Crystal Symphony Oct. 8-19, 2008 - New England/Canada New York to Montreal

While I have seen the Crystal ships previously, this was my first experience sailing with Crystal. It's really hard not to repeat all the kudos others have given about this ship, and Crystal in general. This truly was a delightful experience. I was very impressed with all the staff. Our cabin attendant was wonderful. One of the days at sea I chose to sleep in, which was unusual. The cabin next door to us had been quarantined so Sofija called me later in the morning to make sure I was ok, and had not taken ill. Our dining room attendants were a delight as well, probably the most attentive I have encountered on any cruise line so far. In fact, everyone we came in contact with was very helpful and friendly, from the front desk, library, internet cafe, even the tender staff and security. Not a frown to be seen. I can't remember the last time I saw so many bright, smiling faces. What a joy it was.

All along I have been told how wonderful the food is on Crystal, so I was looking forward to experiencing it for myself. As a newbie to Crystal I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of food, and the variety of healthy options. They seem to take great pride in not killing off their guests with lots of over-indulgent, trans-fatty foods. While the food was certainly excellent, and frequently rich, the portions were small enough to allow for a full 5 course meal without feeling stuffed, or hungry. We noticed that there were less starches and more proteins and veggies served at every meal. Of course you could always order extra of anything, but no one at our table did. I tried lots of new dishes I would probably not order at home. The only over-sized portion, in my mind, were the steaks. I think they must give larger portions of steak for those manly-men who don't want to eat the fancy stuff. Our table enjoyed the humor in that.

I'm sure it goes without saying that the specialty restaurants were fabulous. Silk Road is the Japanese restaurant, offering a mouth watering menu. We also dined at the Sushi Bar one evening. Since I'm not much into sushi, they rolled up a few shrimp options for me, and also allowed me to order off the Silk Road menu. For the others in my group, there were mumbles of excellence between bites. Evidently the sushi is very high quality, inventive and very flavorful. From the looks on their faces as the took each bite, I'll take their word for it. Unfortunately we did not have time to dine at the Italian restaurant, Prego. Several of our regular dining companions did, however, and raved about it as well.

This itinerary from New York to Montreal was very busy, 11 days with only 2 days at sea toward the end on days 8-9. Normally that would have been fine, however my friend and I had just spent 4 days on the go in New York and were looking forward to relaxing on the cruise. Since we wanted to see and do as much as possible in each port we did not get much rest. We visited Newport, Boston, Bar Harbor, St. John, Halifax, Quebec City and Montreal. It's hard to choose a favorite since they were all so different. I mostly enjoyed the history of Boston, the kayaking trip and Bay of Fundy lobster in Saint John, and the beauty of Quebec.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and Crystal is definitely worth repeating.

-Teresa Chilton