Patricia...Many thanks for your nice wishes. Some of the common areas underwent renovations including the casino which was replaced by a lounge, Umi Uma and Osteria (used to be Prego) which got complete renovations, the salon, along with some new carpeting in selected areas. Many guest rooms were replaced or went though some enhancements, pool and spa were redone and even the Paddle Tennis Court received new decking and Pickle Ball can also be played. We wanted to begin with photos of the Fitness Center. The fitness center is open 7x24 and has an excellent array of fitness equipment and also has space for group classes. Each day classes are offered including cardio and stretching. Every couple of days indoor cycling is offered. Last evening was the first of three formal nights on-board this cruise. We began last evening by attending the Captain's Welcome Reception with Captain Vincent. We met the Captain on the second voyage of new Crystal. Captain Vincent welcomed everyone to the reception. He described his background including where he and his family live in France and his time at sea. He introduced the senior officers including Vice Captain Kaloyan, Chief Engineer Salvatore, Hotel Director Hubert, Cruise Director Raphael and Doctor Soto. We chatted with some guests including one couple we met sixteen years ago along with Food & Beverage Manager Svein and Front Office Manager Marco. It was a very nice party. We dined in Waterside last evening. It was Formal Night on-board Serenity. These are the dinner menus. The menu was oriented to Christmas in the USA. We returned to Waterside for dinner. We were taken great care of by the wonderful team of Senior Head Waiter Jacque, Senior Waiter Marcin, Waiter Enver and Sommelier Zane. Restaurant Manager Paolo visited with us as well. Also, Senior Waiter Ayhan who has taken care of us on several voyages including the first two starting on July 31 of this year came by to check on us. We enjoy chatting with the waitstaff team and three was plenty of time to do this as it was not busy with people going to specialty restaurants and about seventy guests at the Supper Club. It's enjoyable for us to hear about their families, life at home, and time with Crystal. This is our first time having Macron take care of us but we have known him for many years. Since it was Christmas Day, the menu included many American items that one might have on Christmas. We ended up ordering the same first three courses but our final course, dessert was not the same. Service exceptional as was the Waterside dining venue. We arrived at our first port of call Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas in the morning After two sea days we know many were ready for a port stop and this was also very nice for the crew as they had two sea days with rough weather on the last voyage before turn-around day in Miami when we boarded and then two sea days to start this cruise. We went ashore and walked around. On our first couple of visits, we toured the island and stopped off at some of its attractions. We visited the synagogue which is the second-oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere on an earlier visit. Afterwards, we returned to Serenity. We went to the cooking class presented by Chef Jon Ashton. Chef Jon is clearly part of the Crystal Family and we enjoyed his cooking demo. The demo covered Caribbean Spice Mahi-mahi with Coconut Rice and Pineapple Salsa. Yummy. We made the rest of the day a sea day. This included chatting with guests and crew, lunch, paddle ball, walks and some leisurely time to each continue reading our respective books. Today's Reflections follows. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith
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A very Merry Christmas from Crystal Serenity. Walking the pool deck early Christmas Day morning as it was breezy outside and less windy on this deck than walking the promenade deck. Last evening we dined at Waterside. These are the dinner menus. Dinner was terrific. As we experienced during the first two cruises when Crystal restarted the cuisine is better than ever. We were in excellent hands. Our Senior Waiter is Marcin, Waiter Enver, Sommelier, Zane and Senior Headwaiter Jacque. Following is the Reflections Daily Program. We enjoyed a very nice Christmas Day on board Crystal Serenity. It's nice when a sea day is planned for Christmas and this itinerary has been great starting with two sea days. It is relaxing and allows everyone to enjoy the ship.
Crystal has a lot of nice touches and that included last evening's Christmas Eve Performance and an event for the children to see Santa Claus up in the Palm Court. Santa certainly had a very busy 24 hours and it was very nice that Crystal could invite him to be with us today. Since today is a sea day lots of activities were on the schedule from classes to enrichment to music. With a sold out cruise they have been able to offer two shows on most evenings. We enjoyed some of the activities, took in walks and of course Paddle Tennis for Keith with his tennis buddies. We hope you are having a wonderful day. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith Patricia, many thanks for your good wishes. We will take some photos of the room during the cruise. We got settled in our room yesterday afternoon. Our suitcases showed up early which was terrific. Attended the muster drill which was held at 5:30 PM and afterwards had dinner at Osteria d'Ovidio. The ship is decorated for the Holidays. We've also included menus from Waterside below and the daily program from yesterday. Dinner menu from Osteria d'Ovidio We enjoyed a great dinner. We had dined here a few times on the July/August sailings. It's a beautiful dining venue with superb cuisine and the amazing service of the Osteria team. Before and after the muster drill we ran into several guests some who we knew already and some for the very first time. For those who have dined here before the lighting can now be dimmed and last evening was the first night they used a new color of tablecloth which is no longer white and also added to the contrast to the white china. The taste of each item is magnificent starting with a special item from the chef and continuing through dessert. We also enjoyed the three different types of rolls. There have been a couple of tweaks to the menu including the veal which is no longer on a bone. We tried the veal and it was very tasty. We dined early and it was quiet with more guests arriving between 7:00 and 7:30. Before retiring for the evening we moved the clocks forward one hour. We enjoyed our normal breakfast to start of the day Today is the first of two sea days. Reflections follows. We walked after breakfast and enjoyed the ship and today's program. When we returned to our room there was a nice platter of desserts and when we saw the cruise consultant right outside Waterside and next to Andrew's desk was a bunch of goodies. Keith played paddle tennis this afternoon but it was very challenging with the speed of the ship and the wind gusts. He played with so many of our cruising friends who we know from previous cruises. Always a lot of fun. Anne Marie got in a nice walks and we continued to visit with guests and crew.
We're in a happy place. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith Thank you Cindy for your good wishes. We both walk quite a bit when visiting cities such as Miami. At home Keith also runs and does indoor cycling for exercise and Anne Marie walks and she puts in greater distances while traveling. If you enjoyed your first Crystal experience you should enjoy new Crystal as much and possibly more. Thank you Jonathan for your good wishes and for following along. This morning we awoke with great anticipation for our return to Crystal Serenity and to make new memories will last a lifetime. We enjoyed our last breakfast and got ready to be driven to the Port of Miami. We were driven on the same route that we have walked this stay and previously when before embarking or after debarking other Crystal cruises. First a selfie at the hotel before we departed. Keith wishes his arm extended another few feet. LOL. , Similar to boarding on July 31 of this year, it was wonderful to be back on-board Serenity and we shed some tears. After all that occurred between Covid-19 in 2020 and carrying over to 2021 when Crystal was forced to stop operations because of the previous owner's insolvency, we feel blessed to sail with Crystal. Since first sailing Serenity in the Fall of 2005 after prior sailings on Crystal Harmony in 2002 and Crystal Symphony in 2002, 2003 and 2004, we have sailed 1,200+ days on Serenity or the equivalent of 3 years and 4 months on this one vessel. We never felt the need to have a second home because Crystal is our second home and that includes Symphony. Words cannot adequately describe how much we love and enjoy the Crystal product. We have met so many nice people, both crew and guests sailing Crystal, celebrated so many special moments including birthdays, family get togethers, wedding anniversaries, retirement milestones, and even renewing our wedding vows in 2017 with our family with us. The ship has gone through many changes, including the most recent ones, after the vessels were purchased in 2022 that one would never know she in her 20th year of service. What has not changed is the glue which holds everything together, creating that special bond which is the crew. We have known some of the crew not only since our first Serenity voyage in 2005, but from earlier sailings on Crystal Harmony and Crystal Symphony. This voyage marks our fourth Crystal Holiday Cruise. The ship looks beautiful decked out in holiday attire and within the first couple of hours we have seen so many of the crew who are part of our extended family, along with several guests who we have sailed with before along with others who we know from the Crystal Society Face Book group page. Our first meal on-board was at Waterside, where we enjoyed our traditional embarkation lunch of Cobb Salad and a flute of Champagne. We toasted our love for one another, our love of Crystal, and the anticipation of another amazing voyage with Crystal. We received the best gift possible when news arrived that A&K Travel under the leadership of Manfredi Lefebvre d”Ovidio had purchased Crystal Symphony & Serenity, the name Crystal and the customer lists. It culminated when we had the honor of being on-board for the inaugural cruise starting on July 31 of this year and the one after that. When we arrived to the Terminal we saw Golf Pro Joe Hubert outside as he was waiting to return to the ship. Once inside, we saw friends Ashley and Kelly, Christen and Carl, and a short while later friend Dave and Gary. Eventually, Rao our butler came down and we also saw Hotel Director Hubert and Front Office Manager Marco. Once on board we saw Chief Concierge Ariela and Thomas who works in Reception. We saw Captain Birger who goes home today and Captain Vincent who just came on board. We sailed with Captain Birger on the July 31 Cruise and Captain Vincent on the following cruise. We started to get settled in our room unpacking items from our carry on roller boards. Waterside opened at 11:45 AM earlier than normal to coincide with embarkation starting at 11:45 AM as well. This is a full ship with every room sold out. We enjoyed our traditional embarkation lunch of a flute of champagne toasting our love for one another and to a wonderful voyage along with a Cobb salad. Senior Waiter Ayhan who we have known for years took our order. We saw Senior Head Waiter Jacques and Restaurant Manger Paolo and several other members of the waitstaff team came by to check on us. We saw some guests we have not sailed with before and some who we have known for years. We are super excited to being on board. We will do our best to share our experiences over the next 13 days through words and photos. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith We wanted to begin with some thoughts on downtown Miami. Prior to 2007, our prior cruises in and out of Southern Florida involved sailing Port Everglades and staying in Fort Lauderdale. We had driven into Miami a couple of times on vacations but never stayed in the city. When Keith was young, his family stayed at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. In 2007, we stayed downtown as this is where Serenity was sailing for the World Cruise and the pre-cruise hotel was the Four Seasons. We couldn't get over the volume of construction which was well underway. Many buildings were torn down and replaced with high rise condominiums, apartments and office buildings. Often, we would have to cross back and forth on Brickell Road as sidewalks were closed due to construction projects. We never saw more cranes in a city until we visited Dubai for the first time in 2007. A couple years later when we returned several of the buildings were complete, some of them vacant and other construction projects were on-hold due to the financial impacts of the "great recession". Over the next few years as the economic outlook improved, vacancies turned to occupancies, construction restarted to complete buildings that were in various stages of work, and some new projects were started. Even today, there is some new construction but far less than in years past as so many projects are complete. On our last visit in November of 2021 sailing Crystal Serenity construction was taking place on many of the Brickell sidewalks forcing pedestrians to detour. This work is now complete. Compared to 2007 there are so many more venues including restaurants, hotels, condominiums, apartments, offices and shopping.The downtown area is vibrant during the day and at night. Another change we have seen over the years in this area is a far greater number of motorists who yield to pedestrians crossing the street. In 2007, you crossed at your own risk. The one item that has not changed is when you walk one wants to look closely at the sidewalk. Why you ask? Well, some owners of dogs do not clean up after their dog. Enough said. LOL. One of the things we enjoy about cities is walking and taking it all in and that is what we do when we visit Miami. In our younger years, we would go to the beach, but this is something we have less interest in. Due to Anne Marie's situation, we have made adjustments due to Covid. On this stay rather than dining inside at restaurants for lunch and/or dinner we are getting mainly take-out to enjoy in the room, other than having lunch outside with others on Wednesday. Normally, we would go to the theatre, and as mentioned to some sporting events but not on this trip. In time, we'll do that again. Despite this, we have enjoyed a great visit to Miami as we get ready to return to our favorite cruise line, Crystal, that we consider home. We enjoyed another nice long walk this morning. We walked along a path from our hotel towards Brickell Key Island with beautiful views of Biscayne Bay. We crossed the bridge over to the Island. From there we could see many of the cruise ships in port. It doesn't get busier than today with nine ships in port. For those who want to stay at the Mandarin Oriental we learned about the plans for the property. The reason that there is a detour as you walk around the island behind the hotel is the construction of a sales office to purchase residences. The plan is to construct a second tower which will have residences. Sometime in 2025 they plan to demolish the existing hotel and build a new hotel. We suppose all of this will take several years to complete. Weather was nice with moderate temperature and a little less breezy. Some photos from our walk including another area where we saw the name of Keith's former company; MCI. When Keith went back in the afternoon to pick up something for Anne Marie he took a short video of what is being used to deliver meals. We've seen this in a couple of cities. Tomorrow we return to Crystal Serenity to begin another adventure and create memories which will last a lifetime.
Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith After enjoying breakfast at the hotel, we went out for another walk. Our first destination was the Intercontinental followed by a visit to Bayside Marketplace. Unlike Brickell Centre with its high end stores, Bayside has many stores and restaurants oriented to the many tourists that visit Miami each year. In fact, from end of October 2022 thru end of September, 2023 the port welcome 7 million plus guests. On past visits we usually spend part of a day in South Beach but decided not to visit this week. Also, we normally go to one or two Miami Heat games during our stay but the home schedule was limited, and we didn't want to go to a game tomorrow evening the night before we board Serenity. We would have made an exception for the Dallas Mavericks or the Boston Celtics though. LOL. Continuing with yesterday's weather patterns, it was windy for portions of the walk but still a delight to be outside and to take in everything around us. We even had a few minutes of rain showers. Welcome to Miami. We also saw signs of Keith's former company MCI on another section of sidewalk. In the afternoon Keith took a nice long walk to find a location and take some photos for a friend and then he stopped off at the JFK memorial. After returning to the hotel, we both took one more walk.
It's been another fun day in Miami. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith Thank you David. We do enjoy walking. After breakfast we took another long walk in downtown Miami. The temperature started off in the low 60's versus 50's on Tuesday. It was windy but was not bothersome. One of the places we stopped off at is the Brickell Centre. While walking we saw the name of Keith's company which he spent most of his career at. The writing is a bit hard to read. It is MCI. The writing is to note there is fiber optics below. We had lunch at a restaurant in the Mary Brickell area called North Italia and sat outside with three members of the Crystal team. Lunch was delicious as was the company.
Three days till we board Crystal Serenity. Happy Holidays. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith Carol, thank you for your good wishes and for following our Blog. Keith went out again later yesterday afternoon to pick up a couple of items and then walked along Biscayne Bay. He could see one side of the port of Miami from a distance and then headed in the direction towards the hotel. Weather was very nice with the breeze. We enjoyed dinner and relaxed. While it was along day with the early flight we were very pleased with how the first day went. We wanted to mention how great the customer service was at the area hotel we stay at our local airport, the service on the flight and the service at the hotel. It just added to how well the first day went. We enjoyed breakfast at the Four Seasons before going out on our first walk of the day. We walked from the hotel up Brickell over to the Intercontinental Hotel. Anne Marie stayed there while Keith proceeded North and then walked over the bridge to the Port Of Miami. This is something we like to do on each visit. He passed the arena where the Miami Heat play their home games. We have seen several games at the arena on past visits. Only one ship was in port and ironically it was at the terminal which we will embark on the 23rd. Keith walked back meeting Anne Marie at the hotel and then we were off to Whole Foods, and then we made another stop. Weather was in the 50's when we began our walk and by the time we were done it was in the mid-60's. A true delight. Along the way we passed many familiar sites. This even included a vessel named Grand Luxe near the Intercontinental Hotel which we have seen numerous times this time of year. We believe it sells art work. At least that is what it did several years ago. The photo of the We think the owner of the Susie Q II is not very pleased at the position of their vessel as you can see in the photo we've included. After lunch we took a walk from the hotel over to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel located on Brickell Key a 44 acre man-made island built in 1943. We walked around the entire perimeter of the island except for the slight detour due to construction behind the hotel. On one of our walks we saw that they converted an open space to an outdoor restaurant with tables and waiter service. Argentina cuisine. All in all a great day in Miami.
Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith We woke to get ready for a very early flight to Miami. We chose the flight since it was a direct to Miami although the flight leaves daily at 5:20 AM. This was why we stayed over at a hotel. Although the hotel is on the airport grounds, it is a one mile walk to the terminal and portions are not on sidewalk and not doable with luggage. The hotel offers a shuttle 7x24 on either the half hour or every twenty minutes depending on time of day. Today everything worked like clockwork. After taking the shuttle, we arrived to the ticket counter. They opened fifteen minutes early. A first, we think. We were early for the opening of TSA so we took a short walk and waited. Surprise. TSA opened twenty minutes early. We then walked for about an hour and headed to the gate. We learned the flight was full. Boarding commenced right on time and was actually organized. The aircraft left right on-time. The flight attendant was one of the best ever. He also had a great voice and a nice sense of humor. The flight is just over two hours so we passed the time reading and eating breakfast. There was a nice write-up in AARP which was an interview with Ringo Starr. The flight arrived to Miami a few minutes before the scheduled arrival time. After landing in Miami and departing the aircraft, we made our way to luggage claim where we were met by the driver Keith arranged. After claiming our luggage we were off to the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Miami. We first stayed there in 2007 for the Gala before the start of the World Cruise and ever since have stayed there on most of our trips to Miami including our last one in November of 2021. It is a full service hotel located in a quieter section of Miami. Upon arrival, we checked in and made our way to our room for the next five nights. The Four Seasons has been renovated since we were here last and also has new ownership. The rooms have been redone. Below are a few photos we took. We went on a couple of nice long walks which included stops to pick up items for the cruise such as some liquid products we didn't want to take on the flight and also some snacks for our time at the hotel. Weather was perfect. We were fortunate to have missed all of the stormy weather from yesterday and previous days. A couple of photos that Keith took as he sat out for a little while in the afternoon. Cheers,
Anne Marie & Keith Jill & Rod, Claire, Patricia, Connor and Betty, many thanks for your kind and thoughtful comments. Jill & Rod enjoy your January 5 sailing on Crystal Symphony.
Well before our July 31 cruise Keith would say: Bags Packed. Ready To Go. Can't Wait. He meant this figuratively rather than literally until the bags were actually packed. This morning, we put the final items into our luggage so we can say Bags Packed. Ready To Go. Can't wait. Today, our adventure begins. We were picked up in the afternoon by a driver and taken in an SUV which Keith arranged for drop-off at to one of the hotels at our local airport where we will spend the night. The last time we stayed at this hotel was five years ago before we flew to Los Angeles for the 2018 Holiday Cruise as part of our World Cruise 2019 adventure. The hotel rooms have been renovated which is great news. When we post next, we will be in Miami. Cheers and Happy Holidays to everyone. Anne Marie & Keith |
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