After sailing twice on the Crystal Serenity, we are booked for a back to back cruise on the Crystal Symphony in April 2015. We embark in Hong Kong and sail to Vancouver. We have some LCT friends joining us which will make the sailing even more special.

Crystal has already published the 2016 and early 2017 itineraries. We have booked sailings for both years.

I hope that other people who plan to sail on Crystal, or who have already sailed on Crystal, will post about past cruises, upcoming cruises, and/or while they are onboard.

Thank you for starting this forum.

We are set to sail on our first Crystal cruise in October from Quebec to New York.

Carolyn - Hope you post a review and your thoughts on Crystal. Have a great cruise, such a great itinerary.

I too, hope to hear from both Carman and Yallcruise~

Crystal is certainly in the luxury category, and we need to hear everyone's impressions, cause we know that most of us have cruised on Regent, and are used to a pretty good experience.

Had I not heard about Azamara here from a friend, perhaps never would have considered them, and now I have booked! Sometimes another cruise line will have an itinerary, or a price you really like!

Carolyn, what date are you sailing? I am booked on October 30 Halifax to NYC on a 5 night Getaway.

Beth, Sorry we will miss you. We get on the ship on October 6th and arrive in New York on October 15th but don't get off the ship until the 16th. This is our third cruise in that area and we just love it. I know you will have a great time. It is our first time sailing on Crystal, have you sailed on Crystal before?

Carolyn, this is my 2nd New England cruise. Testing Crystal for the first time. Hope we can get used to the Dining by Reservations and suite size.

Oops. Double post.

Ray and I have been cruising on Crystal Cruise Lines since 1995 and love it.
We really enjoyed RSSC as well till our last cruise with them in 2011.

For those who may be thinking of trying Crystal out, here is a video done for Mighty Ships done on the 2012 Serenity World Cruise, which we were on.
I remember the flooding docks, the departure from Bali, etc.

Anyway,here is the address of the video:

https://vimeo.com/52321384

If you have any questions that I may be able to answer, please ask away.


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Pat, I saw on the CC Crystal Board that the old thread about the Mighty Ships Serenity was revitalized. I saw the show on Youtube a few months back right after I booked my cruise. It's no longer there but Amazon Prime customers can watch it for free.

Hi, Pat and Ray,

Do you know if the closets on the Symphony are the same size and layout as the closets on the Serenity? If they are different, any information you can give me would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Caroline

Hi Caroline, it's been awhile since we were on Symphony, but the closet size is the same on both ships..Only the Penthouses and Penthouse Suites have walk in closets.

Having said this, we just spent 30 days in a Veranda cabin in Europe and had more than enough space for hanging clothes as well as loads of drawer space....

The bathrooms have two basins and loads of shelves for everything. There are also two hair dryers as well as a magnifying mirror in Bathroom. The standard cabins have a tub/shower combo..low enough so no problem with stepping into the tub....PH and PHS have separate tubs and showers...I believe the stateroom products are large(4oz?) Aveena ... Large Bath sheets (perfect) in every bathroom.
Great reading lights on either side of bed also a clock is provided.
Hope this helps,

Pat,

Thanks for this info. Nice to know that there are two hair dryers and magnifying mirror in the bathroom. Using them in the bathroom seems so much easier to me.

Also glad to hear that the reading lights are on the side of the bed and not above the headboard. How many times have we heated up our heads on those darn lamps on Regent ships?

I am, happily, an over packing type of person, and everything managed to fit in the space on the Serenity. It's a great help to know that the Symphony has the same size closets. Given the smaller stateroom size, I thought that might be one of the areas where space was reduced. Thank you!

This has just been posted on CC and I thought that some people on LCT might find this interesting and a reason to consider a Crystal cruise.

"Cruise Week Special Edition 7/16/14

A Luxury Cruise First

Until today, Cruise Week has never done a special edition on a new deployment, but what Crystal Cruises is doing this week is so unique that it's time to break precedence. Crystal will shortly be launching a 32-day Arctic expedition, any information of which will not be published on the cruise line's website or available for sale until Thursday, July 17. Hence, we're coming out a day early to give interested agents the heads up.

Crystal Vice President Mimi Weisband says this Anchorage-New York itinerary, departing August 16, 2016 on Serenity, has been almost two years in the planning. "It's not only a historic first for Crystal, but a revolutionary new cruise," she says. "We are going to do a whole completely new route traversing the Arctic Ocean via the Northwest Passage. We will be the only luxury cruise ship to do that, the largest cruise ship to have gone there."

Serenity won't go alone. There is going to be an expedition ship accompanying Serenity that will serve a host of purposes. "We've never had an itinerary where we've had a second vessel behind us," she says. "There will be a 14-person expedition team, including a native Arctic-guide."

The expedition ship will be put into use on so-called "Surprise days" that are built into the schedule to allow for unplanned calls of the wild for polar bear viewing, whale watching, glacier cruising and so forth.

Scheduled ports include a host of maiden calls for Crystal, ranging from Cambridge Bay to Sisimiut. Overall, there are 12 ports of call, 19 scheduled days at sea. The first port of call will be in a settlement of just a few hundred people on the shores of the Amundsen Gulf. There will also be three calls in Greenland, including regions that virtually no cruiser ever gets to.

The sailing will have countless other special touches, including Crystal's usage of low-sulfur fuel for the entire sailing, in itself unusual. Also in this vein, Crystal Exec VP Thomas Mazloum says, "During this voyage, speakers will enlighten guests on information regarding climate change, and how it has impacted this passage."

A plethora of excursions are planned involving kayaks, Zodiacs, and even golfing at the world's northernmost nine-hole course.

Cruise Week correspondent Art Sbarsky predicts this will sell out quickly. "Crystal Society members are always clamoring for something new, and the ports are not only brand new to almost all of them, but sensational in their own right," he observes. "I'll predict almost 90% will be past guests."

Tellingly, the sale is only being made available to Crystal Society past guests first for almost six weeks. Non-members may add their name to a wait list. Remaining space, if any, will open to the public on September 2.

Weather can be tricky, but the timing seems good. Sbarsky points out that Serenity's departure date of August 16, 2016 is still good for daylight, even though it's almost two months after the summer solstice in June.

Crystal's Arctic journey is the latest example of how the upscale cruise market is undergoing a revolution, not with hardware, but in the essence of what constitutes a modern-day luxury vacation."

How cool is this !!! Thanks for sharing Carman. Anywhere to find the complete itinerary ?

Hi Marcie

I think it's here: Northwest Passage Cruise on Crystal

Caroline, I would give anything to do this passage someday.

But isn't this almost same as NARWAL coming up for BK on Silversea in August 2014? Been in extreme envy for that one for a long time. Crystal going in 2016.

Interesting the statement that a luxury cruise ship was never here before, and I think of Silversea expedition ships as luxury all the way, along with Seabourn and Regent. I didn't even look at the fares!

Thank you for posting; however, something to think about in my dreams! and believe me, no one is a worse over-packer than me. Like all my "stuff" with me, gadgets, clothes and all, and in the end, use little, and could do with half the allowed weight.


And thank you Kim, for the itinerary. When I accessed earlier today, was unable to get a full itinerary. All ports were so "foreign" to me, I could not remember anything that was the same, except for some "Cambridge" place, because that is a town in MD!

Marcie, Kim was much quicker at providing the link. Thanks, Kim!

Olivia, both of the itineraries are fabulous and transit the Northwest Passage. Other than that, I think that there are quite a few differences that would appeal to different people and make it more likely for them to book one or the other cruise. (Of course, there will be those people who would be happy to be on either cruise, and those people who would never choose either cruise.)

I have never sailed on the Silver Explorer, nor any other "true" expedition ship, so I am not the person to detail differences in cabins, food, etc.

The Silversea cruise is from Greenland to Alaska. Both the embarkation and disembarkation ports are more difficult to fly to/fly out of than the Crystal ports of Anchorage and New York City.

Much like there are different ways to transit the Panama Canal, I think the ships are choosing different ways to transit the Northwest Passage. From what I have read, the Silver Explorer is first and foremost an expedition ship and "made for" sailing this type of area. It is smaller, and, as would be expected, has less entertainment, facilities, dining options, etc.

The Crystal Serenity is a "luxury" liner. It is being accompanied by an escort vessel that will carry "a platform for wilderness landings (to be set up and dismantled in ports which have no docking facilities), a helicopter, and more." They will also have Zodiac landings and are offering 4 types of excursions (from complimentary community visits to pay for helicopter flight seeing). The "Crystal Experience" will continue to be offered in addition to the expeditions.

Silversea is focussing on Greenland, the Northwest Passage/Canada and a final stop in Alaska. Crystal begins with Alaskan ports, then the Northwest Passage/Canada and ends with ports on the east coast of USA. In my opinion, each of these itineraries is different enough on their own to appeal (or not appeal) to different cruisers.

I would be thrilled to be on either cruise. Like many others, I will be anxiously awaiting posts, blogs, photos, and any other information I can read from those who are lucky enough to be on board.

I also might not use many things I bring in my suitcases, but it's nice to know they are there just in case I want them.

Thanks Carman and Kim,
This sure can whet your whistle! I do like that the embarkation and disembarkation are much more accessible than Silversea's.

I can always dream....$ure would be an experience of a lifetime ! (that's what we said about our 2 World Cruises and that they certainly were)