Crystal Serenity

[Keith1010]

My wife and I recently returned home after spending a total of 115 days on the Crystal Serenity beginning on January 4 in Miami and concluding on April 29 in Southampton. This included a full World Cruise which was preceded by a seven day cruise.

 

I have written a review which has been posted on the Cruise Critic Member Review Board. The URL for the review is:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=66510

 

I know often folks come to the Luxury Cruise Board with questions about various luxury cruise lines so I thought it would be helpful to provide a link to the review that I have written.

 

Keith

[Travelcat2]

Having read blogs for the past three months from the Regent World cruise (which ends this week), I found your review quite interesting and different than what one might find on an all-inclusive cruise. It would be helpful to me as well as others that may be considering a Crystal cruise if you could answer a couple of questions. Thanks in advance.

 

1. What was the size of your Penthouse Suite (square feet)?

 

2. Do passengers typically receive complimentary champagne upon embarkation?

 

3. You mentioned "whie my children were on board. . . . ." Were they on for a segment of the cruise, or, did they have special permission to visit you for the day?

 

4. You dined at a table for two. Was this the main dining venue? Were advanced reservations required? Trying to figure out the "set dining" and the new dining system works as it is a bit unusual.

 

5. Could you give a ballpark figure of the cost of a half-day and full-day Crystal excursion. As you know, many Regent excursions are included in the price of the cruise. For budgeting purposes, this is an important item.

 

6. Last, I have heard that tipping on Crystal is either paid for by your TA or by OBC. Was this the case on the World Cruise?

[Keith1010]

Having read blogs for the past three months from the Regent World cruise (which ends this week), I found your review quite interesting and different than what one might find on an all-inclusive cruise. It would be helpful to me as well as others that may be considering a Crystal cruise if you could answer a couple of questions. Thanks in advance.

 

Let me begin by saying that between the on board credit that we received from Crystal and the on board credit that Crystal provided to the travel consortiums which are then passed on directly to their clients plus any other on board credit that we received from Crystal for milestones that we had reached during the cruise that this credit more than offset the cost of those items and purchases that we made on board the ship.

 

This was our third world cruise with Crystal.

 

Below are the questions you asked and my answers.

 

1. What was the size of your Penthouse Suite (square feet)?

 

The size of our room including the verandah totaled 403 square feet. Like most ships there are a variety of room sizes to choose from. The size of our room worked perfectly for us. This was the third world cruise we have taken with Crystal and our second in world cruise with this specific accommodation.

 

2. Do passengers typically receive complimentary champagne upon embarkation?

 

On Embarkation Day complimentary Champagne flutes are provided to all guests in the various dining venues during lunch. In addition, in Penthouse (PH) and above categories a bottle of champagne is part of the bar setup that is provided to each guest. This occurs on each leg of the World Cruise, which totals eight legs. In addition several other bottles of wine and alcohol are provided to those in the PH and above categories. I will tell you that between the wine that we had provided in our accommodation, all of the complimentary cocktail parties that were provided by Crystal and our travel consortium, and all of the other special events where drinks were provided on and off the ship, that we purchased a very small amount of wine during the world cruise and that was easily offset by the substantial amount of on board credit that we were provided so there was no out of pocket expense for us. This factors in that on several nights we dined with others at specialty restaurants or on occasion in the dining room and we provided wine for them. I would say that we must have attended in the range of 45 events during the course of the world cruise where complimentary wines and spirits were provided and that does not include the bar setups in our room nor the complimentary flutes of champagne.

 

3. You mentioned "whie my children were on board. . . . ." Were they on for a

segment of the cruise, or, did they have special permission to visit you for the day?

 

In addition to the World Cruise we took a seven-day cruise Round Trip out Of Miami and had our daughter and son in law and our son and his fiancée join us for the cruise. This provided a nice opportunity to have the family together right before the start of the 108-day world cruises.

 

4. You dined at a table for two. Was this the main dining venue? Were

advanced reservations required? Trying to figure out the "set dining" and the

new dining system works as it is a bit unusual.

 

The new dining system will go into effect in January of next year.

 

We had a table for two in the main dining room that was set for two but was the size that would accommodate four people. From time to time we would have others join us for dinner in the Main Dining Room. We also ate many times at the specialty restaurants by ourselves and with others.

 

5. Could you give a ballpark figure of the cost of a half-day and full-day

Crystal excursion. As you know, many Regent excursions are included in the

price of the cruise. For budgeting purposes, this is an important item.

 

Our as you wish credit from Crystal Cruises plus our on board credit from our travel consortium which in reality is additional on board credit provided by Crystal to the Travel Consortiums who pass it on directly to their clients covered all of our shore excursions and much more than that. This credit was substantial. So, we had no out of pocket expense for the excursions and I will tell you that most other world cruise passengers or those doing a single leg of the world cruise had the same experience assuming that is where they wanted to spend their on board credit. The prices of the excursions vary depending on what type of excursion one wants to do.

 

We find that the on board credit works much better than getting x item complimentary because we can use the credit as we see fit. For example, one might want to use the credit for shore excursions that would not have been part of the set of complimentary excursions provided or there are some who don’t want to go on group excursions and can use the on board credit on some private excursions through Crystal or there are others who don’t want to take excursions and instead want to use the on board credit for other items such as spa and salon services, upscale wines, jewelry or other on board purchases, or several other items. All of this can be done at their discretion.

 

6. Last, I have heard that tipping on Crystal is either paid for by your TA or

by OBC. Was this the case on the World Cruise?

 

Crystal provided pre-paid gratuities for the waiter, senior waiter, and stewardess and in suites the butlers. Our on board credit offset any additional gratuities we provided to others while on board the ship for the entire 115 days of our combined world and seven day cruise.

 

Keith

[wripro]

Keith,

 

Thanks for the great review. You and Crystal are truly a perfect fit!!!

[anonymousegirl]

Keith,

was your consortium Virtuoso or someone else?

[Keith1010]

Keith,

was your consortium Virtuoso or someone else?

 

The consortium that our Travel Specialist belongs to is Signature.

 

Keith