Louis Cruises Cristal

My brother and his wife will be sailing on the Cristal in May'08. Any info on cabins, cuisine, etc.

Thank you

There is some information (albeit limited), on Google, under Louis Cruise Lines.

I sailed on the Cristal from Athens to Istanbul and the Greek Islands on the Cristal in September 2007 as part of a tour with Insight Vacations. While the ship is not as well appointed as the ships we are used to through the major cruise lines, I have no complaints whatsoever about the ship, the crew, or the service.:)

The rooms are small but quite manageable - we had a outside cabin with a large window. The bathroom was small with a (relatively) tiny shower stall.

The staff were friendly and helpful and I was pleasantly surprised at the food service. It wasn't as elaborate as on the major cruise lines - no midnight buffet service, for example, but it was generally good with some choices for every meal.

Looked on the website but couldn't find any specific info.

Do you know if there is an Electrical Outlet near the bed????

To plug a C-pap Machine into?

-used for sleep apnea at night-

Thanks for any information,

Janis:)

There were not many outlets in the room (of course, this may vary from room to room). As I recall, the only available outlet was just above the "desk". This outlet will be close to one side of the bed (the rooms are not very big) in the "deluxe outside stateroom". If you look on their website at the picture of this stateroom (deck 6 shows the picture) you will see a bouquet of flowers sitting on the "desk". This is where the outlet is located. This is the type of cabin I had (on the 4th deck). I did not see the other cabins so don't know if they are similar.

tully07

Thanks for the quick reply!!!!...

Sounds like the standard arrangement on my 3 Carnival cruises.

I'll once again take a power strip and ext. cord.

Oops! Voltage! Converter?!

I need to do my homework I see.

Thanks for any and all information.:)

Janis

The outlets on the ship are recessed. You will need a converter and an adapter plug in order to use them.

The outlets on the ship are recessed. You will need a converter and an adapter plug in order to use them.

Do all of the Louis ships have 200 v. electricity? I'm on the Orient Queen in April for a chartered study cruise.

I think you would need a a converter and an adapter on all of the Louis Cruise Line ships, including the Orient Queen.

I think you would need a a converter and an adapter on all of the Louis Cruise Line ships, including the Orient Queen.

Thanks. I'll take them with me.

My study cruise scheduled to be on the Orient Queen has now been changed to the Cristal. I'll write a review of the ship when I return mid April.

Lewilewi, that will be a bit late for you but at least I'll be able to give you some first hand information before you sail in May.

I think you will enjoy the Cristal -- it is the most recent addition to the Louis Cruise Lines fleet (the Cristal replaced the Sea Diamond that sunk off Santorini in May 2007) and was completely refurbished in June 2007.

I think you will enjoy the Cristal -- it is the most recent addition to the Louis Cruise Lines fleet (the Cristal replaced the Sea Diamond that sunk off Santorini in May 2007) and was completely refurbished in June 2007.

Thanks. This particular group has chartered the enitre ship for about 10 days. I think there are only 500 or 600 of us who will be onboard. I'm traveling solo but am not being charged a supplement. I'll have an outside cabin but that's about all I know for now.

I L S, My wife and I will be with you on this trip with EOT. We bought the extra day in Athens. This is our second trip with EOT. We did one a couple of years ago called the second and third missionary journeys on the MV Astoria which sailed out of Venice. I had an awesome time on that trip even though it wasn't entirely perfect for some folks. EOT takes big groups so the logistics at some of the stops is funky.. email me if you want a further explanation. We hail from the Piedmont NC. falconbrother@yahoo.com Look forward to traveling again. This is our first trip to Jerusalem. See you on board.

I L S, My wife and I will be with you on this trip with EOT. We bought the extra day in Athens. This is our second trip with EOT. We did one a couple of years ago called the second and third missionary journeys on the MV Astoria which sailed out of Venice. I had an awesome time on that trip even though it wasn't entirely perfect for some folks. EOT takes big groups so the logistics at some of the stops is funky.. email me if you want a further explanation. We hail from the Piedmont NC. falconbrother@yahoo.com Look forward to traveling again. This is our first trip to Jerusalem. See you on board.

I just sent you an e-mail letting you know some of my reasons for this trip. As said in the e-mail I was in the Eastern Mediterranean in the fall on a regular cruise. So, I've been to Athens, Rhodes and Santorini but not to Israel or the other places.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Beth

Hi, my friend and I are getting ready to book an October Greece and Turkey cruise and will have a choice of Deck 6 SA for $210 more than Deck 4 TA for the included tour price. Does anyone who has been on the Cristal have an opinion as to which we will be happier with? Do the rooms have full picture windows? Are they much smaller than say HAL or Princess cabins? Thanks for any help, and I look forward to any reviews from "those who go before us". This board is so helpful. Also, would be interested in tours that were chosen, and prices (not listed on their website).

If you go to the Louis cruise Lines website, and look at the deck plans for the Cristal

http://www.louiscruises.com/louisvessels.html?SHP=CS&DECK=06

you will be able to see the layout of the "SA" cabin. It looks exactly like the cabin I had on level 4 of the Cristal during my 7 day cruise last October. It also shows the size of the windows - they are not large but they are certainly bigger than a porthole!! I had no problem being on level 4 - we spent very little time in our room anyway - but it is your preference that should guide your choice.

The rooms are not large but they are functional -- the bathrooms are small and there isn't much storage space for luggage. These are smaller rooms than on a typical HAL or Princess cruise ship.

There are lots of excursions offered in each port. I took this cruise as part of a tour so our excursions - while the same as those offered to other passengers - were led by our tour director. Of all the excursions offered, I would say that the tour to Ephesus in Kusadasi, Turkey is a must. I also took excursions in Istanbul, Patmos, Rhodes and Santorini. On Mykonos, we took the shuttle from the pier into town and walked around. On Crete, we took a taxi into town and walked back to the ship. The Museum at Knossos was closed and our tour director did not recommend the excursion without the benefit of seeing the museum. (I subsequently heard from several people who had taken this excursion that it wasn't worth it.) My guess would be that the cost of excursions would be 50 euros per day per person, depending on how many you do.

We also are going as part of a tour, booking today, so all your info was very timely. I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions as our cruise date gets closer - October 21 in Athens, then the 24th on the Cristal.

Since you might not still be monitoring this thread down the road, I wonder if you could answer a few more questions:

We'll be going the end of October, but I wondered what the weather was like in September, temps, much rain, etc.

How is the Med in terms of waves, and the ship in terms of rocking - interpretation, should I wear the motion sickness patch!

Are there any formal nights on the Cristal?

Is the water as pure from the faucets as on the mega cruise ships, or did you drink bottled water?

What are the wine and soda prices?

Did you do the all-day Istanbul excursion? Does it take you to the Asian side? Any "bewares"?

Thanks so much. I'm very excited about doing this trip and seeing all these wonders!

Hi Livestotravel

Glad to answer your questions -- my cruise left Athens on September 28 and we returned to Athens on October 5. We had warm (upper 20's celcius to low 30's) and sunny weather throughout this period - no rain. Take a sunhat and sunscreen, especially if you go to Ephesus, there isn't any shade!

Waves: Yes, there are waves in the Med -- this was particularly evident around Mykonos and from Santorini to Athens. When we arrived in Mykonos the sea was quite calm, but the ships that followed us into the harbour had more difficulty with the waves. I know that the week before our cruise, many cruise ships bypassed Mykonos as due to the high winds, they were unable to get into the harbour. The Cristal is quite stable but if you are inclined to motion sickness, you might want to take the patch. We had quite a rocky sailing overnight from Mykonos to Patmos. [i grew up near the Bay of Fundy and I love the rocking motion - slept like a baby!! ;) ]

Formal Nights: There are no formal nights - people did dress up the night of the Captain's Cocktail Party but no formal wear as such.

Water: We bought bottled water throughout the cruise.

Wine and Soda Prices: Prices were reasonable -- depends on what you consider reasonable. I paid about 20 euros for a bottle of red. They sell wine by the glass, half liter and bottle.

I did the all-day excursion of Istanbul (lunch on board). We went to the Asian side -- briefly. I loved Istanbul -- it's a fascinating place. Beware --Turkish merchants are aggressive -- they don't like to take no for an answer.

I will continue to monitor this board -- feel free to ask for more info.

Thanks, I'll be taking you up on that offer!

The outlets on the ship are recessed. You will need a converter and an adapter plug in order to use them.

1)I'm not clear as to what you mean by "recessed" outlets. I know what recessed means but can't visualize the problem I may run into.

AND - - Hate to show my ignorance.... but - -

2)what and which is "a converter" and what is an "adapter"...

Converter changes the voltage I imagine & ??the adapter??

--as you can tell, this is my first trip out of the country--

Going on an Ed Hill Tours "Footsteps of Paul" Tour.(12 days) (4/25departure)

We will have 4 days are on a cruise ship (no specifics yet..).

Thank you so much,

Janis:)

By way of example --

http://www.traveloasis.com/5018wat7piec.html

take a look at this converter/adapter set: The plug adapter is plugged into the outlet -- the adapter is the depth of the recess in the recessed outlet. Without this adapter, you could not use the voltage converter as that converter plugs in flat to the wall. You need the voltage converter in order to plug in typical north american appliances which use 110 voltage versus Europe (and other parts of the world) that use 220 voltage.

By way of example --

 

http://www.traveloasis.com/5018wat7piec.html

 

take a look at this converter/adapter set: The plug adapter is plugged into the outlet -- the adapter is the depth of the recess in the recessed outlet. Without this adapter, you could not use the voltage converter as that converter plugs in flat to the wall. You need the voltage converter in order to plug in typical north american appliances which use 110 voltage versus Europe (and other parts of the world) that use 220 voltage.

-tully07-- You are wonderful! That is exactly what I needed to see...

And the web site is great! I have only used www.magellans.com until now

and never even looked at the converter/adapter sets.:rolleyes:

Thanks a bunch! Janis

There are lots of excursions offered in each port. I took this cruise as part of a tour so our excursions - while the same as those offered to other passengers - were led by our tour director. Of all the excursions offered, I would say that the tour to Ephesus in Kusadasi, Turkey is a must. I also took excursions in Istanbul, Patmos, Rhodes and Santorini. On Mykonos, we took the shuttle from the pier into town and walked around. On Crete, we took a taxi into town and walked back to the ship. The Museum at Knossos was closed and our tour director did not recommend the excursion without the benefit of seeing the museum. (I subsequently heard from several people who had taken this excursion that it wasn't worth it.) My guess would be that the cost of excursions would be 50 euros per day per person, depending on how many you do.

I see our time in Santorini is short and late - 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Did the Cristal follow that schedule on your trip? Which tour did you take, and was it still worth doing since it will be getting dark, I assume, while we are on tour.