DAY 20 - NASSAU

These are the dinner menus from last night at Waterside where we dined.

We enjoyed another wonderful meal at Waterside last evening.  

We both had pretty much the same items.  Boring.  LOL.  Warm Seafood & Asparagus Salad Appetizer, Salad, and are you waiting Broiled Fresh Swordfish.  We did have something different though.  Well two things different.  Well three if you are being technical.  LOL.  

Different dressing on the side for salad.  Yippee.
 
Different salads.  Amazing.

Butterfly Swordfish for me & One solid piece for Anne Marie.  Wow.

A side Baked Potato (no condiments) for Keith.  Can you believe these differences?

​Then there was the wine.  How can you forget this. For some nights Keith is having Head Sommelier Jiri select the wine and on other nights I am selecting it.  The emphasis is on trying new vintages and not the same ones.  This approach has been great as we have been introduced to wine we would not have tried with the same old approach.  
 
Keith selected Metaphora wine from Napa Valley for last evening.  The Metaphora wine is one of the heaviest ones on the ship and the alcohol content is a whopping 15.5%.
 
In the old days you would not select this wine to have with Swordfish but rather with something like Beef. However, these days anything goes and if your palate enjoy this that is what is important.
 
They decanted the wine over an hour before we arrived and as the evening progressed it opened up more including while in the glass.  It also went well with the cheese I selected for the final course.
 
We plan to dine in our room the final two nights. Dinner at Waterside has been a real treat.  The entire team who has taken great care of us is amazing.  This includes:  Restaurant Manger Paolo, Head Waiter Carmelo, Senior Waiter Nenad, Waiter Grant, and Sommelier Ales.  In addition, Head Waiter Vlada who we have had several times on Symphony before he came to Serenity in March of 2020 checked on us once or twice each evening, Sommelier John who we had on the first two of these three voyages visited each evening to see us, and Head Sommelier Jiri came by on each evening so we could discuss the wine and for him to get our feedback on the wine.  We have known Jiri since he was a Sommelier in the former Crystal Dining room shortly after he went from the bar lounges to being a Sommelier.  We can’t say enough how enjoyable the team made us feel each evening.  While some prefer to go from Specialty Restaurant to the next one and we fully understand this, we had a great time by having a larger number of meals in Waterside and on occasion going to one of the other restaurants.  This makes the ones called specialty truly seem special by visiting them infrequently.
 

We wanted to begin by sharing several photos Keith took at the Palm Court in the early morning hours before guests were out and about.


The Palm Court is a room found on the original Crystal Harmony, Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity along with other Crystal vessels including Endeavor and the River Cruise Vessels.

On Harmony it was a key venue for evening activities and selected daytime events.  When Symphony was designed the room took on a little less interest as several activities which were held in Harmony were held in Starlite Lounge on Symphony.  Based on guest feedback when Serenity was designed its own Palm Court was designed to be a central point for several daytime and evening activities.

Over the years we spent a lot of time in the Palm Court.  This included:

Attending Team Trivia

Reading books and/or enjoying the Panoramic Views of the sea, coast line and/or port.

Attending special events such as crossings of the Equator. 

Attending cocktail parties.

Listening to music.

Dancing to the live quartet/trio performers

Attending Captains Welcome, Farewell and Crystal Society events including being recognized at a few of the Society Receptions

Attending some of the afternoon teas.

Spending time with fellow guests and enjoying conversations with members of Team Serenity.
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Today's daily Reflections.

Today is another turn-around day and we are back in Nassau.  We began our cruise in July in Nassau, returned on turn-around day and debarked Serenity at the end of the second cruise in Nassau to fly home.

This is our third visit to Nassau on these three back-to-back cruises marking our sixth visit this year and our seventh visit ever and the first one was 30 years ago.

Before getting cleared to go ashore the two of us walked the Promenade Deck.  Celebrity Equinox had already arrived and by the time we arrived a different RCI ship arrived, this time Mariner Of The Seas.

Keith walked around the nearby area to where Serenity is docked as he's done on prior visits.  

We also managed to get in lots of exercise and chat with fellow guests and members of Team Serenity.

Anne Marie worked on the "dreaded" packing as we debark this Monday in Miami.  The key is to have future cruises planned which we do.  More on that soon.

Some guests debarked today while others arrived.

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All in all another wonderful day on-board Serenity and as they say the night is young.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith