Crystal Symphony Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The overall experience was extremely positive but then we got very lucky and fortunate which improves everything. We were assigned a table of six for the early seating. We ended up with two other couples who we had so much fun with that the highlight of each day was having dinner with them.  The cruise was under booked with about 550 guests. They had about 480 staff and crew on board so you could not move far without someone helping you or serving you. Food was excellent in all aspects of the club. We did not do Prego or Silk Road much as we wanted to enjoy our friends in the main dining room. Those two places were very good as well. The Lido Cafe for breakfast/lunch was exceptional. Trident Grill makes an excellent hamburger. Most of our excursions were cultural in nature and we found them very informative and enjoyable. Others on board had excursions that they felt less positive about. I really thought the "at sea" lecture series to be one of the highlights of the cruise. What fantastic people sharing their experiences. The evening entertainment was also very good especially the show "Imagination". Thee were some "hiccups" at times but in a three week cruise this can be considered inevitable. Some friends had less positive experiences in terms of services rendered and excursion availability but these were more exceptions rather than normal practices. Overall ships comfort was impressive. Some rough sea days (10 feet + seas) made walking about interesting but not impossible. Stabilizers did an impressive job!!! I would be happy to take a Crystal Cruise again. I am not sure I would fly 20 hours to do so.

First of all, Crystal Cruise Lines was so far above any other line we've sailed with, in terms of service, food, accommodation and ambiance, with only 900 passengers and almost 600 crew, that it defies description. The only extra charges were for excursions. Everything else is included, even special dietary requirements, different wines if the current day's offering was not to my satisfaction, and four seatings at the speciality restaurants. It makes for a completely relaxing environment for the entire trip. Add to that the interesting speakers, bridge teacher, and other attractions, as well as a fabulous itinerary around New Zealand, and this was one amazing trip. 

Milford Sound, New Zealand (fiord)

This was our first Crystal cruise.  The food and staff was outstanding.  We enjoyed the quality of the lecturers and the selection of excursions.  Many of the excursions sold out but the ship staff was very accommodating on wait listing for availability. 

One comment:  We were given vouchers for $500 each for the next cruise, which expire May 2018.  We signed on for a next cruise on board - London to Stockholm, which starts in June ! Any suggestions ?

I was truly impressed at the caliber of activities they had available for the days at sea.  There was a wide array of excellent speakers and truly top notch instructors for the wide variety of classes. That said, it was disappointing that we could not go to key ports that were the entire reason for the trip: Cook Islands and Fiji, but Mother nature was very uncooperative. 

The cruise could still have been excellent if the cruise theme of "Food and Wine" had been better executed.  2 cooking demonstrations, 2 limited wine tastings and one evening with some dishes by the specialty chef did not a Wine and Food cruise make.  To make it worse, the food was not as good as on previous Crystal cruises and at our final dinner i couldn't eat my duck (nor my husband his beef) due to the heavy hand with salt. 

Evening entertainment was excellent; Crystal dance hosts were very good and they had excellent musicians on board for the lounges and some specialty entertainers for select evening.  Plus the "I Imagine" show was excellent. Service as always was spectacular. 

We really enjoyed the opportunity to sail on Crystal for the first time.  They win awards every year for a reason.  The service is great as is the food and entertainment.  The Polynesian islands are gorgeous.  The typical passenger is very friendly and well traveled.  Many of the men on board wore sport coats to dinner even though it was not required and the women were dressed elegantly - such a pleasant change from the average cruise line.  This was a theme cruise - Film & Theatre - and that added to the enjoyment because the talks and entertainment were very interesting and the entertainers on board were very accessible.  We will be back on a Crystal Cruise again if I can afford it.

Crystal stateroom, public spaces, food, staff all excellent.    Staff in dining room and Lido were very attentive and helpful.  

The cruise had a big band, ballroom dancing theme.  Crystal band was good for dancing.  Dance floors (2) were adequate.  Guest orchestra (Tommy Dorsey) was too jazzy for enjoyable dancing.

Our first cruise on Crystal was all that we expected it to be with a few minor exceptions.  Service was outstanding, the ship was in excellent condition, the seas were perfect, activities on board were well done and quite versatile, and we had an enjoyable time. We were disappointed that we could not choose the open dining concept where we; could enjoy meeting many other diners.as we have on other cruise lines. We also were well impressed with the beautiful presentations of the food we were served, but;not necessarily with the menus or the tastiness of the foods.

This is the second Crystal Cruise and we have booked our third for next year. The entertainment and the travelers seem to be, on average, well pst 60 years old.  they are delightful, yet quite senior.  As a result, most of the entertainment is geared towards  a traveler who prefers ballroom dancing, Reviews, Magicians and Acrobats.  The one shining light was the Avenue Saloon singer Neal Fullerton.  Thank good ness for him.  He tried to bring us into the 60s (smile). The food is great: the quality and presentation are 5 Star.  Th various food venues are lovely with great choices there as well.  The excursions are varied and the guides are top shelf.  I think it might be difficult to cruise with anyone else after these terrific back-to-back trips.  Our first was to the Baltics last year.  Just fantastic.  

Overall, can't say enough great things about this itinerary and the Crystal Symphony team.  While the staterooms are a bit tired, the staff more than offsets this with their dedication to service and excellent food, beverage and entertainment experiences. The liquor and wine, included in the fare throughout the ship, we're all top shelf. 

You won't go wrong with this itinerary if you want to get a great taste of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Channel Islands.  My recommendation is to book your tours on your own as the savings will help off set the cost differential for those upgrading from mid-tier cruise lines to luxury cruise lines.

Crystal does a great job particularly with entertainment and shore excursions.  Food and wine are always outstanding.  They also have several lectures and other onboard activities that are very interesting and useful.  While a bit more expensive, in the end, you get what you pay for.  Service level is outstanding and training and selection of staff is evident. No complaints on my end.

I enjoyed traveling on a smaller ship,the service was superb.  I felt that we were treated like royalty.  The accommodation were extremely clean and the food was wonderful.

Cruise was good----food excellent--entertainment very good---guest speakers were very good--

The higher up people in charge of the dining room were a zero--zilch for personality

waiters on the tables were  either very good or very poor(ours for dinner at night were great)

bar tenders were excellent

particularly like Prego & Silk Road

second cruise on Crystal vs 8 or so on Seabourn--like Seaboard better (400+ passengers vs 900+

Not a bad first cruise experience. I really felt everyone worked so hard to make this a great experience. We started off on the wrong foot however. Several special surprises planned for me by husband were not pulled off by staff. They were quick to correct but it was beside the point - the surprise was lost. Super amazing bed and pillow. Having a balcony was a huge plus! Room service at any time was solid. It was fun to use that when you wanted a break from food in restaurants (and people).

Crystal is one of the Best Cruise Lines in the World.  The wonderful people help make any trip better.  It's important to remember that asking for a little more is also just fine.

The staff, ship, entertainment, educational opportunities were wonderful, and the food and wine were outstanding.  We highly recommend this line and will be on again for future sailings.

Crystal always does a fantastic job!  The ship, crews, food were A++.  The only reason this review can't give 5 stars is due to the ports of call and therefore the excursion experiences.  We booked the cruise fairly late (only 2 months in advance) and were wait listed for all excursions.  So the selection was extremely limited.  If you've never done a cold water cruise and seen colorful, sleepy fishing towns, then this is a must do.  However, having cruised Patagonia, Alaska, and several other cold water itineraries, these ports were nothing new.  Additionally, these ports are fairly small and the cruise industry is fairly new to them (except Montreal and Quebec).  The infrastructure at these smaller ports don't allow high quality shore excursions that I expect from Crystal.  Again, if a first time cold water cruiser - don't let that stop you from going, but book your excursions early!

You have gotten a detailed report and not responded at all. My husband got ill on the cruise and I  was told there were no measures I could take to  protect myself. By Sunday morning as we left the boat (a 3 hour ordeal due to the marathon in town...maybe far better planning needed here!) I was ill and we both were deathly ill. We slept in the hotel room for 36 hours in Montreal too ill to know how sick we even were....tried to go to dinner (I passed out in the floor). Only  with the help of the concierge  at the hotel and wheelchairs and help at every turn did we  get out of Montreal and back home (TN) only to be admitted to the hospital (me) and my husband told to stay home due to his severe weakness, illness.We are still recovering and have had to have our grown sons come from out of state to help us due to how sick we have been, our dogs were with the pet sitter for 1 month. etc. It has been dreadful. The next time you allow and have 50 unsupervised children on a cruise along with international  nannies with no authority and parents who are totally absent...please have your ship crew step in. They were asked repeatedly and did nothing. These kids were crawling under tables, all over the floor then  grabbing food others would eat at functions like the high tea event, running up and down corridors at 2:30 am, the nannies were washing 1 shoe of these kids  at  a time in the washers (a major contaminate) with NO BLEACH IN BETWEEN WASHINGS and no bleach even available. We would NEVER have booked this cruise and spent thousands of dollars for this. This is horrendous to have paying customers be out thousands to put up with this and pay thousands more to be so ill. Horns blowing in the formal dining area literally at 10:30 at night by these kids (the staff told me it was Mexican Independence Day as if it made it ok!). The kids were in bars with patrons in them playing on floors, etc. (are kids even allowed in bars? To my knowledge they are not). They were throwing balloons from the bistro area down to the floor below and running at a high rate of speed to get the balloons and try to hit them back up, etc. It is a wonder a paying customer did not break a hip or worse. They were throwing balloons all across the piano bar area while the pianist tried to perform. Paying cruise passengers got up and left.

There were NO infection control procedures in place. We were only offered towels or washcloths. My husband was in the stateroom for days and quite ill. The MD diagnosed him as having a "common cold" though he is an MD and I am a nurse with many years experience and advanced degrees and corrected her she wrote this anyway but then covered herself advising consultation with an MD at every turn as soon as we got off the ship!He had anything  but a "cold". I got ill from him and by the time I was admitted to the hospital ASAP upon return home. I had a temp of 103 and was totally dehydrated. This entire situation is more than appalling. I am told that even Carnival cruises has definitive quarantine and cleaning procedures. I was told "NOTHING" in answer to my question as to what quarantine procedures were available on Crystal Cruises.

We have been so very ill and this cruise was something we could not even enjoy and then got no help when help was sought and needed. This business of 50 unruly kids crawling all over floors, etc. etc. is appalling and my guess as to how the illness was transmitted. I have not even had the sniffles in 10-12 years and to have been debilitated to this extreme tells me that the virus picked up on the ship was not something my immune system had ever been exposed to and had not resistance to. Appalling situation. No follow up by the cruise line.

The boat was easy to get around and small in size, about 800 people. The food was absolutely outstanding. There was a golf pro and classes daily. The exercise space was small. The TV in the rooms are old. Internet is NOT free. Each person gets one hour a day, after that you have to pay and the connection is slow. The other  reason I have not given this cruise a 5 stars  is that this cruise had a lot of older people. I am 55 and I was young on this ship. I would like more diversity personally.

This is my 2nd Baltic cruise, this time I also brought my parents. I knew what to expect, but there were few very nice changes. I liked the new décor of the hallways and other facilities. Also, the new menu gave many choices and everything was prepared  very nicely. There were few things that could be improved ( and believe me, I know how hard it is, I am also in a food business)

Breakfast on the deck was very crowded, sometimes we couldn't get a table to sit together(4 people). The menu in Italian restaurant was the same as I remembered.

The excursion to Berlin was organized poorly. I've selected the new, most expensive one and that didn't go well. I did complain and received a refund for half, but I think you should know.

Everything else was very nice and your staff is excellent!