SAINT-NAZAIRE, France -- We were about midway through a leisurely
meal, with the sun setting behind the Hotel du Golf here, when the
talk turned to china.
Plate designs on the Crystal Serenity, to be specific. Guests
who receive an invitation to cocktails or dinner in Capt. Reidulf
Maalen's quarters, take note: The master of the Serenity will have
his own special china.
Picking out a china pattern for a new ship is not something
Crystal Cruises does every day -- or every year, for that
matter.
The Serenity is Crystal's first ship in nearly eight years. And
it's not simply a carbon-copy of the Crystal Harmony and Symphony:
the ship will carry 140 more guests in more spacious accommodations
with more bells and whistles than the line's two previous
vessels.
Needless to say, Crystal is taking special care to decorate its
new addition. A "Serenity Committee" of about eight to 10 employees
has been focusing on the ship's details -- from china patterns to
the marble in the bathroom -- for the past two-and-a-half
years.
Travel Weekly.com was given an exclusive tour of the vessel,
which is a week away from its next sea trials and about three weeks
away from delivery.
Actress Julie Andrews will christen the Serenity in Southampton,
England, on July 3; the ship's maiden voyage will be July 7.
However, the ship still has a ways to go before it is ready to
sail, and inside the Serenity, the mood is anything but serene.
Nearly 1,600 officials, electricians, carpenters, welders,
painters and other workers are busy putting together the detailed
pieces of the interior and testing thousands of pieces of
equipment, from fire alarms to coffee makers.
Alexandra Don, Crystal's director of onboard services, pointed
out the minutiae, such as Crystal's hiring of a closet designer to
find the most efficient way to build the cabin closets or the use
of the line's shoreside employees to test new bath products (they
settled on using shampoo and bath gel from Aveda).
In the bathrooms of the four Crystal Penthouses, the line used
fancy Dornbrocht faucets with clear-crystal knobs. An etched,
crystal bowl is a stand-in for the sink.
Don's design inspirations range from hotel trade shows to
articles in in-flight magazines.
"The minute the contracts are signed, you start negotiating with
the yard and drawing up plans and specifying," she said.
But despite all the attention to detail, Don said, "I see things
everyday where we go, 'Couldn't we have changed that?' Little
things that probably nobody will ever see."
Don and hotel director Herbert Jaeger, who has been with the
ship in Saint-Nazaire since August, pointed out a few features --
bigger restaurants, the new Studio classroom, a disco with a floor
that sparkles and an expanded Palm Court.
The 548 cabins and suites already have been loaded onto the
Serenity. Crystal added a new penthouse stateroom category,
remodeled its penthouse suites and greatly expanded its
1,345-square-foot Crystal Penthouses. These include a wraparound
bathroom, a "virtual exercise room" and a sitting area that looks
out to sea.
Crystal still has some small decisions to make, such as one for
that sitting room. "We're not sure if this is a morning room or a
library," Don said.