Crystal Serenity: 6 Star? I’m not so sure

So a few days ago I was lucky enough to experience what many would never be able to dream of; a tour & lunch aboard one of the highest rated ships in the world, The Crystal Serenity.

She is currently in the middle of a British Isles cruise, and last week she had a stop in Liverpool – hugely popular with the Americans, not so popular with Mancunians. But despite my footballing hatred of the Merseyside City, I decided to take the tedious drive to the end of the M62 to go and see Crystal Serenity to see what all the hype was about.

Now before I give you my thoughts, I should mention that having selling cruises now for over 10 years, I have only booked a couple of handfuls of people on this alleged Six-Star ship, so I genuinely felt privileged walking aboard for a little taste. Indeed, within the cruise industry, the Crystal Cruises brand is pretty much seen as the pinnacle of luxury, and being a bit of a cruise/hotel snob I was desperate to see what was in store.

Now I have cruised Five-Star many times, on such brands as Celebrity Cruises, Oceania Cruises, and Holland America Lines, so I would like to think that I know what I’m talking about when it comes to the top end product.

OK, so what did I think?

Honestly, I thought the ship itself was of a near perfect size in terms of space to passenger ratio. She’s not the biggest by any means, but you can see that what Crystal have created is a perfect blend of people, staff & seating – which nowadays is quite rare due to the ‘pack em in’ mentality of certain mainstream lines. It’s something you notice immediately, so well done on this Crystal.

However, there was a slight negative for me in terms of space when it came to the actual accommodation. We saw a few of the cabins, one of which was a top grade Penthouse Balcony Suite which our guide told us was one of the largest available. Let me be honest here, the cabin layout and decor was very elegant, which to be fair stretches around the whole ship, but the actual floor space disappointed me somewhat. I have been on 4 star ships with suites that carry a much lower price tag that were far more spacious. So if genuine open space is what you are after , I’m not sure if this will scratch that itch for you. That aside though the accommodation was very good, with plush furnishings as you would expect.

Moving around the ship was easy, the ship carries a natural flow which some medium ships struggle with, and it wasnt hammered with shops and bars around every corner so noise is kept to a low, which is great. But there is another ‘but’ here. For some reason, the ship just didn’t ‘grab’ me. That feeling that you get when you see something of true beauty, the wow factor, it just didn’t do it for me.

In fairness, a 30 year old like myself is not the target market for this type of ship, so perhaps I didn’t appreciate the decor because of that.

I couldn’t help compare the ship to Oceania Marina, probably the highest quality ship in terms of star rating I had been on prior to Crystal, and for me, Marina was better in every way in terms of the wow factor.

On to more important things for me at this point, food.

The main dining room as spacious and tastefully decorated, again it didn’t quite knock my socks off, but still very nice nonetheless. But the proof is in the pudding for me, quite honestly I don’t really care what the dining room looks like if the food is good, and I must hand it to Crystal, to say that they were only feeding a bunch of travel agents, they did a fantastic job.

First course was one of my favourites, lobster tail. It was deep fried in a light filo pastry and served with a chili salsa which was wonderful. The only quarm I had is that is was served in a stupidly tall martini glass, making it difficult to get at the salsa! In fact it was so impractical, one of my dinner colleagues slightly nudged the waiter as he walked past, sending the glass flying an almost smashing onto her! It was a silly thing but had the starter been on a nice plate or similar  that would not have happened. Was it better than Oceania? Sorry Crystal you lose out here also, on Marina I had Caviar Risotto followed by Miso Glazed Sea Bass, a double course starter – better in quality and quantity.

Main course on Serenity was an absolutely perfect fillet steak. It was about 2 inches thick and was cooked to perfection. The taste was amazing, it was served also with another small cut of beef, possibly skirt which had a parsley crust, again cooked very nicely. All looked excellent on the plate. Served with creamed potato and asparagus, all excellent. The only slight negative is that we were not asked how we would like the steak cooked, which for some is essential. Luckily for me, the steak was cooked medium which is my preference, and exactly how you should eat it. But only a minor issue, and to be fair I think of an evening serving regular customers this would have been asked. Was it better than Marina? Well Ihave to be careful here, because Oceania have their own beef farm, and slow cook their beef in a particular way…………………I have to give this round to Crystal, the steak was generous and tasted superb.

8+t∏

Dessert was a big disappointment for me. It was essentially a cake finger coated in powdered chocolate with a strawberry coulis on top. It was not the standard I would expect, not nearly enough sugar, not nearly enough presentation work. All felt a bit rushed and lacklustre. Aboard Oceania Marina, we had a waffle coated in sugar, with a truffle block coated in a gold edible spray with a super sweet icecream and fudge sauce – some might say this is too much, but it was phenomenally impressive to look at finished the meal brilliantly. Sorry Crystal, but if that is a regular dessert you have a lot to learn.

No cheese offered with coffee which is a must for me. To be fair the best line for me in terms of cheese is actually P&O, who walked around with a full stilton dishing it out to whoever fancied it.

Final point would be the wine, I had the red so cannot comment on the white, and although it was good, it was no better than an off the shelf wine from a supermarket. You might be wondering what my wine tasting is like, well, after 10 years plus visiting ships of varying quality all over the world, sampling goodness knows how many red wines,I think I am qualified to make a judgement here. Not bad, but not great. But again it would have been the house/table wine, so I suppose you can’t expect wonders.

And that was it for my time on board, after lunch we left.

So if you were to ask me is Crystal Serenity a Six-Star product. I would probably say no in truth. But as I have said before, it can be down to personal preference. Past sailors on the ship will probably tell me I’m way off the mark, and in fairness, I don’t know what the ship would be like on a full cruise. I can only gauge it from the time spent on board that day.

Would I pay the large amount of money set by the cruise lines for a week away, no I would not. Not just because I don’t have it, but also because I think you can sail on similar quality for less money.

But did I like it?

Yes I did, it was a fantastic experience & I would like to thank Crystal for having me on board.

The ship for me still scores a comfortable 90% for me. The feeling of space and choice along with the fact that you get everything included gives it an edge, but do I think she is better than Marina? No I do not.

Anyway that’s all from me, I hope you have enjoyed reading my verdict today.

If there is anything I have missed that you would like to know, do give me a call anytime!

Thanks for reading & as always, until next time………………..