The new Crystal Symphony

We had been on the Crystal Symphony a few years ago and booked this trip for my special milestone birthday. The were a number of new ports of call on this Mediterranean trip and we had an overnight stay in an hotel before th cruise. We received an email on the morning we were due to join the cruise saying we were not departing that day and would be having an overnight in port and lose a sea day, we were fine about that and enjoyed the bonus of a full day in Lisbon. The reaso for the change in itinerary was not entirely clear, when we boarded we realised that this was the first trip, post refit and some work was still outstanding. We were offered a complementary tour of Lisbon (which we were too late to book for) and $150 each on board credit. One of the main changes introduced as open seating in the main dining room for dinner which actually suited us better than fixed seating.mmwe tended to go to th dining room for our breakfast (we found the buffet a bit busy) it was fine for lunch, although sometimes we thought it should have been open longer. There were very few British guests, some Americans, Canadians and Austalians and a lot from Asia and food wise they seemed to be well caters for with the new Asian fusion restaurant being well patronized at lunchtime. The bar staff, especially those poolside wer fantastic and remembered your drink choice. There was a very wide choice for dinner and probably the best fish we have ever had on a cruise. With open seating some of the areas in the dining room seemed to be busier than others and we sorted out the best time to eat and also the area we preferred to sit where our favorite staff waited on. I was given a special breakfast for my birthday - never had fillet steak for breakfast before! We went into some very small ports, but really nice authentic places and the two overnight stays were good in terms of being able to see as much as possible. Having wifi at no cost was a bonus too as well as the fact that it was all inclusive. The whole cruise experience was excellent and we are looking forward to a future trip on th Crystal Serenity when she has had her refit.