New Crystal - the Good, the Bad and the Indifferent

[bitob]

29 minutes ago, nancygp said:

Yes!  Only exception on formal optional nights in the restaurant

 

nancy

Thx so much

[bitob]

2 hours ago, Roland4 said:

They were last fall on Quest. Only time I wore a jacket was at TK.

Excellent. Thx

[juicyjuju]

My trip from hell was on one of the Seabourn little sisters. We were crossing the Bay of Lyon I think, and the ship was tossing in high seas. The dining room was closed and you could only get room service. If you lay perfectly still you could temper the sea sickness but if you needed to get up to use the bathroom oh, how your stomach rolled, not to mention the floor pitching. In the cabin across the hall from us the high seas busted in the cabin window. The water poured in and ruined a lot of the belongings of the cabin occupants, not to mention scaring the holy heck out of them. They had to bring industrial fans for the hall carpets and run them constantly. The main door for the ship also got damaged and we had to limp into dry dock in Lisbon. 

Edited April 18, 2023 by juicyjuju

[ChatKat in Ca.]

On 4/16/2023 at 9:00 AM, nancygp said:

Currently sailing with John…terrific CD

 

Nancy

I adore John.  He and his wife were on board a cruise with us to Alaska the first time.  He was with Radisson then and we had the very best time.  We sailed other cruises.  He's a class act - best of the best!

[Keith1010]

I wanted to comment about itineraries. It's no different than most things. It is subjective.  There are so many factors. 

 

For some a great itinerary is a lot of sea days. For some just the opposite.

 

For some a great itinerary is all ports.For some just the opposite.

 

For some a great itinerary has some overnights. For some just the opposite.

 

For some they say I've been there, done that, I want something new.

 

For some they have a lot of places they haven't been on.

 

I would say for the last 10 to 15 years on this board when itineraries come out some complain about them and some are excited about them.

 

We always find many we like and in the end that's what is most important. You see I really don't care if someone else doesn't like the itinerary. If I do then I am very happy.

 

Keith

[nancygp]

8 hours ago, ChatKat in Ca. said:

I adore John.  He and his wife were on board a cruise with us to Alaska the first time.  He was with Radisson then and we had the very best time.  We sailed other cruises.  He's a class act - best of the best!

He did a show last night and it was great

 

Nancy

[Mr Luxury]

1 hour ago, nancygp said:

He did a show last night and it was great

 

Nancy

I asked John to seek you out Nancy

[nancygp]

5 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

I asked John to seek you out Nancy

Thanks…I pretty sure he is now acquainted with me and the Mr. and others we are friendly with  🤣😃

 

nancy

[nancygp]

On 4/18/2023 at 10:01 AM, Mr Luxury said:

I asked John to seek you out Nancy

Chatted with john about your message to him last night…he speaks very highly of you…thanks for reaching out to him

 

 cheers,

 

Nancy

[Mr Luxury]

40 minutes ago, nancygp said:

Chatted with john about your message to him last night…he speaks very highly of you…thanks for reaching out to him

 

 cheers,

 

Nancy

Glad that worked out Nancy.

Enjoy the rest of the trip.

[Liv4cruzin]

On 3/31/2023 at 4:43 PM, Keith1010 said:

Used to be Dryers. Then switched to Ben and Jerry’s.  
 

Keith. 

Can’t tell you how I will miss that lychee sorbet.💔

[Jimmycruiser]

On 4/16/2023 at 8:36 PM, Roland4 said:

Hi Nancy.

 

We board Ovation on May 30 in Reykjavik. How do you like it realtive to Quest, which you also sailed ahead of us in September??

 

Larry

We board Ovation on July 30 in Reykjavik and would love to hear your observations especially recommended excursions and not to miss sights. This will be our second Seabourn cruise with the first on Quest thru the Panama Canal. We also booked a 19 night Crystal cruise for next year Barcelona to Dover on the Symphony. Have only been on Serenity before so anxious to try Symphony.

[May B]

21 minutes ago, Jimmycruiser said:

Symphony was my first Crystal. I remember that, just to the left of our embarkation entryway was the library … with the librarian standing right at her desk! Great memory. We were especially in awe of the library when Mr. B found two books he thought he’d be waiting a long time to get from the library at home. You know how you only get one chance to make a first impression. It doesn’t get much more favorable than that!

 

Then at dinner, he couldn’t decide between the snapper and the halibut, so he asked the waiter’s opinion. Have the halibut, the waiter said. Bingo. 
 

Ah, so nice to look back at our first day on Symphony. June 2015, NYC to Reykjavik, nine days of pure pleasure. Now we can hope that NC can match that experience. 

Edited June 14, 2023 by May B

[Roland4]

59 minutes ago, Jimmycruiser said:

We board Ovation on July 30 in Reykjavik and would love to hear your observations especially recommended excursions and not to miss sights. This will be our second Seabourn cruise with the first on Quest thru the Panama Canal. We also booked a 19 night Crystal cruise for next year Barcelona to Dover on the Symphony. Have only been on Serenity before so anxious to try Symphony.

I just checked your itinerary and other than Reykjavik, we did Isafjordur, where we did the Western Fjords tour, and Seydisfjordur, where we did the City of Elves tour. Both tours involved a lot of time on the bus, but the scenery is spectacular, and as part of the City of Elves tour, you can get "up close and personal" with "in the wild" Puffins in a natural rookery.

 

Assuming you are going into Reykjavik at least a day early, the "downtown" is very compact and walkable with a number of good restaurants. I would recommend Brut in the Radisson Blue for dinner, and The Laundromat Cafe around the corner from the Radisson is famous for breakfast, and did not disappoint! We also had great fish and chips in a restaurant just down from the Laundromat. The name escapes me, but the building is at the end of the block and is painted bright red!!!

 

Ovation is a larger version of Quest, which we did last September, and we very much enjoyed the ship. All of the public areas are proportionately bigger, except Thomas Keller, which is enormously bigger than the one on Quest, and also has the TK Bar, which is a great paino bar in the evening. The food and service were both excellent, and a far cry from our experience on Quest. In fairness, though, that was last September when every line was having staffing/training issues, so that might not be a fair comparison.

 

Hope this helps.

[Jimmycruiser]

7 minutes ago, Roland4 said:

I just checked your itinerary and other than Reykjavik, we did Isafjordur, where we did the Western Fjords tour, and Seydisfjordur, where we did the City of Elves tour. Both tours involved a lot of time on the bus, but the scenery is spectacular, and as part of the City of Elves tour, you can get "up close and personal" with "in the wild" Puffins in a natural rookery.

 

Assuming you are going into Reykjavik at least a day early, the "downtown" is very compact and walkable with a number of good restaurants. I would recommend Brut in the Radisson Blue for dinner, and The Laundromat Cafe around the corner from the Radisson is famous for breakfast, and did not disappoint! We also had great fish and chips in a restaurant just down from the Laundromat. The name escapes me, but the building is at the end of the block and is painted bright red!!!

 

Ovation is a larger version of Quest, which we did last September, and we very much enjoyed the ship. All of the public areas are proportionately bigger, except Thomas Keller, which is enormously bigger than the one on Quest, and also has the TK Bar, which is a great paino bar in the evening. The food and service were both excellent, and a far cry from our experience on Quest. In fairness, though, that was last September when every line was having staffing/training issues, so that might not be a fair comparison.

 

Hope this helps.

Great input. Appreciate the help. We plan on two full days exploring Reykjavik before boarding. We are actually doing a B2B with 14 days cruising Norway, then 3 days in Copenhagen, and 3 days stop over in Dublin before flying home, none of which we have done before.

 

Recovering from open heart surgery which I had 6 weeks ago so really looking forward to this trip.

[nancygp]

48 minutes ago, Jimmycruiser said:

Recovering from open heart surgery which I had 6 weeks ago so really looking forward to this trip.

Wishing you a speedy recovery and a wonderful trip.  We’ve sailed the ovation twice and quest once since OC’s shut down.  Our first ovation cruise was a wonderful Norway cruise.  While we really like both ships, the ovation has the added features Larry mentioned.  We’re doing an Iceland cruise on seabourn next year and will be interested to hear about the ports you’ll visit as we’ve only been to Reykjavik on crystal several times.

 

Nancy

[CJANDH]

What happened to the discussions about Crystal? Time to close the thread?

[Texas Tillie]

9 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

What happened to the discussions about Crystal? Time to close the thread?

 

I don't understand your post. There's 22 pages of discussion over the past 4 1/2 months. If you're talking about topic drift, welcome to Cruise Critic! 🤪🤣😉

 

Patty

[CJANDH]

14 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

I don't understand your post. There's 22 pages of discussion over the past 4 1/2 months. If you're talking about topic drift, welcome to Cruise Critic! 🤪🤣😉

 

Patty

I guess topic drift is what I am talking about. I have just read all 22 pages to educate myself on the New Crystal. Early posts were helpful. But now the board reads more like a Seabourn review.

[Roland4]

31 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

I guess topic drift is what I am talking about. I have just read all 22 pages to educate myself on the New Crystal. Early posts were helpful. But now the board reads more like a Seabourn review.

Around here, the only "surprise" is when a thread actually stays on-topic beyond the second or third page!!! 😁

[howiefrommd]

2 hours ago, CJANDH said:

I guess topic drift is what I am talking about. I have just read all 22 pages to educate myself on the New Crystal. Early posts were helpful. But now the board reads more like a Seabourn review.

In all reality we can all guess, dream and hypothesize, but in reality there is not a person that can tell you what the NC will be like.   Time will tell.  I am not a frequent poster, but when time permits do peruse the boards that I have interest in.  When you look at the OC/NC board there are a dozen or so people or so that make up the majority of posters. Each seem to have their own slant (positive or negative). 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by howiefrommd
typo

[Keith1010]

51 minutes ago, howiefrommd said:

IWhen you look at the OC/NC board there are a dozen or so people or so that make up the majority of posters. Each seem to have their own slant (positive or negative). 

 

 

This is true of most boards except some have more or less active posters.

 

I am reminded what Captain Glenn used to say.  If you want to have a good time you will. If you don't you won't.

 

We all come at things a little differently. Some focus more on the positives and that goes well beyond cruising and some forward more on the negatives.

 

I see it as part of ones personality rather than a slant.

 

Not sure if you ever met someone who seemed to be happy by finding fault in things while another person finds happiness looking for the good in things.

 

Happens on land. Happens at sea. Happens everywhere.

 

So it goes.

 

Keith

[PTIGIRL]

All very true. Is a glass half empty or half full? 

[TER777]

14 minutes ago, PTIGIRL said:

All very true. Is a glass half empty or half full? 

It doesn’t matter, as either way you can put more in. 

[Keith1010]

26 minutes ago, PTIGIRL said:

All very true. Is a glass half empty or half full? 

Mine is always half full. 😀

 

Keith