Crystal Ravel Review

Crystal's Negligence Put Us In A Horrific, Dangerous Situation

Review for Europe River Cruise on Crystal Ravel
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PB176
6-10 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Apr 2019
Cabin: Suite

We are still in disbelief as to what happened to us at the hands of Crystal. More unbelievable is the uncaring, disregard they have exhibited since our return. We were assured this would be handled with the utmost attention. That has not happened almost five months later. I could write pages describing this ordeal but will try to keep it concise.

Our cruise documents we received had no information regarding the embarkation for our cruise. We figured maybe they did not have this information when they sent our tickets, and we would be hearing from them by text, cellphone, or email giving us this vital information. How else would we know how to find the Ravel ? They certainly have no problem contacting you when they want your money.

We were in Budapest 6 days at a 5 star hotel prior to our cruise so we asked our concierge if he had this information. We thought it must be routine for them to know, although the ultimate responsibility was Crystals. He gave us the information he had and we went out to find the pontoon where our boat would be. We found it and were confident in his information. We never heard from Crystal.

Cabin Review

Suite

Cabin S2

Very small space to move around in. When we packed to leave only one of us could be walking around at one time. Bathroom is nicely laid out with good shower and double sinks.

King bed is nice but takes up most of the suite. We had a breakfast smell odor in our suite every morning between 4:30 and 5 AM that no one could figure out. It disappeared after the third day.Door was a little hard to open and the butler said he would take care of it but never did. Only got hor d'oeuvres in our suite twice during our 7 day cruise. Several people were sick and I think the tight quarters and tables so close together in the restaurant could be a factor.

Although we had a very bad start to our voyage the food especially for dinner was very good. As I said breakfast is not served after 9 AM in the main restaurant, we did enjoy most of it. When I complain about the pancakes, French toast and waffle not being cooked to order as listed in our booklet, they said I could request it. Five star service should not serve these items from a warming dish. Those breakfast items never taste good left sitting. Suites are so small I do not know if room service would be doable. Bartenders were very good and did remember our drink choices.

It is true you have a long walk from the boat, and possibly have to walk through at least one other boat to get to the bus for excursions. Buses were nice and exclusive to Crystal. Entertainment was very limited with a married couple providing the nightly entertainment. They were lovely people, but even the woman succumbed to the virus that hit several guests. Again, close quarters so illness could spread. I cannot stress enough, do your research to see if you can get an idea of water level conditions. Obviously other people were caught unaware and never told of this situation by Crystal. Communication is not Crystal’s strong suit, so you might get a surprise at the last minute. Other reviewers have written they were unhappy not to be able to take the trip they planned and paid a lot for due to the drought which, Crystal never bothered to tell them about. I also would take out insurance, we did, almost another $1,000 to add on to an already expensive trip. You might be able to cancel without penalty depending on the coverage. All of these big “what if’s” makes river boat travel risky and nothing we want to do again.

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