We have enjoyed another spectacular cruise sailing with Crystal. This is our happy place. This is truly our second home.  We pick many cruises with Crystal for the itinerary and to sail with Crystal. We chose this cruise because it is the Holiday Cruise and because our destination was Crystal rather than the port stops.
 
It has been very nice sailing with many guests who we know from one or more previous cruises including several from this very special group and it has been wonderful meeting some of you for the very first time. The nice thing about Crystal is we always know guests from other Crystal Cruises.  At the same time, we get to be with the wonderful crews whether we are on Serenity or Symphony.
 
While walking with a friend of ours as we passed the stairwell on Deck 6 I looked from behind and said I think that is Sarah. My friend who hadn’t met Sarah Hayes called out Sarah and she turned around and immediately came back up the stairs.  Anne Marie and I have sailed with Sarah on a few World Cruises and Northwest Passage. Sarah will be the World Cruise Hostess for the 2025 World Cruise having last been in this role on the abbreviated Grand Voyage of 2022. Sarah is truly amazing, and she will light up the ship figuratively and literally.  
 
There is something very special being at sea. When Keith  walks the Promenade Deck by himself, he thinks about those who sailed before us including those who discovered the world. This is what he did yesterday afternoon and stopped for a moment to take a photo. We are fortunate to sail the world while doing so on each of the two amazing Crystal Ocean Vessels, with an extraordinary crew looking after us with great food and drink, enrichment and entertainment. Opportunities are limitless and we have seen places that many people will never see first-hand. 
  

 
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Dinner Menus from Waterside from last evening.

We enjoyed our last dinner (or do we say last supper) and put the last few items in our suitcases before placing them outside our room.  
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Photo of Keith & Rao from this morning.

We are never sad when the cruise ends whether it is one cruise, two cruises, a World Cruise or even when we spend six months on-board. Why? Because we always have several cruises booked with Crystal and the next one gets us through leaving the ship. Yes, in the meantime we will miss being on-board but will focus on that next cruise.

We have another great adventure coming up later this year. Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith

These are the Waterside Dinner Menus where we dined last evening.

Paolo returned from Holiday and will be the Restaurant Manager starting when the World Cruise begin on January 7.

The evening entertainment included two showings of My Life: The Music of Billy Joel featuring Broadway Star James Fox.

Today is the final day of the cruise and a sea day.
 

The Daily Reflections Program Follows

Today is the final day of the cruise and a Sea Day. This meant lots of activities on the schedule.

This included three lectures; Dr. Michael DeDonno who spoke about memory as we age, Dr James Wirtz who spoke about why Afghanistan collapsed and Jim Jimiro who spoke about those who neared their end including Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin.

We already did much of our packing so we could enjoy this final day on-board Crystal Serenity.

It began with a final morning workout of this cruise for Keith.

After breakfast we both enjoyed a walk on the promenade deck. 

We thought this was an interesting cloud formation or is there more to this than meets the eye?  Ummm.

Waterside Dinner Menus from last evening. 

Last evening was the final formal night of this cruise.  
 
The Waterside menu featured many special items for the Formal Night For those who like items such as Caviar, Lobster and/or Beef Wellington these were some of the featured items.
 
 
 

A Supper Club was also offered which includes live music, dancing and a menu of some of the items from the Waterside Dinner menu.
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Today's Daily Reflections.

This morning, we arrived to Grand Cayman which we have visited many times starting in the 1990’s and continuing to several voyages on Crystal on Holiday sailings or ones before the start of the World Cruise.

This is the final port-of-call on the New Year's Cruise before we arrived back to Port Everglades on January 7.

Including Serenity six ships were anchored off Grand Cayman.
 

Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman’s and encompasses about 75% of the overall land mass of the Cayman’s.
 
Some of the highlights include Stingray City, Cayman Crystal Caves, 7-mile beach, and Cayman Turtle Centre and the downtown area. In years past we took our family to Stingray City, 7-Mile beach, a drive around most of the island and numerous visits to the downtown area.

We continue to enjoy an amazing time sailing Crystal Serenity.

This has been a wonderful cruise. As we've said from the start the destination for us has been Crystal Serenity.  We are enjoying the rest of the day on-board Serenity, and we have tomorrow to look forward to as well.
 
Cheers


Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith

We began last evening with the visit to the Captain’s Quarters for a reception he hosted for several guests.  It is always an honor to be invited and to have the chance to speak with the Captain, other senior officers and senior crew and fellow guests.
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Waterside menus from last evening.

We then had dinner with Cruise Director Raphael Derkson at Umi Uma.  Dining at Umi Uma is always an amazing experience starting on our first cruise on Serenity in 2005. We thank the entire waitstaff team for making our visit wonderful and we thank Raphael for dining with us. We enjoyed great conversations and lots of laughs.
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​Menus follow.

The evening entertainment included the All Star Liars Club held for the first time since the restart of Crystal.  It included Comedic Liar John Joseph, Rabbinical Liar Rabbi Lavinsky, Fantastical Liar Jim Jimirro, and Intellectual Liar dr. Michael DeDonno. It was hosted by Cruise Director Raphael.

On top of this The Crystal Showband Performed at 10:00 PM and Cruise Director played the Trumpet with five other musicians, one vocalist along with a violinist.

The only downside of the evening was having to forward the clocks one hour. This was payback from moving them back one hour. Mama Mia. LOL.


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Today's Daily Reflections Program follows.
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Today is s sea day and no other cruise line that we have ever sailed makes a cruise day as special as Crystal. Crystal offers lots of enrichment programs including fitness, golf, bridge, computer, and art classes. They also offer so many other activities and for the first time that we can remember a Rap with Rabbi Lavinsky which the late Rabbi Morrie had held.  This touches our hearts with so many wonderful memories of attending these raps.

In addition there were three lecture. Dr. James Wirtz spoke about UFO's, Dr. Michael DeDonno spoke about how much of our brain we use, andJim Jimirro spoke about some of the some of our beloved musicals.

And if this was not enough let's not forget about the food. LOL.

Early morning walk on the Pool Deck.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith

After posting yesterday, Keith ventured out since the rain had stopped to visit Santo Tomas, Guatemala.  I walked for a while.  Several locals stopped me, and they were very friendly. Saw some fellow guests. I just had to navigate around puddles of water from the heavy rain.
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Last evening was White Night.

Dinner menu from last night at Waterside.

We dined at BeefBar for the second time since boarding on December 18.

We tried some items we did not have last time as well as items we enjoyed previously.  New items included Bao Buns and when it arrives they lift the cover and there is smoke coming out. We thought it was delicious. We also had the Avocado Hummus. We thought this one was OK. The final item we had for the first time was classic homemade mashed potatoes for Anne Marie and Habanero Spring Onion Homemade Mashed Potatoes for Keith.  While he consistency of the mashed potatoes is looser than what we are used to we thought they were great and with the flavoring Keith thought his was phenomenal.

Next time we will try the Ribeye Ham. The reason we didn't try it last evening is because the Italian Bread was not available as all ingredients were not on the ship. No biggie for us as we wanted to try new things and that is what we still did.

We both had half portions of the Prawn Salad which served as a cleanser for the beef which would come next. Once finished, they put the beef up and this gave a good break for the steak while cleansing our palates.

We each had the Filet Mignon cooked to medium as we requested. As we mentioned it was accompanied by the mashed potatoes and Anne Marie had a sauce on the side for the Filet Mignon.  It was already sliced for us like last time which was terrific.

For dessert, Anne Marie had the Mille-Crepes Carmel Miso which are Crepes with salted caramel, almonds, walnuts & pistachios and she shared some with Keith.  The taste is amazing. Keith had the fresh fruit and the fruit was delicious.

We enjoyed wine and of course water.

If not the busiest, it was one of the busiest nights since BeefBar opened. Staff is great. They do not miss a beat. They work as a unified team. Everyone helps out.  The Headwaiter cut the Wagyu Beef, brought items out and helped to clear tables and very visible.  Multiple people poured water and wine for us including the bartender. Certain courses another person brought the items in addition to the Senior Waiter and Waiter.  The pace was perfect. Not too fast.  Not too slow. Just right.

​While we do not eat beef often we did during both visits. With that said, if we didn't eat the beef there were other items to select and on a future visit Keith would like to try the Cauliflower Steak.

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Daily Reflections Program for today.

We arrived to Roatan, Honduras this morning.  The city center is located within a five minute walk of where we docked.
 
Roatan is the largest of the Honduras Bay Islands. It is 37 miles long and five miles wide across its widest point.  
 
Roatan’s history included the days of Indian inhabitants, times of piracy and looting and a period of time when various countries squabbled over possession of the island.

​It had rained prior to our arrival and there was a slight drizzle. At one point during our walk on the Promenade Deck Keith went off the ship to walk over to the town. He took an umbrella.  The  area at the pier is very attractive with a couple of pools, bars, several shops and nice landscape. The walk to town was tricky between thin sidewalks, some areas without sidewalks with mud, some puddles, and some sidewalk that is slanted.  Keith could hear Anne Marie saying.  Let's go back.  Keith hopped at times between sidewalk and road being very careful to watch for traffic. He certainly didn't want to be a bunny rabbit that got hit by a car or motorcycle.  Like yesterday he was stopped several times with drivers offering to drive him around the island.

Travel is discovery and a reminder that there is lots to see around the world and that much of the world is different from where we live.
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Photos follow.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith

Before dinner last evening there was a sing-along starring Neal Fullerton who played the music and sang the lyrics from several Beatles songs. Keith and a friend had seen Neal practice on Tuesday.  Neal is the second person we have seen who holds his guitar like Paul McCartney. Neal is a lefty.  Bravo to Neal.

We dined at Waterside for the third consecutive evening.  

​These are the menus from last evening.

In years past we used to special order some items from time-to-time for dinner.  In general, we no longer do this because given the diversity of the entrees on the menu we stay with the menu offerings. We did make an exception last evening and decided to special order the kosher chicken since this was the last evening of Chanukah.  We enjoyed other items from the menu including the appetizers, salads and desserts.  
 
Food was delicious including the Kosher Chicken.  Service was wonderful between the Waitstaff team of Head Waiter Jacques, Waterside Senior Waiter Marcin, Waterside Waiter Nitish and Waterside Sommelier Mila.  They are not only professional, attentive, warm and friendly but they also have a great sense of humor, so we enjoy lots of good laughs.  Head Sommelier Jiri passed through providing support for his team so we had the opportunity to talk about what???? Yes, wine.  Waterside and the other dining venues are led by Restaurant Manger Leo who is sets a great tone for his team to follow.  

 
There is no question that we have learned and expanded our knowledge about cuisine and wine because of our many cruises with Crystal. This comes from the personnel and from the cuisine and variety of wine available on Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony.

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Following is the daily Reflections program.

This is our first visit to Santo Tomas, Guatemala. The seaport of the city was built in 1976 and is one of the busiest in Central America.  A cruise ship terminal was completed in 2004 and has been a tremendous boost for the Guatemalan tourism industry.
 
Tourists enjoy many activities including waterfall hikes, rainforest explorations, birdwatching and tours of UNECSO ancient Maya cities.  This country has over 400 species of birds.

​Unfortunately, we had a great deal of rain and some of it very heavy.

Our morning also included each of us having appointments at the salon. One of the nice things going to the salon and/or spa on the ship is no need to drive and park the car. Just a walk from our room towards the back of the ship and up two flights of steps and it is right there.  

Due to the rain, Cruise Director Raphael announced some additions to the program including Team Trivia, Bridge and the showing of the Sugar Bowl in the Galaxy Lounge this afternoon.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith

Happy New Year 2025.  This is a major milestone year for us.  We wish everyone a safe, healthy and Happy New Year.

​We've  included a photo from when we were recognized at the December Crystal Society Party for a major milestone.
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Dinner menus from Waterside where we dined last evening.  It was a formal night and this added to the elegance of the evening.
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Great menu with many choices that we would be pleased with. Challenge was to narrow it down to the top choice doe our entree.

Following is today's Daily Reflections.

Some of the highlights for today included:

Arrival to Belize at 10:00 am. This is a tender port.

Various enrichment programs including Odyssey Art at Sea, Golf Clinic, Duplicate and Social Bridge, Creative Media and late afternoon a talk on whether or not the Fountain Of Youth Exists.

Marketplace had a special New Year's Day Brunch Buffet starting at 11:30 AM.

We didn't go into port.  If one does, we recommend taking a Crystal excursion or a private one as there is nothing of major interest to do where the tender drops guests off.  The excursions reflected major items to see and do including snorkeling, river cruising, visits to the ruins.  We have been to Belize on two other occasions.

Belize is the largest city and former Capital of Belize.It is known for its beaches located outside the city and the Belize Barrier Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  As mentioned, the key is to get outside of Belize City.  

We started our New Year our preferable way which was to make Serenity our destination for today.  This included fitness workouts for Keith, enjoyable walks for the two of us, and conversation with the crew and guests. For those of you who have kept up with us over the years you will notice that Keith has not mentioned Paddle Tennis. Several friends who we have made over the years are on-board and playing Paddle Tennis. Unfortunately, Keith is dealing with an injury so it is doubtful that Paddle Tennis is meant to be this time around.

​Early to rise.  LOL.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith

We wanted to begin with a couple of items. First, is a photo of a luncheon salad that Keith had yesterday from Waterside. Love the colors and the salad was delicious.

We began last evening attending the Captain's welcome Reception and Crystal Society Party.  We were recognized for achieving another special Crystal Society Milestone.

These are the Waterside Dinner menus where we dined following the Reception & Party.

We returned to Waterside for the first of three consecutive evenings. Unlike the last cruise guests seem to be spreading out more in terms of where they are dining and the times of dining. We arrived about 15 minutes after opening.
 
We enjoyed dinner and I will let the photos speak for the food we had other than dessert since I didn’t take a photo of it. LOL.  On most voyages the Sommelier’s in Waterside rotate stations. Our Sommelier is Mila who we have known for several years since she started on Serenity.  When Endeavor was launched she was one of the crew members who went over there and she was our Sommelier on our cruise circumnavigating Iceland in August of 2021.  When Crystal restarted, she was assigned Symphony and now is back over at Serenity. She swings between being a Sommelier to a Head Waiter in Waterside.
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We were clear to go ashore at 8:20 am to visit Cozumel.
 
Cozumel has changed quite a bit since our first visit in the early 1990’s and when friends visited this island. Back then it was sort of a sleepy place. Friends would fly from where we lived to Cozumel to go diving.  They would stay at dives where they would pay $20.00 or so a night and a low price to go diving. Food and drink were cheap.
 
On our first arrival we remember taking a taxi over to the town from where we were docked and a buggy ride back to where the ship was docked. The shopping area was totally different than today as it had one-of-a-kind shops not like today with those jewelry stores that you see across the Caribbean.  Often one ship was in port. On one of our recent visits there were nine ships in port including some that were tendered.
 
Like today, we were docked at the location within a short walk from the downtown area.
 
Today, Cozumel is the largest inhabited island in Mexico. While it has gone through a transformation in the downtown area there are still parts of the island that include untouched jungle and shoreline.
 
The ships tours give an idea of the types of activities that tourists do when they visit. This includes visits to the ruins, snorkeling and beach time (diving is still popular but not practical to offer as a ships tour), or going for a fish cookout.

​We believe about six ships in port. One docked by us; three at the other terminal and one anchored.

Keith went off on his own as Anne Marie walked on the Promenade Deck.  He enjoyed the walk along the water into town and then revisited some places we had been to on each visit including years ago with our family.  One year we sailed with another family from home and we all went into the Señor Frogs and we remember that visit as if it was yesterday.

We are enjoying the rest of the day on Crystal Serenity.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith
 
 

 

Rob, thank you very much for your kind comments about our blog and we are glad you are enjoying the watercolor renditions. It's been fun including them.  We wish you both a very safe, healthy and Happy New Year.  

After posting yesterday, we both attended the Crystal Society Family Get Together. The event featured a member of the Crystal Shoreside team and Keith who is one of the two Face Book Crystal Society Family Group moderators as the co-hosts for this get-together. We had a super turnout.

It was interesting to view other ships from Serenity.  In Miami they are all docked in front of one another. At our location you had a ship across from us and another one on the left side of us.  The ship on the left departed shorty before we did and it was interesting to see it make its maneuvers to safely depart without hitting us.  
 
Yesterday’s weather was like what it was when Serenity arrived at Fort Lauderdale on 12/18, and we boarded.  When Serenity arrived to Port Everglades it was raining. The rain cleared and it was mainly cloudy. The only difference is it was windier. When we departed there it was clear sailing.
 

This is the dinner menu from last evening in Waterside.

As we did on the first night of the first cruise, we dined at Osteria and following is the dinner menu for this Italian Specialty Restaurant.

We have actually dined at Osteria on the first night of each cruise, starting with the Crystal Serenity Inaugural cruise on July 31 of 2023.  We find that many people boarding the first day dine at Waterside since the first day is busy between embarkation, unpacking, attending the muster drill, and for those who are new to Crystal or the ship learning the layout.

​We enjoyed a delicious dinner along with superb service, great wine and the ambience of this beautiful dining venue.

We tried a few new items including Duck for Keith and a Dessert that Anne Marie had not had before. Always good to change things up.

​First photo with Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' Mario Moinheiro

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Early this morning.

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Interesting cloud formations before we had breakfast.

Today is the first sea day of this young cruise.  Like all sea days there is lots on the schedule and this includes three lectures. They are: Dr. Michael DeDonno who spoke about The Female Brain versus the Male Brain, Dr. James Wirtz who spoke about The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited, and Jim Jimirro who gave a behind the look of Walt Disney.

We are enjoying a wonderful sea day with great weather.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith

Anne asked how many people are on board for each of the two cruises. We don't like to quote number because they can vary based on revenue versus all guests. The first cruise was almost full and the one that starts today is completely full as we understand it. 

Last nights dinner from Waterside.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal from Waterside along with several appetizers with two other people. It includes canapés we enjoyed prior to dinner.

We wanted to introduce you to our Penthouse Attendant and her Assistant; Amber & Jonah who are amazing.

Today we arrived to Port Everglades where this cruise comes to an end and we begin the next cruise.

Following is the daily Cruise Reflections Program.

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For Serenity, today is a turn-around day. For guests it is either a day to debark the ship, embark the ship, or continue onto the next voyages and the latter guests are considered in-transit guests.  In the USA, all guests continuing on to the next voyage are required to leave the ship temporarily so that the ship can get to a zero-count meaning all guests are off the ship.  Guests continuing onto the next cruise were asked to leave the ship by around 10:20AM. After a short wait we went through passport control and then looped back to return to the ship.  They could also leave the ship starting around 8:00 am if they had plans to do something in port. A shuttle was provided to take guests between Serenity and Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.

We've included photos of the Lounge.  The Lounge replaced the former Casino on each ship.  The new Casino has been introduced on each ship in the space occupied by the former Bridge Room.
 
The Casino is an alliance between Crystal and Monte-Carlo SBM and is the only Casino de Monte-Carlo at sea. It features slot machines, blackjack (at certain hours poker) and roulette. Those who play will experience what it is like at the Casino de Monte-Carlo in Monaco from those who work in the Casino on board Crystal Symphony and Serenity.
 
Back to The Lounge.  The Lounge is multi-purpose. Today, it will be used to check in those embarking the ship today as the gangway will be on Deck 6. If the gangway was on Deck 5 then the area between the two Crystal Future Cruise & Loyalty Managers would be used.
 
It is used for open bridge play, bridge instruction, mahjong, and by those who desire to play board games or cards on their own. It is also utilized for on-going puzzles and two are included in a photo I’ve posted.  Still others such as Anne Marie and I have used it to get together with a guest or guests on-board each ship. On this current voyage I have met up with a friend almost every afternoon in the Lounge.  
 
Each night since the first night of Chanukah three menorahs are utilized.  Two are in the Crystal Plaza and are electric and are in use 24 hours a day.  The Rabbi has lit a menorah in the Hollywood Theatre in the evening.  
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Since today is embarkation day we had our traditional Cobb Salad and Flute of Champagne marking the start of the next cruise.

We are posting early today as Keith will be attending a Crystal Society Family Get Together. The event features a member of the Crystal Shoreside team and Keith as the co-hosts as he is one of the two Crystal Face Book Family Group moderators.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith