11 Night Expedition Antarctica (Ushuaia Roundtrip)
Sail date: November 18, 2021
Ship:
Crystal Endeavor Retired 1090 17
Cabin type: Suite
Cabin number: 760
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 3 years ago
Review summary
For the price we paid of the cruise, I expected a lot more from Crystal in all aspects of the cruise. It is my first with Crystal and I am quite disappointed with my experience. I am not sure I will choose them again in my future cruise.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Terrible Charter Flight Arrangement: Wrong Gate Information led to going through TSA checkpoints twice and delayed boarding because some people didn’t know of the changed gate and got lost. Flight Seat Assignments Mess-up led to my wife and I assigned in different rows at the very back of the plane reserved to ship crews. Total chaos in meal preparation and delivery which took 5 hours to have our dinner at 3am because they tried to make the meal like in business class, which is one plate at a time, for 200 passengers. Each plate is being carried by hands at the back of the plane to each passenger starting from the front first. We on the last row received our meal last after 5 hours. We were so hungry as of many that we had to ask for snack. The steak was so overcook and tough that the plastic knife can’t even cut the steak. I had to ask for chicken instead. Worst flight experience ever.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
It is underwhelming comparing to other luxury cruises we have taken. sushi and sashimi in Umi Uma isn't that fresh and slices too thin. Steaks at Prego and Waterside are below average quality. All Asian food is too salty even when asked to be less salty. Focus too much on plating, not the taste of food.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Nothing much to do besides a gym and spa.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
Very limited.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Waiters are the best part of the cruise. However, room stewards and others not so much. Our "personal" butler never greeted us with our name for the 11 days on the cruise and always need to be reminded what we asked of her. In other luxury cruise, we were always greeted with our name throughout the whole ship with: Mr. and Mrs “last name” even though the other ship has twice as many guests. Even the mechanic or engineer crews of the other luxury cruise line will greet passengers when they pass by, not at Crystal.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Being a new ship, it is in good and clean condition. However, the first night when passing through Drake Passage and waves were high and our balcony door didn't close and seal well and made whizzing noise so much so that we had to move to another cabin for the night at 1am. We heard that shower glass door was shattered in other cabin, and our bathroom/toilet partition door also was stuck during the whole cruise and never got fixed. Intermittent noise from the wind and movement of the ship on balcony door continued throughout the cruise.
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
The first night when passing Drake Passage and waves were high and the balcony door didn't close and seal well and make constant whizzing noise so much so that we had to move to another cabin for the night until they fixed it the next day. Our bathroom/toilet partition door also was stuck during the whole cruise and never got fixed. Intermittent noise on the balcony door caused by wind and movement of the ship persisted throughout the trip.
Ship tip
Don't set your expectation high in all aspects of the cruise. The high cost doesn't automatically mean great experiences because of all the uncertainties on this cruise.
Antarctic Experience port of calls were disappointing. Many times we were just zodiac cruising, not landing and twice just ship cruising at our port of calls. We never landed on the Antarctic mainland on this cruise. I think the ship captain and excursion director were being too cautious. Uncertainty of daily activities schedule made it difficult to plan ahead such as making spa appointment. Sizable onboard credit with limited places to spend it. You don’t know where you are on the queue of excursions such as kayaking and submersible. Since there are limited spots on the submersible and they don’t tell you where you are on the queue, many couldn’t get on and were disappointed and left with a sizable onboard credit to spend at the end of the cruise.
The return charter flight wasn’t as bad but not much better. We had to layover at Chile for 3 hours. We only had breakfast at 6am before we left the ship and didn’t have another meal until 12 hours later at 6pm on the second flight to Miami. They should’ve served us a real lunch on the flight from Ushuaia to Chile instead of an Argentina desert. We were all starving.
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