TRIPACIAN

Trust me we will have a great time on this cruise!

Yes and right after the holidays when people are returning to their normal activities. Also let’s remember that the Symphony has only been back a very few months.

The hotel director, Joseph, said between 350 and 400.

I will try to find out. We have 250 ++ on this cruise and only 89 Sydney to Bali. We were told that they were expecting 250 to 300 from Singapore on until they reach the Mediterranean. They are pretty full for the summer months in the Mediterranean.

Paul Hill

So far the cruise has been very nice and we have been lucky to meet several great guests. The food, service and entertainment has been excellent. Everything has been comparable to our October/November cruise on the Serenity. A common question we have been asked is whether we like the Symphony better than the Serenity. To be honest there is so little difference that while on the ships we really find it difficult to tell them apart. Of course they are different but the feeling is the same. The main difference to us is the Supper Club on the Serenity, which we love. Jade (late night disco) on the Symphony is really much nicer than Pulse on the Serenity. Another slight difference that we like better on the Symphony is the Avenue Saloon. I am sure different people will have different “likes” on one ship versus the other but really they are both great. Decor varies but the Crystal feeling is the same. By the way we did get a bridge instructor today in Dunedin. Apparently the visa problem has been solved. We have been surprised to meet several guests sailing Crystal for the first time and they are being Crystallized as we speak! So far no negative comments. One couple was disappointed in the lack of things to do on sea days and we asked them if they had looked at the Reflection. We went over the guest speakers and other activities with them and they are now very happy! This is day 7 of thirty so more to come as we enjoy New Zealand.

We are now onboard and we understand that the 2026 itineraries will be out soon.

Speaking of new builds, the “rumors” are that the first ship will be an expedition ship.

Day five of the cruise and we are enjoying the great food, entertainment and service. Tasmania was everything we expected and we had great weather for that portion of our cruise. We are experiencing wet and dreary conditions as we cross the Tasman sea heading to New Zealand but hopefully it will improve. We have heard “rumors” that the Symphony will be upgraded so that it will meet the environmental standards necessary to enter US and other international ports. This is going to be necessary for the ship to be economically viable over the next few years until the new builds arrive. The Symphony is in fantastic condition and will have a great future with these improvements. Last night in Waterside, we enjoyed one of our favorite Prego appetizers “beef carpaccio” and it was fantastic. Overall, the food has been very good and as I reported on our Serenity cruise “better than ever.” The hotel director reported that over 80% of the crew had returned and this is reflected in both the service and happy mood on the ship.

Day five of the cruise and we are enjoying the great food, entertainment and service. Tasmania was everything we expected and we had great weather for that portion of our cruise. We are experiencing wet and dreary conditions as we cross the Tasman sea heading to New Zealand but hopefully it will improve. We have heard “rumors” that the Symphony will be upgraded so that it will meet the environmental standards necessary to enter US and other international ports. This is going to be necessary for the ship to be economically viable over the next few years until the new builds arrive. The Symphony is in fantastic condition and will have a great future with these improvements. Last night in Waterside, we enjoyed one of our favorite Prego appetizers “beef carpaccio” and it was fantastic. Overall, the food has been very good and as I reported on our Serenity cruise “better than ever.” The hotel director reported that over 80% of the crew had returned and this is reflected in both the service and happy mood on the ship.

Ian said to tell you hello. He showed us some videos of you dancing.

So far no bridge instructor on this cruise. We heard there was a visa issue that prevented the instructor from joining the cruise

Glad to join you onboard! Feel free to join me on this thread.

Roy, I believe you were on the Symphony when we were in Turks and Caicos!

Thanks Tracy, I see you were on th Symphony earlier this year!

We woke up this morning with a view of the Symphony docked at White Bay cruise terminal. We are excited to return to the Symphony, it has been five years since we were on this magnificent ship. Actually that is partially incorrect, because we were on the Serenity in November 2019, and when we were in Turks and Caicos the Symphony was also in port. We boarded the Symphony for a brief visit that day including lunch and had a happy reunion with several of the crew members. We have recently been on the Serenity for a b2b 23 day cruise from Quebec to Miami and Miami to Miami cruise. That cruise convinced us that Crystal is definitely back. We had a fantastic trip and we are looking forward to many more cruises on Crystal. We have booked an additional 138 days on Crystal including the 2025 World Cruise. I will not be doing a daily blog about this cruise but I will be commenting as something of value occurs. I will also be comparing the Symphony experience with my recent Serenity cruise. I will attempt to answer any questions you may have about the Symphony but I won’t be posting daily menus and the daily Reflection. That is just too much work, I want to enjoy my cruise. Our taxi has arrived and we are leaving for the port, Can’t wait to board!!!!i

We just upgraded from a double veranda to an aquamarine classic on an old booking where the final payment had not been made. We were happy with the new pricing and definitely saved money when compared to the previous pricing for comparable suites.

We are boarding on January 4th in Sydney for 30 days to Bali. We were on the Serenity for 24 days from Quebec to Miami and had a great time. Looking forward to a great cruise on the Symphony. Crystal is back!!!

Annette is fabulous! Raphael wants to develop her as a headliner with an evening show! The in room tablet information system worked great for us. we downloaded the app to our phones and tablets. Once that is done we never used the in room tablets themselves. We just then carried the same information around with us on the ship. Our phones worked perfectly.

We were on a back to back with first cruise 220 passengers and the second 540. There was not any difference in activities on board and all venues were open at all times. Don't worry you will have a great time.

Quite often the dancing is in the Starlite. It depends on several factors, sea conditions being one of them.

The dancing was great on the Serenity on our cruise.

I don’t know of any cruise line that shows this information on their website. Crystal did in the past and I think they are planning on doing this in the future.

We just cruised from Quebec to Miami and then roundtrip Miami (Oct 21 - Nov 13) on the Serenity. This is not a review but just my thoughts and opinions. Crystal is back and is better than ever. Those of you waiting to cruise to see if Crystal is the same or better, it is. The ship is in great shape, the changes and improvements have added to the experience. The crew is back and their excitement and joy to be back working with their fellow crew mates is overwhelmingly positive. Watching the crew greet returning passengers with sincere happiness, hugs and sometimes tears was really special. The hotel director said that his department had 85% returning crew. The food was better than ever. We really enjoyed the return of Tastes, the food was great. Osteria D'Ovidio was somewhat confusing at first. The second time we liked it much better. I suggest everyone give it a try and decide for themselves. Our suggestion would be to add some of the old Prego items to the menu (Crystal Classics side to the selections) and it would then be great. Umi Uma was the same as before and was fantastic. Waterside never disappointed us, the food was always hot and the presentations and quality were unbelievable. The entertainment was very good and even though some of the shows were repeats, they had been refreshed and well presented. Though out the cruise but not nightly, we had entertainment options at 6:00 and at 9:30 with dancing nightly in the Palm Court or the Cove. The White Night party was special as was a special Halloween party in the Cove. The effort to give the guests a fantastic experience was obvious. The Supper Club was the highlight of our entertainment experiences. The one negative that we noticed was the reduction in storage in the standard balcony rooms. This is definitely a problem for longer cruises. We liked the new Lounge (in the former casino location) but it was not utilized very much. I expect this will be reworked in the future. We never gamble so the lack of a casino wasn't a negative for us. My wife wasn't happy with the selections in shops so everything wasn't "perfect." For the record, this was our 13th and 14th cruises since Genting's bankruptcy and we have cruised on all of the other top luxury lines during that time. We have had some wonderful experiences and appreciate each cruise line for what they offer. Crystal is our future and we are so glad that they have returned better than ever. We now have 137 days booked on future Crystal cruises. We leave at the end of December for Sydney for the New Years celebration and to board the Symphony for 30 days, Sydney to Bali. We expect the experience on the Symphony to also be fantastic. Are we Crystal "cheerleaders," absolutely!!!

The app works great on your phone or tablet. You don’t need to use the tablet provided in the room once you have the app on your devices.