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Crystal Cruises - tell me about it


JVNYC
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Hey there. Wanted to get your opinion of Crystal Cruises. I've never sailed with Crystal. Always thought they would be too stuffy or too formal or too old. Seems like things are changing and for the better.

 

I'm 46 years old and my partner and I love cruising. We usually sail Oceania but I'm considering Crystal due to an itinerary that I'm interested in.

 

I like that they are moving to open dining and seem to be less formal. But I worry that I will be the youngest on board and worry that it will be too stuffy. And is Crystal gay friendly?

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

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My husband and I have sailed with Crystal for quite a few years. We will be sailing again on October 13, 2017 on the Crystal Serenity. This would be our 12th cruise on Crystal. We do sail on other lines too. Crystal is our favorite for several reasons. They are a very gay friendly line. We have found there are always a fair amount of LGBT passengers on every Crystal cruise we have taken. Crystal always hosts special get togethers for the LGBT passengers. We have also found most all other passengers and crew on board to be very gay friendly. The age group of all passengers are usually 40 years plus with a few exceptions. Usually a very nice mix of passengers and not at all stuffy. Crystal use to be pretty much on the formal side a few years ago. They are a bit more relaxed today but passengers tend to dress nice in the evening. The other thing we love is the size of the ships. A very nice size that offers many amenities that you would find on the large ships but with fewer passengers. The food is excellent as well as the service. We love the all inclusive element of Crystal's product as well. They also have a very nice range of entertainment on board. Full scale Broadway type shows as well as special entertainment that is different on every cruise. All in all we have been happy with what Crystal has had to offer. Their two ocean liners are older ships but they look sparkling new inside because Crystal ships go into drydock quite often to be updated and totally remodeled including the cabins. Hope you decide to try Crystal one day. I believe you will like what they have to offer.

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I have been on two Crystal cruises and loved them both. The service is outstanding and the (relatively) larger size of the ships when compared to other luxury lines means more entertainment and dining options. I particularly enjoyed the lectures and day time events they had on sea days. Also I got spoiled by their excursions--unlike other lines, they were never too crowded. The crowd when I went tended to be more in the 60s-70s range than 40s-50s, but there were plenty in the latter group (although few (if any) children). Everyone was pretty friendly--not stuffy at all. There seemed to be a lot of repeat Crystal cruisers and they were just generally nice people. No homophobia that I saw or experienced.

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You may also want to take a look at
from two gents who sail Crystal a great deal from Los Angeles...

 

 

 

There are other videos from other sailings as well, there.

 

 

 

bon voyage

 

 

 

I was going to refer them to AuntieVeraCharles on YouTube as well! I love their videos.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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We will offer a somewhat different perspective on Crystal.

 

Having cruised mainly on Cunard (9 sailings) and Regent (2 sailings), we decided about 5 years ago give Crystal a try. We chose a Panama Canal sailing, and were looking forward to it very much given Crystal's reputation. While the ship was nice and the service mostly very good, there were a few issues that --- while not earth shattering -- made us question just how exceptional a line Crystal was.

 

We are not very demanding at all, and usually just roll with the punches whatever comes our way. We did, however, celebrate a special birthday on board. And, since Crystal seems to promote celebrating special occasions onboard, I asked the Maitre d' in the MDR, (of whom many people who sail Crystal speak very highly of) a couple of days beforehand if we could have a special cake --- nothing elaborate --- for the occasion, he replied, "this is Crystal, of course you can." After dinner on the night when we were to celebrate, our waiter came to take our desert order. I was, of course, confused. I immediately excused myself, saying that I had to use the restroom; and asked if he could return in about 10 minutes to take the order. I then asked him, away from the table, about the special cake; and neither he, nor the supervisor in charge of our dining section, knew anything about it. By this time, my partner knew something was up --- and the moment was ruined. They did make up another cake for us two nights later, which made up for the matter---somewhat. However, the Maitre d'--- who must have known what had happened --- never said a word about it.

 

On another occasion, we ordered room service from our cabin attendant -- who at that time handled all room service requests (a policy that Crystal has since changed, thankfully). Unfortunately, she had a great deal of trouble with English --- and I had to actually go to the main dining room to get the menu to show her what we wanted. Finally, after much discussion, the order was placed. However, it arrived lukewarm --- and not exactly what we had ordered. I suppose we should have seen this coming and just forgotten about it, but we thought we would have a better experience than we did.

 

Perhaps the biggest issue, though, were the passengers who continually glared at us --- even to the point that on one occasion upon entering the dining room, a women nudged her husband and pointed her finger at us as if to say, "there THEY are!" We realize, of course, that cruising often turns into "people watching"... and Crystal, of course, cannot determine who their passengers will be. But this happened on more than just a few occasions during the two-week cruise, which was an experience that had never happened on either Cunard or Regent---and we've been comfortably cruising since the early 1990s. We are confident with who we are, enjoy engaging with other passengers on cruises, and don't do anything that would make people point us out in a crowd. So, this experience made us most uncomfortable.

 

Having said all that, we decided last year to a try a River Cruise. Since Crystal was just entering that market --- even with our initial experience --- we decided to give them another go since they had the best itinerary for us. Our experience was completely the opposite this time around. The ship was great (Crystal Mozart), the crew and passengers very friendly and engaging, and having no problems at all with our being gay. It was a truly memorable vacation in all respects. So much so, that we are booking another river cruise on Crystal which will hopefully be just as memorable.

 

We realize our first Crystal experience may have just been "one of those things"; but, even so, it was a surprise at the time given how highly people speak of Crystal and their clientele.

 

Hope this helps.

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We will offer a somewhat different perspective on Crystal.

 

-------------------------------

 

We realize our first Crystal experience may have just been "one of those things"; but, even so, it was a surprise at the time given how highly people speak of Crystal and their clientele.

 

Hope this helps.

 

j2 - Sorry to hear about your experience! Very off-putting for sure.

 

 

Not sure I would ascribe this to the line vs. a few bad apples on the sailing, though.

 

Ignorance can be found on any line at any time.

 

I Am happy you found Crystal River boats to have a better reception this go round.

 

Enjoy your sailing and come back to let us know how you enjoyed the second one.

 

bon voyage

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Hi There

 

Well firstly we are also on 13th October Serenity trip also , so Movie Buff email us if you fancy me4uadam@talktalk.net , secondly we are a gay British couple and have been on Crystal a few times, we always have a blast, we did once come across a bigot who was uncomfortable around us, but on the whole eveyone is quite educated and welcoming, we walk about holding hands and if anything people go out of their way to be friendly. Crystal is a great line and quite gay friendly,

 

Brad and Stuart

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Husband and I just back from Symphony's Christmas and New Year round South Africa.

We had liked Serenity a few years back but this time we were not impressed. New owners have spent big on the old ship so SOME areas the main dinning room (Waterside) looks great, even perhaps over staffed, but the food was way too dull/cheap for a LUX cruise line. Not fond of the cocktails either.

Any how most parties seemed rather poorly arranged, but even without personal invitations we went to the Crystal Society party and who should get the award for most traveled on Crystal but a Gay couple. Great, but then Crystal fawned over the employee of the month for even longer.

Nothing was arranged for LGBT at all. Friends of BillW on the other hand were well looked after.

Anyhow painting and decorating the old ship did nothing for enjoyment I was surprised how stale Crystal has become.

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Husband and I just back from Symphony's Christmas and New Year round South Africa.

We had liked Serenity a few years back but this time we were not impressed. New owners have spent big on the old ship so SOME areas the main dinning room (Waterside) looks great, even perhaps over staffed, but the food was way too dull/cheap for a LUX cruise line. Not fond of the cocktails either.

Any how most parties seemed rather poorly arranged, but even without personal invitations we went to the Crystal Society party and who should get the award for most traveled on Crystal but a Gay couple. Great, but then Crystal fawned over the employee of the month for even longer.

Nothing was arranged for LGBT at all. Friends of BillW on the other hand were well looked after.

Anyhow painting and decorating the old ship did nothing for enjoyment I was surprised how stale Crystal has become.

 

What is the difference between LGBT gatherings and Friends of Bill? Aren't they the same group? Why cater to one and not the other?

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  • 2 weeks later...
What is the difference between LGBT gatherings and Friends of Bill? Aren't they the same group? Why cater to one and not the other?

 

Friends of Bill are Alcoholics Anonymous meetings (I think Bill refers to the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous); Friends of Dorothy are LGBT meetings.

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We've sailed Crystal twice. Not sure if I will return. The product is good, good service, good food, nice drinks, best enrichment program on the seas. However, please be aware that Crystal's passengers are quite old. On our first Crystal cruise, the Cruise Director actually announced that the average age was 76. On our second, no announcement, but I think the average was near 80. At the age of 46, you will be the hot young thing on board by about 30 years. Better like traveling with your parents' age cohort! Crystal does not have a regularly scheduled LGBT gathering. They will set one up if you ask for it. It is the only line we have traveled where a number of gay passengers shunned us. Great product, but the passengers weren't friendly or sympatico.

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Friends of Bill are Alcoholics Anonymous meetings (I think Bill refers to the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous); Friends of Dorothy are LGBT meetings.

 

Sorry, of course I knew that. In my mind I was comparing LGBT meetings with Friends of Dorothy, not Bill.

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My husband and I have taken many cruises. We especially like TATLs. We have been mostly on Disney, followed by Princess & Cunard. Recently we have explored other lines (NCL & RCI). We will be doing our first Viking Ocean Cruise next month.

 

We have taken 2 Crystal TATLs, one on each ship. Our first experience late in 2009 was amazing. I was afraid of stuffy folks, and that was so not the case. People were very friendly. But I have to add that we have NEVER had any issues being a gay couple on any cruise.

 

I found the food the beast so far on any cruise line. The service was excellent though I have had better service on Disney. Our second experience was a few years ago. This time we found the passengers to be very "Republican". There was no homophobic behavior, but it was more difficult to find people with common world views.

 

Recently we have started to cruise with a group of friends we met on prior Disney cruises. Prices have gone up so we are trying other lines. This way we have friends we know on board but can also do things by ourselves.

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