The first feeling just climbed on board Crystal Symphony – ship owned by the luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent – is to enter a small itinerant boutique hotel. “Small”, however, is not, perhaps, the right adjective: Symphony has sizes contained with respect to the giants by 7 thousand passengers who today plow the seas of the world today, but its interiors finished with calacatta marble and American walnut wood can accommodate, up to 600 guests inside 310 Cabings spread over five bridges.
In short: on the scale of modern cruise ships – where at the base they appear shipping boats from a few dozen passengers and at the top of the cruises on giganavi – Crystal Symphony occupies an exclusive niche, that of the so -called “Boutique ships “which in a space collected are able to offer travelers an experience of Totalizing luxuryto remember forever and tell once you return home.
“Welcome to board, and welcome home”
Yes, the return home. For many guests, the greeting to the ship at the end of the cruise means reappearing to their daily routines. For some lucky passengers, the descent of the catwalk that leads to the port is however only a moment of passage, a short interlude waiting to go up soon on board. The so -called Repeatters luxury – usually pensioners with above average financial resources – They are a precious good for companies like Crystal Cruises. Over the years, these guests have built an almost familiar relationship with waiters and officers: for them the ship is not only a means of exploring the world but a second floating house made of well -known faces, reassuring rituals and tailor -made attention.
However, the “repeating” are not the only reference target of Crystal Cruises. On board Crystal Symphony – in the 7 -day cruise started from Athens on August 2nd and ended after stopping in Greece and Turkey – we crossed both young families – like the Californian one formed by Lisa, her husband and the two teenage daughters – that solo travelersincluding Lucy, New Yorker iron class 1940, e Brittanyfrom Pennsylvania, a fifty -year -old single who has decided to enjoy A journey alone Traveller.
Over half of the 450 guests on board were American. There are at least three reasons behind this thick Yankee representation. First: Americans viscerally love cruises, of all kinds. Second: They tend to grant confidence with luxury brands with which they have heard of and they trust. Third: Despite a strong inflation at home, their purchasing power is among the highest in the world. On average, for a weekly cruise aboard Crystal Symphony, the request for a classic sea view cabin starts from $ 6,000 each.
How to travel on the Crystal Symphony: quiet, good food and chic cabins
Crystal Symphony is an oasis of luxury that in some ways – the penumbra and the cleaning of the rooms, the ovate quiet that pervades the common rooms, the processions, tireless but silent, of the on -board staff – owns something sacred.
A decidedly different experience from cruises on large ships. From the bombastic and even a little rowdy atmospheres of the latter, here you enter a world where tranquility applies. Since the ship saves – moment celebrated by short melodies like Somewhere Over the Rainbow And What to Wonderful World – When he concludes his trafficking, on board is only a succession of rustling, sweatshirts, cordial dialogues half -voice. Suddenly everything, outside, appears noisy and intrusive. The roar produced by the neighboring ships during the stops in the ports appear even intrusive and out of place, as if a megaphone burst out in white in a tea room.
Some attentions have even surprised us, that on this type of ships we are not guests of the first fur. In scattered order: the touched in ports are almost imperceptible: in the morning you leave your double bed and you find yourself in white to observe a new panorama from the balcony of your room without having noticed anything, as if night you were teleported from one geographical point to another.
Communications Urbi et orbi – A great classic of passenger ships, large and small – are counted on the fingers of one hand and, with the sole exception of those that report the safety exercise, almost never break the privacy of the rooms. The most annoying announcementthat issued in speaker explained on the morning of the landing, is almost non -existent. The evening before the end of the holiday we received this announcement in the cabin: “In order to guarantee guests’ comfort, Crystal Cruises opts for a tacit disimbber”. Bitter Sweet Symphony: How to mitigate bitterness with a sweet class touch.
Food Experience, from Japanese recipes to Italian tradition
Four noteworthy Foodie addresses. In addition to Marketplace – the on -board buffet, where fresh land and sea products are used every day – and at the “Generalist” restaurant Waterside Where the open Seating formula is in force, the gourmet schedule on board is entrusted to the two specialty restaurants Umi Uma And Osteria D’Ovidio. In the first, the recipes of the Japanese-Peruvian chef recreate Nobu Matsuhisacreator of iconic dishes such as Black Cod Miso and Lobster Tempura.
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The second was recently entrusted to the inventiveness of the Italian chefs Massimiliano and Raffaele Alajmothe minds behind the saddlellato The Calandre. The three menus available offer classic dishes such as tuna carpaccio, Parmigiana with aubergines and smoking tagliolini. We opted for a Basil scent soup (tasty but light) and the fettuccine alla carbonara (The choice of the type of pasta and the little bacon in support did not convince us, this time). High -level final, with a very delicate tiramisu prepared at the moment.
The cabins on board Crystal Symphony
The on -board hierarchy has four at the top Crystal Penthouse Suites – 120 square meters rooms with whirlpool and private butler – followed by 8 Junior Crystal Penthouse Suites and from 133 Sapphire Suite. The remaining accommodations include classic cabins with or without veranda. Finally, for Travelers only, they are available 18 Single Guest Rooms With sea view, available without single supplement.
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The excursions and entertainment on board
As always, when we leave for a cruise, it is important to choose carefully excursions. We opted for a mix between tours organized by the company and free descents. On some routes Crystal Cruises makes available to its guests a “small” – quotes again – welcome present: 500 dollars to be spent to taste between excursions, the spa and on -board shops. We decided to use this budget to book a 50 -minute face massage (about 300 dollars) and two group excursions (about 200 dollars) on the Greek island of Delos and Ephesus, in Türkiye.
Entertainment, ça va sans sayis niche. On board the evenings have passed between English films in the cinema at bridge 6, tributes to artists such as Beatles and Elton John and short musical performances imbued with a nostalgic allure 90s. In short: except for one soirée Dancing in conclusion of the cruise, on Symphony the after dinner followed a consolidated lines: digestive bitterness at 8 pm, walking at 20:30, theater at 9:30 pm, return to the room – in the meantime prepared for the night – at 10:15 pm.
The November Drydock and the next stages of Symphony
Crystal Cruises has recently announced that Crystal Symphony will enter the fairing basin for a three -week renovation interventionnext November. The Drydockas is called in the jargon of the professionals, it will serve to refresh some rooms and partially redesign, among other public spaces, the reception, the Bar Crystal Cove, the Starlite Club and the Bistro.
The scheduled interventions will follow those, much more consistent, carried out in 2023, when Crystal Symphony returned to navigate after being the subject of a refitting following the acquisition of the two ships of the company by Abercrombie & Kenthigh-end travel company controlled by the Italian entrepreneur Manfredi Lefebvre D’Ovidioformer patron of competitor Silversea. Before the acquisition by A & K, Crystal Cruises was in Chinese hand, management that had sank, in financial terms, both Symphony and Serenity. The experience in the Leisure Travel Segment and the investments made by Lefebvre D’Ovidio have made it possible to develop a new strategy for the two sisters of the sea which will soon become three thanks to the realization, next year, of a new ship of 800 passengers.
In the second part of the year, temporarily set aside the Mare Nostrum, the Palinsesto di Crystal Cruises will focus on the Caribbean. Two highlights for Serenity: that of November 20 (From Bridgetown to Fort Lauderdale) and that of 22 December (From Fort Lauderdale to Puerto Caldera. In June 2026 Symphony will instead leave for one Cruise of 11 nights between Canada and Alaska.
Source: Vanity Fair
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