Frank and I love to dance and went to the Starlight a couple of times after dinner to dance, but we actually were a little intimidated by the professionalism of some of the couples who were really really good dancers, so we didn’t dance much). They had several guest lecturers, Ambassador Robert Fritts, Frank DeFord (an executive editor for Sports Illustrated) they had an Arts instructor onboard, computer university at sea, offered Yamaha piano lessons, were offering photo work shops, spanish classes by Berlitz, golf instruction, there was a magician onboard, concert pianist, a Smithsonian Institution Photo exhibit, the usual Art Auction, bridge instructors, lots of entertainment.

CASINO:
Run by Ceasar’s Palace of Las Vegas. Good size, with lots of gaming and slots. Staff was very friendly and helpful. I cashed out about $600.00 the first two nights on a quarter slot, and thus got on a first name basis with the two Casino managers early on. Unfortunately my luck didn’t hold, and even though I came away ahead, I did contribute my fair share. The Casino was usually busy later in the evening, after the second show, lots of people – and a really nice perk, when you are playing in the casino, drinks are complimentary.

SHORE EXCURSIONS:
Pretty typical, we did a couple, one in Belize and on in Roatan, but they were nothing outstanding or different from other cruise ships. In Grand Cayman and Cozumel, we just had lunch and walked around and then headed back. Cozumel, is coming along, but its going to be awhile, although shops and restaurants were open, there is a lot of work yet to do.

STAFF:
We found them to be very professional, in general friendly and helpful, although as Frank said, they are definitely more formal. We never saw the Cruise Director unless he was on stage (he wears an Officer type uniform, unlike RSSC where a lot of the staff dresses more casually during the day), the reception desk and concierge desk people were always helpful and had a smile. As mentioned previously we loved our room stewardess, and got friendly with some of the bartenders and bar waitresses, and found them very accommodating. The Officer’s are definitely more formal, but they were friendly, although didn’t seem to make much effort to really get to know passengers on a personal level as they do on RSSC, and they weren’t out and about the ship much chatting with passengers and such.

OVERALL:
We thought it was a very good cruise. We had been wanting to try Crystal for some years now and this opportunity just sort of fell into our laps. We would cruise them again, especially for the right itinerary and price. According to information I was given, they have no plans to go to open seating, and many of the passengers who are long time Crystal cruisers really like the fixed seating and the chance to get to know your waiters and they get to know you and your preferences. They also have no plans to offer complimentary wines at dinner, or go any more inclusive than they are. The passengers in general, and probably in a good percentage of instances are quite a bit older, but they were interesting, well traveled and friendly. For whatever reason on this cruise, they seemed to be a bit younger – maybe the timing, or the fact that it was an 8 day cruise, the itinerary, I don’t know, but we felt quite comfortable, found many people to hang out with, etc.

Crystal was doing a seminar at sea in conjunction with CLIA, which I was attending to get my Crystal certification, so the fact that there were a certain number of Travel Agent’s onboard attending these seminars probably changed the dynamics somewhat, but we met many passengers that were not from the TA group.

Sorry that this has gotten much longer than I meant. If anyone has any questions, you can post them or email me, I’d be happy to answer them.

Thanks Ngaire, for letting me post this!!