Isafjordur, Iceland

8/15/2025

Thank you Patricia. Your observation about lunch is spot on.

Before dinner we attended the Emergency Muster Drill for those guests embarking in Reykjavik. As many times as we attended we listened to all of the information. We do the same on flights. There was a documentary about this a few years ago and Keith took special training when he had the opportunity to fly on private jets that his company owned. Every second matters in an emergency. Pay attention.

We also met our Suite Attendant, Marceline, midafternoon. Her assistant is Christina.

Last night, we kicked off our cruise culinary adventure with a dinner at Osteria d'Ovidio. Osteria made its grand entrance with Crystal when everything started up again, and we first dined there on the July 31, 2023, Crystal Serenity Inaugural Cruise. It's named after Executive Chairman Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio. Most recently Crystal has unveiled a new menu. This is crafted by Italian Chef Massimiliano, the youngest chef to ever nab three Michelin stars, and his equally brilliant restaurateur Raffaele, who co-own their own fancy land-based eateries, to elevate Osteria to a whole new level of Italian deliciousness. Bon appétit, or should I say, buon appetito!

Following are dinner menus from Waterside and three menus from Oseria.

, We want to get to the bottom line. Everything about this dining venue is amazing. All of the glassware, dishes, cutlery, centerpieces and everything on the table is new. It is innovative. This includes the centerpieces that have vegetables such as lettuce, pepper, pumpkin. The glasses are amazing as well. The glass with the sparkling wine was very light in weight. The water glass was very unique and they have different sizes of wine glasses. The wine glass for the red we believe could have held an entire bottle of wine. Maybe more.

The service is always fabulous and last evening was no exception. Our waiter, Hislaine, did a wonderful job explaining the three menus and giving recommendations and she was assisted by another wonderful waiter. Our Sommelier who we have known for years is like a fine wine. He gets better and better.

There are three menus. The first menu features traditional Italian classics. The second menu has signature dishes and the third menus features fish/seafood.

You can order from one menu or from all three. We ended up selecting items from all three. You can get full portions or smaller portions.

If everyone at your table would like a tasting, you could get a tasting from every item on one of the three menus.

Food was tasty. The aroma is like a fine wine. Smell it before you taste it.

We each began the meal with the scampi. It has a very unique presentation and taste. This was delicious.

We shared the lasagne for our next course. This was the best lasagna we have ever had. The lasagna is hand made and the ingredients are fresh and very tasty. It is homemade. Anne Marie is half Italian and knows how to cook Italian but she would agree this is simply the best.

Anne Marie had a half portion of the egg plant and let Keith taste a little of it. It had a smoked aroma and Keith had the Bronzino.

For dessert we selected the Tiramisu and had a small portion. Often they would recommend four pieces to share but we went with two and that was plenty for us after three courses. It is prepared table-side.

We think there has to be something (well much more than something) to make people happy. We plan to try other dishes on our next visit until we have tried them all.

Kudos to Crystal for rolling out this amazing menu.

Our Penthouse Attendant.

Today's Daily Reflections

We wanted to begin with our observations of Iceland as a tourist destination and for us it is analogous with Alaska to some extent.

Our first visit to Alaska was in 1993 and back then in several ports there was one ship or in some ports two ships. In succeeding years, the number of cruise ships calling on ports of call such as Ketchikan and Juneau increased significantly as Alaska became a popular tourist destination.

Iceland has become very popular in recent years. While it doesn’t get the volume of cruise ships that Alaska receives, its cruising tourism has increased quite a bit, and its busy months are July and August with some cruise ships in September. Yesterday, including Crystal Serenity there were three ships docked at the port plus one at the old port. Tourism has also increased in the winter as tourists visit to see the Northern Lights. With this said, some cruise lines are avoiding Iceland due to a fee that went into effect on January 1 of this year.

Fishing continues to be the number one driver of its economy followed by tourism along with renewable energy and manufacturing.

We had an incredible experience during our first and only visit to Isafjordur, Iceland in August 2021 aboard the former Crystal Endeavor as we circumnavigated Iceland. On that thrilling adventure, we hopped on a zodiac and were mesmerized by the stunning views of the area. We were also delighted to spot amazing wildlife, including playful seals!

Because of this we didn't book a shore excursion for today in addition to being selective on the number of excursions we book. We took the tender over to the port. The ride was so calm you thought you were on land. Upon arriving we saw the two cruise ships from yesterday were docked. With a population of 2,700 people the number of guests and crew on-board the three ships significantly outnumbered the local population.

It was a ten-minute walk into town. We passed some houses whose façade was colorful and attractive as were some of the storefronts. The town included a modern church along with a museum in an 18th century building.

The town was first settled in the 9th century and used for farming. By the late 16th century, it was a trading post and overtime it was occupied by whalers and other merchants. These days tourists can take boats out for whale watching.

After 24 hours on-board Crystal Serenity we feel very settled back home at sea.

We even made an on-board booking and some open bookings with Daniele who along with Andrew are the Future Cruise & Loyalty Managers.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith

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ICELAND TO NEW YORK ADVENTURE

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