Crystal Cruises, Life on Board
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Art Classes On Board
Odyssey Art at Sea classes, the only creative arts program designed for luxury cruise ship guests, are offered on sea days, taught by specially trained instructors. Classes are varied. Watercolor painting, using nature and often ports visited as themes, is very popular. Crafts are offered as well. Often, these crafts relate to the area in which the ship is traveling and the local art is often explored. The materials range from the traditional to the cutting edge and are of the highest quality. An art show of the guests’ work is held in the Crystal Cove before the cruise ends. |
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Bars & Lounges
The ships offer a variety of bar and lounge venues, including the Avenue Saloon, The Bistro, casino, Crystal Cove, Galaxy Lounge, Palm Court, Pulse (Crystal Serenity), Stardust Club (Crystal Serenity), Starlite Club (Crystal Symphony), Sunset Bar (Crystal Serenity) and Trident Bar. Each features a unique style and atmosphere, as well as different hours of service. You may have beverages delivered to your stateroom by calling Room Service. Charges may be applied to your shipboard account. Guests must be at least 18 years old to be served wine and beer, and at least 21 years old to be served spirits. When docked or anchored in U.S. ports, within the three-mile limit, guests must be at least 21 years old to be served any alcoholic beverages. |
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Beauty Salon
The Crystal Salon offers a range of beauty services for women and men, performed by trained professionals. Featured services include haircuts, hairstyling, coloring, facials and skin analysis, manicures and pedicures. For more information click here. |
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Business Services
Conference and meeting facilities are available on board. Secretarial and copying services are available upon request for a nominal charge, as is private e-mail and Internet access through our Computer University@Sea. For your convenience, 24-hour Wi-Fi access is also available throughout the ship, reception-permitting. |
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Communication
Mail Telephone Calls are billed to your shipboard account or a major credit card. However, please be aware that the per-minute cost to use this system is significantly higher than a normal shoreside call. You may also wish to use pay phones located in various ports of call. SeaMobile™ cellular service E-mail Facsimile Internet Access |
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Currency / Shipboard Accounts
At the beginning of the cruise, for your convenience and to expedite the settlement of your account, you are requested to have an imprint of your credit card and your signature taken at the Reception Desk. Your shipboard account and charges may be settled with cash (in U.S. dollars), traveler’s checks, MasterCard®, VISA®, American Express®, Diners Club® or Discover Card®. Personal checks of up to a per-cruise total of $2,000 per person may be cashed on board for personal use and to settle your shipboard account. Credit card payments and personal checks are subject to credit clearance. For our guests’ convenience, a local foreign currency exchange service is available on board in certain ports. |
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Daily Program
The Reflections daily program is delivered to your stateroom each evening to help you plan for the next day. It is a valuable guide to the activities on board, including a complete schedule of the day’s events, hours for the ship’s diverse venues and important announcements. It also contains entertaining articles on ports of call, personality profiles of shipboard officers, staff, entertainers and Crystal Visions Enrichment Program lecturers, facts about cruising and a great deal more. |
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Dancing & Dance Lessons
Crystal Cruises offers an abundance of dancing opportunities and venues, each with its own style and ambiance. Stardust Club (Crystal Serenity), Starlite Club (Crystal Symphony) and the Palm Court offer dancing before or after dinner on most evenings. Starlite Club (Crystal Symphony) and Pulse (Crystal Serenity) offer late-night dancing to the music you request from our disc jockey. Our professional dance instructors offer complimentary classes in the most popular dance steps as our distinguished Ambassador Hosts await to escort ladies onto the dance floor. |
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Family Reunion
Why is a Crystal Cruise an ideal choice for a family reunion? Crystal Cruises offers choices for every member of your family. Whatever the age, 3 or 103, family members can participate in activities such as:
What other advantages are there for booking your family reunion with Crystal Cruises? Not only does Crystal Cruises provide a lush setting to bond with your family, there are many other advantages to consider:
With Crystal Private Adventures, Crystal Cruises also offers an often once-in-a-lifetime chance for families to visit the place of their ancestral heritage or to explore any of our ports of call. Families can work with an expert to design a unique shore excursion program to bring them closer to their roots or to simply give them the chance to travel ashore together. Shipboard credits extended to family groups can be applied toward your private shore excursion and/or baby-sitting fees. For large families:
What would be an ideal Crystal Cruises itinerary for a family reunion? While it certainly depends on the family, any cruise is suitable for a family reunion. Many multigenerational families find our summer Mediterranean and European voyages to the best for a family reunion experience, especially for those with ancestors in those regions. The destinations are so rich in culture and history, they provide a great learning experience for all. Additionally, Crystal Cruises offers its Junior Activites Program during the summer cruises when the most children will be onboard. The activities are designed for children and teens from 3 to 17 years of age and are also offered on our holiday cruises. For families that wish stay closer to home, Crystal Cruises offers a series of convenient 7-day voyages to New England and Canada, the Mexican Riviera and the Caribbean. How does a Crystal representative work with the family to create the best family reunion?
Crystal Cruises can recommend a Crystal Cruises travel expert with experience booking family travel. |
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Laundry / Valet Services
Complete valet services are available, including laundry, pressing and dry cleaning. Services may be arranged through your stateroom stewardess, or through your butler if you are in categories PH, PS or CP. Valet charges are billed to your shipboard account. Pressing is offered free of charge to Penthouse guests in categories PH, PS and CP. Complimentary self-service launderettes, including washing machines, detergents, fabric softeners, dryers, irons and ironing boards are provided on Decks 8, 9 and 10 (Crystal Symphony); and Decks 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 (Crystal Serenity). |
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Luggage
All check-in luggage is collected outside your stateroom door on the last night of your cruise in order to be cleared through Customs before disembarkation. Please do not pack critical travel documents such as passports, wallets and air tickets in your check-in luggage. You may wish to pack a small overnight bag to keep your personal items and identification with you for the morning. |
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Medical Services
Medical staff are on call 24 hours a day. The professional services of this staff, as well as certain medications, are available on board at reasonable costs. Guests requiring ongoing medication, or having specific dietary needs, are advised to bring an ample supply of medication or dietary supplements with them in their carry-on luggage. Portable oxygen tanks and concentrators may be used on board, provided Crystal Cruises is notified in writing, no later than 30 days prior to sailing, that a guest is bringing his or her own oxygen equipment, and has made direct arrangements with an independent medical contractor who has agreed to undertake all required arrangements without involving the ship’s onboard Medical Center and its personnel. The oxygen-dependent guest must travel with a companion who is also completely familiar with the operation of the concentrator. Oxygen-dependent guests are limited to those cruises on which they can be properly supported by equipment vendors and which have itineraries that will easily allow medical disembarkation if it should be required. The number of oxygen-dependent guests using portable equipment is very limited on any cruise. Requests for oxygen equipment for a specific cruise will be processed in the order of date received. Guests with existing medical conditions, guests who cannot completely care for themselves and who may require treatment by the ship’s medical staff, or guests who may constitute a risk or danger to anyone else on board must be reported in writing to Crystal Cruises’ Onboard Guest Services Department prior to departure. Crystal Cruises reserves the right, without liability, to refuse to board and transport such guests who are in need of constant care by the ship’s staff. |
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News Service
While you relax and unwind at sea, you can still stay in touch with the world. CNN, ESPN, CNBC, and FOX News are transmitted live via satellite to your stateroom television, 24 hours a day (signal permitting). A summary of daily news is transmitted via satellite to the ship (reception permitting) and is distributed to staterooms each day. |
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Parties & Special Occasions
Our bar manager is happy to make arrangements for any special occasions or parties. The bar manager can provide you with available packages including waiters, bartenders, special hors d’oeuvres and invitations. Housekeeping can assist with arrangements for small gatherings in staterooms. |
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Photo Shop
The Crystal Photo Shop meets a wide range of photographic needs, including the sale and development of film, digital processing, cameras and other photographic accessories. Our professional photographers are often on shore to capture memorable moments in port, and on hand to take portraits of guests during special occasions throughout the cruise. These photos are on display and available for purchase at the Photo Shop on board. |
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Shipboard Services
Our staff takes pride in making sure your entire journey goes smoothly, from beginning to end. Concierges Cruise Sales Consultant Crystal Society Host/ess |
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Shore Excursions
An extensive selection of Crystal Adventures shore excursions has been developed to enhance your cruise experience. Options include sightseeing, flightseeing and adventure tour programs. Activity levels vary from tours requiring less walking to more active excursions such as cycling and kayaking, each providing you with an opportunity to explore the points that interest you most at the ports you are visiting. All Crystal Adventures shore excursions may be pre-reserved. Call Brilliant Cruising at 1-800-706-0338 for our pre-reservation form. A book of Crystal Adventures shore excursion options is included with your pre-cruise documents so that you can familiarize yourself with the tours available prior to embarkation. Once on board, you can book your tours through the ship’s Shore Excursions Desk. The Shore Excursions staff also offers informative talks on each port of call, providing shopping tips and things to look forward to while ashore. Please note that all guests participating in Crystal Adventures shore excursions are required to have a valid booking number for the specific cruise during which the excursion is offered. We are sorry that visitors and outside guests cannot be accommodated on our tours ashore. Please check your tickets to ensure they list the specific Crystal Adventures shore excursion(s) which you pre-reserved. If the tour listed on the ticket(s) you receive is incorrect, please bring the ticket(s) to the Shore Excursion Desk to exchange them for the correct tour. Failure to bring incorrect tour tickets to our attention prior to the departure of the tour could result in your being charged for the tour listed on the actual tickets you received. |
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Wheelchair Access, Use of Scooters & Power Wheelchairs & Facilities for the Physically Challenged
Guests with any disability, including those primarily confined to wheelchairs or scooters, are medically oxygen dependent, are hearing impaired or use service animals, must notify Crystal Cruises at the time of booking as they may be required to submit forms for Release and Indemnity directly to Onboard Guest Services prior to sailing.
Guests must bring their own wheelchair, electrically powered wheelchair or electric scooter that does not exceed 22″ wide. Release and Indemnity forms are required and must be submitted to Onboard Guest Services at least two (2) weeks prior to sailing. Please note: Crystal Cruises reserves the right to limit the number of electric scooters on board.
Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity were designed to be accessible for the physically challenged, with ramp access to most decks and public areas. Ships’ elevators can accommodate most wheelchairs, power wheelchairs or motorized scooters that do not exceed 22″ wide, allowing access to all public decks. It is strongly recommended that the guest be accompanied by a traveling companion for better access to all areas on and around both Crystal ships, as well as ashore.
Certain staterooms offer extra-wide doors, fully wheelchair-accessible bathrooms and wheelchair-accessible closets with low-fitted hanging rods. Some suites offer limited wheelchair access to personal facilities. Staterooms and suites designated for guests with disabilities are subject to availability and must be reserved prior to boarding the ship.
As some ports of call are anchorage ports and others may be challenging, physical conditions may preclude guests requiring wheelchairs or scooters from going ashore. This decision is made at the discretion of the ship’s Captain or doctor, and is binding.
The onboard Shore Excursions staff is able to assist with recommendations on which Crystal Adventures tours, if any, are best suited for physically challenged guests.
Additional conditions may apply and should be discussed in detail with Onboard Guest Services at time of booking. |
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