WELCOME TO OUR 2014 WORLD CRUISE BLOG

We are thrilled to be returning to the Crystal Serenity for yet another adventure, and we want to welcome each of you to our 2014 World Cruise Blog.

Although many of you have followed our travels via our Blogs for several years, some of you are first time visitors to this years Blog.  

We decided to Blog on our very first World Cruise, in 2007, so that family and friends could keep up with our travels.  We also realized that the Blog would serve as a lasting memory from that World Cruise.

Fast forward seven year's later, and we have now Blogged on eight different voyages. Although last years World Cruise was shorter in length from previous World Cruises, we had substantially more visitors to our Blog than ever before, with over 65,000 visits to our 2013 Blog.

As we did last year, we want to begin by sharing our approach to these Blogs which is consistent to how we approach each of our travel adventures.

SOME OF THE THINGS YOU WILL READ AND SEE ON THE BLOG INCLUDE:

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 greatly 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 sea days, as well as those wonderful visits to each port of call.

5.  Copies of selected menus, highlights from the morning and afternoon enrichment program as well as  other activities, along with the evening entertainment program to provide you the opportunity to get a feel of the many choices available for cuisine, enrichment and entertainment.

6.  Details of the cuisine we order each day, with greater details provided about dinner.

7.  Some typos and grammatical mistakes 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 INCLUDE:

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 will experience each and everyday on our journey. We realize that we may experience just a few hiccups along the way, but in the scheme of things these are relatively few and minor.  We also talk about making memories that will last a lifetime, and quite frankly 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.  

To illustrate this point, last year Anne Marie faced some health issues that we dealt with and continue to deal with collectively.  This has served as yet another reminder that we are far better off by focusing on all of the good that we experience each and every day and it reinforces what truly is important in our day-to-day lives.  

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 each place has its 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.  For those of you who cruise we also have to remember that if you just stay close to the cruise ship terminal you might only see a very small portion of the port of call and miss out on all of the beauty it has to offer.  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 very own home towns, travel might not be for them. 

CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS BLOGS:

We hope you enjoy the new changes we've incorporated into this years Blog.  As we have done since our very first Blog, you will notice some changes from previous Blogs in terms of both format and content.

1.  We have added four new videos to the home page of the Blog.  Just scroll down and the first video is right below the this welcome post.  Before you play the video, be sure to raise the volume on whatever device you are using so you can hear the sound that accompanies each video.  We would recommend clicking on the icon to the right of HD to make the video take up your full screen.  To play the video just click on the arrow and it will start the video.  Afterwards, click on your escape (esc) button to get back to the home page.  

The first video is a trailer to introduce you to the excitement of our adventure.

Scroll down and you will come to the second video which we made while Keith took an iMovie a class during one of the segments of the 2013 World Cruise.  We are both in the video portion and some of the photos.  

Continue to scroll down and you will come to the third video.  This video is a compilation of photos that Keith and Anne Marie took along with video that a fellow World Cruiser took of Keith during the Carnival held on board the ship.  

Scroll down again and you will find the fourth and final iMovie which includes some photos from the 2013 World Cruise and the voyage preceding it.   The audio includes the voice of Louis Armstrong singing What A Wonderful World.  As we depart from each port-of-call, a tradition of Crystal Cruises is to play this song which can be heard on the open deck.  It is very touching and reminds us of the beauty of our "wonderful world".  Our Grandson, Andre, even makes his video debut.

It is our hope during this voyage to take more video so that future videos will include more video and less photos.

We hope that you enjoy each of these iMovies.

2.  We have made additional enhancements to the tabs section across the home page. It includes a new tab with several photos and background information of the Crystal Serenity.  The tabs section also includes tabs specific to this Blog as well as a tab providing access to our other Blogs.  In some instances, you just click on the tab and then scroll down to view the narrative and photos, and then to get back to the home page click the tab labeled home.  In a few cases such as the tabs that take you to other sites, to get back to the home page you will need to click the left (back) arrow key of your web browser.

3.  We have updated the photo streaming section with newer photos. The photo streams run automatically one time only.  Afterwards, just click on the arrow key to rerun it.  NOTE: On certain devices you will not see the photo streams and the first thing you will come to is the first of the four videos.

The photo stream section is located right beneath the tab section and includes photos from recent cruises and also photos from ports we have visited previously, which are also part of this years itinerary.  

4.  We will attempt to increase the number of photos we post as we realize the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words applies to all sorts of written communication, including Blogs.

5.  For ports that we have visited on prior cruises and land trips,  we will try to contrast our experiences on this journey compared to prior visits.

This Blog will capture highlights, observations, experiences, thoughts and day-to-day happenings over our 121 Day Adventure.  This includes the 2014 World Cruise, the Caribbean voyage that precedes the start of the World Cruise and two Mediterranean cruises that fall directly after the completion of the World Cruise.  

On the final Mediterranean voyage which is a seven day cruise, we will be joined by our son, Eric, and our daughter-in-law, Kara.  This will mark Eric's fourth time and Kara's second time cruising with us on Crystal Cruises and their second time sailing on the Crystal Serenity.  Eric has sailed on each of the Crystal ships, starting with the Crystal Harmony in 2002.

This adventure marks our sixth full World Cruise and our seventh World Cruise, all of them with Crystal Cruises.

This will be the longest amount of time we will be at sea, surpassing by one day the amount of time we sailed consecutively starting in late 2011 and continuing into 2012 on the Crystal Serenity.

By the end of this voyage we will have sailed close to 1,000 days at sea.

On this voyage we will visit thirteen new ports of call and five new countries bringing to, 243 and 81 respectively, the total number of ports and countries we will have visited by cruise ship.

We will post a few more times before this journey begins, and also during our pre-cruise stay so be sure to check back every couple of days to see additional posts.  Some of these posts will include the planning that goes into these long voyages.

In the meantime, make yourself at home by exploring the home page of our Blog where you will see relevant information about our journey.  This includes links to other sites including a link which takes you to live views from the bridge of the ship. 

We encourage you to post comments and questions.  To do so is very simple.  At the end of any given post you will see a comments area which you just click on.  It will bring you to a screen where you can write a comment and then you will be asked to do a simple word verification.  If you do not have a Google e-mail account just click on anonymous before posting your comments.  If you would like at the end of your comment include your name, but that is not necessary   We will read each and every comment and do our best to respond to any questions you may have on the subsequent post.

As we did last year, we will respond to all questions using the Question and Answers Tab located towards the top of the Blog.  Just check this Question and Answers tab section a day or two after you post your question(s).

Coming next: "A World Cruise Is Both A Journey & An Adventure".   We will share our thoughts and insights on what makes a World Cruise different from just about any other voyage at sea.

As we have done in the past, we will share a thought for the day for each and every post. 

Today's thought comes directly from us.

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.

Keith and Anne Marie