Dover Day 2, United Kingdom

Let's begin with another area of the ship the Crystal Plaza and Crystal Cove both located on Deck 5. Deck 5 also includes Waterside and the Medical Center. 

We have spent lots of time on Deck 5.

This is the area where the Reception, Concierge and Shore Excursion services are available.

We would stop by the shore excursion desk to ask questions about tours, add or cancel tours, and the night before the next port of call to pick up a map and writeup on the port.

The reception desk is a great place to ask questions and the people there have been very helpful to us. If you need your folio printed out or have questions this is the place to go. Need to get change of large bills into smaller bills this is the place to go. In the days we used to mail post cards from ports this was where we went to mail them and when we need some gratuity forms or need to turn them in this is where we go.

The concierge is where we have visited to finalize arrangements for pick-up time on debarkation day when we have a private Crystal transfer. A few times before the internet is what it is today, we stopped by to get some additional information on finding something in port. For example, help on where to find a store in Barcelona known for having lots of choices of Paddle Tennis racquets. This is a place where one might stop by to get assistance about an airline flight or to make a reservation at a local restaurant for lunch and/or dinner.

Closer to Waterside and to the Shore Excursion desk sits the two Future Cruise Consultants/Loyalty Managers. Old Crystal had one dedicated Future Cruise Sales Consultant and one Crystal Society Host/Hostess. New Crystal has combined these functions while retaining two people. In our opinion this is a much better use of resources and cuts down on wait time.  

In our early years of cruising, we would go by the area to ask questions about itineraries and to get advice on which one to select. We booked our first world cruise at this desk with Nikki Andrews. These days we stop by when we want to make an on board booking of a specific itinerary or when we want to do open booking(s) and in both cases you realize a 2.5% discount on the cruise fare by doing this. We've also stopped by to ask questions about the Crystal Society Program or in years past to have a Crystal milestone applied to the cruise we were on or to verify what unused milestones we had.

The Crystal Cove is a place we have spent a lot of time in. This included going to mixers held during the day, cocktail receptions to kick off World Cruises or the Crystal Serenity inaugural under new Crystal in 2023. It's the place where we attended performances of the World Cruise choir and where we received medals and cheered on fellow guests for their medal(s) from the World Cruise Games. This is the area where we danced to Beatles Songs when they were performed by a group brought on for the 2014 World Cruise to commemorate 50 years before when they made their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show or a place, we attended White Night Parties. It's also a place where we would chat with members of the crew and fellow guests.

This brings us to the Crystal Cove a lounge where we have spent many hours enjoying in the morning, afternoon and evening.

For many years while our room was being cleaned we would sit at a table and on chairs located near the front of the lounge. It provided time to use our computers and also a front row seat to chat with guests and members of the crew when they stopped by. Some referred to this as Keith and Anne Marie's office.  

For many years this was our go to lounge before dinner. Often, we would sit at the small table by the pianist and listen to music being played while enjoying a glass of wine. In time in addition to the pianist on some nights there would be other performers. Sometimes someone would join us for pre-dinner conversation/drink and if it was more than one person we would move to an adjoining table. 

And sometimes late in the evening we would return to the Cove and sit by the back wall closest to the Concierge with some people and have a late-night nightcap.
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Waterside menu from last evening.

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We were back at Waterside for dinner for the first of two consecutive nights.

We had a wonderful meal thanks to the amazing waitstaff team and the wonderful members who prepare each item.  

For those who wonder the butter of the day was porcino with chives and a couple of other ingredients.
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Last evening was White Night in the Crystal Plaza which was decorated to match the theme. Think of White Night as a mixer with live music and dancing with drinks, some which go with the theme, along with Canapés.  


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Today's Daily Reflections.

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As we mentioned yesterday, we toured the Dover Castle, escorted by our tour guide Tanya. 
 
We walked all the way to the top of Dover Castle. Dover Castle is a medieval castle established in the 11thcentury. It is sometimes referred to as the Key to England due to its defensive significance throughout history.

As we walked the Castle, Tanya gave us a lot of background, and we learned a great deal. We also watched a couple of short movies.
 
Afterwards we toured a medical facility that was underneath in a tunnel. 
 
During the tour, we also stopped at a beach to view the White Cliffs. It had rained on and off and it can be slippery which is why we didn’t walk the Dover Cliffs.
 
We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at a pub and the food was quite good. 

We also drove for quite a while in the County of Kent, and it was beautiful and as we drove Tanya told us about its history.
 
As to Dover itself, many of its buildings were destroyed by the Germans during World War II. There are still some older buildings left with lots of ones built in the years after World War II ended. It is a jampacked place between all of its residential and commercial buidings.
 
The weather was quite interesting. Maybe it was a few seasons in one. It was sunny, cloudy, drizzling, pouring (a few minutes) warm and cold and windy and we mean windy.  LOL. All in all, a wonderful tour and a great day.
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We stayed on the ship today. With showers and wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour this made the most sense to us. A video is included to give you a sense of the weather. Although docked, the ships engine was running as is the case if the ship was anchored to keep it in place.


Speaking of the wind, when we visited the Dover Castle yesterday it was as if we were in a wind funnel.  The wind didn't seem to cease once it began.

Glad our tour was yesterday.


We are enjoying the ship this morning and plan to do so this afternoon.

Once again two shows this evening which seems to be working out very well. 8:30 PM is a Rock n' Pop Mania spotlight show starring the Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers, the two Lead Vocalists and The Crystal Showband.

At 9:30 PM Jeremy Sassoon's Mojo - Musicians of Jewish Origin.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith