This has been a wonderful adventure. Aren't they all?

Before we discuss the cruise let's talk about the flight home and we had a first.

We had a direct flight to our regional airport via British Airways. They run two a day and one a day from our airport to London Heathrow.

All have the flights have had easy boarding but a few years ago luck wasn't with us. The aircraft was not at a gate so we were packed like sardines into a bus and brought out to where the aircraft was parked. We then had to climb lots of steps We've done this with smaller aircraft in Africa and in Reykjavik the past two years had to exit the aircraft by steps but with such a large plane not an easy task. Keith carried the two roller boards and one back pack on his back and Anne Marie took the other backpack.

Well, it happened again with this flight but Anne Marie is having an issue so steps were not ideal for her and this involved a first for us.

The good people at BA arranged for assistance for us. After most people had gone the bus route, Anne Marie was wheeled to a lift with Keith at her side and we took it down to the first level. We waited for one other couple. We were loaded into a vehicle which has a lift and driven a long ways to where the aircraft was parked. We then were lifted up and entered the aircraft. Keith has flown corporate jets  and flown many places around the world and all over the USA but this was a first. 

We did leave about one hour late but made up half of the one hour delay in flight. We always say the biggest challenge with cruising are the flights. So it goes. LOL.

We were blessed with wonderful weather. The  two hotels for the  pre and post cruise were lovely as were our stay at Barcelona and London. There were several special ports with lots to discover which is a big part of travel. The tours were great with terrific tour guides and lots to do and see.

The cruise was exceptional.

The crew which is the heart and soul of each Crystal ship was amazing. They are kind, courteous, professional, funny, and act human and do their utmost to make the cruise as wonderful as possible. An added plus for us was having the opportunity to enjoy the company of friends Andrea and David.  

You might ask how can we sail the same cruise line and still say it is exceptional. That is a good question with a simple answer. For us there are still new things that exceed our expectations and for us nothing compares to it on land, in the air or at sea. We are speaking for ourselves. We are all human and if we all thought the same we would all wear the same clothes, gravitate to the same choices in color, eat the same food, have the same interests, like the same restaurants, hotels, airlines, automobiles and cruise lines if cost was not a consideration. Like most products, we have sailed many cruise lines classified as mass market/mainstream, premium and luxury. For us Crystal is the very best. We were Crystalized on our first Crystal voyage in 2002 but we had one other luxury line we still enjoyed but by 2007 Crystal became our go-to cruise line. Since that time we sailed, one additional premium cruise lines and one additional luxury line because one was used for transportation to get us back to the states following the 2014 Crystal World Cruise, and two cruises on the luxury lines were because we had short windows to sail and the Crystal itineraries were too long.


We always say when your cruise ends it is always great to know you have one or more cruises booked so you have future adventures to look forward to. In our case, we have several Crystal Cruises booked. Even better news is we will be on the road again or a better way of saying this we will be on a few Crystal Cruises again by the end of next month. Stay tuned. 

We have a cruise summary that we will publish in a few days.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith

When we got ready to take the hotel elevator down to the lobby area for a nice walk the Hotel Manager spotted us and said, “Hi Steiner’s”. Remembering our name, I could only think we were sailing with Crystal again. They would have said “Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Steiner”. The manager was trying to describe today’s weather outlook and said it was not as intense as yesterday.  ​​

Some areas we visited in London:
 
City of Westminster, Talfalgar Square, London Theatre District, Piccadilly Circus, Albetopolis.
 

We enjoyed a nice walk. Anne Marie had spotted a globe the day before, so we found it. It is outside one of the many buildings of the London School of Economics and the description is very appropriate to today’s world. It says “LSE is a place where people with different perspective engage in respectful (we are underlying respectful) debate about major issues of the world. It represents the world as of 2019 and it has the world turned upside down with the southern hemisphere on top. 
 
We enjoyed a nice walk along the River Thames on the Victoria Embankment where we enjoyed beautiful views of the London Eye, Big Ben and Parliament. We stopped at Cleopatra’s Needle a gift from Egypt which we described the other day mentioning the sister monument is in Central Park, New York City.  We stopped at the Egyptian Sphinxes that flank Cleopatra’s Needle. They still bear unrepaired shrapnel holes and gouges from World War I German bombing that occurred on September 4, 1917. They have been left as a permanent historical reminder about the bombing.
 
When it was time to return from our walk, we revisited Whitehall Gardens enjoying its beauty and history including views of the surrounding area.
 

Some photos from another walk.

Later today we will fly back home. It’s been a wonderful adventure. We will post final thoughts about our Crystal Serenity on-board experience and when we will be returning for more Crystal Cruises.

Stay tuned.
 
Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith

Our Crystal Serenity post-cruise stay in London continues.

Some photos from a walk that Keith did yesterday followed by photos on a walk we did together.

Although it has been on the warmer side, it’s nice that it is not overcast, windy or rainy. We could call it “Crystal Clear” with very few clouds in the sky.  

Excluding business trips, our first visit  to London was with our children. We stayed at a Hotel in the Covent Garden area. Anne Marie’s late sister who lived in Glasgow, Scotland at the time met us there. Often when you return to an area you reminisce about previous visits there as we did yesterday.

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It’s been way too long since we last went to the Theatre. We have not been to the theater since Covid-19 and that included our visits to New York City in 2025 after we debarked Crystal Serenity and to London when we debarked Crystal Symphony in 2024. We mentioned these two cities since we have been to theatres in both cities numerous times.
 
We decided to see the musical Sinatra which made its London West End Debut on June 3 of this year. We booked this musical for several reasons. While we remember Frank Sinatra, he was not a singer that our generation identified with just as we were a few years after the time of Elvis Presley’s peak as a singer. When we were of the age to know of them Elvis Presley was making all those beach type movies and Frank Sinatra was also in movies. Full disclosure a movie that Keith remembers starring Frank Sinatra was called Von Ryan’s Express which he saw with my family in 1965 and watched it additional times at home. One thing about Frank Sinatra is he said Something which was written by George Harrison was the greatest love song of the last 50 years although he introduced it as his favorite Lennon & McCartney number.  Another positive was that we could easily walk to the theatre as it is about one-half mile from the Hotel.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith

​July 8 & 9

Emily it was such a surprise and pleasure to see Rao.

 
We had a wonderful day in London. Weather is on the warmer side but better than rain and wind.
 
After a visit to the Shell Max House we had a lovely visit by a special woman who took us to an area near the river that we have not been to before.  
 
The Shell Mex House is an Art Deco building which today is known as 80 Strand but back in the day it was called the Shell Mex House which was completed between 1931 and 1932. It was the joint marketing company formed by Shell and British Petroleum.  Before then the site was occupied by Hotel Celil which opened in 1896 and was once considered the largest hotel in Europe with 800 rooms.
 
We saw the last Sewer Gas Lamp which survived with pieces of Victorian engineering. The gas lamp burns continuously and was designed to vent and burn foul gases from the city’s sewers. This engineering was key to transforming London’s system after the “Great Stink” of 1858.
 
We walked along the Embankment Gardens which was created between 1870 and 1875. The gardens occupy land reclaimed from the Thames during construction of the Embankment and London’s modern sewer system.
 
If you turn around from facing the gardens you will see the back of the Savoy Hotel. 
 
If we were to go back in time to September 10, 1963, a famous photo was taken in the afternoon following a lunch party hosted by the Variety Club of Great Britain. Featured in the photo are four lads of Liverpool who were known in England, but we not yet known in the United States. The photo includes John, Paul, George and Ringo along with Billy Kramer, front man of Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, another Brian Epstein managed group and Susan Maughan, a popular English singer known for her hit Bobby’s Girl.
 
We saw the York Water Gate.  Work is being done on the gate. It survives from seventeenth-century London It was completed around 1626 and was originally the riverside entrance to the York House, the grand residence of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham.

We also enjoyed a view from of The Time Capsule which was sealed in 1878 beneath Cleopatra’s Needle. We also learned that the needle is one of a pair of two and the second one is in New York City in Central Park just behind the Metropolitan Museum.
 
Today was a day to smell the roses. Sometimes when one explores there is a lot to learn in one small area and this was the case today.  We thank our special tour guide.
 

A photo from outside the Rosewood Hotel which is very appropriate with the Wimbledon Tennis Match taking place.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie and Keith

We enjoyed our final breakfast of the cruise and finished 
​packing the last few items in our carry-ons before departing our beautiful suite of the past few weeks and headed to the Crystal Plaza on Deck 5 to meet the concierge at the appointed time to take a Crystal provided transfer to London for our post-cruise stay.
 
We wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts with you about Crystal.
 
When we think of Crystal we think of our extended Crystal Family. Many words come to mind.
 
F – Fan Club. If there was a Crystal Fan Club, we would be honored to be part of it or even lead it.
 
A – Admiration. You have our admiration for all you do and are truly amazing.
 
M – Magnificent and Magical. Do we need to say more. 
 
I – Innovative. As Crystal has evolved and rolled out changes it is the crew who had to figure out how to implement many of them.
 
L – Love. We love each of you.
 
Y – Youthful. Each of you no matter your age has many traits found in youthful people and it brings out the best in all of us Youthful
 
The on-board experience has been incredible! It begins with the wonderful Crystal family, fellow guests and the outstanding crew. The crew truly is the heart and soul of Crystal! We've had the pleasure of knowing some crew members since our very first voyage on Crystal Harmony, others while sailing on Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity. It's also been a delight meeting new members of the Crystal Serenity team. We are so grateful to the entire crew for their warm welcome, kindness, professionalism, exceptional service, and fantastic sense of humor. We always say, unlike some cruise lines where the crew can seem a bit robotic, on Crystal, they are genuinely human, and their warmth and kindness come straight from the heart!

​Photos of some of the wonderful crew members on-board Crystal Serenity.
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Our cruise ended in Southampton, UK. This area has an historic maritime history, including being used by the Romans as a harbor when they occupied England. This port was where the RMS Titanic sailed on her inaugural trans-Atlantic crossing. Southampton was bombed 57 separate times during World War II with more than 2,300 bombs dropped on the city. Over the years we have started and ended cruises at this port and transited the port a couple of times when staying on beyond the end of a voyage. When we were on the first two cruises celebrating the restart of Crystal Cruises in 2023 our cruise ended in Southampton.  ​

When it was time to leave, Butler Ayhan met us at our room and took our luggage, and we all went to the Crystal Plaza. I stopped at Waterside to say farewell to Senior Waiter Enver and Senior Head Waiter Jacques. Hotel Director Hubert reached out to wish us safe travels.  Concierge Manu met us in the Crystal Plaza and took us to the area where we would debark the ship where we were greeted by Clearance Officer Kirsten. Once off the ship we were met by a shoreside colleague who took us to where the luggage was. We were greeted by Chief Concierge Thomas and Front Office Manager Ariella.  The shoreside colleague walked with us along with a porter to the exit where there were plenty of Crystal shoreside folks waiting along with the driver that Crystal provided and we were taken to the vehicle we would ride into London. A few yards before we got to the vehicle, I heard our names being called out “Mr. and Mrs. Steiner, and out the corner of my eye I saw Senior Head Butler Rao who was just arriving back to the ship after a holiday at home with his family. It was so nice to see Rao and very kind of him to wait for us to debark. This was a masterful debarkation. It was very organized and there were plenty of people helping out. Congratulations to Front Office Manager Ariella and to her on-board team. 
 
Once inside the Crystal provided vehicle we were driven from Southampton into London and then over to the Rosewood London Hotel where we sailed after debarking Crystal Symphony in 2023 following two back-to-back cruises from Reykjavik, Iceland to Southampton, United Kingdom
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The driver was superb. She is from Poland. She said she was born to be a driver. She spoke highly of Crystal. Smart person. She drove safely, was professional, very kind in all ways. 
 
Good news is we only had to wait twenty minutes for our room. In that time, the Hotel Manager introduced himself to us as we had corresponded with him prior to our visit about an item from our last visit. The staff was superb too.
 
The room is great and photos do not do it justice at all.
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London weather is different from the norm. Some people are even in shorts which contrasts with what you normally expect. For us it’s not too hot though. It’s perfect.
 
We will enjoy a few days in London before flying home.  We will provide some daily short posts and, in a few days, some final thoughts about the cruise. We have another Crystal adventure coming soon and will mention that before we sign off in a few days and close the chapter out on the current adventure.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith
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We wanted to begin with a shout-out for the team that has taken great care of us in our suite. This includes Suite Attendant Rose who always has a smile on her face and a positive outlook and who works diligently to keep our suite looking great. She was assisted by Junior Suite Attendant Belen on the first cruise and Angel on this cruise. Our Butler is Ayhan who we have known for years as he was our Senior Waiter on a couple of World Cruises, and we would see him on many other voyages and when he became a butler a couple of years ago. Ayhan is very professional and didn’t miss a beat. We also thank Executive Housekeeper Sneha who came by our suite the first day to ensure everything was in order. Sneha was our Suite Attendant several years ago on a World Cruise. We also thank Assistant Housekeeper Nivalda who visited our suite a couple of times and who aided Anne Marie on an item. I also wanted to note how well everyone worked as one team across Housekeeping and Food & Management. Bravo.

Angel on the left and Rose on the right.
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​Let’s continue with yesterday’s lunch at Marketplace. Since Andrea and David were touring we dined by ourselves on the dining venues outdoor deck. We have enjoyed our return to Marketplace with all its choices.
 
We enjoyed the ship the rest of the day. We also needed to finish up packing.
 

Waterside dinner menu from last evening.

For many years our tradition for our last dinner of the cruise is to dine in our room. Back in the day when we sat with others for dinner, we would dine with them on the last night. Many years later we evolved to dining in our room on the last night since we found it very relaxing and we could easily finish the packing of the large suitcases that needed to go outside our room for collection.
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We began with Canapés. Each afternoon Canapés are provided to the suites and they change daily. This is the first time we have had one of the daily ones since we boarded as we normally have fresh fruit in the afternoon.

Dinner was great and we so appreciate all that Ayhan has done over these two cruises.
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We departed Portland at approximately 9:00 PM. The original schedule called for a 7:00 PM departure. Evidently this changed and was noted in the daily reflections program.
 
 
 
 
Today this cruise comes to an end. It has been a wonderful adventure with so many interesting ports of call. We are at a stage in our lives that we appreciate sailing many places within Europe, and in North America. We still love Australia and New Zealand and realize their remoteness is one of the contributing factors that make them special while also making it challenging to visit them other than when we were on-board World Cruises and didn’t have to fly to and from these places.
 
We feel blessed to have sailed all seven continents and to have had the opportunity to sail places like Asia, Africa, The Middle East, Australia, New Zealand multiple times and sailed off Antarctica. 
 
There's a saying that all good things must come to an end. But fear not, our cruising days and adventures with Crystal are far from over! This is merely the conclusion of yet another thrilling journey. Imagine this as the end of one captivating chapter, with an exciting new one just waiting on the horizon!
 
Our next chapter comes this Summer and continues into early Fall. Stay tuned for more.

We've had an absolutely thrilling adventure both on and off the ship! We've revisited towns and cities we've visited before, and we've also explored some places for the very first time. What an amazing journey! 


We have created memories which will last a lifetime.

We will close this one out in the next day or two with additional thoughts. Stay tuned.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith

Yesterday we enjoyed our final lunch with friends Andrea and David at Marketplace as they are on a tour today. One of the many things we have always enjoyed about cruising is getting to know others and the friendships that develop over one or more cruises. We look forward to sailing with them again. 
 
The theme was the Asian Buffet, and we tried some items we didn’t have on the last cruise.
 
The weather was surprisingly great as we are sailing to England. The morning had fog, but this cleared later in the morning. Midway through lunch the sun came out, and the views were very nice.
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​We returned to Waterside for the final time of this cruise. Our tradition for many years is to enjoy our final dinner in our suite as we put the final touches on packing. Back in the days when we dined with others when there were two seatings for dinner we would usually go to the dining room for our final dinner. When it was just the two of us dining at one point we decided to dine in the suite.
 
We wanted to take a moment to give a shout out to the Food & Beverage team in all of the dining venues and lounges and throughout the ship including those who are visible and those who work behind the scenes for once again delivering an exceptional food and beverage experience. 
 
Dining each night at Waterside has been wonderful. For us, we consider Waterside very special even though it is not considered a specialty restaurant. For us it is very special. It starts with the beautiful dining venue, the way each table is set up, the wonderful service performed by the waitstaff team and the delicious food presented as if they are serving a much small number of people instead of 400 to 450 guests on most evenings.
 
We thank Restaurant Manager Leo, Senior Head Waiter Jacques, Senior Waiter Enver, Waiters Arvin and Bryan, Sommelier Edar and on the last Voyage Sommelier Isabel and Head Sommelier Boris for their professionalism, attention to detail and the kindness they have shown us throughout these two voyages. We have also enjoyed lots of great laughs with each of them. 

We had another enjoyable dinner last night thanks to this team and everyone working behind the scenes.
 

We began our final full day as we have starting the day after we boarded with an early fast walk for Keith and visit to the Fitness Center and another walk for the two of us after breakfast.

Today's Daily Reflections Program.​

Today we arrived at Portland, England.
 
Portland dates to the Stone Age. The island is known for its stone taken from its seven quarries and has been used to build some historic structures including the Cenotaph memoria, Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s Cathedral. The Romans recognized this stone and quarried small amount of it. The trend of using stone accelerated in London after the great fire of 1666 and would be used extensively to rebuild the city.
 
While a good deal of stone has been exported abroad it has been used for the island’s castles. 
 
Major attractions include:
 
Portland Castle constructed in the 1540s to guard against French and Spanish invaders.
 
Chesil Beach which stretches 18 miles.
 
Tout Quarry Sculpture Garden, which is a former quarry, transformed into a popular sculpture park.
 
Portland Museum which presents the island’s history.
 
Castletown D-Cay Centre which is a busy wartime dockyard and recreated to the year American troops embarked for the heavily defended beaches of Nazi occupied France in WWII.
 
Portland Bill Lighthouse which still functions today and was first used in 1906.
 
We had a mandatory UK Board Force Inspection in the morning. We had already turned in our passports the other day in preparation for the inspection. As part of the inspection, we received the passports as we entered Palm Court and presented them to the local official. It’s a very quick process and one that we have been doing since our first World Cruise which ended in England.  Kudos to Crystal the Crystal Team including Front Office Manager Ariella and Clearance Officer Kristen and the rest of the staff involved with this process for making this process very easy for everyone involved. The immigration personnel from the UK were also very friendly and efficient.

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We will enjoy the rest of our final full day cruising on-board Crystal Serenity.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith

Thank you so very much Emily for your lovely comments.

Some additional photos from yesterday related to July 4th celebration.

July 4 & July 5
 
We enjoyed a wonderful sail-away from Bordeaux, France. Found a quiet spot with a terrific view. What a Wonderful World it is. 
 
Before lunch we visited the pool deck. Many people were on the deck sunning and/or in the pool. There were lots of games.  DJ Emotion was playing lots of upbeat songs.  Cruise Director Russ was leading one of the games and Sarah Hayes was telling fortunes.  
 
We had lunch at Marketplace with friends Andre and David and it featured American Classics. I walked afterwards with Andrea close to one hour.
 
It was a fun afternoon as we celebrated Independence Day.
 
 
 
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​Dinner was wonderful and the dessert was learning that we turn back the clock by one hour.  
 

Todays Daily Reflections Program.

​Today is the second sea day of this cruise. Like each say day there were lots of on-board activities for guests to participate in. This included fitness, bridge, golf, computer, creative media, dance, and art classes. Three lectures were offered. They included a talk about what it’s like to cover the White House, another one about the music industry and a third one about legends and magical tails about King Arthur and the Stone Giants. Other activities included Team Trivia, Mahjong, Canasta, Poolside Music by DJ Emotion, Pickleball and Paddleball. In case one was hungry the Waterside dining room was open for lunch as it is on sea days and today is Chocolate Tea-Time. The evening program includes two performances of My Life; The Music of Bill Joel, the 1984 movie; A Passage to India, Karaoke, four different acts at the Crystal Cove, music and song in the Avenue Saloon, Dancing and live music in Palm Court and Karaoke later in the evening. For the shoppers all of the on-board stores are open as is the photo shop and it’s a great day to sit back and read a book, converse with the crew and guests and to enjoy the sea as we sail to Portland, England.

We are having a wonderful day at sea.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith
 
 

Happy July 4th to all of you who celebrate Independence Day.

​There is something special about being in France the morning of July 4th since France was very provided supplies arms, ammunition, uniforms, troops and naval support to the Continental Army. The French navy also provided reinforcements and fought the British feel and protected George Washington’s forces in Virginia.
 
Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Independence Day brings back memories of the July 4, 1976, Bicentennial. We were in Washington, DC that summer working at the University and attended the festivities at the National Mall.

We wanted to mention how fortunate we have been with the overall weather since boarding in Barcelona on June 15. We have missed the heat wave sometimes by days. For example, the temperature we have experienced in Bordeaux has ranged from low 60’s to low 80’s Fahrenheit during our stay whereas in a couple of days the high will hit over 100 degree Fahrenheit.  
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This is a summary of the full day tour we took yesterday.

Our tour guide was Roman.

We departed for the medieval town of Saint-Emillion (a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999). Saint-Emillion is known for its supberb red wine. However, the area is about wine. It is a unique town, which boasts a history of more than 1,400 years.
 
We enjoyed a private visit and tasting at a chateau in the Saint-Emillion 1st Grand Cru Classe appellation.

We then had at a small, family-run and non-touristry restaurant near Saint Emillion followed by a walk through Saint-Emillion.
 
Our tour also included a private tour of the so-called underground monuments including the former cave and chapel of Saint-Emilion, the catacombs and, especially the unique and largest monolithic church in Europe carved into the stone by monks between the 9th and 11th centuries.
 
The tour also included a tasting of exceptional and rare Saint-Emillion Grand Cru Classe wines at a small, family-owned estate on just 4 hectares.

When we went into the wine cellar, we saw bottles of wines in what they call their library sorted by year. They had some almost a century old dating back to 1929.  

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Last evening we dined at Waterside. The other night we were dining somewhere else when Wiener Schnitzel was on the menu, so we decided to special order it for last evening. Anne Marie had a half portion, and I had the Schnitzel a la Holstein. It was accompanied with traditional garnish and warm fingerling potato salad.

We will share a secret. Each night we have a race to see who can fill the water glass first. Waiter Bryan fills my glass with sparkling water and Waiter Arvin fills Anne Marie’s glass with still water.
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Today's Daily Reflections Program.

Since today is a partial sea day Waterside is open for Lunch.

We started off the day as we always do with a fast walk for Keith and later in the morning we both walked. Today is also packing day.

We have lot of things to do today as we celebrate Independence Day and sailing with Crystal Cruises. From 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM there are all sorts of events taking place on the pool deck including a sail-away party, carnival games, state fair treats from corn dogs to lobster rolls and at Marketplace a buffet including American Classics. 

Waterside dinner menu from last evening where we dined.

Last evening was White Night which we think of as a mixer with music and dancing. White Night has continued to grow in popularity over the years between more people wearing white and attending the party and the CD’s play a very active role as well.
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Today's Daily Reflections

We will end now and post all about todays' tour tomorrow.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith