From the Bridge: A Luxury Revolution Means Ultra-Luxe May Be For You After All

You are seriously questioning whether Crystal is defined as a luxury cruise line? ...

We should put you in a room with Crystals CEO - it would be an interesting discussion

Edie v TC2

It would be like the CruiseCritic equivalent of PPV.

Perhaps a new revenue stream?

if you do not travel in a PH or higher , Crystal is not a full luxury anymore since the all inclusive and especially after the take over and quite some other items done by a man who left recently.

it is still a very good premium line with a far better service as on others

on luxury lines details are making the difference

and giant martini's and large glasses of free wines at 10 $ a bottle or less is not synonym for luxury

( and i did 18 cruises on C )

You are seriously questioning whether Crystal is defined as a luxury cruise line?

And if my memory is correct you've never sailed Crystal yet feel qualified to question something that pretty much every serious reviewer takes as a given - interesting - is that based on the age of the ships or their size?

We should put you in a room with Crystals CEO - it would be an interesting discussion

As the old saying goes, "hold your horses". I did not question whether or not Crystal was a luxury cruise line but others did (on another thread).

I don't mind being blasted for something that I post but do mind being reamed for something that I did not say. Although different than other luxury cruise lines (Europa is as well), there is no doubt in my mind that Crystal is a luxury cruise line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

As the old saying goes, "hold your horses". I did not question whether or not Crystal was a luxury cruise line but others did (on another thread).

 

I don't mind being blasted for something that I post but do mind being reamed for something that I did not say. Although different than other luxury cruise lines (Europa is as well), there is no doubt in my mind that Crystal is a luxury cruise line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

Travelcat2 I am not blasting you. I am sorry you feel that I blast you. I am not blasting anyone on CC. I agree with you that Crystal is luxury but not compared with Regent, Seabourn, and Silversea. Europa 2 is included but not the other ships in it's fleet. Crystal would then follow with Viking, Oceania and Azamara.

Travelcat2 I am not blasting you. I am sorry you feel that I blast you. I am not blasting anyone on CC. I agree with you that Crystal is luxury but not compared with Regent, Seabourn, and Silversea. Europa 2 is included but not the other ships in it's fleet. Crystal would then follow with Viking, Oceania and Azamara.

Yes, but just according to your opinion. There are many, many people of the opinion that Crystal belongs in the same category as Regent, Seabourn and Silversea. So, there will never ever be any kind of consensus on how many stars a particular line deserves, also to include not all ships on any given line deserve the same star rating. So, have your own rating, but do not expect others to agree.

Europa 2 is included but not the other ships in it's fleet.

Why not the Europa, and the Hanseatic?

Good question. Why?

Travelcat2 I am not blasting you. I am sorry you feel that I blast you. I am not blasting anyone on CC. I agree with you that Crystal is luxury but not compared with Regent, Seabourn, and Silversea. Europa 2 is included but not the other ships in it's fleet. Crystal would then follow with Viking, Oceania and Azamara.

Paul, I did not think that you were blasting me....... it was other posters. IMO, you and I are having a civil debate (which is what I wish everyone did instead of making it personal).

Jacqueline and English Voyager. For better or worse, the majority of posters on Cruise Critic are from North America (Canada and the United States). Being the. majority, we tend to look at English speaking cruise lines. This is not to belittle cruise lines in other countries that certainly are luxury but they are simply not what the majority of us choose to cruise on. Perhaps if this were a German board, there would be less discussion about U.S. cruise lines.

It is certainly not meant as a slight and I hope that you both understand this. Perhaps in the future, H-L and other "foreign" (to us) cruise lines will grow and that growth will put them in competition with Crystal, Regent, Seabourn and Silversea. Until that time, IMO, the emphasis from posters will be on these four cruise lines.

Travelcat... my choice of HL came about as we were comparing ships doing proper expedition cruises in Antartica.

We enjoyed the Silver Galapagos very much, and as a result did look at SIlversea for Antartica as well as others.

Ultimately, HL had the best itinerary and they had space on their last sailing of the 2018 season which is bilingual.

I had never heard of this Cruise line before, but when I compared my alternatives, for this destination the Hanseatic seemed like the best ship for us. Many of the other ships plying this route are not close to anyone's description of luxury. And it's a plus that the Hanseatic has the highest rating in terms of its hull for ice of all passenger ships. Safety is very important to me! And its' captains have extensive polar sailing experience.

It is unusual also as we are on the ship for two and a half weeks with only expedition ports and many sea days (eight). After the South Georgia islands, we have five sea days to Rio. A lot of time on a very small boat in the Atlantic.

As an aside, last summer I was on the QM2 with my daughter and we hit a terrific storm with high winds and waves in the North Atlantic. The ship was listing so badly for a half hour (really unusual to maintain a list for any period of time) that I could see the sea from my bed, which was feet higher than my daughters.

Do she count as a luxury ship if one stays in the grill level accommodations ?

Jacqueline - really hope that you enjoy your cruise - no matter which cruise line it is on. It sounds like an amazing itinerary.

In terms of the QM2, I do not consider the ship luxury. Most mainstream cruise lines have special areas that can certainly be considered "luxury" but, once passengers walk outside of the "special areas", they are on a mainstream cruise line. This is how I perceive the QM2 (although I've heard great things about "grill level accommodations".) I also believe that Cunard in general has the most "class oriented" ships at sea -- something that would bother us. One thing I love about luxury cruising is that no one cares which category of suite you are in -- everyone is treated pretty much the same (outside of their suite). We have sailed in every category of suite on one of Regent's ships and enjoy the same service wherever we go (of course, we do prefer the larger suites).

Thanks for sharing your story about your experience on the QM2. That would definitely be frightening!

even in a Grill degree i cannot qualify the Cunard's Queens as luxury anymore

even with the changes on Crystal the food was far better on Crystal as on the Q Victoria in Q Grill.

the lunches were even poor for such an amount of money paid.

and sommeliers were very trying to sell a more expensive bottle as you are intending

and i am afraid that on Crystal SB and SS passengers staying in a very high degree do receive another approach as somebody in a basic one even if that pax is doing a 15 th on that particular company.

on the Europa 2 the 2 owners suites do receive a special reserved table in the Yacht Club .

even in a Grill degree i cannot qualify the Cunard's Queens as luxury anymore

even with the changes on Crystal the food was far better on Crystal as on the Q Victoria in Q Grill.

the lunches were even poor for such an amount of money paid.

and sommeliers were very trying to sell a more expensive bottle as you are intending

 

and i am afraid that on Crystal SB and SS passengers staying in a very high degree do receive another approach as somebody in a basic one even if that pax is doing a 15 th on that particular company.

 

on the Europa 2 the 2 owners suites do receive a special reserved table in the Yacht Club .

Sorry to hear that people are treated differently based on their suite on Crystal, SB and SS. We have only stayed in a Silver Suite on SS - likely not high enough to notice anything. On Regent, we get exceptional service and amenities when in the Master or Grand suites but once we walk out of the door we are treated the same as everyone else (and we like it that way).

Note: There has been one recent change on Regent that we dislike ....... people in Master and Grand suites can now eat in specialty restaurants every night if they so desire. Unfortunately, this takes some availability away from the rest of the passengers. The only thing that offsets this change is that the new menu in their main dining room is so good that specialty restaurants aren't that special anymore. We stayed in both a Grand and Master suite on Regent's new Explorer and ended up having dinner in the main dining room most of the time.

I "get" that peoplepay more money for the top suites but they do get the lovely large suite, 2 bathrooms, a huge balcony and probably a butler that has less suites to look after. Still, once you step foot outside your suite, there is no reason for anyone to be treated differently (my opinion of course --- and a strong one).

There is so much misinformation in this thread that it's a waste of time to read. So I will stop doing so.

Sorry to hear that people are treated differently based on their suite on Crystal, SB and SS. We have only stayed in a Silver Suite on SS - likely not high enough to notice anything. On Regent, we get exceptional service and amenities when in the Master or Grand suites but once we walk out of the door we are treated the same as everyone else (and we like it that way).

.

The poster who complained about people being treated differently on Crystal has a history of making that complaint. I have over 30 cruises on Crystal in everything from an obstructed view to a PH and have never experienced being treated differently once in the public areas. (By the way, on Crystal the penthouses are CP - Crystal Penthouse - for the largest, PS - Penthouse Suite for the middle size and PH - Penthouse for the "smallest" penthouse.) Have many friends who travel in cabins all over the ships and all have stated that the "specialness" of the penthouses ends at the door to the cabin.

As an aside, last summer I was on the QM2 with my daughter and we hit a terrific storm with high winds and waves in the North Atlantic. The ship was listing so badly for a half hour (really unusual to maintain a list for any period of time) that I could see the sea from my bed, which was feet higher than my daughters.

Do she count as a luxury ship if one stays in the grill level accommodations ?

Our one non-Regent cruise was on the QM2 (Christmas & New Year's in the Caribbean) and although I thought the ship was beautiful and the Christmas feel was amazing, I would definitely NOT consider it a 'luxury' cruise. We weren't in the Grill gang (what exactly is a queen's grill, anyhow - where a monarch cooks her hamburgers?!?) but I'm not a fan of having to swipe my card all the time. Fixed seating, mediocre MDR food (we ended up paying surcharges almost every night to eat in Todd English's restaurant), paying extra for everything - not our cup of tea.

It's pretty telling that we took that cruise somewhere around 2010 or so and haven't strayed from Regent since then. By the time you add in all the goodies you need to have a luxurious cruise, the price is pretty close to Regent, and you're still on a big ship with 2,500+ pax. Sorry, give me my smaller ships and no card swiping and I'm a happy camper, er, cruiser.

UUNET,

It's pretty much mass market cruising on the QM2 if you are not staying in the grills accommodations. But the ship itself is gorgeous since it has been remastered last year.

The suites are on dedicated decks. There is one cocktail lounge and two dedicated dining rooms, one is the Queens Grills, the other is The Princess Grill. The service is very good and they are open seating. But you are right, it is costly.

The nice thing about a big ship is the size and amenities offered in the spa area and the gym, I was recovering from a broken hip and just walking around the promenade and up and down the stairs was great PT.

No bargain for sure, but it's a nice TA experience. A lot of people don't like to fly. Others I met were doing more cruises once in Europe on small luxury lines.

I have been on many luxury cruise lines (6 star). Crews attitude is important but its the quality of service they provide. You may like your sever but somebody else thinks their service was terrible. Some passengers will say their cruise was terrible because one or several crew members. IMO there is a need to distinguish luxury from mainstream cruise lines. Most cruisers who have been on luxury cruises know which cruise lines are the top tier. What I like to see is two tiers of luxury cruise lines and they will be a debate on that. For this reason IMO there must be basic standards. These standards can't come from the cruise lines but from cruise reviewers and the cruisers them selfs.

I have been on many luxury cruise lines (6 star). Crews attitude is important but its the quality of service they provide. You may like your sever but somebody else thinks their service was terrible. Some passengers will say their cruise was terrible because one or several crew members. IMO there is a need to distinguish luxury from mainstream cruise lines. Most cruisers who have been on luxury cruises know which cruise lines are the top tier. What I like to see is two tiers of luxury cruise lines and they will be a debate on that. For this reason IMO there must be basic standards. These standards can't come from the cruise lines but from cruise reviewers and the cruisers them selfs.

Isn't there pretty much two tiers now? It seems to me that it is premium plus/luxury lite that get confused with luxury cruise Iines. To my knowledge, the cruise lines in this category are Oceania, Azamara and Viking Ocean. The luxury cruise Ines are Crystal, Regent, Seabourn, Silversea, Paul Gauguin and the foreign lines - Europa, Hanseatic and the tiny ship that is based in the U.K. that looks nothing like a cruise ship that I've ever seen (luxury or not).

Then there are different categories of river boats and then yachts. Although I am not a river boat cruiser, from what I've read, the only true luxury river cruise boats are the ones from Crystal (includes butlers, etc.). Scenic is probably in that category but I haven't checked it out.

Again, I am trying to understand how there could be basic standards when there are thousands of us whose views differ so greatly. Even size can get confusing. Seabourn and Silversea have the smallest ships while Crystal has the largest but they are all luxury. You could look at space/passenger ratios and how many crew members per passenger.

Even when I try to come up with a list myself, I end up disagreeing (yes - disagreeing with the premise that I started out with). For instance:

Regent's new Explorer is touted to be the "most luxurious ship ever built". She carries 750 passengers BUT (this is a big but), there are a handful of really small suites that would not quality under most people's basic standards for a luxury cruise line (and yet some people love the tiny suites). Three of Regent's ships are all balcony but one is 90% balcony and some of Silversea's ship are not all balcony. Hapag-Lloyd (trying not to forget them) has both luxury and non-luxury cruise ships. Crystal has been a luxury cruise line for as long as we have been sailing but does not have open seating (but will on one ship this year and the other next year). Seabourn has also been a luxury cruise line for years and had ships that carried a little over 200 passengers and had no balconies (these ships were sold to Windstar).

The deeper one goes into this, the more confusing it becomes. Viking Ocean thinks that it is a luxury line but some of their officers ("acquired" from true luxury lines) disagree. Passengers think that Oceania is luxury, however, the CEO that was in charge of the building of the ships disagrees. So, in this case, if we took the passengers word for it (many of whom have never sailed on luxury cruise lines), these basic standards become further skewed..

Sorry for the long post - these are just the ramblings of my mind when I think about trying to standardize the ratings.

P.S. Bill, had no idea that you sailed on the QM2. Mudhen also has cruised on the ship (in the grills area) and liked it (her DH liked it less than she did).

P.S. Bill, had no idea that you sailed on the QM2. Mudhen also has cruised on the ship (in the grills area) and liked it (her DH liked it less than she did).

Jackie, yep, it was our third cruise and our first (and only) non-Regent cruise. I'd consider sailing her again for a crossing, and probably in the Grills. But we've just gotten spoiled by all-inclusive cruising and it's hard to take what we consider a step back...

I'm excited to learn more about Regent!

Maybe I should start a thread, asking why people like it?

I'm excited to learn more about Regent!

Maybe I should start a thread, asking why people like it?

There is a lot to like about Regent but the same can be said for most luxury cruise lines. Regent is the most inclusive of the luxury cruise lines (not always a positive - we are not a fan of included excursions) but if you were to ask the last poster UUNetBill, you would likely get a different opinion.

Regent recently began including international Business Class air which I do appreciate. Their new ship is quite stunning with great food and lovely suites (even the low to mid-level suites are large - have a walk-in closet, large balcony and a large bathroom with 2 sinks a bathtub and large shower and has lots of storage space. Bill (UUNetBill) recently said (and I am paraphrasing) that The Explorer is like Lay's potato chips..... you can't only have one (or in this case - you can't only do one cruise ...... you must do more).:D

One thing it does not have is sailings to Antartica or other expedition type cruises.

I have been on Regent Navigator about 3 years ago. I believe the Navigator was originally built to be Russian spy ship and the Russians canceled their order and Regent purchased the ship. The only problem with the ship every so often the whole ship would shake. I believe the ship has been in dry dock for an overhaul. I personally don't travel on Regent because of their excursions and air fare is included. I find I do better on my own and Regent will give you credit back if you don't use their air fare.

... Must be all suites with min 275 sq ft not including veranda.

I'm curious. What does a stateroom/cabin need to become a suite? For me, there has to be a delineation (wall?) between bed and sitting areas. But the new Scenic Eclipse fails here. Thoughts?

I'm curious. What does a stateroom/cabin need to become a suite? For me, there has to be a delineation (wall?) between bed and sitting areas. But the new Scenic Eclipse fails here. Thoughts?

That's not true. Suites are normally 275 sq ft without a balcony. Normal cabins sizes are from 165 - 195 sq ft depending on the cruise lines.

I'm curious. What does a stateroom/cabin need to become a suite? For me, there has to be a delineation (wall?) between bed and sitting areas. But the new Scenic Eclipse fails here. Thoughts?

In theory, a suite is two rooms but a lot of cruise lines call rooms 'suites' as soon as they are a bit larger than the standard rooms.