As Pat & I have just completed our first Crystal cruise, after a number of cruises on Regent (total of 160 days), as well as cruises on Silversea and several expedition ships, I will try to describe some of the matters that might be useful to a Regent cruiser who is considering a dip into the Crystal waters.

Perhaps I should begin with a list of caveats, qualifiers, and other relevant or irrelevant statements of caution and explanation, in the firm hope of heading off the most incendiary reactions from loyalists of either Regent or Crystal:

First, this is not a review or discussion of both Crystal ships or of any Crystal cruise other than the one we took, 18 days from Tokyo to Vancouver about the Symphony. I am well aware that Serenity is not identical to Symphony and have no intention of comparing any feature of Serenity to any other ship, as I have never set foot or life vest onto Serenity. Further, as I have not cruised on the new Regent ship (which hasn’t yet been launched), I am not comparing Symphony to any Regent ships other than Navigator, Voyager and Mariner, on all three of which we have cruised multiple times.

Second, lest my reflections in some case produce the not-unreasonable retort that certain things should have come as no surprise to us if we had a decent TA or had done proper research, please accept my assurances that we have an excellent TA agency (hmm, which one might that be?) that only deals in luxury cruising; and we did extensive research before the cruise. Of course we knew the size of the cabins and the fact that the ship does not offer open dining. We booked and boarded with our eyes fully open regarding such matters. Clearly, until we tried the ship we would not know which characteristics of the experience would be positive, negative, or neutral for us.

Third, in order to not have to insert IMO or IMHO or IMWGASO before every statement, please assume that all of these observations are simply ours and the conclusions drawn from them are merely our opinions, with no particular dedication to making statements of fact cast in granite (or fake marble, either).

Finally, if any reader wishes to skip to the end of my ramble to read my conclusions (probably a good idea unless one has insomnia and requires a dreary read to get to sleep), I will let you know in advance that we will not likely consider another Crystal cruise until the new ship is launched. Our reservations regarding reserving again before that are primarily associated with the dining system, cabin size, and theatre design. A bit more detail on those issues will follow…

Reflections (cont’d)

The ship itself is quite beautiful and does not appear to be any older than the Regent ships, even though they are considerably newer. It is clear that maintenance is a high priority with Crystal. The public rooms on Symphony, particularly the Palm Court (observation lounge) and Crystal Cove, are much more attractive and comfortable than any comparable space on the Regent or Silversea ships. As a special note of interest for recent Regent pax who dislike the very heavy new furniture in the lounges, the furniture in the lounges on Symphony is both comfortable and movable without the assistance of a couple of stalwart stevedores. Further, Regent has no space as delightful as the intimate Avenue Saloon on Symphony. (Of course, that wonderful little venue would be much less appealing without the presence of the talented and amiable Mark Farris at the piano.)

One aspect of the public spaces on Symphony that we noticed, particularly when the weather was not ideal and consequently the lounging areas near the pool or in the Trident grill section were not acceptable to most pax, is that the remaining public spaces became quite crowded. That may well be related to the small size of 85% of the cabins on the ship (approx. 202 sq.ft. of interior space), making the cabins a less agreeable alternative for “hanging out”. A possible comparison for Regent cruisers of the rather busy public spaces in inclement weather is Navigator, which can also seem quite crowded when the pool deck cannot be used. Thus, if a Regent cruiser has not found public spaces on Navigator to be too crowded in less-than-ideal weather, that same cruiser would likely be quite happy on Symphony in similar weather.

Even though all three Regent ships have decent walking/jogging tracks, none of them has anything as appealing as the Promenade Deck on Symphony. That wonderfully old-fashioned feature of the ship should be de-rigueur for all cruise ships. Whether for walking, jogging, or observing the scenery, that wide and comfortable teak-floored space is a genuine treasure.

Ah, the cabins… All things considered, 202 sq.ft. just is not very big, irrespective of how efficiently it may be designed. Most Regent cruisers will miss the walk-in closet, the full-size sofa, and the large bathroom. The Symphony bathrooms are very well fitted-out, with good storage and fabulous water-pressure in the shower-over-tub (no separate shower) in the standard cabins. However, they are “one-person” bathrooms, with very little space for a second occupant. It is a bit peculiar that Crystal chose to install two sinks on a counter that is relatively difficult for more than one person to use.

We solved the small cabin problem by booking two connecting cabins (our cruise had a marvelously low single supplement). Thus, we had the great luxury of two bathrooms, two closets, and (when one of us was under the weather with the upper-respiratory ailment that attacked many of the pax on our cruise) two beds. Frankly, though, it took us about five minutes to determine that absent such a booking of two connecting cabins, we would not be comfortable in a single cabin of that size. Of course, there is also the alternative of booking one of the larger penthouses on Deck 10, at considerably higher cost (and no second bathroom!!).

Reflections (cont’d – Lordie, will this never end?)

Service and crew attitude - Those Regent cruisers who have become a bit disappointed (as we have done) in the level of service (both from a standpoint of organization and from a standpoint of staff attitude and morale) would be delighted in both aspects on Symphony. Overall, the service levels on our Crystal cruise were superb, with helpful, cheerful, and charming service from every member of the staff whom we encountered.

Dining Issues - This is probably the most difficult issue for us to address, as we find ourselves torn between the generally superior cuisine on Symphony and the (to us) unpleasant mode of dining scheduling.

Especially during our first week aboard Symphony, we often found ourselves stating that the food was a serious step up from Regent of recent years. (During the last few days of the cruise, the train went a bit off of the track, perhaps due to illnesses of the staff both in the dining room and the galley.) Even considering the many errors (cold soups, bouillabaisse served both cold and with unopened mussels – a major health no-no, oysters Rockefeller with no oysters under the topping) over the last 5 or 6 days, we remained convinced that the food was a tick up from Regent. It did seem, however, that in that last week of the cruise, no one was really watching what came out of the galley. Further, one aspect of dining on a fixed-dining schedule is that many of the dishes must be pre-cooked to deal with the mass of pax arriving at the same time, resulting in a lot of less-than-optimal dishes in terms of temperature and degree of doneness.

In fact, we had booked Dining by Reservation, Crystal's attempt at flexible dining. However, the other members of our little cruising group who boarded 12 days before us in Hong Kong found that DBR was remarkably unsatisfactory. They were repeatedly seated at the dreadful tables directly adjacent to the service stations (aka, plate-scraping stations or waiter-butt-watching stations, as the waiters scrape the plates into the bins at the stations - seriously gross, folks!! - not the butt-watching but definitely the plate-scraping was gross.). Therefore, our group negotiated a table at the early fixed-seating time. It was a very good table, with a capable and amiable waiter. However, it was necessary for us to enter the dining room “on time”, thus joining into the 6:00 pm cattle call line-up. Clearly, many people like fixed dining and do not mind the loss of the flexibility of finishing one’s cocktail in the Avenue Saloon before dashing off to the dining room; but we have determined that we are not among those people.

The menus on Symphony seemed to be a bit more varied than on Regent, particularly with regard to the Modern (left) side of the dinner menu. Indeed, there were some delightful offerings on that left side, along with quite a few offerings that were the absolute height of silly pretentious nonsense. (Oops, do I have to reiterate that this is all my own humble opinion?) On one evening, the left side of the menu included items with “froth”, “foam”, “snow”, “espuma”, and (drum roll) “olive oil caviar”. The last of those items may be the silliest of the modern/molecular cuisine but is also the most fun – I would love one of those liquid nitrogen baths to make those little beads of olive oil.

Reflections (cont’d - Yes, it finally will come to an end)

The Theatre - We loved the entertainment on Symphony. Aside from the Cirque shows on Regent, the entertainment on Symphony was a clear step up from Regent. However, the theatre on Symphony seriously sucks and is dramatically inferior (even if there is no drama on the stage) to the Constellation Theatres on the Regent ships. It is small, offering seating for only 400 pax. That would be manageable, since there are usually two shows; however, the design of the theatre is quite ghastly. It has almost no change in elevation from front to back, resulting in many, many seats being quite bad. Even when one goes to the theatre 30 minutes in advance of the show to get a good seat, it only takes a couple of people sitting in front of one to make the whole experience most unpleasant. Further, for the performance after the early seating (which is the most popular of the three options – early, late, or DBR), there were often no seats left whatever for people who came into the theatre within 15 minutes of the beginning of the show.

Excursions - In this arena, Symphony is posing a serious challenge to Regent in the dubious distinction of incompetency. Overall, Regent probably remains ahead in the race; but the performance of the Crystal team at Korsakov was definitely a nadir in our experiences on cruise ships. It is quite true that much of the Chinese fire-drill was due to the Russian customs agents and their playing with passports; but the total lack of common sense and logic on the part of the Crystal excursion crew was at least an equal factor in the whole cock-up. When passengers have to convince the excursion staff of a logical way to hand out passports, something is amiss.

Summary - (yes, dear boys & girls, ladies & gentlemen, and children of all ages, this is at last winding down).

Do we regret cruising on Symphony? No, not in the slightest.

Will be cruise again on Symphony or Serenity anytime soon? No, not likely.

Are we returning to Regent? No, not likely. Our sights are now set on Seabourn. We will consider Crystal again when the new ship, with, one assumes, bigger cabins and open dining, debuts. And, of course, we will be looking closely at Regent's lovely new Explorer.

Cheers, Fred

PS – Among the ports we visited was Aomori, Japan, which is not in itself much of interest. However, we took the occasion to visit the Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival (about 60 miles away), which was absolutely one of our great travel experiences. There were 3,000 cherry trees in full blossom, with the castles moats carpeted in cherry blossoms. When there was a gust of wind, we were engulfed in a magical snow-flurry of cherry blossoms. As the MasterCard commercial says, “Priceless!!”

Fred no one can review like you do. Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

Your comment on mussels took me right back to the exact opposite problem on a Silversea cruise, CAMEL. You had a bowl with all empty shells! I started eating mussels (yes I am improving) about two years ago and absolutely love them. Nothing like a bowl of perfectly cooked mussels in a wonderful broth. In fact I am now a lover of bouillabaisse. Maybe we could share the same meal together at some time in the future!

Great review, Fred and so good to hear from you. The early dining doesn't appeal to us either. We were in the 6:00 cattle call on the Queen Mary last summer. The service was wonderful, but that's just too early! No time for sharing Veuve Clicquot with good friends!
One comment on the food....horror upon horrors. How could they have forgotten the white truffle oil?

Although we did not share the Veuve Clicquot, we did share an amazing Daiginjo sake. We had the pleasure of comparing different types of sake, thanks to Fred, while enjoying a small group dinner in Silk Road. It was a fabulous experience, and one I would highly recommend. For those of you who will be sailing to ports in Japan, it is well worth it to bring a Daiginjo sake onboard. There is also a Nobu sake that is provided onboard at an extra cost that is much better than the regular sake; however, the group consensus was that the sake Fred had bought was rated number one.

I hope that Fred will provide more details on the different types of sake so that others who will be sailing to Japan ports can enjoy the same experience.

Thanks, again, Fred. Although, as we are now going to have to buy the Nobu sake on our next Crystal cruise (South America/Antarctica), perhaps it would be best if I did not post this information?! :)

Dear Fred,

Thank you for such a wonderful review! (the disclaimer was inspired.)

Having lived in Aomori, Japan - specifically Hirosaki, I especially appreciate your post script praising this little known Japanese gem at the top of Honshu! The Cherry Blossom Festival is not to be missed, but I hope you were able to sample one of their huge, delicious Fugi Apples and glimpse Mount Iwaki. Thanks again for causing me to take a pleasant trip into my past and bask in the wonderful memories.

Cheers,
Ash