Roland4

11 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

I’ve kind of wondered that myself, Patty!  Regardless though, they’re not available for passenger assignment anymore at least, so that wouldn’t be an issue here…. But I’m curious too.  If only Symphony would get within 3,500 miles of me so I could inspect!  😁 

 

Vince

Don't hold your breath!! On our foodie tour yesterday we were accompanied by a very nice young lady from A&K in the LA office who designs the shore excursions for the two ships. We had a far ranging chat during the tour and she confirmed there are no plans to bring Symphony back to North America.

5 hours ago, indigosea said:

Thank you Roland4 for your great info about your cruise. Makes me hungry for mushroom soup. Tomorrow we board Explorer in Vancouver and sail to Japan. Greetings to Monica. Cheers!

Have a great trip!!!

Home again! Left the ship just before 8:00 AM in pouring rain, and arrived home to brilliant sunshine and 20 C/70 F warmth!

This was a great trip, as I am sure you have figured out by now. I can best describe it as the exception to that old saying "You can never go home again." Yes you can! 😃😃😃

And now we are in our room, the suitcases have been picked up, and we prepare to leave the ship tomorrow!

We did a great "foodie tour" this afternoon in Old Quebec. Four different restaurants over four hours! Started with Heirloom Tomatoe salad in one, followed by French Onion Soup in another, followed by table-side sauteed jumbo shrimp in a third, and wild boar ribs and dessert in a fourth!!! Back on the ship, we still had room for dinner with Jim and Steve!!!!

We are now packed up, the big suitcases are gone, and we are ABSOLUTELY NOT ready to leave Serenity tomorrow!! You know you are a "regular" when all of the bar staff give you a hug and ask when you are coming back!

And in other news, that same poor, dead horse continues to receive a beating!!! Give it a rest! 😵😵

Had a chat with Leo, the Matre'd, during dinner this evening. He said they have removed tables from the centre area of Stardust for the Supper Club, and have reduced the maximum capacity to 80 guests to make the experience more comfortable for everyone. He also confirmed that the tables on the upper level on the port and starboard side, other than two two-tops, were not there before.

4 hours ago, ctjon said:

You guys getting any big waves or wind form Lee  blew through here in Maine and looked as if remnants were going to blow through where you should have been

We left Havre St, Pierre at 6:00 last night and it looked like it might be rough, but the winds, running counter-clock-wise around the centre of the low, meant they were dead astern, so it was a quiet night. We ran out from under the cloud shield about 1:00 PM and sailed in cloudless blue skies the rest of the day. We are getting a bit more movement now as we are running into the current, and the river is beginning to narrow, but it is very comfortable. We are running at 10 knots, as per Canadian regulations in the St. Lawrence, and will arrive in Quebec City early tomorrow morning.

On 9/16/2023 at 11:29 AM, Roland4 said:

We have only been in Waterside three times so far. Formal night it was quite busy, but the other two times it was very quiet. I don't think they are even using the upper ring tables. 

I looked when we were leaving Waterside last night, and other than folded napkins, I guess so it is not obvious, the upper ring tables were not set.

Waterside seemed busier last night, but the simple fact is, unless you slow them down, you are literally in and out in about an hour. We didn't mind as we were later eating and we wanted to make sure we got to the 9:00 show. Speaking of which, the show was a new one to us, The Crystal Showband and Friends with Karen Kochakova and Bruce Hammond, the guest entertainer. It featured the brass section of the band and was quite well done!

Interesting announcement in today's Reflections. A small "sidebar" article announcing that the mushroom soup would be on the Waterside menu for this evening's second Formal night dinner. There is also a Supper Club tonight, we are not attending, and it will be interesting to see if mushroom soup is on that menu too! Another interesting sidenote, is that even though it is a Formal night/Supper Club, it is the Osterria that will be closed.

10 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

 Again, yield management is a thing.

 

Vince 

 

Indeed it is, but apparently some prefer to continue to beat the poor dead horse! 😵😵

1 hour ago, ak1004 said:

 

Yes, but do you believe they will be successful with less than 30% load that current sailings have? Even inaugural sailing with all the excitement was only 60% full. When Oceania debuted with the Vista, most of the inaugural season sailings were sold out months in advance. And they have 6 more ships. Apparently this is not happening with Crystal, with only 2 ships. 

 

Most people don't care that Crystal has to make money. They look what's best for them, not what's best for Crystal. 

FWIW, three different staff members, all in a position to know, and whose opinions I trust, have said that guest numbers will increase substantially ("are looking very good") starting in November and leading up to the Holiday Season and the World Cruise.

We had a great time at The Vintage Room last night, A great meal, interesting wines and an informative presentation from Jiri! There were five couples, all longtime guests and some who have been on a World Cruise. At one point I asked how they liked the Osterria, and of the ten people present, six disliked it, two liked it and we are "on the fence". What surprised me was the intensity of the reaction of those who did not like it, saying they "hated it", was a "deal breaker" and that they would never go back. If that negativity is a common response to the Osterria, Crystal may have to give this a more serious re-think than adding the mushroom soup and the carpaccio to the Waterside menu! We have now passed by it three evenings when both it and Umi Uma were open, and while UU was very busy, the Osterria had maybe half a dozen tables occupied.

7 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

Larry, in the most recent dry dock two changes were made.This is the addition of the culinary service station. and having spotlights projected out of the culinary station as you noted.

 

The tables and chairs were changed in the 2018 dry dock.

The supper club seating is no greater now than it was post 2018 dry dock.  In fact, on the first two voyages they reduced the maximum number of people attending each each Supper Club taking into account staffing for both the Supper Club and Waterside.

 

Keith 

Not sure you are entirely correct on that. I do not recall that the tables were on the upper-most level on the port and starboard sides when we were on for the 2020 WC. I also think they may have reduced the number of tables in the centre area. One of the things we did not like about the Supper Club the few times we went was that it felt very cramped and crowded. That is not the case know, at least when in use as a show room.

Today's interesting observation. The last three nights the show has been in Stardust. They made significant changes to this lounge. With the exception of the banquettes against the windows on both sides, and the seats inside the ring, all of the existing seating has been removed and replaced with  square tables for four. This will allow for a lot more seating capacity for the Supper Club I think. The new configuration seems to be working fairly well, and I think it has somewhat improved the sightlines. The other major change is they have blocked off the raised seating at the back of the room (where the spotlights are) by putting up a "portholed" wall on it. We are not totally happy with that change as we liked to sit there! 🙂

We are going to The Vintage Room tonight! The price has increased and it will be interesting to see if the wine quality has been upgraded as well. 

2 hours ago, BWIVince said:

 

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the new world.  That's kind of where I predict Symphony's average to be, since she can never practically reach capacity in the real world.  It'll be higher on some sailings, but 500 seems like a "norm" now.  That's just a gut instinct though, without much history yet.

 

Vince

We have now heard from three different sources, who we trust, that guest numbers on Serenity will increase significantly starting in early November and leading up to the Holiday cruises and the WC. The numbers for the next segment, Quebec to NYC, will be similar to what we currently have.

11 hours ago, koko's_mom said:

Larry,

Thank you for posting your thoughts about your time on the Serenity.

Although we will miss the mushroom soup and spaghetti carbonara that was served in Prego, we look forward to trying the new concept and menu in Osteria when we sail

this fall.  I noted in one of your earlier posts you mentioned Andres had not returned to overseeing Trident Grill…..do you happen to know if will be coming back to the Serenity?  We have always been impressed with how he never seems to write any orders down, and yet is spot on with his delivery 😊.    
We recognize many of the former Crystal Serenity crew mentioned in your posts and Keith’s, so it will be fun to reconnect.  But also meet new team members. 
Thank you for taking us along, and enjoy the balance of your vacation!

Caryn 

Thanks, Caryn. No word on if Andres will return, but the new guys are doing a pretty good job. They are not as fast as Andres was, but we have noticed an improvement over the last week we have been onboard. A few staff we know well have told us people are still drifting back after they finish contracts elsewhere.

17 minutes ago, crickette said:

While I understand your message, and agree with the points you are making, for us, "being served" is part of the luxury we enjoy.  I wish there was a way to accommodate our values.  I can't criticize Lido/Marketplace - it is a great venue for a quick lunch or breakfast.  But today I am looking forward to our next Crystal cruise and quick food is not part of that dream.

 

I don't know how much of the per diem is allotted to dining.  If I use the charges for inviting a guest onboard, the cost for lunch is not "fast food" dining.  On the other hand, it is hard to starve on a cruise ship.

With all respect to everyone, this discussion is sterile when there are only 150 guests onboard, especially when you have only morning tours that don't get back until 1:30-ish! Marketplace, Trident and Tastes are more than sufficient to serve the lunch needs of those of us onboard. If you REALLY need table service to enjoy your lunch (!!), then Tastes is open from 1:00 to 3:00.

23 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Today's sunrise is another from my Crystal Symphony transatlantic, literally the calm before the storm.  We were in Reykjavic for an extended day since storms kept us pinned to the dock well into the evening.

 

 

Roy

I remember it took two big tugs in "line-astern" to finally get us off the dock about 10:00 PM!! And THEN the "fun" started!!!!

Meanwhile, back at the thread topic............😁😁

Looks like I need to "walk back" my earlier post about Osterria. We dined there last night and almost every table was in use. Part of this, I think, is they are closing one restaurant every night on a rotating basis. Last night Umi was closed, and tonight Tastes is closed. Not surprising, really, with such a low guest count.

Overall we were very impressed with the food and the service. Our server recommended a la carte, rather than the tasting menus, so as to be able to get a better feel for what they offer. They started with a three-item appetizer, followed by a bread plate. We ordered the lobster and beef carpaccio appetizers, followed by Gnocchi and Minestrone soup for the pasta course, and mains of lamb and duck, and everything was delicious. We skipped dessert as none of the three appealed to us, plus we were stuffed!!! My only comment would be that they are going to have to change the menu more frequently than perhaps they have in the past. On a longer cruise, or a World Cruise I could see us tiring of the menu fairly quickly.

On a more general note, I have to say that despite the low guest count, there seems to be a real spirit on the ship. The Avenue has been rocking pretty much every night, Joel Spires, a Good Canadian Boy we found out, has been great! The Cove has been a bit quieter, but still steadily busy during the cocktail hour, and apparently there was a good turnout for the White Party. The Palm Court has been a little quieter than we remember, and the Dance Hosts don't appear to be overworked. The Keys and Melody duo are a nice addition up there as well. They did a 30 minute presentation of recent Broadway songs last night before dinner and can that young lady sing!!! I told Rick Spath that she should be a keeper!!

For those who may be interested, I asked and the Nobu Chardonnay will return when the ship gets to New York after the next sailing.

Yesterday's interesting observation. People seem to be voting on Osterria with their feet, so to speak. When we left Umi Uma at 8:30 last night, every table was full, the sushi bar was empty, but not the tables! We walked by Osterria and there were maybe six tables in use. We are dining there tomorrow night and will make our own judgement.

4 hours ago, KenzSailing said:

I didn't know Crystal did truly complementary upgrades, ever.  Interesting. 

It has never happened to us in 23 years with Crystal, and I have never heard of it happening to anyone else. Which does, of course, not mean it has not happened, but given that they still require payment of the full fare differential to upgrade onboard, even when the ship is half empty, I think it is safe to say they do not do complementary upgrades.

1 hour ago, Texas Tillie said:

They had stopped having bar service in the Galaxy before. I think it was even before Covid. I'm sure someone will remember the exact date!🤪🥂😉

 

Patty

Jim Brochu mentioned it was not new, but as far as I remember, they did still have bar service during the 2020 World Cruise.

First of two Formal nights last night. Saw a few tuxes, but the rest of the gentlemen were about evenly split between suits and sport jackets, most with ties. One interesting "exception" was the gentleman in jacket and tie, blue denim jeans, cowboy boots and a large stetson-type hat that he never seems to take off, including in the Galaxy during shows and lectures. Fortunately he sits on the other side of the Galaxy from us.

A couple of observations from yesterday. As I posted on another thread, there is no self-service in the Bistro, apparently having to do with Canada and US Public Health rules. This is to remain in place, I am told, for the next several cruises. Also new to us, there is no longer bar service in the Galaxy before the shows. If you wish to have something, you have to get "take out" at one of the bars. Not really an issue with only 150 guests, but a full ship might cause problems at The Cove, which is really the best option. I also asked one of the barkeeps in The Cove if they also service The Lounge and was told they do not.

One noticable change on the current cruise is no self-serve in the Bistro. This is apparently due to Canadian and US Public Health rules and the lack of a hand washing facility close by. Self-Serve is still permitted in Marketplace, and also at The Grill. Does not make a whole lot of sense to me, but there it is.  

40 minutes ago, Mr Luxury said:

Why such a low passenger count do you think?

Although it is becoming a more popular port with more ships visiting this year than ever before, Reyjavik is still not the easiest place to get to, and the port is fairly small. Serenity arrived Thursday morning for an overnight before turnover and had to tender in. The main pier can only accommodate two ships depending on size. Yesterday we shared the pier with MSC Presziosa, and the day before it was NCL Prima and another smaller ship.