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Crystal Serenity offers plenty of variety in terms of nighttime entertainment — and while most falls into the classic milieu geared to Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, production values are quite high and several venues feature live entertainment each evening. Guests can also reserve a table in Tastes Kitchen & Bar, a more casual, atrium-style eatery offering an eclectic global menu of sharable dishes such as ricotta gnocchi, chimichurri Steak and Greek octopus salad. Tastes is also open for lunch and a menu highlight is the flavorful chinois chicken salad. Another fine-dining experience available at an additional cost is The Vintage Room.
SUITES & GUEST ROOMS
Crystal Serenity Cruise Ship Review - Cruise Critic
Crystal Serenity Cruise Ship Review.
Posted: Wed, 12 Jul 2023 15:50:36 GMT [source]
A favorite after-dinner cocktail spot on Crystal Serenity is the atmospheric Avenue Saloon, a cozy space with a circular bar, dark wood columns, and upholstered armchairs and sofas that evoke a traditional men’s club. Talented bartenders create an array of modern craft cocktails and Negroni and Manhattan aficionados can peruse special menus offering more than a dozen variations of each. Serving as the main dining room, elegant Waterside Restaurant offers a la carte breakfast, lunch, and dinner and features open seating with no reservations required. For dinner, the modern American menu features a blend of contemporary cuisine and Crystal classics, with appetizers and entrees such as citrus-cured hamachi, wild mushroom tart, creamed orzo with sautéed tiger prawns, and pan-seared duck magret.
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Travel: Crystal, a cruise line that went under during the pandemic, sails again - OCRegister
Travel: Crystal, a cruise line that went under during the pandemic, sails again.
Posted: Wed, 23 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
While the suite featured a walk-in closet for storage, as I mentioned above, I found it oddly small for a suite of this size, at around six feet by six feet. I particularly liked that the bathroom had an unusually large amount of storage space, with two long open shelves built into the marble vanity under the sinks and a floor-to-ceiling tower of matching marble shelves next to the shower (some of which house the bathroom's towels). In addition, the bathroom in my Sapphire Verandah Suite was spacious and elegant, with a Fior di Pesco marble-topped vanity embedded with two upscale Duravit sinks on one side and an unusually large walk-in shower on the other side. The shower itself was a showpiece, with high-end Grohe fixtures that spouted water from three directions.
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Wi-Fi service on Crystal Serenity is relatively fast for a cruise ship and included in the fare. Other activity areas on the ship include a large library staffed throughout the day, a computer classroom, a shopping area that wraps around the central atrium on Deck 7 and a bridge lounge for bridge playing, tournaments and classes. (Bridge is big on Crystal ships.) The ship's entertainment staff also offers dance classes at times. The top decks of Crystal Serenity also are home to two paddle tennis courts that can double as pickleball courts, a complex known as Wimbledon Court. Six decks down, hidden at the back of the ship, you'll also find a golf lover's hideaway with driving nets, a small putting green and table tennis.
In August, to the Luxury Bahamas Escapes itinerary was added Miami Florida as both call port and homeport/departure port. The expanded itinerary's first departure was on August 7 (from Nassau) and August 9 (from Miami). This way, the 7-night Luxury Bahamas Escapes itinerary offered 3x embarkation ports - Nassau (Saturdays departures), North Bimini (Sundays), Miami (Mondays). UMI UMA Restaurant (fka Silk Road, rebranded as Umi Uma & Sushi Bar) is an Asian dinner-only specialty restaurant serving Master Chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa's signature dishes as well as fusion cuisine that blends Japanese traditional dishes with Peruvian ingredients. On shorter voyages (up to 11 days) Crystal Cruises offers a complimentary dinner at UMI UMA per person/per cruise. On longer voyages (12+ days) are offered two complimentary reservations per person.
These included a massive rain shower head on the ceiling that shot water straight down, two back-wall shower heads that shot out horizontally (hitting you midbody) and a separate hand-held wand. There were separate controls for each of these, so I could mix and match the water delivery devices to my liking. I also appreciated the tidy cluster of electrical outlets (both U.S.- and European-style) and USB ports on both sides of the beds. Add in four more Aquamarine Verandah Suites with balconies that are ADA compliant and four Aquamarine Suites without balconies that are ADA-compliant (both sets of which are considered their own cabin categories), and that's 70% of all accommodations on the ship. Crystal Serenity used to have a modest casino area just outside the main theater on Deck 6.
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All accommodations feature Sicily-sourced Ortigia toiletries and all suite guests (Aquamarine category and above) enjoy a comfy sleep atop incredibly soft Jesurum 1870 bed linens. Crystal Serenity’s top accommodations are its four 1,265-square-foot Crystal Penthouse Suites. These feature a spectacular bathroom with a tub offering an ocean view and a 107-square-foot balcony. Guests seeking private outdoor space can book one of the 46 Double Guest Rooms with Veranda, which offer 215 square feet of indoor space and feature a 54-square-foot balcony. While all Ocean View and Veranda guest room categories were refurbished in 2023, some suite categories were purposely not renovated, given their good condition. This means that guests booking the Aquamarine Veranda Suite and Sapphire Veranda Suite categories have a choice of 2023 design, 2018 design, and Classic design.
Designed as a casual alternative to the more formal dining spots on the ship, Tastes offers a dinner menu of elevated, globally inspired dishes in a relaxed, top-of-the-ship setting. All of the dishes, which include ahi tuna poke, hamachi crudo, oven-roasted cauliflower, ricotta gnocchi, California street tacos and chimichurri steak, are placed in the middle of the table and meant to be shared. Note that while unlimited dining at Waterside on Crystal Serenity is included in the fare, passengers only get to visit Umi Uma once per cruise for free for sailings of 11 days or fewer. For sailings of more than 11 days, two complimentary reservations are included. It's an eatery that was on Crystal Serenity for many years before its overhaul, and it has thankfully made a comeback under the ship's new owners — albeit with an all-new look.
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As more luxury ships enter the industry, Crystal Serenity remains a reminder that you don’t have to be the newest to offer a truly special experience. Crystal Cruises went bankrupt in 2022, but it was acquired by the Abercrombie & Kent Travel Group in 2023. New ownership prioritized keeping in place many of the things the line’s fan base loved, even the name – with only the slight tweak of dropping “Cruises” from the moniker. While the ship has been refurbished, it still is undeniably Crystal Serenity. For new fans, they’ll find a ship that is thoughtfully appointed, with a crew that is nearly as loyal to the line as its passengers.
Each of these suites, notably, has a separate sitting room and bedroom, a walk-in closet and a large bathroom, as well as a 107-square-foot balcony. Originally built for 1,080 passengers, Crystal Serenity is now configured to hold just 740 passengers — even as the size of its public areas (lounges, bars, restaurants, etc.) hasn't changed. That means its "space ratio" — a fancy cruise world term that refers to the amount of space on the ship per passenger — is at an almost unprecedented level for a cruise vessel. Specifically, it's at 93, far above the 60 to 75 that is typical for luxury ships. With an industry-leading space-to-guest ratio (1 to 93.1 cu. ft.) and nearly one staff member per guest, Crystal Serenity fosters endless opportunities for inspiration and enrichment, complemented by unparalleled service. Larger, redesigned suites, award-winning specialty dining restaurants and restorative public spaces further expose passengers to heightened experiences enroute to the world’s most sought-after destinations around the world.
And the big news for Crystal fans as the line restarts is that more than 80% of the crew has returned. And yet the new owners of Crystal Serenity and the rights to the Crystal Cruises brand are creating a new cruise line that is about as close to the old Crystal Cruises as can be. Its name is just slightly different (note it's just Crystal, not Crystal Cruises), and it's operating the same two main ships that once sailed for Crystal Cruises. You'll also find many of the same senior staff and crew on those ships as before. The 132-night/133-day itinerary visits a total of 82x ports/destinations (including 45x islands) in 32x countries and features 19x Caribbean and 6x Canaries destinations, as well as 11x overnights in large port cities and two Transatlantic Crossings.
Convenient Dining by Reservation™ is offered, as well as complimentary in-suite dining. Specializing in ocean, river, ultra-luxury, small ship and expedition cruises. The final stop on this fall-foliage voyage was Quebec City, and when I realized that the port is a five-minute walk away from Old Quebec, I decided to extend my trip and linger in the city.
Unveiled in 2003, the 68,870-ton Crystal Serenity has been made even more luxurious during an overhaul in dry dock that was so long — around six months — that it allowed for an almost complete rebuilding of significant parts of the ships. Full World Cruise was bookable as roundtrip from Miami or Los Angeles (116 days), Miami to Monte Carlo (102 days), Los Angeles to Monte Carlo (100 days) or Los Angeles to Miami (86 days). Full Grand Voyage prices (double occupancy) started at USD per passenger. Early booking promos included USD pp (Book Now Saving), USD 2500 pp OBC (onboard credit), 2,5% (Crystal Society/loyalty program savings), 2% (New-to-Crystal promo savings), 15% reduced deposit. The Grand Voyage was offered as 3x full-length itineraries (102-night, 117-day, 132-night) plus 11x smaller itinerary segments (9- to 16-night). In September 2021, Crystal announced Serenity's "2022 Grand Voyage" (132-night "Caribbean Idylls and Mediterranean Masterpieces" itinerary) starting in PortMiami (January 17) and ending in Los Angeles (May 29).
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