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

[Keith1010]

7 hours ago, pathdoc said:

Keith,

Thank you for putting in so much time and detail regarding your experiences on both Serenity and Symphony.  We're doing b2b starting in late October.  This will be our first adventure with Crystal.  The only thing that we'll miss is meeting you and Anne Marie.  

Thank you so much for your comments and for following along.

 

I wish you a wonderful time on your back to back voyages and first sailing with Crystal. I hope you enjoy it as much as our first sailing with Crystal.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

I commented on the Internet one time but tried not to as I didn't want to jinx our overall experience so I thought I would do this now.

 

As background, on last years first two cruises on Serenity I thought the overall internet experience was very good. 

 

On the 2023 Serenity Holiday Cruise I thought the experience was far from good. Translation very poor. It was not only slow but very unstable as I could see my connection going up and down.

 

Returning to Serenity for the Vancouver R/T cruise followed by the Vancouver to Los Angeles Cruise I though the internet was even better than the two 2023 cruises and overall the Internet on our two Crystal Symphony cruises was quite good.  We had a couple of times when it slowed down on Symphony but I believe that is where we were sailing. In both cases the connection was very stable and I didn't encounter problems with it going up and down.

 

I was able to send attachments such as Powerpoint Presentations without problems, read large documents sent to me, send out other large documents and post often and with photos and video.

 

Calling using wi-fi worked as it does at home as I use wi-fi for all my calls at home as it is far better where we leave than using the carriers network.

 

Now, this is not to imply that it is good all the time as I know Rob mentioned that was not the case on the Los Angeles to New York City sailing.  There could have been technical problems and/or sometimes where you sail is a factor and in the past we had problems with that itinerary going East to West starting either in New York or Miami on old Crystal and we were told part of the reason was interference.

 

As I have said before, sometimes other factors come into play including which browser you use or even device or other things. For example, I use three browsers for this reason and find that a browser(s) do better with a site than another browser(s).

 

One other thing. One afternoon on Symphony things slowed up for awhile and finally the lightbulb lit up and I restarted my computer and everything sped up again. So this was an example where it was my device with the problem.

 

On a related note since it all relates the TV worked very well across both ships and the four voyages. We had only a couple of cases where the TV picture froze or where we lost the signal.

 

We watched some You Tube either live coverage or videos of one of the USA News Networks and that worked like a charm as well using the internet on our computer devices.

 

With all of that said, having spent almost my entire career in telecommunications including local, long distance, international voice, data and ip services and also utilizing satellite for some domestic calling as our network was being built out and also for international before the deployment of undersea cables satellite is not ideal and on a ship there are many more issues as the ship is moving unlike on land and so many factors come into play.  And it gets trickier when the ship is always doing new itineraries so things can happen and there is no guarentee what the experience will be like.  Again using the phrase with that said, I was very happy with the performance we had in August and September.  

 

Keith

 

 

[Keith1010]

Greetings From London

Crystal has allowed us to sail all seven continents of the world and circumnavigate the globe.  We have visited 310 or more ports of call on our Crystal sailings and 72 countries.  We have sailed Oceans, Bays, Seas, and Rivers.  On our just concluded cruise we visited the countries of the Netherlands and Belgium for the first time. We also visited ports Oban, Isles of Man, Amsterdam, and Zeebrugge for the very first time.

All our Crystal cruises have allowed us to enjoy pre and/or post cruise cities/towns as we have done on this cruise. This was our second pre-cruise visit to Reykjavik in addition to transiting this port on three other occasions. We have also enjoyed countless pre and post cruise visits to London on several Crystal Cruises as we are doing now.

Crystal has also allowed us to enrich our knowledge of places and cultures around the world through lectures covering destinations, geography and geopolitics, politics, and history and through many group and private shore excursions they offer. Our lives have also been enriched by learning from the crew about their home countries, including customs.

We have to say our two completed voyages on-board Symphony had for us what we consider to be great ports. We think this says a lot because of the challenges of securing ports later in the process due to the restart of Crystal. For us, we enjoy a combination of visiting ports for the first time as well as visiting ports multiple times. We find when we revisit ports we can go back to certain sites and also visit new sites and we recognize there is so much to see in certain areas of the world  that one cannot possibly see on one, two or more visits.

Today was our final day in London for this trip and we visited many sites by foot.

From the Rosewood Hotel we headed towards the Victoria Embankment on the River Thames.  We walked along the river over to Westminster and viewed Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and other landmarks.  We walked on Horse Guards Rd passing by the beautiful St. Jame's Park and other landmarks on our way towards Soho on a mission to find a particular French Bakery with a pastry in mind for Anne Marie.  We also visited Chinatown, Piccadilly Circus, the Theater District, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Covent Gardens. We walked up and down various side-streets often finding places of interest.

Although overcast and a bit cool, we had a great time covering this area by foot and stopping at several different sites. 

 

In the afternoon visited a nearby park and area surrounding it on our final walk of London.

The history that London offers is amazing and as we walk areas, we think back to al the history of this great city from the good and bad times including peace and war.  

We look forward to our next adventure with Crystal and the next set of places we will visit.

Photos follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

 

[Keith1010]

While walking the streets of London (some of you remember the Streets of San Francisco) I was reflecting on a few things.

First was Covid-19.

 

I was thinking of what it was like when things shut down thinking of all of the theaters, restaurants, hotels, and so many other businesses and other areas related to tourism shut down.  We are so fortunate we live in a time that we could get back to a much better stage.

 

Then we had the impact of Covid-19 on all cruise lines and the impact of the former parent on Crystal.  Thankfully, new ownership came to the table and has restored the brand Crystal. I thought about this on each of our Crystal Cruises.

 

So I know things can always be better on land and at sea but I am so very appreciative that we are at a far better place and that Crystal is alive and well end not a distant memory and that our cities are alive, and vibrant.

 

My thoughts.

 

Keith

[oakridger]

Have an uneventful and pleasant trip home Keith and Anne Marie.  

 

Thank you,

~Nancy

[Keith1010]

Thank you Nancy.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

We're on our way back home sailing (oh flying) back to the USA.

 

We had such an amazing journey between our says in Iceland and the UK and the cruises.  

 

I was thinking about CC the past few hours.

 

There is the discussion about the movies. Well I wish you could see the movie package on the BA flight and some of our recent flights.  Anne Marie found one movie to watch. I found nothing.  I would have watched several of the ones shown on Crystal in the theatre over these.  

 

Then there was the Internet in the BA lounge.  Slow as molasses.

 

With that said these are not third world problems and the aircraft is terrific, great service on our flight and so far the wine is good.  

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

 

 

[Txcotn]

Coming back down to Earth is not easy!

[Txcotn]

DH and I both find re-entry daunting when we go out. Even in so called elegant restaurants we are greeted by “what do you guys want to drink?” And “No problem.” Plus the tables are never correctly set. We just grit our teeth and count ourselves lucky. 

[Keith1010]

Well we landed and are almost home. 
 

the other interesting one was the BA site for our luggage. Status remained checked in including while we waited for us. Fortunately with our alone devices we knew it arrived at our home airport. 
 

Goid point about life on land.

 

Majes  me appreciate Crystal even more. 
 

typing this without my glasses so hopefully the words make sense. 
 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BWIVince]

44 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

 

typing this without my glasses so hopefully the words make sense. 
 

 

Close enough.  😀 ❤️ 

 

Welcome home to you both (and your luggage)!

 

I have a love-hate relationship with baggage tracking -- both through the airline and by device.  When it's not scanned (for a variety of reasons) or isn't being picked up by devices, I stress far more than I ever did in the old days when we had no clue where our bags were (unless you saw them on the cart or loader belt).  I love all the data we get these days overall, but it can cause whole new levels of anxiety we never could have imagined decades ago!

 

Vince

[Keith1010]

Vince you are correct.

 

Twice I learned out luggage was not on the flight but as it turned out on an earlier flight. But stress till we knew for sure.

 

The apple tags helped us locate one piece of luggage at the port after we embarked. If not for the tags it would have been a first but that piece might have missed the ship.  When it didn't show up I went with a crew member to try to find it. So we're following it and get down to Deck 5 and  I said it looks like it's not on the ship.  It was located and with a few other pieces.  

 

With that said the AirTags are strange.Sometimes they update and sometimes they don't.  

Oh well.

 

Keith

[ijkh]

It was lovely to armchair travel with you again Keith and Ann Marie.   Thank you for sharing your experience.   We are actively planning our two future Crystal cruises next summer.  I hope you get to cruise again soon.

[ryndam]

Welcome back to TX. My definition of a good trip:

1. No one gets sick;

2. No one gets hurt;

3. The luggage makes it.

 

Hope you and Anne Marie had a good trip. 😁👍🏻

[Keith1010]

Thank you Ilene.  It was a great cruise.

 

And thank you For.  We did check of each of the three items so it must have been a good trip.

 

We did miss some of the "very hot" weather between both trips which was part of the plan but today is October 1 and, well, well, well, Mother Nature didn't get the message.  I feel like we returned to August.

Keith

 

 

[Keith1010]

So when we arrived back to the USA we went to the Global Entry Kiosk located about 20 feet from the luggage carousel.  We were told you could get your luggage first or go to the kiosk and get your luggage.  Just like last year all you do is have your photo taken and photo recognition takes it from there. Easy.

So question.

 

After getting our luggage we go up to the immigration desk. We don't show a passport. He doesn't ask our name but proceeds to ask us a few questions, (where are you coming from, what places did you visit, did you purchase anything).  He seemed to first look down at a piece of paper. I believe this was the main line open as the other ones seemed to be for crew and another one for those not from the USA.

 

Seemed too easy.  

 

Keith

[Mrs. Claypool]

If you download the Global Entry app onto your iPhone, you can take a selfie photo and submit it to Immigration while you’re still on the plane, taxiing towards your gate. 
 

Then you can even bypass the kiosks as well as the long lines. 
 

Not every airport in the US supports this app function, but most of the major ones do accept it. We always use it when we fly into LAX or San Diego. 
 

Emily

 

Edited Thursday at 04:11 PM by Mrs. Claypool

[Keith1010]

36 minutes ago, Mrs. Claypool said:

If you download the Global Entry app onto your iPhone, you can take a selfie photo and submit it to Immigration while you’re still on the plane, taxiing towards your gate. 
 

Then you can even bypass the kiosks as well as the long lines. 
 

Not every airport in the US supports this app function, but most of the major ones do accept it. We always use it when we fly into LAX or San Diego. 
 

Emily

 

Thanks Emily.

 

I knew MPC which I have on the phone although not good at our airport.

 

I hadn't realized that there is a Global Entry App and just put it on each of our phones and our airport is listed.

 

Thanks for letting me know.

 

Keith