Day 11 St Kitts

12/23/2024

Happy Holidays!

These are the Waterside dinner menus from last evening.

We dined at the Vintage Room. This was a private dinner that we hosted. Appropriately, we called it a "Special Vintage Room Dinner With Our Crystal Family."

In consultation with Head Sommelier Jiri we selected each course from the three different menus ahead of time. Jiri selected wines to pair with each course with some input from Keith.

The experience was wonderful from the moment we arrived. Jiri was assisted by three butlers.

We began with champagne before it was time to take our seats and toasted with our guests. Prior to the start of each course, Jiri poured the wine and provided background information about the body and the preparation of the wine, the vineyard and the winemaker along with other details.While you can have up to 14 people in attendance, we hosted a very small group. With less bottles to consume, we enjoyed some very special ones. We also went with two fewer bottles of wine as it would have been too much for us to consume.

There was plenty of time to talk during and between each course. The service, cuisine, education and enjoyment of the wine was magnificent as was the conversation. We began the evening at 6:30 pm. Amazingly, when we looked at our watches as we were ready to wrap-up it was 10:15 pm and probably the longest of the many Vintage Rooms we have been a part of.

Special thanks to Head Sommelier Jiri Kamal, the three Butlers and to the F&B team including Executive Chef Franz Weiss, Executive Pasty Chef Savio Fernandes and their teams, and to others involved with this including housekeeping and the florist.

Keith began the day with an early morning walk on the poll deck, after a workout at the Fitness Center. I was very peaceful with a nice breeze along with temperature already in the high 70's.

Today's Daily Reflections Program.

We arrived at the town Basseterre on St. Kitts at 8:00 this morning. It is the larger of the two islands. It is known for its rainforests and white sand beaches. Two island make up St. Kitts is the larger of the two islands and Basseterre is its capital.

It is recorded that Christopher Columbus explored the islands in 1493. At that time it was inhabited by Carib people. This changed with slavery and today most of the inhabitants are descendants of African slaves.

The walk out to the port security was fairly long. Due to construction at the other berth which was much closer to the secure area we docked further than we have on past visits. Outside the secure area there are lots of shops and from there the local town. As we find in some Caribbean ports side walks were not very wide or not non-existent so it was important to walk safely.

The walk out to the port security was fairly long. Due to construction at the other berth which was much closer to the secure area we docked further than we have on past visits. Outside the secure area there are lots of shops and from there the local town. As we find in some Caribbean ports’ sidewalks were not very wide or not nonexistent, so it was important to walk safely.

We are enjoying the afternoon on-board Crystal Serenity.

Cheers