WELCOME

We concluded our last Travel Blog in March 2020 upon our return from Sydney, Australia.  Like people around the world, all our travel plans were turned upside down and placed on-hold due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.  

We didn't expect to restart travel until the end of this year or early next year.   However, Crystal Cruises announced the return to cruising starting with sixteen seven day sailings of the Bahama (they have added additional sailings) and we decided to take the plunge and book the first two cruises.  In addition to starting/ending in Nassau the other option is to start/end in Bimini which is day two of the seven day itineraries.

Ironically we haven't sailed the Bahamas since our first cruise together with our family (Keith had cruised one time before when he was 12 years young) on the Big Red Boat.  We sailed four days in June 1991 (30 years ago) with stops in Nassau on June 18, followed by a stop the next day at a Private Island.  The package included three days at Disney World following this cruise.  

Admittedly, while sailing the Bahamas and cruising in July was not on our top ten list or even top hundred list, after careful thought we decided to sign up for the two sailings

We did so because we have taken the approach not to put off things until tomorrow which you can do today.  COVID-19 was a reminder and reenforced our view.  We felt these sailings while not ideal itineraries provided the best near-term opportunity for us to return to cruising with our favorite cruise line.

Given Anne Marie's compromised immune system we did think hard about this decision.  It was not an easy decision. It came down to should we sail now or wait several more months.  We have gone back and forth on our decision more than once.  Unknowns about waiting also factored into the decision to cruise now.

Since we returned home last March we have followed the various COVID-19 protocol protocols and used more caution than the actual guidelines.  Even fully vaccinated and two weeks beyond our second dosage by early March we continued to use lots of caution.  We still wear masks in most situations because a lot is unknown about the affect Anne Marie's medication has on the antibodies created by the vaccine.  Unfortunately, since the trial for each vaccine was fast-tracked this is one of the items which the science community is unsure of.  

​Although we would have preferred to wait a few more months, we decided to move forward.


The is the itinerary which is two seven day cruises followed by a map.

              ARRIVE      DEPART

June 30  Nassau                          PRE-CRUISE
July 1     Nassau                          PRE-CRUISE
July 2     Nassau                          PRE-CRUISE
July 3     Embark      7:00 PM     NASSAU (EMBARK)
July 4     8:00 AM     6:00 PM     BIMINI
July 5     1:00 PM     7:00 PM     CAT ISLAND
July 6     7:00 AM     7:00 PM     GREAT EXUMA
July 7     7:00 AM     7:00 PM     SAN SALVADOR
July 8     7:00 AM     5:00 PM     LONG ISLAND
July 9                                            CRUISING
July 10   6:00 AM     7:00 PM     NASSAU
July 11   8:00 AM     6:00 PM     BIMINI
July 12   1:00 PM     7:00 PM     CAT ISLAND
July 13   7:00 AM     7:00 PM     GREAT EXUMA
July 14   7:00 AM     7:00 PM     SAN SALVADOR
July 15   7:00 AM     5:00 PM     LONG ISLAND
July 16                                         CRUISING
July 17   6:00 AM                        NASSAU (DISEMBARK)

You can ask questions and/or provide comments by clicking the comment section at anytime.  We will respond to each comment.  You can also contact us by putting your cursor over the more tab at the top of the home page and then click on contact us.

Words cannot describe how excited we are about returning to Serenity for this adventure.
​

To get into the spirit of sailing, a short video by the Beach Boys.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith