DAY 123 - DAY ONE HUNDRED FIFTEEN ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

Before dinner last evening, we sat close to pianist John Mentis.  John will be getting off today and we wished him a wonderful time at home.  We also spoke with friend Caryn who along with her husband Stan will be leaving today in Rome.

Anne Marie with Caryn.

Keith with Caryn.

Afterwards, we dined at the Crystal Dining Room for the final night of this voyage.  These are the dining room menus.

We enjoyed another wonderful meal in the Crystal Dining Room.  

We began our meal with Tuna Tartare which Head Waiter Augusto made for Keith table side and a Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail for Anne Marie.

We each had salads for our next course and for the Entree Anne Marie had the Sea Bass which was one of the modern day menu entrees and Keith had the salmon from the classic side of the menu.  The Sea Bass was prepared differently than earlier on this voyage and Anne Marie enjoyed the taste of the sauce which accompanied it.

For dessert, Anne Marie had the same dessert she had the night before which is one of the sugar free desserts and Keith had mixed berries.

We slept well last evening.  The seas were very calm and we didn't have very far to go.  Keith was up first, did some laundry, read, wrote and worked out for awhile.  He made his stop to the Lido Cafe as well.

We also walked before we had breakfast.

This morning we arrived this morning at the port of Civitavecchia which is the port that serves Rome.  It is located about sixty minutes from Rome and then to get downtown it can be upwards to another thirty minutes depending on traffic.

During the course of this cruise we traveled a total of 2,819 nautical miles or the equivalent of 3,241 miles as we made our way from Southampton, England to Civitavecchia  Italy.

While today marks the final voyage we will be on the Serenity it was an exciting day as our son, Eric, and our daughter in law, Kara, arrived to the ship to sail with us until we reach Istanbul.  This is Eric's fourth sailing with Crystal as he has sailed Crystal Harmony (2002), Crystal Symphony (2003) and Crystal Serenity (2010) previously.  This marks Kara's second time sailing with Crystal as her first time was on the Crystal Serenity in 2010.  

This morning was a busy morning as we had to change rooms.  We had booked this final voyage about one year ago and not only was our room not available but all of the rooms in our category were not available as well.  Rather than go with a wait-list we went with a larger penthouse as we could get a specific room that was to our liking and we thought that the additional space would be desirable when Eric and Kara visited us.  

A photo of Keith before we moved rooms wearing the new Crystal Cruises Logo Shirt that we purchased on the first night the Crystal Stores were operated by a new company.  The new stores feature all new brands and types of merchandise including the new brand new logo wear items.

  
The original plan was for the bellmen to be sent to our room to move all of our items.  However, as it turned out our butler, Rao, moved everything.  The new room is right above our original room so that was a big help.  We got into our new room earlier than we thought we would and by the time Eric and Kara arrived to the ship we had everything in its proper place.

We want to share an example of how wonderful the crew on Crystal is.  Early in the cruise we were asked if we wanted to try out a new mattress that Crystal might purchase in the future and we said we would be happy to do so.  We really liked it so they left it in our room.  For today's move, we never thought of asking them to move it for us.  Our Stewardess came by the room after we had breakfast and said they were going to move the mattress to the new room since we liked it and asked what time would be a good time for that.  We said anytime was good and a few minutes later two other members of the crew came to move the mattress.  Wow!

Eric and Kara's embarkation was perfect and their room was ready early too.  Keith met them at the reception desk and after they were checked in, he brought them to our room.

We had lunch in the Crystal Dining Room with Eric and Kara.

Afterwards, Keith spent time with Eric and Anne Marie spent time with Kara.  Then they spent time getting settled in their room.

This evening they will join us in our room for a pre-dinner bon voyage toast and then we will be dining in Prego.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…….

"We are so very happy and excited to have Eric & Kara for us for these final days of this journey." - Keith & Anne Marie

Keith & Anne Marie

DAY 122 - DAY ONE HUNDRED FOURTEEN ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

We set sail precisely on time last evening for our next port of call which is Livorno, Italy.   Captain Giske said that we only had 86 nautical miles to reach Livorno so we were going to go at a relatively slow speed of around 7.5 knots per hour.  The weather forecast calls for some rain in the morning.

Before dinner, we sat in the Crystal Plaza as we do most evening's to listen to John Mentis play the piano.  It was quite busy when we arrived so we could not sit at the Crystal Cove where he actually plays.  John stopped by to speak with us before he started to play.  He will be going home at the end of this cruise.

John performs from 6:00 PM to 6:15 PM and then returns to play before late seating and then plays later in the evening.  He is always happy to play songs that are requested in addition to all of the other music he comes prepared to play.  While on board, John also tunes each and every Piano that is on board the ship.

During the World Cruise, John also plays the piano at Team Trivia and he also takes video throughout the World Cruise that is used not only in the World Cruise Video but also from time to time in video that is used in videos about future cruise offerings.  Although John has been to most ports more times than one can recount, he makes an effort to always go out on port day.  On the World Cruise he will go on an excursion that is not fully booked to get some video for the World Cruise DVD and when sailing other times of the year he will do something on his own in port.  Some of the Crystal Cruisers used to sail on Royal Viking and John is one of some of the crew members of the Crystal Cruises who joined Crystal Cruises after working at Royal Viking.  

After listening to John perform, we made our way over to the Crystal Dining Room for dinner.  

These are the menus for the Crystal Dining Room.

A few minutes after we ordered, the consultant, Micky, who helped out with the launch of the modern cuisine on both Crystal Serenity and on Crystal Symphony stopped by the table.  Since the menu rolled out at the beginning of the cruise he has stopped by as many tables as possible to answer questions about the new menu and to listen to feedback/comments. Micky will be leaving the ship after this voyage ends.

We each began our meal with Salads as we decided to skip the appetizer.

For our entree, we each had the Lobster Tail from the modern cuisine.  The sauce that accompanied it was very tasty.  Because of the sauce Anne Marie didn't ask for any butter on the side as she normally does and we would suspect that is the case with most people who normally would have the wait staff put some butter on top.  Keith would be fine without any butter or any sauce but as we said we both found the sauce to add to the overall flavor of the entree.

For dessert, Keith had mixed berries and Anne Marie had the sugar free dessert.

After dinner was the Captain's farewell reception as this voyage is shortly coming to an end.  There was a variety show last evening.

We slept well last evening.  The seas were relatively calm and as we mentioned we were sailing at a relatively slow pace.
Keith woke early as he always does and got in a workout at the Fitness Center and time at the Lido Cafe.  Since we have a tour for today we had Rao bring breakfast at 7:00 AM.  We also arranged for a boxed lunch for each of us just because we wanted to allow more time if necessary for our tour and to get back to the ship at the time we planned.  After all, this is Italy and you never know what traffic will be like.

We arrived to the port of Livorno at around 6:30 AM, roughly thirty minutes ahead of schedule.

We met our driver and tour guide at 8:00 AM.  His name was Vieri Villi and he was born in Florence and lived there for most of his life but now lives with his wife and three year old son in about 30 minutes from the city out in the countryside.  He spoke excellent english as his Grandmother who lived with him was from Scotland and he spoke English and Italian at a very young age.  He was very informative and we loved his passion for all of the little things that you can do and see and his passion for travel.

We drove to the city of Lucca.  We selected Lucca since we have toured Florence before which is a very special place to travel to when docked at Livorno and we have also toured Pisa and Livorno before. We were very pleased with our decision.

Lucca is a city in Tuscany.  It is famous for its intact Renaissance-era walls.  Lucca was founded by the Etruscans and became a Roman Colony in 180 BC.  The walls stood the test of time not only because of their height but most importantly because of how wide they are.  

Vieri drove us on a scenic road with two lanes in each direction and he pointed out fortifications and other historical structures along the way.  The drive took just a little over 45 minutes.

Vieri highlighted each of the areas on a map for us and then took us partially into Lucca and then we went off on our own.  The map was terrific and we visited each of the places that Vieri had recommended and with Anne Marie as our guide we found our was around the town easily with the map.

We were very fortunate with the weather. Although it was cloudy for part of the day and looked early on like it might rain we had no rain and there were times that the sun came out so all of this made for excellent walking weather.  

We visited several churches during our three and one half hour walk along with many other historic buildings.  Along the way there were lots of restaurants, pastry shops, and stores and just lots of beautiful architecture to enjoy.

Some areas that we took photos have have large squares making it easy to photograph whereas some are directly on streets which are not very wide so it is more of a challenge to photograph.

In addition to walking every main street along with most side streets we also walked the entire wall that circumvents this beautiful city.  The wall is unusually wide and provides some scenic views of the walled city and also the beautiful country-side.

After we finished our tour of Lucca, we drove to Pisa which was about a 20 minute drive.  We were last to Pisa in 1998 and at that time restoration was in progress for the leaning tower.  In contrast to Lucca, there were lots of tourists but that was not a problem for us.  

Anne Marie trying to straighten the tower.  

This is part of the residence for the Archbishop of Pisa.

When we left Pisa to return to Livorno we went on a road that although now pavement was built on top of the same road that would lead to Rome back during ancient Rome.  

While a lot has changed what amazes us is the length of time that so many historic buildings have stood.  They have made it through all sorts of weather events, earthquakes, wars and were constructed without the tools available today to design and construct buildings.

All in all it was a wonderful day. 

This evening we will be back in the Crystal Dining Room as we enjoy the last night of this cruise before the next one and final voyage of this adventure begins.

Tomorrow morning will be busy as we get ready to move to another room.  More on that in tomorrow's update.  At the same time it will be an exciting day as our son and daughter in law join us for this final voyage before it is time to leave the Crystal Serenity.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……...

"When we cruise, we cherish each and everyday, and we focus on the good that each day brings rather than getting side-tracked with the few things that might not go our way." - Keith & Anne Marie

Keith & Anne Marie

DAY 121 - DAY ONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

Although we didn't dine at the Crystal Dining Room last evening, these are the dinner menus.

We decided to stay in our room and have a Movie/Pizza night.  We watched two movies which recently arrived on board the ship.  First we watched Gravity.  While we know some people really enjoyed this movie, for us it was pretty much average.  We then watched Captain Phillips and enjoyed this movie.  These two movies along with several other more recent movies were shown in the Hollywood Theatre during the World Cruise but we didn't get to the Theatre this time around.  Many of the movies which we didn't see when they appeared in the movies we plan to see after we return home.

We began the meal with our standing order salads which Rao got from the Crystal Dining Room.

We then enjoyed Pizza which is also made in one of the Crystal Dining Room Galleys.

Rao brought us each a Pizza.

Since it was Movie night the next and final course was popcorn which is popped in a microwave.

We slept very well last evening.  The seas were relatively calm and the distance to the next port of call was not very long so we went at around 10 knots per hour.

Keith was up first and by now you know the routine.  It was reading, writing and a nice workout in the Fitness Center and then over to the Lido Cafe.  We arrived early in port so we also had an early breakfast so we did not take an early morning walk knowing that we would walk in port.

After having breakfast, we got ready to go into port.  We did not have an excursion planned for today.  We do have one planned for tomorrow though after we dock in Livorno, Italy.

We took the first tender over to Porto Venere as we were anchored off the Port.

This turned out to be a wise choice because about ninety minutes after we arrived the rain changed from a very light drizzle to an amount that made it impossible to take photos and to walk around without umbrella's .

Porto Venere is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This was our first time there.  Although it was drizzling and overcast it is a very quaint and beautiful town.  

The harbor is lined with brightly colored house and narrow medieval streets.  

We did a lot of walking and there were lots of steps we climbed and we needed to be extra careful as the steps and other walkways were wet.

We visited an area with absolutely stunning and beautiful views known as the view from Byron’s Grotto.  Lord Byron is said to have written Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage in Porto Venere.

We visited a couple of churches.

First was San Pietro, which originated as an early Christian building, which is made of black marble dating from the 6^th century.  Adjacent to the church is a Romanesque loggetta with arches, which frame the coastline.

There was no lightning inside the church other than natural lighting but we thankfully got a nice photo of the interior.

The second church we visited was Chiesa di San Lorenzo which was built in the 12^th century and has a Romanesque façade.

On the way to the church, we passed this statue.

We walked up to the Castello dei Doria, which is the Andrea Doria Castle, which was build by the Genoese between the 12^th and 17^th centuries.  They do allow visitor inside for a fee but it was not open when we were there.  Adjacent to the Castle there was a cemetery. We noticed that many people lived long lives and much longer than the life expectancy of people who lived around the world during these generations.

From the upper tier of the castle, Keith took this photo of Anne Marie who was waiting for Keith to return.

We walked by residences as well as stores, restaurants and places selling baked bread, pastries and cakes and other items.  This region is the birthplace for Pesto.

This is the fresh basil which is a key ingredient for the Pesto.  We thought this was an interesting sign. This was outside a shop that sold the Pesto.

We did purchase a few items in one of the shops and there were lots of nice quaint shops to walk in and out of.

After we got back to the ship at one point we heard some big noised and could not figure out where they came from.  Ironically, about 10 minutes later Cruise Director Gary Hunter came on with a special announcement from the Captain that there is a military base nearby and they are carrying out an exercise, including firing off cannons that were making large noises and smoke. It continued on and off for about two hours or so.  

We had lunch at the Lido Cafe.  We made salad entrees and today they were cutting turkey from a whole turkey and we each had some of this on our salad.

In the afternoon Anne Marie walked and then started to prepare for our move in a couple of days to a new room and Keith helped to and also worked out at the Fitness Center.

This evening we will be back in the Crystal Dining Room for dinner.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…...

"Beauty comes as much from the mind as the eye." - Grey Livingston

Keith & Anne Marie