NWX

5 hours ago, CA Oceanfront said:

Where might I find a photo of the room service breakfast menu? Thank you.

I don't have one but I can attest to a WIDE variety of breakfast items, at least as many as you would fine in the  finest hotels and served in style!

Yes there are round and oval tables. The oval ones are nice if you have a party of 9, which we did, and we were able to get it every night. Of course that was OC…

If you can't find it, your TA probably has it.

So Crystal made a typo and wrote Gates instead of Bates. Shocking.🙄

I don't think Melinda Gates looks like Melinda French Gates, Bill Gates' ex.

17 hours ago, Roland4 said:

We will be boarding Symphony in Athens on April 13/24 for a 12 night Greek Isles/Turkey voyage. When we originally booked this one, it was going to Israel and, of course, we all know how that turned out, but the addition of Kusadasi (and the concert at Ephesus), plus Istanbul, which we have never been to, turned this into a great itinerary. We are doing this B2B with a Tauck Tours Rhone River package and over four weeks we will only have two ports we have visited previously!

 

Our last time on Symphony was the famous (or maybe infamous) Trans-Atlantic From Hell in September 2012, and we are not hoping for a repeat. Given that there has been very little posted on CC about Symphony of late, I thought I would post our thoughts as we go along. This is a VERY port-intensive itinerary, so this will not be a "Live From", nor will I be posting daily menus/programs, (mostly because I don't have the patience), but if someone has questions, I will try to get answers. No promises, but I will try. 🙂

 

The bags are almost packed, and the limo arrives at 11:15 Thursday morning! See you onboard Symphony on Saturday!

It will be so nice to hear news of Symphony and crew!

Thank you, Terry! We've seen far too few posts from those on Symphony and we pine for news.

Re new ships - typical Crystal (that we LOVE) but never in  our lifetime, which is getting shorter! We'll never see the new ships but would be happy to sail on the "old ships"!

That 18 days sure went by fast! Totally enjoyed your commentary and pictures, thank you!

Safe travels back to Sydney.

Lovely pictures! We met Benjamin on our first Symphony cruise in 1999! We went to the pool and he offered us refreshment, we asked for water, and he returned and used our names.

To this day I don't know how he knew our names! He is the best!

Ooops, guess I was focused on your sea day!

Waterside closed for lunch on a sea day? Hmmm

Have a great time! Wish we were there too!

6 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

For me 50 minutes is no big deal.  From there we went to other areas and then back to Hotel and then out again a few more times.  

 

Keith

 

 

For some of us, FIVE minutes is a big deal!

50? minutes?!! Aaarrrggghhh😱 NOway for us, a taxi or bust.

What a great write-up, thank you, Terry! And such great pictures too! You've made us homesick for our favorite ship😎

I know that. 

You mean those cheesy flimsy things that are fine for laundry but not much else? What about a nice real live tote  like they used to give? 

1 hour ago, happy cruising said:

I am one of Crystal’s biggest cheerleaders but this really irritates me. We loyal crystal customers who have given Crystal tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars since the restart and have multiple 2024 cruises booked are not eligible for an upgrade but someone who is new to crystal and/or not loyal gets a complimentary upgrade? I already have 4 cruises booked for 2024 for which Crystal has had my deposit money for over 6 months and I don’t have infinite money to book more. I understand trying to lure new customers but I would suggest that Crystal also offer complimentary upgrades to existing bookings right before sailing based on availability and perhaps based on number of past voyages sailed or number of days sailed. I thought Crystal  valued past passengers - this is very disappointing. 

OC used to grant discounts and upgrades to those already booked.

Hmmm...nice and I hope this doesn't mean '24 bookings are way lower than expected. Obviously trying to generate bookings. Would love to accept!

2 hours ago, Cruise-y said:

If the cruise is full (and several heading to warmer climates are full during Christmas and into January) then the limited shaded lounges won’t be available unless you get there super early. Hopefully the crew can bring out additional umbrellas if asked. 
 

There’s still quite a bit of availability on the cruise right before Christmas, so you should be ok on that one. 

Beware the chair hogs who arrive at sun up and claim chairs in the shade that they don't visit till much much later!

9 hours ago, May B said:

I loved every dessert I had in Waterside. I can’t say I ever noticed jello. Seriously, that was on the menu? Perhaps I didn’t notice it b/c I would never order it.

I remember once there was a major fusspot at table next to us. She ordered dessert after dessert after dessert and sent them all back with a cringe. Then out came the jello and she was in heaven. We were shocked!

2 hours ago, ryndam said:

I’ve seen at least three 8-tops in the center of Waterside. Haven’t seen any of them occupied except one evening when each of the 3 larger tables were hosted by an officer. We saw one 8-top in OO last night (unoccupied). I don’t recall seeing an 8-top in Umi Uma.

 

That said, none of the dining tables are permanently attached to the floor. They’re all movable. I believe charger sized tables can be requested for larger groups. They may be just two 4-tops pushed together, rather than a round too, but there’s enough real estate available in all venues to be adjustable and flexible.

 

Rob

We had a group of 9 on Symphony and Remi put us at an oval table which gave us all just enough space.

On 12/3/2023 at 6:57 PM, KenzSailing said:

 

Recipe please?    Maybe on the off topic entry.  Lamb(cooking it) intimidates the heck out of me.

I find lamb as easy as steak. I would happily share if you put an email address here...

Good question for onboard guest services or your TA.