Aboard the Crystal Symphony

At 50,000 tons, it’s only about half the size of the two other ships I’ve been on, Celebrity's Constellation and NCL’s Norwegian Star.

Much smaller and not as much to do but quite elegant and easy to get around in. No inside staterooms, either, so we actually had a window this time! We were on Deck 7 (Promenade) with easy access to Decks 6 (Tiffany) and 5 (Crystal), where most of the dining and entertainment options were located.

Even at full capacity Crystal Symphony holds about 940 passengers, less than half the number that can be accommodated by ships like the Constellation and the Norwegian Star. As it turned out, this cruise was pretty significantly under-booked, with only 450 or so passengers. As a result just about everything was a snap – no waiting to get on or off the ship, usually our choice of seating in the dining rooms, and so forth.

We took advantage of most of the amenities at one point or another:

The Crystal Dining Room, the ship’s main dining area, was superb, both in terms of food and service. Through Naoyuki’s participation in CruiseCritics.com, we wound up with an excellent set of tablemates (more on that later.)

The Lido Café (on Deck 11, aft) provided buffet service for breakfast and lunch. Unlike some other ships, the food quality was just as good as that of the main dining room, just fewer options. The wait staff were equally dedicated; you really had to work at it to fill your own coffee cup or take a tray to your table!

The Palm Court (also on Deck 11, forward) served high tea most afternoons between 3:30-4:30. Nothing like slurping down a pot of English breakfast tea (or your choice of a dozen others) with crumpets and pastries and hors d’oeuvres and attentive staff and a panoramic view of the ocean.

Likewise, the Bistro Café was an excellent place for a late breakfast of pastries and fruit or for a mid-afternoon pick-me up.

The spa and fitness center (Deck 12) were on the small side compared to those of bigger ships but with a much smaller passenger base we never had to wait to use the facilities and never felt crowded when we did so.

The main entertainment venue, the Galaxy Lounge, was quite a bit smaller than the full scale theatres on the Constellation and the Norwegian Star and that made an impact on the size and type of productions that could be presented. On the other hand, it’s a much more intimate setting – we were never more than 20 feet from the stage. It was nice to see the performers without having to use binoculars! Ditto, the Starlite Club was quite serviceable for lectures, small performances (the ventriloquist, the a capella group), and activities like Bingo (we didn’t attend) and Liars’ Club (we did attend!)

After the evening show you could usually find us in Luxe, the new disco lounge. The dance floor holds about 10 people, tops, and there were never more than six when we were there. I’m afraid Luxe isn’t going to make it. It was a great place for the ship’s crew (especially the entertainers) to hang out but for people who don’t like (70s and later) dance music there’s not much appeal. Considering the average age of passengers of this cruise was mid 60s I suppose it’s not too surprising that there wasn’t much interest. Not so bad for us, though – we danced our booties off!

Two pools, two hot tubs, one set forward, the other set aft, both on Deck 11 (Lido.) I think we hit the forward ones once or twice but otherwise we tried to save our sun exposure for shore excursions.

Last but not least: Free laundry facilities, yay! On Decks 10, 9, and 8. For a 12 day cruise, they came in VERY handy! I think we went through about three outfits a day (knocking about the ship, shore excursions, and dinner) and we did NOT take 36 pairs of underwear. J

The first couple of days on the ship we were feeling its lack of size but that mostly had to do with the fact that we had about three days at sea (including the transit of the Panama Canal) but making our first landfall (Bonaire.) After that first shore excursion, though, we got into the groove of life aboard the Symphony and by the end we didn’t want to leave.