SYMPHONY
Symphony calls at fewer ports than most cruise
ships, but the onboard entertainment and educational
programs are more than enough to keep its passengers
happy. University@Sea instruction covers everything
from correct mouse technique to creating Web pages. As
befits the first line to offer onboard cybercafes,
Crystal issues each passenger a personal e-mail
address with his or her ticket but charges apply when
the address is used. A one-time set-up fee of $5 is
applied to your stateroom account with its first use
and every message sent or received is $2.75 each for
the first 100 kilobytes of data (roughly equivalent to
15 pages of text). Additional recipients of the same
message (i.e. "cc") are treated as
individual messages and charged accordingly.
The ship's floor shows, guest lecturers, and wine
and food festivals are all enormously popular, and
even the performers in the smaller lounges are
uniformly terrific. No less than Caesar's Palace
oversees the casino, which offers free drinks to high
(and medium, and low!) rollers. The Starlite Club
stays busy nearly all night, first with evening shows
and then with a late-night disco.
SERENITY
Enjoy dancing and cabaret in the Stardust Club,
cocktails and pianists in the Avenue Saloon, and
cigars in the intimate, refined Connoisseur Club. Or
savor breathtaking ocean views through the
floor-to-ceiling windows of the tropical paradise Palm
Court, where, at night, you can dance or attend
classical recitals. The 10,410-square-foot Galaxy
Lounge is Serenity's principal entertainment venue.
It's worth noting that both the Galaxy Lounge and the
ship's other main entertainment venue, Stardust Club,
offer exemplary sight lines and comfortable theater-
and table-style seating.
Twenty-four-hour Internet and email access are on
offer in the Computer University@Sea and instruction
lab, which also provide private workspaces and
cubicles big enough to accommodate a single student
and tutor. The Studio, unique to Serenity, offers an
array of creative and informative hands-on
instruction. There's a library with over 2000 books,
videos, DVDs, and books-on-tape, and an art gallery in
which purchasable artwork is displayed. The three
shops on the 3692-square-foot Avenue of the Stars
offer jewelry, clothing, and the inevitable specialty
items at premium prices.
The Vintage Room, exclusive to Serenity, is a
boardroom with its own wine cellar. Enjoy all manner
of board and card games in the Bridge Lounge.
SYMPHONY
Passengers jog and fast-walk on a wraparound deck.
Crystal Symphony* claims the only paddle tennis court
at sea, and it's often crowded. The large salon/spa,
recently re-arranged according to feng shui
principles, offers a wide range of massages and
beautifying treatments as well as GoSmile teeth
whitening.
The superbly equipped gym offers aerobics classes
and customized weight loss programs. You might find
yourself going to it just for the pleasure of using
its locker room, which features multi-head showers,
sauna, steam, Aveda and Elemis toiletries, and a
mini-fridge stocked with complimentary still and fizzy
water.
SERENITY
The 8,234 sq. ft. Crystal Spa, laid out according
to feng shui principles, features cardiovascular
exercise equipment, a weight room, an aerobics studio,
treatment rooms, and two Wimbledon Courts for paddle
tennis. The luxurious changing rooms offer lotions,
shampoos, hair dryers, and bottles of water. You can
enjoy marvelous views through picture windows while
relaxing in the steam room. The Seahorse outdoor lap
pool is flanked on both sides by outdoor Jacuzzis. The
indoor/outdoor Neptune Pool can be covered by a
retractable roof in inclement weather. There's a full
wraparound teak promenade deck for walking and jogging
on Deck 7, with no deck chairs to get in your way, and
no lifeboats to compromise the view. The sports deck
offers golf driving range, shuffleboard court and
table tennis.
