Live From Crystal Symphony - A New Adventure - Reykjavik to Dover

[Keith1010]

Greetings from Crystal Symphony.

 

After we posted yesterday, we continued to get settled on-board Crystal Symphony.

We met our Penthouse Attendant; Dia. Dia has been with Crystal since 2015. She did an outstanding job getting our suite ready for us, is very kind, thoughtful and professional. She is assisted by Junior Suite Attendant Olha.

 

Our Butler is Head Butler Jaison. We have known Jaison for many years as Jaison has taken care of us on some of our cruises on-board Serenity. Jaison is also very kind, thoughtful and professional. Jaison was kind enough to follow-up on our luggage and went the extra (and we mean extra, extra, extra) miles(s) to find our second piece of luggage.

 

I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Restaurant Manager Remi Szutkiewicz who we have known for many years. Remi is another consummate professional with a passion and a warm heart.

 

Dia, Jaison and Remi like all the crew make Crystal so very special and why we love sailing with Crystal.

 

We dined at Osteria, the Italian Specialty Restaurant. We had an amazing time. The food was delicious, service impeccable and the venue beautiful. Like Serenity the dining venue was redone during dry dock in 2023. The seating layout remains the same but the interior including finish out is all new. We had a great time and the entire waitstaff team made it such an enjoyable experience.  Specialty Maitre d' Mario greeted us and we had the opportunity to chat and catch up with him during dinner. We had not seen him since 2018.  Our waiter was Pia from Northern Italy and Alexandra was the Sommelier.   By the way the wine was perfect as well.

During dinner we visited with many members of the waitstaff team we have known from past sailings along with some guests we have known for a long time and one couple who we met for the first time.

 

Overall, the experience is like dining in a small village in Italy.

 

On our way out as we passed the Starlite Lounge we got to see Phil who we have known for so many years.   The entire day and evening warmed our hearts.

As a reminder, it has been six years since we last sailed Symphony, yet we felt so very welcomed by team Symphony.

 

We've enjoyed a wonderful morning between breakfast, fitness, a visit to the salon by me, chatting with crew and guests. There was an enrichment lecture about the globalization of wine. This is a topic that we hadn’t seen before.

Since we had the overnight in Reykjavik the muster drill was held this morning at 11:30 am. If weather allows the guests go directly to their lifeboats for the drill. Because it was very cold and windy outside, we didn’t have to go outside for today’s drill. Instead, we went to the Galaxy Showroom where some mustered while others mustered in other locations.

 

After the drill, Captain Nenad spoke from the bridge and noted that we would like experience some very rough seas later today and this evening.

We are enjoying the rest of the day on board Symphony including fitness, visiting with guests and crew, and enrichment.

 

For us this is a reunion cruise between meeting some guests we have known for years and also seeing several members of the extraordinary crew who we haven't seen for many years.

 

As I’ve said before, Crystal is back and better than ever.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[USCAdventurer]

its wonderful reading your post of your impressions of symphony.  thanks for the pictures and the comments about the food.  Remi is a wonderful host and takes care of all the waterside diners with the same courtesy and tries to please everyone's table needs.  he's really a very nice man!  

[BWIVince]

11 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

Interesting obervation, lamb curry is on the menu for Symphony tonight and was on the Serenity menu last night, but the descriptions were totally different between the two. Thinking there are recipes that the chefs follow and others where they do their own thing. Just something to remember for those who switch between the ships.

 

Patty

 

+1...  And not just between the ships, but also between the chefs in many cases.  Sometimes it's just something as inevitable as ingredient availability a certain week, but I've also had the same feature on the same menu set have a moderately tweaked preparation even using the same primary ingredients, from one chef to another even on Symphony.  I've sometimes had to refer back to which chef led the team just to see whose "version" of that dish to help explain the picture I'm looking at.

 

Vince

[mariners]

Keith, thanks for all the photos and descriptions you post.  It's obvious from looking at the photos that my DH and I do not cruise enough as people in the photos don't appear to have aged.😀

 

Having threads from the Symphony and Serenity at the same time is perfect, IMO.  Now, all we have to do is figure out what itinerary works best for us as we know that either ship will work well.

 

[Keith1010]

I just wanted to comment about the food adding to what Vince and Patty said.

 

Good catch by Patty about the different ingredients in one of the entrees.

 

Vince is right things can vary by chef. I know when we were on for World Cruises I could tell if there was a change in Executive Chef or Executive Pastry Chef just by changes on certain items.

 

Two minor differences. One of the trio of the appetizer items that automatically come to the table which is the one that the outer shell is cooked was different in texture. Usually soft and this one was more cooked. Anne Marie liked this one better. 

 

With the cheese I had for dessert it was accompanied by two different types of sliced bread.The one I enjoyed most was bread with small figs on top and it was not only delicious but one that was not in Osteria on Serenity. Not sure if new addition or just something they do on Symphony but I loved it.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Thank you David and Mariners.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Breaking News.

 

I slept the latest I have slept on a ship or at home today. Yes we did forward the clocks by one hour but discounting that it was still a record for me.

 

Seas were very choppy yesterday afternoon and even while I was showering. Kept thinking to be aware just in case we rock and I am plunged towards the glass enclosure. 

 

By dinner much calmer so we could walk down the stairway and not think we had too much to drink.

 

Daily Reflections program not on line yet. Today is a sea day.

 

I am enclosing the menu from Waterside for this evening which is a formal night and a Captain's Welcome and Crystal Society recogniton

 

Waterside Sept 10.pdf

 

Cheers,.

 

Keith

 

 

[Keith1010]

As most know the Waterside Breakfast menu stays the same but I thought I would post this in addition to today's Waterside Luncheon Menu.

 

Cheers,

Keith

 

September 10 Breakfast.pdf

 

Septermber 10 Lunch.pdf

 

 

[Keith1010]

Today's Daily Reflections.

 

Lots of items on the program as we have a day at sea.

 

September 10 Daily Reflections.pdf

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

 

Greetings from Crystal Symphony where we are having an amazing time.

 

As the Captain had correctly noted in yesterday's talk from the bridge, late yestarday afternoon brought sea swells which were quite strong prior to dinner last evening and rather evident while getting ready for dinner. The good news is by the time we went to dinner seas had calmed a bit making it much easier to walk down the stairs from our deck to deck 5 and not feel that we had something with alcohol to drink. LOL.

 

We dined last evening at Waterside for our first dinner at this dining venue of the cruise.

 

We enjoyed a fantastic dinner including delcious swordfish, and we were taken care of by an extraordinary team. It began with Restaurant Manager Remi seating us and extended to Head Waiter Eva, Senior Waiter Hannah and Sommelier Sanella. Also, Senior Head Waiter Bojen and Head Sommelier Goran stopping by a couple of times to check on our meal.  The seas behaved themselves and it was much calmer when we dined compared to one or two hours earlier.

 

The service was superb It was attentive, personable, and professional.

 

 

 

 

 

The only downside to the perfect evening was returning to our room to learn we must forward the clocks by one hour. LOL.

 

Sometimes I say when at sea it is easy to sleep with the gentle rocking of the ship and even with a little more rocking beyond gentle this was the case last evening.

 

Today is a sea day and this showcasing Crystal enrichment with close to forty events on the program and that doesn’t even include breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea or snacks. LOL. Three lectures that covered Unity and Diversity in the UK, the Future of the Royal Family, and British English/American English: Our Common Tongue? Divided or Shared Language. The emphasis was on the UK given where we will be sailing.

 

An ideal spot to get those steps in this morning was Deck 6 where most of the public lounges and restaurants are located.  During our walk we took a break to talk with Dr. Soto and that is when we met Cruise Director Vicki for the very first time. Later, we saw Captain Nenad who we last sailed with in 2018. on board Symphony. We sailed with the Captain many times when he was Vice Captain on Serenity prior to going over to the former Crystal Esprit Yacht as the Captain.   We will see them all this evening at the Captain's Welcome Reception.

 

I’ve included a collage with photos of the Starlite Lounge for anyone who has not sailed Symphony.

 

 

 

It's been another wonderful day on-board Crystal Symphony with many more hours left to go but I will close now so we can enjoy the additional sea swells. This is all part of the experience.

 

Happy Days and have a great day everyone.

 

 

 

Cheers

 

[Keith1010]

For the salad lovers on this board (are they any of you out there) these both were on today's  Waterside Luncheon menu.

 

Chef salad on the left.

 

Greek Salad on right which was listed under appetizers but they made it larger for me.

 

Cheers

 

Keith

 

[Keith1010]

Live views. A good day to say indoors.  

 

Cheers,

Keith

 

[Keith1010]

September 11  Waterside Dinner Menu and Daily Reflections.

 

Keith

 

Sept 11 Waterside.pdf

 

Septemeber 11 Reflections.pdf

[Keith1010]

It's almost breakfast time here so I thought I would post the Waterside Breakfast menu.

 

Cheers,

Keith

 

Waterside Breakfast Menu.pdf

[wearesiamese]

57 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

It's almost breakfast time here so I thought I would post the Waterside Breakfast menu.

 

Cheers,

Keith

 

Waterside Breakfast Menu.pdf 63.68 kB · 3 downloads

I just took a looksie at the Breakfast menu you just posted,zI for one happy camper if they keep these choices for a long time!

[Helene1111]

Keith , thanks for all your posts and info. Can you let someone on the symphony know that the Live Views cameras appear to be shut off or frozen at 2:58 am and we no longer have the views . Thanks! 

[Keith1010]

Greetings from Crystal Symphony

 

Last night was the one formal night of this sailing.

 

Our evening began with the Captain’s Welcome Reception and Crystal Society Party.  It’s always a pleasure to attend these festive receptions to hear from the captain, see who is recognized from Crystal Society, and mingle with members of Team Crystal Symphony and fellow guests.

 

We enjoyed the reception. There is a nice story to the couple who was honored for their 95 Crystal Cruise. Years ago, when they celebrated their 25 milestone it was on their 25^th wedding anniversary.  Today when they celebrated their 95th milestone it was on their 47th Wedding Anniversary.

 

We returned to Waterside for dinner and wouldn’t have missed it. It included several favorites and for me that is Caviar and for the two of us Lobster along with other delicious items.  

 

We were in great hands with this amazing waitstaff team including Head Waiter Eva, Senior Waiter Hannah, and Sommelier Sanella.I use the word team because they truly are a team, and this extend to the rest of Food & Beverage and throughout the ship. Remember the adage, the sum of the team working together is much greater than the sum of individuals who do not work together.

 

The pace of the meal was fantastic.

 

 

 

The evening show featured Rachel Dudt along with the Crystal Showband. At the same time, you had guitar and vocals and a pianist alternating at the Crystal Cove, the Heartbeat Duo performing in various venues including Palm Court and the Starlite Club, Karaoke, with DJ Viviano at the Jade Night Club and Piano Melodies with Dan Davies in the Avenue Saloon.  

 

We enjoyed some rocking of the ship last evening.  LOL.  

 

Today we anchored off Oban, Scotland.  Before guests could go ashore, we had to go through a mandatory immigration inspection. Oban is a small town with a population of a little over 8,000 residents.  During the tourist season, the town swells to almost 25,000 people.  We decided to make today a sea day and just enjoy the ship. 

 

I am also including some photos from yesterday afternoon and some photos of the Avenue Saloon and one photo from inside the Connoisseur Club.

 

 

Also, photos with Nino who we have known for many years. He worked on Symphony from early 2000's until 2009 when he moved to Serenity and last year he was assigned to Symphony. It is so great to see him. He is wonderful.

 

 

Videos of Captain and Cruise Director.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

 

 

 

  

 

[angiepange]

Awww.. you two look soo happy 🥰💘 .Anne Marie you look very elegant and Keith, you scrub up very nicely too!  Loving all your posts!  

[Keith1010]

3 hours ago, angiepange said:

Awww.. you two look soo happy 🥰💘 .Anne Marie you look very elegant and Keith, you scrub up very nicely too!  Loving all your posts!  

You are very kind. Thank you so much.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Please fine below the daily Reflections and the Dinner menu for Waterside for September 12.

 

Keith

 

September 12 Reflections.pdf

 

September 12 Waterside Dinner.pdf

 

 

[Keith1010]

I will digress with a few comments about the location of guest rooms and washing and drying clothes.  

 

First, relates to location of accommodations.  I realize that apartments and condominiums on land  may come with a higher price based on location in a building and often the higher priced accommodations are located on the top floor. I get that.

 

I've never understood why this has been applied to cruise ships.  Unless you prefer motion being lower on the ship and more mid-ship has its advantages.

 

Traditionally on Crystal the higher priced suites were located on Deck 11 Serenity and Deck 10 Symphony.

 

On other lines often you might find some of the higher priced suites at the stern or the aft of the ship which are prone to more motion.

 

In the case of Symphony when the first added suites this was done on Deck 9 in the 2017 dry dock  and we had one of them in 2018.

 

In 2023 when they added accommodations we were interested in this was part of the new suites on Deck 8.

 

I chose the Deck 8 suite over the Deck 10 suite for this cruise since it was new and thought we should see what the new suite was like.  

 

I knew an added benefit would be location and I really like the location. We are close to mid-ship which I prefer and we are close to mid-deck which is an added plus for someone who prefers walking rather than the elevators.

 

Given that dining is on Deck 5 and 6 as are many other public spaces it's a breeze to get between Deck 8 and Decks 5 and 6 or 4 for tenders.  At the same time getting up to the other areas inside and outside the ship only involves going up a couple of decks.

 

At the same time we have less movement being on Deck 8 than say Deck 10 and appreciate being close to mid-ship.

 

The other item is the laundry room.  The placement isn't as mid-ship as say ones I am used to on Serenity on Decks 10 and 11 but it's not a very long walk either.  

The machines are ones that I know have been around for years unlike say ones that replaced the on Serenity on Deck 11 and I believe Deck 10.

 

In this case, old is good because using the washing machine or the dryer only involves turning one knob for temperature and one knob for the desired setting.  I don't even need my reading glasses to accomplish this.

 

As many times as I have done the wash on Serenity each time I do the laundry I need my reading glasses and have to study which buttons to push and with each setting comes the complexity because some settings prohibit you from doing other things including choosing water temperature or dryer temperature.

 

So this is a case which for me old is better than new.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Tastes Luncheon Menu.

 

Keith

 

Tastes Luncheon Menu.pdf

[Cruiserbunny199]

Really enjoying your Blog Keith, especially as we will be joining you for a week next Wednesday.

 

My husband (British) doesn’t play pickleball but is interested in trying it on Symphony.

Are the sessions only for experienced players or are newbies welcome and is equipment provided please?

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, Cruiserbunny199 said:

Really enjoying your Blog Keith, especially as we will be joining you for a week next Wednesday.

 

My husband (British) doesn’t play pickleball but is interested in trying it on Symphony.

Are the sessions only for experienced players or are newbies welcome and is equipment provided please?

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

I am glad you are enjoying the posts and hopefully we will meet you both.

 

Equipment is provided for Paddle Tennis and Pickle Ball.

 

If he has tennis shoes that is ideal to wear.

 

I play Paddle Tennis and not Pickle Ball.

 

They do have on the sdheeule open play so that could be an opportunity for him to learn.

 

Keith

[LouChamp]

Aloha. As always I love your reporting and pictures especially the food!!! We have several long voyages planned but have put traveling and commuting between NY and Honolulu on hold as we are now grandparents 😊. Fortunately they live in Manhattan so that is easy. All is well but for the time being I’ll be cruising with you!  All blessings.