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March 25, 2025
A tour of the Crystal Symphony


The Crystal Symphony

The Crystal Symphony ship first entered service in May 1995, almost 30 years ago. She is 781 feet long and 99 feet wide. (This makes her slightly larger than a traditional Viking ocean ship, which is 745 feet long at 94 feet wide.)

After Crystal’s post-COVID bankruptcy and relaunch, the ship was completely refurbished. Some staterooms were consolidated and actually doubled in size. (In other words, two staterooms became one stateroom by having the connecting wall knocked out.) As a result, capacity was reduced from 922 to 606 guests. Currently, the crew-to-guest ratio is nearly one-to-one.

(Again for comparison, a traditional Viking ocean ship has a capacity of 930 guests. The newest enlarged ships have a capacity of 998 guests.)

Our itinerary sailed with 354 guests, meaning the ship was almost half empty.


Deck 7 before (top) and after (bottom) refurbishment. Some staterooms were consolidated and literally doubled in size. We were lucky enough to get one of these enlarged suites.

Crystal Symphony has 12 decks. Decks 1-4 are reserved for crew. Decks 7-10 are guest staterooms. This leaves four decks with various guest amenities, including a whopping 10 dining options. Here is a photographic tour of the Crystal Symphony.

Deck 5




The centerpiece of the ship is the Plaza, which spans decks 5 and 6. There is a central staircase, a sculpture, and a cascading waterfall. Adjacent is the Cove, which features drinks and live music.


The concierge is a walk-up counter for guest services and shore excursions


Waterside is the main dining restaurant

Deck 6




Galaxy Theatre is the venue for evening entertainment and some lectures. It has a capacity of about 250 guests.


Hollywood Theatre is the venue for daily movies and some lectures. It has a capacity of about 130 guests.


The tiny Jade nightclub features a DJ (we made friends with the DJ, Howard aka “Top Dawg,” from Chicago)


“Avenue of the Stars Boutiques” are a number of (high-end) stores


The Bistro has food, snacks and drinks all day long. (It also serves the best coffee on the ship.) We spent most of our time parked here, as it is centrally located and gets a lot of foot traffic.


The Library has a dedicated librarian


The Starlite Club is one of many dance venues. Dancing is very popular on Crystal – there are a number of “Crystal Ambassadors” who partner with single females


Images is a photography studio. Unlike Viking, Crystal has photographers.


The Avenue Saloon is a sit-down bar and lounge


The Connoisseur club is a good-old-fashioned cigar and brandy lounge


Computer University@Sea has PCs, a full-color printer and technical helpers for guest use


There is a Casino on board!


Osteria d’Ovidio is one of two specialty restaurants that requires a reservation. (Guests are allowed two complementary specialty reservations during a cruise.) Osteria offers Italian meats and pasta.


Umi Uma, the second specialty restaurant, features Japanese food and sushi. It is the only at-sea dining establishment from famed Michelin-star chef Nobuyuki (Nobu) Matsuhisa. We ended up using both of our specialty reservations here.

Deck 11




The Marketplace is the buffet restaurant. This is where we usually had breakfast every morning. There is also an outdoor dining area at the rear of the ship, but it was always too hot and humid for us.


The Beef Bar serves a variety of meat (and other) dishes, including Wagyu beef. It is technically a specialty restaurant but does not require a reservation, and is very popular with guests.


Scoops has gelato, sorbet and real ice cream. It also features a “Sundae of the Day,” which was very bad for our self-control.


The Trident Grill has traditional burgers. Gail was not fond of the onion rings here – she found them too heavy.


We saw more guests at the Seahorse Pool & Whirlpool than anywhere else aboard ship


The Palm Court has a lovely panoramic view out the front of the ship. It is dead quiet and almost empty during the day, but in the evening it has dancing.

Deck 12




In addition to a small putting green, there are two golf driving nets on deck 12. There is also a golf pro onboard who gives golf lessons.


The Crystal Symphony has a pickleball court!


The Fitness Center


The Aurōra Spa offers the usual hair and body treatments, as well as massages. There is also an acupuncturist on board. There are saunas and steam rooms, but they are not co-ed.

We have two more days at sea, when Russell will deliver his final two lectures. This will be followed by one last port day, then we disembark. It has been a short 10 days!

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