Tom Stieghorst
We're all eager to see the new Crystal Cruises oceangoing ships under construction in Germany, but CEO Tom Wolber wasn't issuing preview invites at the latest Crystal travel agent gala on Crystal Serenity.
"I won't share anything until we have them perfected, but believe me, they will be the talk of the industry," Wolber said.
After a few days on the Serenity, I was left wondering how much it matters if ships in the luxury end of the cruise spectrum are brand-new or not.
As former Crystal president Edie Rodriguez said on more than one occasion, "New is only new for nine months."
It's more than that, however. The much-savored "new car smell" wears off after about nine months too, but who can doubt that it's better to have a 2019 Chevy Malibu rather than a 2003 version? On the old car, the transmission is hinky, the upholstery is coming unstuffed and there's a cassette player in the dashboard.
But what if you took your Malibu and re-built most of it every couple of years, like some car collectors do? That's essentially what Crystal has done with the Serenity and the older Crystal Symphony.
And of course the Serenity, if it came back in the next life as an automobile, wouldn't be a Malibu. It would be a Cadillac, or maybe a Jaguar.
So I thought the Serenity looked awfully good, and I wondered if anyone not versed in the cruise industry would think much of the fact that it was built 16 years ago.
It seems to me the Jaguars of the cruise business hold up over time better than the Malibus. Part of it is just use. The Malibus of the industry get a fresh set of shoes on the carpets every seven days (or fewer), leading to more wear.
Cruise Jaguars don't have to try so hard to dazzle either. Unlike in the contemporary segment, the ships aren't designed to be the destinations, so the design doesn't become outdated as easily.
Sure there have been a few significant changes to the Serenity since 2003, but they're more in the nature of functional redos than restyling to take out the disco (still has one) or the cigar lounge (that too).
A big move a few years back was to take out the second pool and make dining space from it. If you ignore the sliding glass-paneled roof, you'd never know. It its latest trip to the drydock, the Serenity cut down the number of cabins aboard so that everyone can be together at a single seating in the Waterside dining room.
Most of us have been on a rust bucket or two that hasn't been maintained to standard over the years and it isn't pleasant. But the Serenity is the opposite of that and has a lot extra to offer in terms of destinations, cuisine, shore excursions and entertainment.
It's a really good product. That said, I still want to see those new ships.