THE JOURNEY NEVER ENDS

We thought we would began our final entry with "Today's Thought For The Day".

"Our journey never ends, as there are more places to visit, more adventures to enjoy, more special memories to make, that together, we will carry with us for the rest of our lives."  - Keith and Anne Marie.

We have enjoyed an extraordinary adventure from the time we boarded the Crystal Serenity on January 5, 2014.  The  service, cuisine, enrichment, entertainment, shore excursions  and all other facets of our time on board the Crystal Serenity have been truly amazing.   This was our sixth full World Cruise and seventh World Cruise all on-board the Crystal Serenity and this one was the best yet.  We think this speaks volumes about Crystal Cruises when the experience gets better with each passing year.

This is the recap of what we said and we hope that we have done just that (or as close as possible) with our daily entries and updates.

Some of the things you will read and see on the blog:

1.  Lots of photos of food, fellow cruisers, crew members, ourselves, shipboard events, along with buildings, statues, scenery, people and an array of other items whether at sea or on land.

2.  Narratives of our experiences at sea including some repetition of those items that we enjoy, including those daily morning workouts.

3. Background information on ports of call, including some statistics related to population and local economy.

4.  Our thoughts and observations from those glorious days at sea, as well as those wonderful visits to each port of call.

5.  Some typos and grammatical errors because there is just not enough time in the day to reread what we have written or smooth out any rough edges prior to posting each and every entry.  

Some of the things you will not read nor see on the blog:

1.  Gossip or criticism of others.

2.  Emphasis on those few things that might go wrong.

As many of you know, we tend to take the glass is half-full approach which carries over to cruising and travel.   We do this because in the scheme of things we realize that life is relatively short, and we get pleasure by focusing on all of the wonderful events and items that we experience each and everyday on our journey. We realize that we may experience just a few hiccups, but keep in mind these are relatively few and minor.  We also talk about making memories that will last a lifetime, and we would like to remember all of the positive experiences from our adventures and not dwell on the few items that didn't go our way.  We consider ourselves very fortunate (lucky too) to be able to take these journeys.  

3.  Making fun or trashing if you will any of the ports of call we visit.  Sure, we have favorite ports, but in the end we know that most places will have their own identity as they do in our very own country and we know there is beauty to be found in almost each and every place around the world.  Sometimes, you just have to look a little closer but it likely is right in front of your nose if you care to take the time to find it.  While some areas might not be our favorites, we can usually learn something from each and every place we visit.  We do our best to be balanced in our observations of all ports of call. We also remind ourselves that this is part of discovery.  If one doesn't want to see and experience places that are different from their own home towns, travel might not be for them. 

This has been an absolutely amazing journey starting with our six night pre-cruise stay in Miami before the January 5 Panama Canal Cruise, continuing on with World Cruise 2014 and then sailing on two Mediterranean Voyages.

The World Cruise included so many memorable events both on and off the ship.  Highlights of some of the on-board special events included:

On Board World Cruise Gala

Bon Voyage Balloon Drop

Super Bowl Party

Shoreside Events in Hong Kong and Singapore

World Cruise Games

Valentine's Day Mixer

Beatles Show

St Patricks Daytime Mixer and St Particks Day Evening Show

Tour of the Senior Officers Quarters

The Carnival Games 

Back of the House Tour when Anne Marie visited the crew decks and got a big behind the scenes look at several areas of the ship

Two on board dinners and entertainment along with several other evening special events.

Serenity Pops

World Cruise Video Screening

Farewell Balloon Drop

Continuing on with the voyage that followed the conclusion of the World Cruise we also enjoyed seeing the Serenity Pops performed one final time and also attending not one but both of the Beatles Shows.

At the same time we enjoyed so many special moments from the places we sailed.

Some of the highlights included:

Transiting The Panama Canal

USS Missouri Behind The Scenes Tour

Overland Safari At Pindha

Our multi-stays in several places including Hong Kong, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City

Visits to several ports of calls throughout Southeast Asia

Stops in the Mediterranean and the beautiful Almalfi Coast and Villages of Sicily

What made this even more enjoyable was sharing all of these events and experiences with so many good friends and the wonderful members of the Crystal Cruises Crew and for the final seven days with our son Eric and daughter in-law Kara.

This World Cruise and the other voyages were not only wonderful but exceeded our overall expectations.  We have created memories that will last a lifetime.

We hope that you have enjoyed our Blog.

Until next time.

Keith & Anne Marie

These are some additional photos from our journey.

QUEEN MARY 2 - DAY 8 - DISEMBARKATION DAY AND TRAVEL HOME

Before dinner last evening we went to the Queens Grill Lounge for the final time of the sailing.  This lounge has the feel of a country club lounge as it is not very large and with one bartender and two servers they know you very well. We have the same person taking our drink order and she knows our names, what type of wine each of us enjoy and even what kind of nuts Anne Marie prefers.

Afterwards, we had dinner in the Queens Grill. 

We had pre-ordered most of the items with the Osman the Senior Maître d’Hotel.

Keith decided to have Caviar one final time.  It’s funny because normally Keith will have Caviar maybe once or twice a year and he hadn’t had any at all since our adventure began in early January but this is the third night he has had it.  That will be it until next year.  LOL.

Anne Marie had the French Onion Soup which we had reordered as well.

We then had Ceasar Salad ,which we had preordered.  The salad is made in the Galley but it is something if you wish to have to discuss ahead of time. 

When we spoke with Osman about possible entrees we talked about a couple of options and in the end we said, what do you recommend and he recommended the Lobster American Flambé which he made for us table-side.  This one is with a red sauce. It was very tasty and we loved it.  We also had steam vegetables, and mashed potatoes for Anne Marie and a Baked Potato for Keith.

As you know, our desserts tend to be either fruits for Keith or usually fruit, or some type of sugar free or low calorie dessert for Anne Marie.  Well, for our last night we decided to go bold.  LOL.  We took Osman’s recommendation, which was to have one dessert of Baked Alaska and Cherries Jubilee.  So, let it be known that we caved into temptation with a true dessert. Yes, the real thing.  LOL.

These are some photos from our dinner.

Each night a special appetizer, complements of the Chef,  would be served to begin the meal.    We would have it on most evening's as we did last night.

This was the Caesar Salad that each of us enjoyed.

Our Sommelier throughout the cruise; Dickson from India.

Before the Maitre d' arrived to prepare the Lobster for us our waiter got a few things set up for him.

This is the Lobster that we had for our main entree.

This was the combination of Baked Alaska and Cherries Jubilee.  

Each night small desserts were brought out to the table.  We never had ours but thought it would be nice to post a photo of them.

Last evening we set the clock back another hour so that we would be on Eastern Daylight Time for our arrival to New York City.  We are not used to setting the clock back or forward right before one disembarks let alone right before an arrival to a port but as they say there is always a first time.  It was nice to do this as we knew disembarkation day is a long day with our travel back to home.

We were up early and since it was disembarkation day.

Keith went up to the King's Court for Coffee as he normally does.  The difference this time was that many fellow guests were out and about.  When Keith arrived back to the room we had just passed by the Statue Of Liberty but Keith was able to get a couple of photos.  It was overcast and rainy but nevertheless the Status Of Liberty looked very welcoming to not only us but to so many people who arrived to the United States in past years to settle here.

The Queens Grill was open at 6:30 AM for breakfast rather than the customary time of 8:00 AM.  

We arrived right at 6:30 AM and there were quite a lot of passengers already there.  This was the busiest that we had seen this room for breakfast since we had our first breakfast there.  We had our customary breakfast of cereal, bananas and some stewed prunes for Keith and then we said our farewell to the waitstaff who took great care of us throughout the voyage.

We were given priority disembarkation and could be off the ship as early as 8:00 AM and at around that time we did disembark the ship.  There were very few porters so we took the bags ourselves and getting through immigration/customs was a breeze.  We were ahead of schedule for our private vehicle pickup but when Keith called the company they checked and said the driver would be there in a couple of minutes and that was the case.  He drove us to the airport and that is where we are now sitting as we post this.  We will spend most of the day at the airport but we are at an airport lounge so we know the time will pass quickly.

We will post more when we are home including a final post about our experience sailing on the Crystal Serenity.

Keith & Anne Marie

QUEEN MARY 2 - DAY 7

Before dinner last evening, we went to the Queens Lounge for a glass of wine.  We have enjoyed coming to this lounge for a pre-dinner drink.  It is located across form the Queen’s Grill and there is one bartender and two women who take the orders and served the drinks and canapés.  Last evening was the third and final Formal evening of this cruise and of our adventure.

Afterwards, we enjoyed dinner at the Queens Grill.  The Queens Grill can accommodate around 100 people.  It is open seating and we have a specific table, which is ours for the evening or for breakfast or lunch.  Many of the tables are for two but some are for four and a few are for eight people.  Most everyone makes it for dinner but they do arrive at various times.  Some make it for one or both meals but others will pass on breakfast and/or lunch preferring to have it in their room and/or at the buffet.  Our preference was to have each meal in the restaurant.  The only exception will be the last morning of the cruise when we plan to have breakfast in our room.

The waitress who takes care of us is Sibonney who is from Peru.  She is very professional and attentive and from day one she picked up on our preferences.  She remembered the salad dressing we prefer, that Anne Marie is allergic to Oranges, that Keith likes Pepper but no Pepper for Anne Marie and that we don’t use butter on the dinner roll, or the cereal we enjoy and what we like to accompany it.  While some waiters and waitresses pick up on these types of details some do not. 

There are two assistants; Chandra from Mauritius and Nathaniel.  We realized that we can’t remember where he is from. 

The sommelier is Dickson who is from India.

We are not quite sure how many tables they cover but they work as a great team.

We began our meal with Caviar for Keith and a Beef Consommé for Keith.  Caviar is not on the menu but we learned we could order it from Senior Maître d’ Osman. 

For our next course we both had Mixed Gourmet Lettuce with Asparagus, Mushrooms, Olives, Tomatoes, Red Onion, (for Keith but not Anne Marie) and Mozzarella Cheese.

We both had the same entrée which was Broiled Lobster Tail with Sesame Crusted Jumbo Shrimp and Parmesan Tomato Pilaf.  We also had the Medley of Steamed Vegetables and Keith had a plain Baked Potato.

For dessert Anne Marie had the Canyon Ranch Spa Selection of the Tiramisu and Keith had a fruit plate.

All in all it was a delicious meal.

On our way out we spoke with Maître d’ Osman and we ordered a very nice meal for tomorrow. 

We thought the presentation was unique with the cinnamon spread out to appear as a fork and a spoon.

The good news is before we went to bed last evening we set the clock back one hour and will do so again tonight so that by the time we arrive to New York City on Friday morning that we are on Eastern Daylight Time.  Cruising West to East is always very preferable in our opinion and that has been the case on this cruise.  We like setting the clock back rather than forward.

Keith was up early again but actually got the benefit of one more hour of sleep as he went to sleep normal time before considering that we set the clock back one hour and he was up the same time as usual.

He read and wrote at the King's Court which is an enormous buffet dining venue with some sections open 22 of 24 hours per day.  He had coffee there.  

Once Anne Marie woke we took our last early morning walk of the crossing as tomorrow morning we will be getting ready to depart the QM2.

We enjoyed breakfast in the Queens Grill where we each had cereal, a banana and stewed prunes for Keith.  We looked over the luncheon menu which always accompanies the breakfast menu just as the dinner menu always accompanies the breakfast menu.  It took us a day to learn this but this way if you don't see something that you like for lunch or dinner you have time to pre-order something else.  If you prefer the night before you could see the following days lunch or dinner menu as well.  Speaking of dinner, we had pre-ordered that the night before with the Maitre d. We even ordered a real dessert.  After all, this is the last night of our adventure as we are making it back to home.

After breakfast we each went out on our own as we have done the past few days.  Keith worked out at the Fitness Center and Anne Marie walked the ship and we both did this for close to one hour.  This gave the steward and the butler time to ready the room and after that we did more packing since we will be disembarking tomorrow morning.  Speaking of disembarkation on our door early this morning was a letter with luggage tags.  We do have priority disembarkation and can disembark anytime starting at around 8:00 AM or afterwards.  We will not need to disembark so early as our car will be coming a little later for us.

There was a lot on the program for today.  Unlike on the other days when many of the lectures were focused on the QM2 and or Cunard, today’s lectures were about world events.  Historian & Arabist Eamonn Gearon gave the first talk about his experiences living and working across the Greater Middle East.  The second lecture was given by Dr. William Fowler who spoke about the millions of immigrants who crossed the Altantic between 1814 and 1914 including around fifty million people who began new lives in Canada and the United States of America.  The afternoon lecture was given by Dr. Stephen Payne who we first met at the Captain’s Reception and found him to be an excellent speaker who talked about the time of travel in the air by the likes of the Graf Zeppelin and Hiddenburg and the projects of today to build new air type of ships for travel.

We had lunch in the Queens Grill Restaurant.  Keith had a large salad entree that he pre-ordered in the morning with our waitress and Anne Marie had a sandwich and salad combination.  

In addition to the enrichment activities, we also walked in the afternoon, and for the first time we walked outside for part of the walk.  On one of the decks there are tables set up inside the ship with various board games.  We decided to play Rummykub and Anne Marie was the winner.  

We also finished all our packing except for the final items we will put in our suitcases this evening before we go to bed.

This evening we will dine in the Queens Grill.  We will be setting the clock back one additional hour too.

Keith & Anne Marie