Crystal Serenity Review

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Baltic Cruise on Serenity

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Crystal Serenity
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prof1420
6-10 Cruises • Age 80s

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Sail Date: Jun 2013

On this Baltic cruise Crystal continued to live up to its high quality reputation but the jury is still out on whether going all inclusive has caused a decrease in the level of service. We could not decide. The staff was still very friendly but they did not make any attempt to learn our names or drink preferences as they did on a previous cruise. However, this was an unusual cruise with only one sea day and the rest of the time it was a new port every day so there was not the same opportunity for the crew to learn about the passengers.

One aspect of the all inclusive policy that we liked is that room service provided two bottles of alcohol of our choice for use in the cabin. But what if you are a non-drinker? No refund is given in that case which does not seem fair. We also wondered what would happen to the remaining liquor when we left. On disembarkation day we overheard a debate between room stewards on the type of booze they liked best as they cleaned the vacated cabins. It was clear to us that at least some of the left over liquor would be consumed by the crew. Perhaps this was some compensation for the extra tips they did not get under the all inclusive policy.

Everything else went very smoothly except the Dining by Reservation (DBR) system. As we noted in another review of the Symphony, Crystal maitre d staff apparently do not like the DBR system and generally try to dump all the DBR people into the last sitting making sure DBR does not work the way it should. Princess manages their equivalent option much better.

Cabin Review

Cabin A

A compact cabin but with lots of storage. Well laid out and comfortable. Bathroom was reasonably large with two basins. Very clean and well appointed.

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