Cruise Ship Profiles
Ship specifications, photos, itineraries, accommodations, dining venues, notable rooms, activities, children's areas, deck plan, enhancements, incidents, accidents and more.
Cruise News Headlines
CDC Ratings
No new ships to report - updated 2/19
Tropical Storm Updates
All Clear - Peak season begins June 1st and runs through November 31st.
Do you have information you're willing to share with fellow cruisers?
Use our contact form or send us an email if you would like to share your menus, photos, reviews, port advice, excursion recommendations, etc., and help us maintain Shipdetective as a top independent resource for cruise travel news.
Crystal Cruises Contact Info
Crystal Cruises
2049 Century Park East#1400
Los Angeles, CA 90067
www.crystalcruises.com
vharris@crystalcruises.com
Crystal Cruises News
Posted January 26, 2012
The Bistro Will Offer Extended Hours
The Bistro, is expanding to evening hours. The complimentary menu will offer “small bites,” desserts, and “midnight” snacks, along with premium wines and flavored coffees. The new nightly café debuts in April on Crystal Symphony and June on Crystal Serenity, shortly after the ships go all-inclusive.
Posted January 18, 2012
Crystal Cruises now offers faster check-in
Effective today in every Crystal embarkation port, “Crystal Fast-Track Check-In” eliminates 100% of ship check-in procedures in port terminal waiting areas, transitioning guests from dock security to the ships lounges.
By utilizing a new barcode on each guest cruise ticket and a new ticket scanning system, the cruise line is accelerating the check-in required on the first day of sailing.
As is customary, in each embarkation port, porters load guests’ luggage onto the ship, and guests observe required local security procedures as they enter port terminals. However, instead of processing documentation in the terminal, guests are whisked through and ushered on board to complete registration and receive their room keys/boarding cards with photo identification.
Complimentary Wine & Spirits
Posted Dec, 2011
Effective spring 2012, vacations on Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity will include complimentary fine wines and premium spirits throughout the ship, open bar service in all lounges, and pre-paid gratuities for housekeeping, bar and dining staff. The complimentary gratuity amenity also includes Penthouse butler service as well as service in all of Crystal’s fine specialty restaurants and sushi bar.
The new benefits begin with each ship’s first Trans-Atlantic cruise: Crystal Symphony’s “Beyond the Sea” sailing from Miami to Lisbon on March 19, 2012, and Crystal Serenity’s “New World to Norway” voyage from New York to London on May 8, 2012.
Smoking Policy
Smoking is prohibited on verandahs of all staterooms and suites aboard Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity.
Non-smoking areas dominate most bars and lounges, although there are some tables that permit smoking.
Cigarette smoking is permitted in private accommodations, although pipe-smoking and cigars are only permitted in the Connoisseur Club and most open decks.
Guests who do not observe the non-smoking policy will first be asked to comply. Failure to do so can result in a guest being asked to leave the ship at his/her own expense.
Crystal Cruises
With a winning formula for success, Crystal Cruises consistently ranks among the top luxury properties in the world. The line, in just 18 years, has won an unprecedented number of top awards. Grounded in more than a decade of accolades, Crystal has been voted "World's Best" by the readers of Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler more than any other cruise line, hotel or resort in history.
Crystal Cruises Fleet
Children's Programs
Fleetwide Amenities
Effective spring 2012, vacations on the award-winning Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity will include complimentary fine wines and premium spirits throughout the ship, open bar service in all lounges, and pre-paid gratuities for housekeeping, bar and dining staff.
The complimentary gratuity amenity also includes Penthouse butler service as well as service in all of Crystal’s fine specialty restaurants and sushi bar.
Always included at no additional cost are: all non-alcoholic beverages such as bottled water, specialty coffee drinks, soft drinks and fresh juices; all meals, including dining in specialty restaurants that feature the cuisine of Nobu Matsuhisa and Piero Selvaggio; high tea; ice cream and frozen yogurt bar; gym, steam, saunas and whirlpools; numerous fitness classes such as Spinning and group Pilates Reformer instruction; golf lessons with PGA pros; Walk-on-Water weighted vests and Nordic Pole walking equipment; Yamaha keyboard classes; Berlitz language classes; paddle tennis; dozens of computer/technology classes; art classes; Crystal Visions lecture series, featuring Crystal Visions lecture series featuring distinguished speakers; award-winning entertainment; in-stateroom movie and CD rentals; film screenings in the onboard cinema; dance lessons; dedicated junior cruiser facilities; early embarkation luncheon; welcome champagne; comfortable shuttles to town; pillow menus; self-service laundries; twice-daily housekeeping with nightly turndown service; and 24-hour room service.
History
Crystal Cruises is the recipient of many of the travel industry’s highest awards, including "World's Best Large-Ship Cruise Line" (1996-2007, consecutively) and "Best Large-Ship Cruise Line" (1995-2007 consecutively) in Travel and Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler surveys, respectively. Crystal Cruises has also made the Conde Nast Traveler “Gold List” for 11 consecutive years (1997-2008).
When parent company NYK entered the luxury cruise
business in 1988, the ‘Crystal Difference’ was but a distant concept. Today,
Crystal Cruises celebrates its 20th
anniversary in 2010, the line ranks at the top in the industry. For 15
consecutive years and 17 years, respectively, discriminating readers of such
prestigious publications as Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast
Traveler have accorded Crystal Cruises the industry’s most coveted
ranking: World’s Best Large-Ship Cruise Line. The company’s first
ship, Crystal Harmony, entered service in 1990, and in November of 2005 left
the fleet to join Crystal Cruises’ parent company
Los Angeles-based Crystal
Crystal Cruises is owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), one of the largest
and most successful shipping companies in the world. Headquartered in
