DAY 13 - LONG ISLAND

Emily...We feel the same way about Liezl.  She is a gem.

Four words which said collectively carry lots of meaning to us as they are played on Crystal Sailings and sung by Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World".  No matter where we sail these words resonate with us and viewing the cloud cover as the sun is getting ready to rise was a reminder What A Wonderful World we live in and how much there is to see and appreciate each and everyday.  The key is to take the time to "smell the roses" to take it all in.
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We had a change of weather late afternoon after we posted which was positive.  While playing paddle tennis Keith could see from a distance rain shower from a distance.  Later, after ninety minutes of play he changed and sat out on the back aft on our deck where you feel as if you are on a private yacht.  In very little time the rain showers could be seen over Great Exuma and the wind picked up bringing a lovely breeze over the ship.  It was delightful.

These are last night's menus from Waterside.

We chose to dine at Umi Uma.  Although last month on Endeavor we dined three times at Umi Uma, It has been along time since we have dined at Umi Uma on Crystal Serenity, although we ate the food in our room on the July and the present cruise.  We last ate at the dining venue 19 months ago in February of 2020.  We prefer dining at the venue but due to social distancing concerns and the protocols we have established for ourselves we chose our room over the venue until last evening.  With a low occupancy rate on-board guests dining at various venues each evening and many guests preferring arriving 7:00 PM or later it was very quiet when we arrived at 6:30 PM and this continued until 7:30 PM. Eventually, it became busier with more people dining at tables that we would pass by on our way out of Umi Uma.  We decided we would likely dine in our room next week rather than go to Umi Uma because of this but we shall see. We so prefer having the food at the dining venue.  


Everything was perfect including the amazing cuisine, outstanding service performed professionally and with warmth from the waitstaff and sommelier team along with the lovely ambiance of this dining venue.

What did we eat?  Too much great food.  LOL.  We ate well but didn't overeat.  Often, we have a salad and passed on that and didn't order dessert although they do bring out that little tray of goodies. LOL.

Most special was being able to spend time with all of the members of Team Umi Uma and other members of Team Serenity.  This made the evening extra special.

Our waiter was Anthony who we have known since 2005.  Time speeds by when you are having fun.  Our Sommelier was on top of everything and we had visits from Head Waiter Sigi and Head Sommelier Jiri and it was so nice to see the entire team including Albert who has take care of us many times over the years.  And a special shoutout to the amazing Nobu trained Chefs for preparing an array of wonderful sashimi and sushi items for us to enjoy.

This is today's daily Reflections Program.

We started the day the way we always do.  You all know our routine by now even better than we do. LOL.

A workout for Keith at the Fitness Center, followed by breakfast and a nice long walk on the Promenade Deck. While we were walking we saw a very nice couple for the third time of the cruise who Keith met at Hotel Borg on the day we had debarked Endeavor and a few minutes before they were being transferred to the Hotel Crystal was using to perform the Antigen Tests prior to embarkation.  The irony is they are in the room which has been our go-to room for the vast majority of times we have sailed Serenity.  We told them how much we have enjoyed that room.

We thought we would add lunch menus from today at Waterside.

After lunch we did the things we both enjoy doing.

This continues to be a wonderful cruise.

This is our fourth stop at Long Island and we still didn't get off as we didn't want to sit on the tender due to social distancing.  As we've mentioned, Keith grew up in Long Island but not Long Island of the Bahamas.  Maybe he'll visit next week just because of the name of this island.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith