Cruise Report on Crystal Symphony

What a lovely ship Crystal Symphony is! We boarded in Los Angeles and took off to what would be an amazing Mexico cruise, full of new friends, music and laughter!

The Crystal Symphony is a bit smaller than the Crystal Serenity, and just as lovely. The ships are laid out similarly, so any Crystal Society [repeat] guest would be right at home on either vessel. I found the Symphony intimate and warm. The service was impeccable, of course. This is what we expect from top rated cruise lines like Crystal Cruises.

Since we were headed to Mexico (where I’ve been many times), I decided to take advantage of the ship and spent a lot of my time onboard. We took some dance lessons, and for the first time, I experienced the Gentlemen hosts onboard. They really do have it dialed in: if ladies are traveling alone they will ask them to dance, take you for a spin, and then they move onto the next lady. They are lovely gentlemen who are decent dancers and really make a lady feel nice to be asked to dance while traveling solo. Single ladies… pack your bags!

Onboard this cruise the theme was jazz… excellent!

There were a number of additional musicians, and a lot of music lovers onboard. We were seated in the dining room with one of the guest lecturers, Will Friedwald, an expert on the Great American Songbook. He’s written books on Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennet. He was fun and we are staying in touch for the future.

We had other table mates that we just fell in love with, and plan on keeping them around for a long time.

There were a handful of us who were the same age on this cruise, we all were drawn to each other and we became our very own little Rat Pack! Meeting new friends is still my favorite thing about cruising!

So our Rat Pack ruled the ship, singing Karaoke, dancing, listening to music, soaking in the hot tub, watching spectacular sunsets, sitting in the sun by the pool and eating in the fabulous specialty restaurants. We had such a great time I wouldn’t have changed a thing!

We went into Puerto Vallarta and there was a cool jazz jam in a lovely club called the River Cafe, a lot of folks from the ship were there as well as the musicians. What a swinging afternoon! The music onboard ship was fabulous and I was lucky enough to play about 5 or 6 times with different musicians (I’m a drummer): Jazz jam sessions in the Avenue Saloon, rock and roll up by the pool with the house band, and, oh yes, we rocked!

The last night was very sad, we had such fun together we never wanted it to end. I say let’s do it again I have always said there is something magical under the Crystal Cruise Seahorses. This trip was no different, a truly magical time!