Ive been with Silverseas and Regent mainly, altho I have done HollandAmerica, Royal Carib and Oceania

Just booked Serenity July 5, 2015 as well as the next one, July 12, 2015, so its from Barcelona all way to Dover

With Regent, I have a list of off the menu items to order. Are there these necessary on Crystal as well?

I see that ties and suits are suggested...Do I hafta go out and buy these? Im from FL where we just do not do ties...thats why I love Regent

Any suggestions welcomed

Hi vireya,

I will be cruising on the Serenity Oct. 31 and have been reading a lot about the differences between the three lines.

From what I have read, the Crystal menu does have standard items like Regent.

As far a dinner dress is concerned, Crystal is going more relaxed. We have one informal evening on our cruise. You can check the PCPC for your cruise to get the dress code for your sailing.

Here is what is printed on their website regarding dress.

> Resort Casual - Slacks and a sweater or shirt for men; casual dress, skirt or slacks with a sweater or blouse for women. Ties and jackets are not required.

> Elegant Casual (Informal) - Suit or slacks with a jacket over a sweater or shirt for men. Ties are optional. Cocktail dress, skirt or slacks with a sweater or blouse for women. Jeans are not appropriate.

> Black Tie (Formal) Optional - While Elegant Casual is always appropriate in the evening, a Black Tie Optional evening offers a celebratory opportunity to dress more formally on a special evening(s). For men, this includes a dark suit with tie or tuxedo; for women, this includes a formal cocktail dress, evening gown or dressy evening separates. On Black Tie Optional evenings, we request that jeans not be worn in any dining venues or lounges, including the Casino.

vireya, if you have any special requests regarding a specific diet that you require when you are onboard, you can inform Crystal ahead of time and they will try to accommodate you - gluten free, kosher, etc. If you have a regular item that you would like frequently and you are concerned that it will not be offered, meet with the maitre'd when you board or after, and Crystal will try to ensure that your request is met.

The Serenity has many dining options depending upon your flexibility and tastes (including Tastes). You would not have to pack a tie to sail Crystal, but I would suggest packing a jacket for man. You do not have to wear suits and a jacket will do as the jacket could match different pants, a tie is optional, and a tuxedo is not necessary except for those who choose to wear formal wear.

I cannot wait to be back on Crystal. The cabins are smaller. There is less flexibility in dining and one must follow more of a schedule. That being said, the onboard experience is excellent. The dining was fabulous, but because of my palate some dishes were more enjoyable than others.

On my first Crystal cruise, although I enjoyed the experience, it was difficult not to compare it to what I was used to after sailing on Regent almost exclusively for years. I had also sailed on Seabourn and Seabourn is much more like Regent. However, on my second Crystal cruise, I was much more comfortable with the Crystal "way". When you sail with them and accept the differences such as cabin size and less flexible dining times, it is an absolutely fabulous experience!

I am on the upcoming Serenity cruise with Beth. I am pretty sure I read somewhere that you can put in special food orders on Crystal like you can on Regent.

I have to confess, I'm having trouble getting used to the idea of sailing on a cruise line named after me :) When I saw that a Crystal forum had been started, I had one of those "huh?" moments.

But it was inevitable that I'd someday sail the Crystal Serenity, given my name and my secret identity as a browncoat.

crystal, I just hope that Crystal will live up to her name/reviews/etc. A short cruise will be a good introduction to check out the space both inside and outside the cabin, some of the programs (depending upon how much time you spend in ports), and the evening shipboard experience (which can change depending upon the passenger mix).

I know that there are quite a few people on CC who put in special orders for food. I haven't put in a special order yet, but think it is quite likely that I will on our cruise in April. My problem is there are too many choices on the regular menu.

vireya, I don't know if you post on CC at all, but there are at least two individuals who have provided blogs that include menus. Both Keith1010 and rafinmd provide a wealth of knowledge. I know that Keith1010 does not want his blog posted on any public forum and he requests an e-mail from people who wish to have access to his blog. I am not sure if rafinmd would want his information posted by anyone but himself, so I am not including the information here. However, if you post on CC and ask about dining, and/or sign up for Keith1010's blog, I think you will get a really good overview of Crystal.

Karen, if it is inappropriate to post about CC on this board, please delete this post. Thank you.

Gday Folks,

Ive heard that the Crystal tours are not up to the standard of others such as Regent. One report I read was that they didnt care that the guide was 30 min late after every stop, so that time was lost from the complete tour. When complaints were made to the ship, the answer was that they could not control land tours

SO...has anyone used Viatour?

Vireya,

I've sailed on both Regent and Crystal and the tours are very similar. There can always be issues - on every cruise and every cruise line. I would not worry.

The one thing Crystal does which Regent does not do any more is that there is always a ship staff person on every bus.

Peggy

I've had some great experiences with Viatour and some not so great. I'd suggest using tools like Trip Advisor (accompanied by a big old grain of salt) to research guides and tours.

I'm also a big fan of Hop on Hop off buses, but even those need to be researched. We found the ones in Dubai to be superb, for example, but the ones we saw a couple of weeks ago in Cuzco looked ready to topple over at any moment.

We took one tour with Viatour and it was very good. They contract out to local guides so I am sure they have a varying level of guides in any one location. And I don't believe you can select your guide should you read good things about a specific person.

Look at tripadvisor forums as well as the forums on fodors.com for guide recommendations.

You will find a lot of choices in the Crystal Dining Room.

Each night the menu changes. On the left side of the menu are items that were recently introduced this past April and are modern cuisine items and on the right side of the menu are more traditional food items. Both menus change daily. You can order from both sides of the menu.

There are standard items each evening such as Salmon, Chicken and Steak.

You can see the menus for the following night the night before. Just ask your Head Waiter. Your Head Waiter is responsible for a section of the dining room. Also, should you wish anything special just let the Head Waiter know 24 hours in advance and if the ingredients are on the ship they will be happy to prepare it for you.

The dress code has recently been updated and starting 12/21 Crystal is going with two types of dress. One is Black Tie Optional which is the same that you posted. The Other is Crystal Casual which is very similar to what Resort Casual was except for men they are recommending dress slacks and collared shirts (polo, dress, etc. and a sports jacket but the sports jacket is optional. For women they changed the wording from casual dress to dress and also mention dressy slacks instead of slacks.

Keith

Please do not worry about the tours.

Most tours are quite terrific with interesting tour guides and they keep to the schedule and the itinerary.

On occasion we have experienced a tour that was not to our liking as the itinerary was not followed. There is an escort on each tour from Crystal so we will point that out to them if they have not caught it themselves.

There is a lot of choice when it comes to tours and we have taken some truly amazing ones.

Keith

I am presently sailing on Serenity and find food and service are quite good. Dress is much more casual than in the past and in our 10 day trip there is one formal night. Dress was all over the board. Men in tuxedos, suits, jackets and slacks with no tie. Women in long gowns, cocktail dresses, slacks and tops. There are many options for food but you can special 24 hours in advance. For example today we had Steak Tartare for lunch. We have been on several tours and thought they ran quite well. As stated earlier there is a Crystal rep on each tour. There are hop a bus tours in most of the New England ports that are alternatives. We have really enjoyed the guest lecturers. While dining can be by reservation or assigned at dinner you can eat wherever you wish and with whomever you wish at breakfast and lunch. There are also alternatives such as Tastes or Lido.

Susan, thanks so much for the update from your sailing on Crystal. Enjoy!

Thanks, Susan.

Looking forward to boarding Serenity in one week!!!

Beth and Crystal -
The Serenity is a beautiful ship! Susan and John invited me on board last Sunday for lunch in the main dining room. They special ordered crab cakes, dover sole and chocolate cake a la mode. It was all delicious. I loved the ship and I think you'll have a wonderful cruise. Hopefully we won't have any more Nor'easters come through while you're out on the seas.

Hi Kim,

Thanks for your review. We also hope the bad weather will be out of the way by the time we come aboard. We have also invited friends our 08 Discovery Collection Cruise from Boston to join us for lunch and Michael Johnson is coming aboard for dinner our overnight in NYC. Thanks for the suggestion of the special order. We will be sure to do that.

The weather has been beautiful the majority of the time. Only rained in Halifax. Beautifully sunny day in Quebec today. Hope your weather will be as great.

Thanks for the check-ins. How was the room temperature in the public spaces? Did they tend to keep it chilly? Or did it run on the warm side? Or did they achieve the miraculous, and maintain a steady, comfortable climate?

Crystal, just pack a sweater, like always........

Ah! But whither light weight or warmer slacks in the evening? I know I'll need that sweater in the cabin :)

Have a wonderful time you two and give that special man in my life a big hug for me. Do NOT step on his right foot!!! Lee

Hey Lee, Will be sure to hug your special guy!!!!! Is his foot still bothering him?

Thanks Beth. Crystal - you can give him a big hug from me too!
His foot is still sore and too swollen to get into a shoe so is still struggling with his latest fashion statement - the boot! I'm sure it gets him lots of sympathy.

Beth and Crystal, I hope you will not have the winds we've had on coastal Maryland the past 2 nights, or will be in protected waters. Don't know what your itinerary is up there from Boston, but have fun!

40 to 50 mile an hour winds up here on the coast, and on the Cape Cod as well.. starting to die down now a bit.. Crazy weather..

haha, Frank, it sure was crazy. I always know those NE winds are gone in two days. This time, they have been from the NW. I forget what they call those winds, but they sure are cold! Just opened my porch door that faces NW on the bay, and they are pretty calm.

Hope Beth and Crystal will check in with us!

I saw they posted they had to overnight in Boston and skip Newport because with the weather no way to tender even with the bright sunshine today I am looking out at Vineyard Sound right now and its very Choppy, Stinks for them because if it wasnt for the wind it would of been a nice day to explore Newport for them.. These New England cruises can be tricky ones for sure...

Yeah, it was really crappy weather yesterday and still windy today, like Frank said, beautiful sunshine though. I offered to go to the ship and get them and take them to Newport yesterday. Alice and I would have enjoyed that! But they had people coming on board to visit with and it would have been ugly to be out in that weather. It did snow, after all.

oh, what bad news. Newport is lovely, have been there on land trips a few times. What a bummer for the start of their cruise. Was a nice day here today, hope things get better.

Hi All,

We did hit snow in Boston, but what fun! It was so gracious of Alice and Kim to offer to take us to Newport on Sunday. We wished we could have taken them up on their offer. We had planned a day on board with our Discovery Collection '08 and MOOSE '09 friends, Martha & Tom.

It was fun to chat with Kim and Frank & Carla while we were in Boston. Wished we could have all gotten together.

We did miss Newport (the only new port for me on the itinerary) but got to experience a seaday on Serenity.

Last night we hosted Michael on board, enjoyed a lovely dinner in the CDR and had such fun.

We are both home now and plan to post a review sometime soon.

Olivia, we were booked on the 5 night Getaway cruise to get a taste of Cyrstal.