An extended cruise is more than the sum of its parts

We recently took an unforgettable 25-day trip on Crystal Cruises, sailing from Charleston, S.C., to Maui, Hawaii, aboard the Serenity, one of four luxury-class ocean-going ships in Crystal’s relatively small fleet. (It also has five river cruise ships.) Since our trip, Serenity has undergone a complete refurbishment (in November 2018), as has sibling ship Symphony, leaving both with a guest capacity of 980, down from the 1,070 for our cruise, and far below the 5,000 or more that megaships from, for instance, Royal Caribbean, can accommodate.