London - Day 2

After posting in the morning, Keith went on his final fast walk of the cruise. He began on the pool deck thinking it would be too chilly and windy to walk the promenade deck. I was wrong. Seas were calm. Very little wind. Nice outside temperature. He made my way down five flights to deck 7 where the promenade deck is located. Keith enjoyed beautiful views of the horizon and the calmness of the sea and the quietness of an early morning walk. At one point the local pilot boat showed up.

We enjoyed our final breakfast of the cruise and finished 
​packing the last few items in our carry-ons before departing our beautiful suite of the past few weeks and headed to the Crystal Plaza on Deck 5 to meet the concierge at the appointed time to take a Crystal provided transfer to London for our post-cruise stay.
 
We wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts with you about Crystal.
 
When we think of Crystal we think of our extended Crystal Family. Many words come to mind.
 
F – Fan Club. If there was a Crystal Fan Club, we would be honored to be part of it or even lead it.
 
A – Admiration. You have our admiration for all you do and are truly amazing.
 
M – Magnificent and Magical. Do we need to say more. 
 
I – Innovative. As Crystal has evolved and rolled out changes it is the crew who had to figure out how to implement many of them.
 
L – Love. We love each of you.
 
Y – Youthful. Each of you no matter your age has many traits found in youthful people and it brings out the best in all of us Youthful
 
The on-board experience has been incredible! It begins with the wonderful Crystal family, fellow guests and the outstanding crew. The crew truly is the heart and soul of Crystal! We've had the pleasure of knowing some crew members since our very first voyage on Crystal Harmony, others while sailing on Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity. It's also been a delight meeting new members of the Crystal Serenity team. We are so grateful to the entire crew for their warm welcome, kindness, professionalism, exceptional service, and fantastic sense of humor. We always say, unlike some cruise lines where the crew can seem a bit robotic, on Crystal, they are genuinely human, and their warmth and kindness come straight from the heart!

​Photos of some of the wonderful crew members on-board Crystal Serenity.
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Our cruise ended in Southampton, UK. This area has an historic maritime history, including being used by the Romans as a harbor when they occupied England. This port was where the RMS Titanic sailed on her inaugural trans-Atlantic crossing. Southampton was bombed 57 separate times during World War II with more than 2,300 bombs dropped on the city. Over the years we have started and ended cruises at this port and transited the port a couple of times when staying on beyond the end of a voyage. When we were on the first two cruises celebrating the restart of Crystal Cruises in 2023 our cruise ended in Southampton.  ​

When it was time to leave, Butler Ayhan met us at our room and took our luggage, and we all went to the Crystal Plaza. I stopped at Waterside to say farewell to Senior Waiter Enver and Senior Head Waiter Jacques. Hotel Director Hubert reached out to wish us safe travels.  Concierge Manu met us in the Crystal Plaza and took us to the area where we would debark the ship where we were greeted by Clearance Officer Kirsten. Once off the ship we were met by a shoreside colleague who took us to where the luggage was. We were greeted by Chief Concierge Thomas and Front Office Manager Ariella.  The shoreside colleague walked with us along with a porter to the exit where there were plenty of Crystal shoreside folks waiting along with the driver that Crystal provided and we were taken to the vehicle we would ride into London. A few yards before we got to the vehicle, I heard our names being called out “Mr. and Mrs. Steiner, and out the corner of my eye I saw Senior Head Butler Rao who was just arriving back to the ship after a holiday at home with his family. It was so nice to see Rao and very kind of him to wait for us to debark. This was a masterful debarkation. It was very organized and there were plenty of people helping out. Congratulations to Front Office Manager Ariella and to her on-board team. 
 
Once inside the Crystal provided vehicle we were driven from Southampton into London and then over to the Rosewood London Hotel where we sailed after debarking Crystal Symphony in 2023 following two back-to-back cruises from Reykjavik, Iceland to Southampton, United Kingdom
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The driver was superb. She is from Poland. She said she was born to be a driver. She spoke highly of Crystal. Smart person. She drove safely, was professional, very kind in all ways. 
 
Good news is we only had to wait twenty minutes for our room. In that time, the Hotel Manager introduced himself to us as we had corresponded with him prior to our visit about an item from our last visit. The staff was superb too.
 
The room is great and photos do not do it justice at all.
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London weather is different from the norm. Some people are even in shorts which contrasts with what you normally expect. For us it’s not too hot though. It’s perfect.
 
We will enjoy a few days in London before flying home.  We will provide some daily short posts and, in a few days, some final thoughts about the cruise. We have another Crystal adventure coming soon and will mention that before we sign off in a few days and close the chapter out on the current adventure.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith
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