Cruise Reviews - Crystal Harmony - San Francisco to Sydney
Cruise Line: Crystal
Ship: Crystal Harmony
Date of Cruise: September 2000
Cruise Review - San Francisco to Sydney on the Crystal Harmony
By: Frank
I've just returned from a 20 day voyage on the Crystal Harmony that sailed from San Francisco to Sydney. Rather than a long, meal by meal report, I'm summarizing as follows:
We only stopped at a few ports, 2 being in Hawaii at Lahaina and Honolulu. (We prefer sea days so this itinerary was great for us.) If this was my first and only visit to Hawaii, it would have given me a poor idea of that state. Lahaina was overbearingly hot and humid. We spent very little time on shore. But we had been there a number of times during the winter months that, like Florida, are much nicer.
In Honolulu, we took the local bus that goes completely around Oahu for only $1.00. It gave us a review of what we'd seen in the past. We hadn't been on Oahu except to change planes since before I retired.
We traveled from cool San Francisco, to the tropics, crossing the international date line and the equator, finally ending up in Sydney where it's spring. And yes, the water does drain in the opposite direction down under. <G> It was really hot at the equator.
One of the ports was Apia, Western Samoa. It was a pretty tropical locale. Reminded my a little of Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands but without so many people and so much commercialism. The scenery in the harbor was similar. The tour we took included the proverbial show by the locals that I wasn't looking forward to. I've grown tired of the Hawaiian type song and dance routines. But I was pleasantly surprised by these folks. They had a unique sound that was very lively and upbeat. Very enjoyable.
Due to the troubles in Fiji, that stop was replaced with an island in New Caledonia called Isle of the Pines. The population of our ship was about the same as the island and the island chief does not allow touristy stuff. So, when one gets off the tender, there are no vendors selling the gamut of souvenirs one sees at most ports.
This island was so different from the others we've seen in the tropics. The inhabitants looked African instead of Polynesian or Micronesian. They spoke French like the rest of New Caledonia. They cooked some of their local food which they wanted to share with the visitors and this was not for sale but free. In fact it was deemed an insult to refuse. (I avoided it though. <G>) The island
seemed to be a number of little fingers with aqua blue water on both sides like you see in ads. We enjoyed this port the most. The crew, passengers and some of the Olympic veterans (Nadia & Bart) played a sandlot game of cricket which was a lot of fun.
Next stop was Noumea, New Caledonia which I believe is their main city. We took a city and country tour which at first seemed to be a church tour since we hit churches for our first two stops. New Caledonia is known for its nickel mines, its #1 export that leads tourism for dollars. Those mines and piles of rock take away from the beauty of this area. The city was busy with traffic but the countryside was very nice. We went to one area that overlooked a good part of the island and had fabulous views. It was getting hot when we got back to the ship so we decided to stay in air conditioning for the rest of our stay in that port.
Our final stop was in Sydney, where we over-nighted. This gave us a full day to see the city. We took a city tour in the morning and a wildlife park tour in the afternoon. Sydney is a beautiful city. Crystal had the optimum port location of the 10 to 12 cruise ships that are docking there for the Olympics. It was right across from the Opera House and near the bridge. At night, the Opera House lights change color and provide an interesting show. This was not the time to be in Sydney though since it was starting to get crowded and the worse was to come. For security reasons they were starting to block off more roads, waterways and the like making things worse. But it's neat to see the TV coverage of places that we visited just a few days ago. We plan to go back in a few years and visit Australia and New Zealand when its less crowded.
Crystal is a first class outfit. What is different from other ships we've cruised is that the menu isn't everything available. For example, Eggs Benedict is not shown on the breakfast menu but there isn't a blink of the eye when one orders it. In the evening, when my wife asked what night they were serving lobster, the head waiter asked, what night do you want it? Before my wife could decide, he said, you'll have it tomorrow night. The next night, he brought out 4 lobsters just for her & scooped out the meat from the tails while she watched. She ate them all but was up later that night with a tummy ache. <G>
Near the end of the cruise, one of the men at our table, who was getting tired of gourmet food, joked that he'd like some fried chicken. He heard it and said he'd have it tomorrow night. I and some others said we'd like some too. You can't imagine the size of the platter that was brought and was it delicious.
Crystal, like other cruise ships, charges for alcoholic beverages and sodas. However, unlike other cruise ships, they also provided alcoholic beverages free at some of their functions. Most ships have a welcoming night where they serve a few free drinks that are limited to a small choice, like a Mai Tai, Manhattan, Martini and such made in mass quantities. Crystal met you at the door with champagne, white zinfandel, plus a white and red wine. In addition, you could order any mixed drinks you wanted and they all were free. They also had hot and cold items including caviar (yuck) that they continually offered as they did for more drinks from roving waiters.
They had a fashion show on board and served champagne free to those in attendance. A couple of nights they had special buffets on the open part of the Lido deck, in addition to the dining room, where they had beer and wine free.
We were very fortunate to have one of the ship's officers dine with us at our table. (He was not there every night - I suspect he rotated his appearance with the second seating people.) When he attended, he hosted numerous bottles of red and white wine. Unfortunately, my wife can't drink and I barely have some unless its white zinfandel.
We also had a special invite to the Captain's quarters for a reception. Again, there were free drinks. That time I had a few Baileys. <G> I like the sweet stuff.
Another neat thing Crystal has is their University@sea. It was a great way to get older folks aware of the computer and to learn how to use e-mail. Some of these folks were so thrilled to get an e-mail from one of their grandkids. It was also nice to be able to keep in contact with our kids while we were out at sea and/or out of the country. Before we left, I thought that charging $3 per message was a rip off, but it really was a nominal charge compared to everything else we spent. And it allowed us to easily stay in touch. And it sure was cheaper than the ships phone at $10/minute or even a pay phone in an international port.
Overall, this was one of the best cruises we ever took. We especially liked the many sea days. The former Olympians and Casper Wienberger were the icing on the cake. Some of the Olympians, like Nadia Comaneci (the perfect 10) and her husband Bart Conner, most people remember. (BTW, Nadia sure has changed from when she was that little girl. She fills out a bikini very nicely and does not have one ounce of fat. I've got the pictures to prove it. <G>) And most will remember Kathy Rigby. But, I did not know who Louis Zamperini was and didn't think I'd be interested in what an 84 year old man had to say. Well, I was enthralled. To be brief, he medalled at the 1936 Olympics, was shot down during the war, drifted 2,000 miles for 57 days in a raft only to be captured and abused by the Japanese. His story is being made into a movie starring Nicholas Cage. Others included Doctor Sammy Lee, winner of many medals and coach of Greg Luganis; John Nabor, Dwight Stones, Perry O'Brien and others. Each one had stories that were superb. Nadia and Bart concluded theirs with a gymnastic performance on a slightly rolling ship.
I have to digress here for a moment to tell a story about Nadia. I mentioned earlier about the cricket game on the Isle of Pines. There was this little native girl, about 8 years old, who was watching and everyone encouraged her to play in the game. But we had a communication problem since she only spoke French. It turned out that the only person who could speak French was Nadia. (We thought later that this little girl would never realize who that actually was that was her interpreter that day.) When it was the little girl's turn to bat, they had problems showing her how to hold the bat. She was trying to tell them something, but again, they couldn't understand until Nadia came running in from the outfield to tell them that she was trying to tell them that she was left handed. But they were very loose and friendly and we had a lot of fun.
One evening, my wife was playing blackjack in the casino, which is run by Caesar's Palace and the employees they had on this ship were excellent. Better and friendlier than any we've experienced on land. To continue, Bart Conner sat next to my wife and was very personable. He kept egging her on to bet more, which she didn't. He dropped a bundle but she only lost $40 at that setting. The next day, Bart saw her on board and said something like, "I told my wife Nadia about you last night (as if we didn't know who his wife was <G>) and I didn't think you'd speak to me again after last night". Yeah, right. My wife was so enamored from the celebrity angle and the camaraderie that not speaking to him was the last thing she'd ever do. But these people were so approachable and it made this cruise so unique that there doesn't seem any way we'll ever be able to top it.
Back from my digression. Both dining with an officer and this visit to the Captain's quarters normally happen with repeat Crystal customers, so we were surprised that it happened. It might have been due to the fact that we had one lady, traveling alone, who was on her 26th Crystal cruise in the past 5 years? Or they might have surmised that we met their criteria for potential replacements for their long
term repeat customers who might be dying off. (G) Whatever, it was something we never experienced on other cruises even though we've done Princess a number of times.
Crystal's theme song is "Its a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong and they play it every time they leave a port which is neat. They also played "Friends for Life" from the Barcelona Olympics at some of the Olympic talks which is a really pretty song. I've tried to find it at Amazon.com by the male and female opera singers who performed it, but I've had no luck. Crystal had the best entertainment of any cruise line I've been on. Their shows not only were well done, but the costuming and the numerous costume changes were phenomenal. Some costumes, that were only worn for a minute or less, cost over $1,000 each, we found out later. Also, these performances were so energetic, I don't know how they did two each night they had them.
They had a mixture of these and some very high brow entertainment, like a pianist, classical guitar, violinist and others. The first two were too high brow for me but the violinist was lively and well received. They have two showrooms and the larger one had the production shows while the smaller one had the juggler, soloist type offerings. There was more than enough to see and it was the norm to be making your pick and missing some.
They also have on board this trio that plays all over the ship. You wouldn't think a trio could sound so good. They played at the afternoon tea, they serenaded at dinner, they played at other times. (Speaking of the tea, again it was the best we've ever seen on a cruise ship. It was hard to resist eating right before dinner, but often we couldn't resist. One afternoon, they have their Mozart tea, where they all dress up in costumes of his era and play his music. It was something to see.) They could play any song you requested and did it so well. Some evenings they had parties on the Lido deck, like a sail away party where they provided some kind of rum drink. They had a sextet that played for that and they also were extremely good. There was a piano player, who played in the Crystal Cove, which is just outside the dining room. He was always playing before dinner. My wife asked him once to play a certain song and from then on, every time he saw her, he'd play that song.
The clientele on this ship is from another income strata. The combined net worth of the 900 or so passengers was in excess of many billions of dollars. For example, the owner of Fuji, who has 76 Crystal cruises under his belt, was on this ship. (When you think about the fact that Crystal has been in existence for only 10 years, that means he takes about 8 cruises a year.) He plans to retire next year and spend an entire 365 days on board.
One woman was wearing jewelry that looked fake because the stones were so big. But they weren't. And she wore different jewelry every night. She must have had Brinks deliver them to the ship. Another woman lamented about the fact that her husband set her limit at the casino for this cruise at $50,000. We saw people betting stacks of $100 chips. As I mentioned, Caesar's Palace runs the casino with their people and they were the best we've ever encountered anywhere. People thought nothing of dropping $300 for a tiny purse, more for an outfit and the bidding at the art auction was unbelievable. Its nice to see how the other half lives. <G>
Crystal is one of the few cruise lines that actually brews real coffee on board and they use Folgers. Others, like Princess, open a can of liquid and mix it with hot water and you can tell. There is so much more I can probably relate, but can't recall at this time. If anyone has any questions, just ask.
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