Welcome to Taplin's review of the Crystal Cruises, Crystal Serenity. ReviewThatCruise.com is first for Crystal Serenity Reviews & Crystal Serenity ship reviews.
What a joy it was to drive down to Southampton, hand over the car for parking, and join the queue of half-awake Americans who had flown in overnight; usually we are the ones who are half awake.
Boarding was very efficient and we were soon in our cabin, with one piece of luggage already there and the other arriving shortly afterwards. No need to go to dinner in our travelling clothes, which has been our experience on some lines.
A tour of this lovely ship gave us the chance to make spa reservations, check our dining table and visit the library before the boat drill. Soon after that we were on the top dock enjoying the sunny sail down Southampton Water and the Solent before we went to get ready for dinner. Our balcony cabin was nicely equipped, but not as large as the rating of the cruise line might lead you to expect.
We were on second sitting and joined two pairs of Americans and a pair of Mexicans, who we were delighted to find shared our interest in wine (no Coca Cola or Iced Tea on our table). Crystal still provide sommelliers, who are very efficient at getting around their tables to take orders, so the wine arrives before the food. Our waiters were from eastern Europe, friendly and efficient. I never saw them falter once. The menu choice is all you could ask for and the food superb. There was no impression of being rushed.
The cruise had been advertised as a Food and Wine special and visited Bordeuax, La Rochelle, Bilbao, Gijon, Honfleur and St Peter Port. The Bay of Biscay treated us well and apart from some fog in Guernsey the weather was pretty good all through.
We overnighted in Bordeaux - unfortunately the ship docked Sunday morning and Monday was yet another French holiday, so after a good city tour we had to retreat to the vineyards to occupy ourselves. La Rochelle was a delightful town, and we also visited the sandy Ile de Rey nearby. Bilbao was very interesting; talk about a city reborne. We went on a city tour and to the Guggenheim, but were then caught by the infuriating Spanish custom of the 13.00-16.30 siesta. This did not go down well with Americans wanting to shop. Gijon was new to almost everyone; the guide here reminded us they were not Spanish but Asturian, with a longer history than the Spaniards - we went on a tour to the fascinating medieval city of Oviedo. Honfleur gave us a chance to also visit Rouen, where we saw much of the city\'s history. On Guernsey we did a round-the-island tour. All these excursions were booked through Crystal and performed efficiently, at a price.
Because late sitting was at 20.30 (European-style according to Crystal) our shows were before dinner. They were fine, but it meant that after dinner (22.30 onwards) the ship was a bit dead, yet one did not want to turn in straight away. I think this is one experiment Crystal will not repeat. Other highlights onboard were the Grand Buffet, organised at lunchtime (much better than those silly midnight affairs), a couple of classical concerts, French lessons and Yamaha music tuition.
All in all the whole cruise was fantastic, and we will definitely be on Crystal again.
