Today I will give you a short tour of the ship. There are 13 decks and not all are available to us cruisers (is that even a word?). We enter the ship on deck 4. And disembarking and embarking are the only activities on this level for passengers. (Don’t forget, click the images to enlarge them)
Deck 5 has the Crystal Dining Room which seats 500, the medical room, crew quarters, The Crystal Cove (a large reception hall) with a curved stairway to deck 6, a bar/lounge, reception desk, concierge desk, and, of course, a sales desk where one may schedule a future cruise.
Deck 6 - Take the stairway in the Crystal Cove to Deck 6 where high end shops ply their wares. In Apropos there are $350 men’s shirts, equally expensive women’s clothes, and outrageously priced purses. Sherry and I were admiring a unique purse when the male clerk came up to us and closed his eyes and said, with a knowing and ecstatic, if not orgasmic, shudder, “Mary Frances.” Of course Sherry and I acted as if we knew exactly who Mary Frances is.
I might add there are less expensive clothes in Apropros. And there is Captain’s Choice where Crystal logo attire may be purchased as well as various sundries.
Also for our shopping pleasure is Facets, a jewelry store. We haven’t priced anything there. Sherry, as you probably know, is not into jewelry.
If you want to drop two years or more of gross income stop in at Crystal Collections where a $70,000, hand-crafted, watch may be purchased. Of course lesser instruments are also available. In the photo I am wearing a solid gold watch which can be had for a mere $22,500. Dashing aren’t I? A word of warning, there isn’t a Rolex to be found in this shop. As the clerk explained to me Rolex is a well-crafted utilitarian watch but they are not of the same quality as the watches in this shop. Rolexes are bling, the watches sold here are exquisite pieces of fine art and jewelry. (Less expensive watches may be purchased in Captain’s Choice).
Also on Deck 6 are the Photo Shop, The Connoisseur Club where smokers congregate to smoke cigars, and cigarettes too, I suppose. There are also a bar, and a small night club on this level.
In addition to the above Deck 6 has the Stardust Club which seats about 500. This is where shows are produced nightly. Some nights the ship’s entertainers perform and other nights entertainers from the cruise circuit perform. Movies are shown daily in the Hollywood Theater. The Stardust club and the Hollywood Theater are also used for lectures.
But for me the best of Deck 6 is the Bistro - a small coffee shop open all day for coffee and an assortment of food - meats, breads, exquisite cheeses, fruits, and sweets).
Deck 7, The Promenade Deck, is the only deck where you can walk all the way around the ship. This is the first deck with passenger staterooms
Located indoors on deck 7 are the library, the computer room, a studio, a card room, and a small room with myriad jigsaw puzzles just waiting to be put together (currently a 2000 piece puzzle is being worked).
The library has a couple thousand books to be loaned, and as many videos - both vintage and recent. The computer room is filled with Macintosh computer that are loaded with Windows OS. What are they thinking???
Deck 7 has a couple of specialty restaurants, too - Prego for Italian cuisine and The Silk Road for Asian cuisine and sushi.
Decks 8 (Horizon) , 9 (Seabreeze), 10 (Penthouse), and 11 (Penthouse) have the rest of the passenger staterooms. There are no other activity rooms on these decks.
Dec 12, Lido Deck, is where you will find the Lido (where the breakfast & lunch buffets are served), Sunset Bar, Palm Court for dancing the night away as well as group dancing lessons, and the Seahorse Pool. The area with the pool is open to the sun and there are tens of lounge chairs around. (Notice the two hot tubs at the back of the pool).
Deck 13, Sun Deck - Hosts the Wimbledon Court (a paddle tennis court with 2 miniature tennis courts - see photo on left). Piracy on the high seas occurs aft on deck 13 in The Crystal Spa and Salon: massages ($145 for 50 minutes), manicures ($32), and haircuts ($32 plus $10 if I want my beard trimmed as well) and these prices do not include the mandatory 18% gratuity that is tacked on. You can also receive tony spa treatments of any ilk you desire from Aroma Stone therapy to bamboo massage (for the sadists among us😃) to various detox treatments. And the prices are as exotic as the services.
The exercise room is also on this deck. There are 2 recumbent exercise bicycles and 2 upright exercise bicycles; 10 or so treadmills, a bunch of stair step machines, weight machines, and a space for yoga classes, pilates classes, and they even have bikes for spin classes.
My favorite place on the ship is the terrific steam room off the men’s locker room (and yes there is one for the women as well, or so Sherry tells me).
There you have it my friends. In the next installment I will tell you about some of the myriad on board activities.