DAY 146 - DAY 1 MOZART

DAY 146 -  DAY 1 Crystal Mozart

Greg...Thank you for your comments.  Wishing you safe travels and a wonderful time on your Crystal Serenity Cruise.

We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the Club Floor. As we were leaving the hotel several horse drawn buggies pulled up to the hotel.  

We had dinner at Liebsteinsky.  

We each had a Caesar salad followed by Salmon for Keith and Shrimp for Anne Marie and a couple of sides.  The food was delicious and the service was professional, friendly, efficient and welcoming.  

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We slept well and began our day with lots of excitement as we got ready to board Crystal Mozart for our first River Cruise.  Keith was up early and we enjoyed coffee in our room followed by breakfast at the Club Floor.

We said our final goodbyes to Claire and to Victor.  Claire checked us into the hotel and has been there each day of our stay and Victor assisted us the first day and has been there four of the six days we have been there. The two of them along with the late afternoon/evening team have been wonderful and represent the hotel very well.  Claire is from France and like Victor started her career with Ritz Carlton at Hotel Arts in Barcelona where we stayed in 1998.  She transferred to the Vienna hotel one month before Victor arrived to Hotel Arts.

While we were  waiting for  our vehicle, Victor came to find us in the lobby to give us a gift from the hotel.

We made arrangements with the hotel concierge prior to our arrival to take us to Mozart.  The driver picked us up on-time and we made the drive over to Mozart.  The good news is he had a special app on his smart phone so he knew where Mozart was although Keith had a map with us.   He said it was in an area that would be a challenge to get into from the main road.   It is near the Hilton.

We first drove up one narrow area and didn't think he could pass a truck that was stopped with supplies for another river vessel.  He saw the Mozart but couldn't get in that way as supplies were being loaded onto the other river cruise vessel.  He walked up to Mozart where they told him what to do.  We drove around a small bend and we could see Mozart and the Crystal Mozart Bus and sure enough there was an area to pull up to.  We arrived before 11:00 AM and were met at the vehicle by members of the Mozart team who took our luggage on-board for us.  It was very much Crystal.

As soon as we entered the Crystal Society Hostess Sonja (she is also the future sales consultant) greeted us by name although we have never met her.  She welcomed us and verified that we were all checked in having done all of this on the Crystal system.  She along with the member of the team she is training who will take her spot when Sonja goes on holiday took us to our room.  Sonja asked if it would be OK if she came along and we said of most definitely.  Sonja showed us our room and said she would be happy to take us on a tour anytime and we said would now be OK and she said yes.  She took us on a 30 minute tour of the ship.   The ship is larger than we expected.   We learned that our room is near the laundry room, next to the Salon and just above the Fitness Center.  We are located very close to the mid-ship reception desk.  

She took us all around and we saw the fitness center, laundry room, salon, Vintage Room, Connoisseur Lounge, Palm Court, Waterside Restaurant, Bistro and a few other areas including the Concierge and her desk.  She took us outside on the top deck which was amazing which included lots of lounges to sit in and enjoy the beauty of the river and surrounding areas, the retractable bar and the wheelhouse where the captain steers the ship.  

We saw the outdoor restaurant that is similar to the Trident Grill and when we  walked to it the outdoor deck had a feel of a smaller promenade deck.

Along the way we met Paolo who is our Butler and whom we remember from Serenity.  We saw the Hotel Director Sonja who came right up and addressed us by name and spoke with  us for a few minutes.  We saw Christian who we last saw as Serenity Prego Sommelier (he is married to Nina who used to work on Serenity and we also adore) before he went to Symphony to swing as the Head Sommelier and he is on Mozart as Restaurant Manager.  Before inclusive when we purchased wine, Keith would have him choose the wine for us at Prego.  We always thought the world of him.

The ship is more spacious than we envisioned from the photos.  Our room  was ready when we boarded as they put a lot of emphasis on that. Guest from the  previous  voyage can remain on-board (we saw several of them) but they are asked to vacate their rooms for the next voyage.

We couldn't figure out how to work the laundry machines and Keith walked to the Reception desk and already the person knew our names.  Amazing.

We believe the Mozart is double the width of the other Crystal vessels.  It  is  the second largest River Cruise in the world.  

Photos that we took when boarding and during the tour.

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A couple of photos from our room.  

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We enjoyed lunch  at Waterside.   Breakfast and Lunch is a buffet and dinner has an a la carte menu.

We had our typical lunch. There is a salad bar.  From the hot area we each took some turkey which was in a mushroom sauce and Keith took a small piece of fish.  

A waiter brought us champagne, and took soft drink orders or whatever we might have wanted. Water is all we needed.

The dining venue is beautiful.  We waitstaff is professional and very welcoming.  The assistant head waiter also welcomed us and remembered us as we did of him from Serenity.

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​We returned to the room to get settled and we also managed to do some laundry.  The machines are smaller than those on an Ocean Vessel but look efficient and it is a nice size laundry facility.
 
A few features of the room that we noticed right away is to get into the room you just need to tap on the key card reader.  The safe is placed at a good level and is wide.  The room is designed well and like Serenity we each have our own desk. 
 
We are going to post early today so we can get settled and explore Mozart.

This is from the Crystal Cruises website and love it.

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We already feel like we are at home.  We think because although the vessel is different from an Ocean Vessel the members who we have met on Mozart are what we find so wonderful about Crystal Cruises.  They have already made us feel at home.  

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We will close with a video providing a Crystal Mozart Ship Tour followed the the itinerary for this voyage.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith

Following is our itinerary for the 10 day round-trip Vienna Cruise on Mozart.

May 10, Fri       Vienna, Austria               EMBARK
May 11, Sat       Vienna, Austria              LV 12:00 PM
May 12, Sun      Danube Scenic Cruising  
May 12, Sun      Crossing the scenic Wachau Valley  
May 12, Sun      Dürnstein, Austria        9:00 AM12:00PM
May 12, Sun      Melk, Austria                 4:30PM - 7:00 PM
May 13, Mon     Linz, Austria                  8:00 AM to 9:00 PM
May 14, Tue      Passau, Germany           8:00AM 
May 15, Wed     Cruising Danube River  
May 15, Wed     Passau, Germany          1:00 PM
May 16, Thur    Cruising Danube River  
May 16, Thur    Bratislava, Slovakia      3:00 PM to8:00 PM
May 17, Fri       Scenic cruising into Budapest  
May 17, Fri       Budapest, Hungary       9:00 AM 
May 18, Sat      Scenic cruising from Budapest  
May 18, Sat      Budapest, Hungary        1:00 PM
May 19, Sun     Cruising Danube River  
May 19, Sun     Vienna, Austria               ARRIVE: 6PM 
May 20, Mon    Vienna, Austria               DISEMBARK