5 Reasons Why I Loved My Recent Cruise Experience

If you’re familiar with Wine Lovers Travel, you know we’re all about crafting immersive land trips to the world’s most celebrated wine regions. We’ve traditionally focused on these curated experiences because we believe in offering wine lovers something truly unique and enriching.

For a long time, cruises weren’t part of our offerings. While they can be a lot of fun, we found it challenging to deliver the distinct, personalized experiences we’re known for in a pre-packaged cruise setting. But that’s all changed with my recent experience on a 12-night cruise from Venice to Istanbul aboard the Crystal Symphony.

This cruise turned out to be an eye-opener, and here’s why I’m now a firm believer that a cruise can offer wine lovers something special.

 

5 Reasons I Loved My Cruise with Crystal Cruises

1. Crystal Symphony is a gorgeous intimate ship

When the company came out of bankruptcy, one of the first things they did was reduce the capacity of the ships.  The Symphony now maxes out at 606 passengers, a very spacious size for a vessel that originally held 1010 passengers.  With only 60% of that, the staterooms are huge and luxurious.  We had a Sapphire balcony suite, which was towards the top end, and enjoyed a living room plus a bedroom, a double-wide balcony, a walk-in shower big enough for 2, a double vanity, and a walk-in closet.  I was ready to move in permanently.

The public areas were generously sized and never felt crowded.  There was a very large pool plus a jacuzzi and no wait for lounge chairs.  For those who like to keep up their fitness, there was a pickleball court (of course!), a golf simulator, a nicely equipped gym and a walking track, plus daily classes in yoga, Pilates, etc.

 

2. The food was Michelin-star quality

I am extremely picky about cruise food.  I don’t like buffets, no matter how high the quality.  I like fresh and authentic.  Creativity is good if it contributes to the taste and isn’t all for show.  I love almost every ethnic food and am always surprised that international cruises usually focus on all-American favorites.

Crystal takes food to a whole new level.  For breakfast and lunch, there are extensive buffets but if you’re like me and are anti-buffet, there are numerous other choices where you can order off a menu and get items made to order.  Plus, there are breakfast options until 11:30 am, so even late sleepers don’t have to start with lunch.  And there’s always 24-hour room service.

Dinner in the main dining room was uniformly outstanding, and it always included choices representative of the ports we visited.  The dining room opened at 7 pm and you could arrive any time up until 9 pm, providing lots of flexibility on when you wanted to eat.  

Additionally, there are 2 specialty restaurants.  Osteria d’Ovidio served very authentic Italian food in a charming trattoria-type setting.  This was my favorite of the two, serving perfectly al dente pasta al pesto and the most delicious lamb, amongst many choices.

Famed chef Nobu Matsuhisa is the executive chef of Umi Uma, the Japanese specialty dining room.  Serving a menu filled with sushi, sashimi, and hot dishes including his signature black cod, this was the first choice for most people.  Maybe because I live in California which has so many sushi places, I was underwhelmed.  Or maybe Japanese food is not my favorite, but almost everyone absolutely raved about eating here.

Depending upon cruise length, you get either 2 or 4 specialty restaurant reservations at no additional cost.  Since I was on a 12-night cruise, we had access to 4 reservations.

And just in case you’re wondering, premium spirits and many international wines are included in the price of your cruise.  There are premium wines that are available for an extra cost, but the pricing is remarkably fair.  I suspect when Crystal went bankrupt, they had a huge cellar of wine they retained because a lot of what was available were older vintages.  We bought a bottle of 2016 Col Solare from Washington state for about $90, a bargain for this outstanding wine that is a collaboration of Chateau Ste. Michelle and Antinori.  Anyone who buys a bottle of wine on board is definitely a beneficiary of the pricing.

 

3. The Vintage Room Experience

I debated with my husband and myself about spending an extra $300 per person for this once-per-cruise dining experience and am so glad we chose to splurge.  This was the penultimate wine dinner experience and worth every penny.  

Held in a private dining room that can accommodate 12 people—maybe 14 if everyone sat a little more cozily, this is a 7-course meal, paired with the most exquisite wines from all over the world.  Chief Sommelier Boris and Executive Chef David consulted with each other on the menu to make certain it reflected the very best they had to offer.  

My favorites?  The duo of Alaskan King Crab paired with a dry crisp 2021 German Riesling from Nonnenberg, Grosse Lage, and the Morel Mushroom Risotto paired with an appropriately bold  2012 Barolo from Cerequio Boroli.

 

What made the decision to attend was actually the wine paired with the cheese served after dinner.  Smith Haut Lafitte Grand Cru Classé.  This is the winery we’ll be staying at in 2025 during Brian Carter Cellars Bordeaux trip, and I had to have a preview.

 

4. Exceptional Service: The Butler and Laundry

Might seem sort of odd to put these disparate items in the same category, but there is a connection.  Service.  Everyone gets a butler, no matter what category stateroom you have, from the entry-level window staterooms to the presidential suite.  Not being accustomed to a butler, we probably didn’t ask for enough, but he was always available to do whatever we asked.  That included room service, helping me get connected when the Wi-Fi was tricky to bringing us a bottle of his favorite wine to try once he found out I owned a wine travel business.

And everyone gets one free bag of laundry washed and folded for them, so they don’t have to arrive home with a depressing suitcase full of dirty clothes.  In addition to free laundry, they will also press items for you at no charge, another very appreciated service.  If that weren’t enough, there are free laundry rooms on every deck, with free detergent, so if you can’t stand to be away from your laundry room, you can wash clothes to your heart’s content.

 

5. The variety of shore excursions…and how Wine Lovers Travel can customize a cruise

Promised to get back to this.  Since I took this cruise to experience the new Crystal Cruises and to visit Greece and Turkey, both wine and food destinations that may become future Wine Lovers Travel trips, I signed up for shore excursions in most ports.  This is the one thing that is not included in the price of the cruise.

Most of the experiences were excellent and were led by local guides who clearly had a passion for the places where they lived.   A couple included lunch at local restaurants, adding to the authenticity.

What occurred to me is that Wine Lovers Travel, in partnership with the in-country travel companies we use to design our land trips, can also offer exclusive shore excursions for our group of travelers.  That would make the trip unique to our group, in line with our mission of providing our guests with experiences they couldn’t source on their own.  Since Crystal’s shore excursions are not included in the price, our travelers could opt for ours.  More to come on this.

Also, I’ll be talking with Crystal Cruises about having our own private Vintage Room dinner.  

I came back from this cruise with a new appreciation for what’s possible at sea. While land trips remain at the heart of what we do, don’t be surprised if you see a Wine Lovers Travel cruise on the horizon. We’re always looking for new ways to bring our community of wine enthusiasts together for extraordinary experiences.

Stay tuned for more updates, and who knows, maybe a future cruise will be calling your name. To make sure you don’t miss any updates or announcements make sure to sign up to our newsletter.