I gave a running description, on LCT on half of the world cruise, which most of you read. So if anyone has a question I would be happy to answer on a cruise with a lot of sea days.

Chip:

I will be interested to hear your comparison of Crystal and RSSC after your trip to Toyko this fall....so we'll stay tuned!

We did both Crystal and RSSC in 2003, just two months apart.

We had a type F balcony on Navigator Feb 26-Mar 13, and Type A on Crystal Harmony May 1-9.

As for the ships, they are both lovely and very well maintained.

I personally loved the gray suede cloth walls and brass railings on Harmony. Bob liked the contemporary Navigator better.

Our Take:

1. Suites -- Navigator, by far. It was bigger, better laid out. Loved the drapery between the bedroom and sitting area. I could draw the drapes and nap, while Bob could lay on the sofa or out on the balcony and soak up the sun.

Bathroom on the Navigator was much better, as was the walk-in closet.

2. Dining room. Navigator, by far. It's always a big fight between us when it comes to assigned dining. If we go for second seating, I'm eating my entree at 9:30, and I don't like that.

So, the open seating dining was much more to our liking. We would go at 7:00, and get our favorite table and favorite waiter.

2A. We did like the Bistro on Crystal. We could sleep in in the mornings, then go have a hot chocolate or cappucino and pastry to tide us over until lunch. Wish they had that on RSSC.

3. Dining staff. Again, Navigator. I must say, we were on the May 1 Harmony. This was the first cruise after they cancelled the Orient and sailed back empty to Los Angeles.

Crystal put out fire sale prices, about 75% off, and thought they "might" sell 50% of the staterooms. They were waitlisted within three days.

They had sent half of the crew home from Tokyo, had to scramble to get crew in place by May 1.

The waiter of Harmony was very dour, didn't smile much. The assistant was quite a character. Service was so-so. In fact, other people mentioned that service on Celebrity was far superior to Crystal.

4. Sommelier. On RSSC, you have a true sommelier. We met ours first on Seabourn. When the Sun was transferred to HAL, he wound up going to Crystal Harmony, where he was just a wine steward, and moved around from dining room to Bistro to Lido every day. In fact, he trained the man who turned out to be our wine steward on Crystal. And he was just a wine steward, whereas the sommeliers on RSSC have been to formal schools in the hospitality food/beverage industry, and are so much more knowledgable.

5. Nickel and Diming. We were on the last set of cruises that charged extra for cokes and cappucino on Crystal. At the price we paid, I couldn't complain too much, especially since I drink about two cokes a week. I sneak on Stewart's diet Root Beer in my bag.

6. The Shops. Crystal, by far. The merchandise was of much finer quality and quantity. The shops on Crystal are company owned, not sublet.

7. Cruise Director/social hostess. The husband and wife team of Joe and Heather Raad on Navigator--what class! The hostess on Crystal Harmony was a lovely Japanese lady, but she didn't seem to interact as much as Heather did. Such a gracious lady. And I mean L A D Y.

And Capt. Romeo on the Navigator had a wicked sense of humor. Every day at noon " Hello, it's me from the brige!"

8. Entertainment. Crystal, but not by a huge difference, although we were told by RSSCs staff that the Production singers and dancers were about the best that they had ever had, and the quality could run from abysmal to great.

We loved the Repertory Theatre at Sea on Crystal.
One night they did scenes from three Eugene O'Neill plays, another night they did a farce of a murder mystery that took place on a cruise ship.

RSSC had a great piano lounge entertainer that did a wonderful evening on Noel Coward.

They also had a piano duo called Katzenjammer. Four hands, one piano. If you EVER get a chance to see them, drop everything and go. Very talented musicians and comedians. They played some piece of classical music with one hand each, mixed a "gin and tonic" with the other hand, while playing the piano!!!

9. "Lido" dining. Portofino, hands down, no comparison. The "lido" on the Harmony was so poorly designed that you felt like a salmon fighting to go upstream. First, go through a very narrow line to get food, then fight your way back to look for a table. If you weren't able to find a seat in Kyoto or Prego, it was awful. It took me 15 minutes one day to get salt and salad dressing, as it isn't on the tables outside. They need to completely tear it out and start over.

In addition, RSSC has linen tablecloths and napkins in their Lido section, where Crystal didn't.

9.A Specialty restaurants. Prego and Portofino about the same, I think Prego was a bit better, but Kyoto was fabulous.

10. Food. Very subjective here, but we both preferred RSSC. There was more of a selection each night, and the special chef's tasting menu was better on RSSC.

11. Room service -- RSSC.

12. Staff/crew in general -- RSSC. Melissa, the cruise consultant, was outstanding on the Navigator, spent a lot of time with us pulling up possible itineraries for 2004. No pressure at all. The person on Crystal couldn't pronounce some of the ports!

13. The Spa. Run by Steiner/Elemis on Crystal, it's one big sales pitch. Go for a foot/ankle massage, and it's two minutes of massage, lift hands to demonstrate how to appy facial moisturizer, rub a bit, stop and explain how you really need an exfoliant. Lots of complaints by other passengers. I talked to our Crystal rep ( I'm an outside agent for a local agency, but this is not meant to be a solicitation ) and she said that Crystal had toned them down. Well, they were pretty pushy.

The only sales pitch I heard on RSSC was when I was signing my receipt, I couldn't read a sign behind the counter, she explained about a discount that they had.

14. Internet -- 75cents a minute on Crystal, download and reading time. 75cents a minute on RSSC, download time only. I paid more for one session and a few emails on two days of Crystal than 14 days on Radisson.

Crystal has the nerve to claim they are competitive! Princess is 35cents a minute, Celebrity and RCI are 50cents. Plus, Celebrity sells packages on the Millie class ships for $100 per cruise. On a ten-day cruise, unlimited access, that's quite a savings. Crystal charges $150 a day for unlimited access. And since we're Platinum on Princess, it's free.

15. Tipping -- need I say more?

16. Library -- Navigator. More books, more videos, easier access.


17. Enrichment. We didn't care for the lectures on Crystal, which, if I remember, were about the working of the World Bank, and alternate treatments for menopause.

We did the Panama Canal on RSSC, and Dick Holt was the lecturer. He did a series of three lectures,
South America before Columbus, the building of the canal, and something else. His grandfather went to Panama to help design the canal. His father worked on it. His mother's family came from Spain to Panama in the 1500s, so you know this man had stories to tell, and he told them well.

We own a UPS Store as our main business, and found out when we got home that he went to high school in Panama with one of our customers!!!

Plus, we had Terry Breen. At the time we sailed, she was the only permanent lecturer employed by a cruise line. She was an anthropologist by training, and absolutely fascinating. Her specialty is Latin America.

18. RSSC really reads their comment cards and letters. We had such a wonderful time, and due to comments by CC board members advising us not to tip, unless the crew member did something way out of their way for us, I decided to name names on the comment card, and write an extra letter.

So, on the last full day at sea, I filled out the comment cards, named the waiter, assistant, sommelier, and Joe and Heather as being fabulous.

Then I went into the computer and wrote a three-page letter to Mark Conroy.

We took the cruise because our aunt had her 90th birthday at sea, and wanted to do the Panama Canal.

The head waiter and maitre d' went out of their way to make sure we had a special night.

I made my aunt a needlpoint of a Japanese kimono, had it stuffed and put on a stand. I asked Heather if there was any place to find gift wrap, she went to her cabin and gave me a lovely box that she had been saving.

I named names, told what they had done for us.

That night, the hotel manager had read the comment card and the letter, and put copies into everyones personnel file. The dining staff were ecstatic, thanked me profusely. Heather and Joe also had been notified by their manager.

A week after we got home, I got a nice letter from Mark Conroy. And I wasn't working at an agency at the time, we were just first-time RSSC cruisers, so he wasn't responding with a sales pitch. It was genuine.

Tip money is nice, but the RSSC crew sure appreciated having someone take the time to let their superiors know what a good job they had done.

That being said, we are booked on another RSSC cruise in May, and are looking forward to 2005. We really want to do a British Isles/Scandinavia for our 30th anniversary.

Bon Voyage!

Great review Frances very informative and I can't wait to sail on Navigator.

How is your aunt doing - hope she is feeling better and we look forward to meeting all of you in May.

Kathy

It's a roller coaster ride. She's very weak and having trouble swallowing.

We took her to lunch on Wed, she said she was having trouble focusing. A few minutes later, could not see out of right eye.

She had an embolism in the main artery to the optic nerve, it destroyed a lot of peripheral vision. It probably won't get much better.

She's still looking forward to the cruise. Yesterday was a fairly upbeat day, today is down.

It will take a lot of time to get better, she's 91 now.

Thanks for asking.

f

Frances, your reveiw really made me want to board the Navigator ASAP!

Thanks for the specific comparisons between RSSC and Crystal. You did a very thorough job and helped confirm our feelings about Radisson.

After thinking about it I'm taking my mini review of Crystal off the board. I think I was a little too harsh. Anyway off to Radisson.

Frances, Your review pretty much sums up how I would compare Crystal and RSSC. The one thing I would add is that Crystal is openly hostile toward smokers (both cigar and cigarette). It's easier to smoke in Manhattan after the ban than it was on Crystal Harmony and Symphony. I haven't been on Serenity so I don't know if it's any different. Oh well.

Lawrence,

Sorry to burst your bubble, but our biggest complaint about RSSC was them allowing smoking in the dining room, and not monitoring the "no smoking" section in the casino.

Even though it is "only" four tables on each side of the dining room, we were still affected by it.
I really resent having to breath someone elses stench while I'm trying to enjoy a wonderful meal.

Two of our group were former smokers, and neither one of them could understand why RSSC would permit smoking in the dining room.

In addition, I went to the non-smoking area of the casino to play the slot machines, and there was a *$&%^ sitting right under the NO SMOKING sign, puffing away.

Yes, I could have gone to another area, but I wouldn't have been able to breathe. And the crew won't ask the smoker to move, as it might offend them.

Ugh!

Wow I didn't realize they allowed smoking in the dining room - YUCK! I can't imagine that - hopefully there is plenty of ventillation. I use to smoke and unfortunately now I am highly allergic to smoke - brings on asthma. Hopefully we won't have a problem with this in the dining room. I've always found it to be an issue in casinos and lucky for me I don't end up making as big of a donation that way.
Frances-
I hope your aunt continues to improve - keep me posted.

Kathy

No bubbles were burst. :) To clarify, I don't smoke cigarettes - just cigars in extremely well-ventilated areas and in specifically designated areas.

I have to admit that I was very surprised to hear that smoking was allowed in the dining room on any ship other than the Diamond, which has an entirely separate smoking section (it's a different room). I thought that Compass Rose was completely non-smoking (like Signatures and Latitudes). The times I've been on Mariner and Voyager, I don't recall seeing anyone smoking in Compass Rose. Was there a policy change or something?

Editing to add that I found Crystal to be hostile toward smoking because they didn't allow smoking outdoors (like on your balcony) and even to the Connoiseiur Club which is supposed to be a smoking lounge!

I didn't see anyone smoking in the dining room. I didn't see any no smoking signs signs in the casinos. The bars were set up with smoking sections and it was enforced. My proplem was not with Crystal but it was with some of my fellow passengers. Who at the slightest hint of smoke would bellow "WHOS SMOKING" Hell, they wouldn't stop with me they would complain about local people smoking in their own country.

Someday I'll give it up but I swear I'll never act like that. I know some people that don't drink anymore but they don't walk into a bar and complain that people are drinking.

Chip, where was your mini review of Crystal? I never got to read it.

I just read it the morning after I wrote it and I decided to stick with my orginal intent of answering any questions that anyone had. Most everyone read my posts onboard. I just felt I was repeating myself.

Great review. I think what most people like to know is the comparisions between one line and another. This is not always easy to put into words. You did a great job.

You cant win with the smoking debate. I see both sides. I am a non smoker. Never even tried one.

Radisson does have smoking allowed in the dining room. However it is in a specific area and the dining room is never full so there is always an additional buffer of tables between the smokers and non smokers. This makes it more comfortable for the smokers and the non smokers.

Diamond does have an entirely separate room so it is never an issue there.

I always advise those that really are allergic to smoke to tell the Head Waiter to seat you as far from the smoking area as possible and you will never know smoking is even taking place.

People worry about this on both sides of the debate before they sail and then it seldom seems to be an issue after they return

Yes, we could have moved farther away, but we fell in love with a waiter/assistant, and wanted to sit at their tables each night.

Our 90 yr old aunt wanted to kidnap the waiter.

Smoking was a non issue on our recent cruise. The only time I caught a whiff was in the Casino. I did not see anybody 'light up' in the Compass Rose.

Bob and Francis, thanks for the review of RSSC vs. Mariner. Very informative and with the added wealth of your cruising experiences.