New York City, NY

Waterside Dinner Menu

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Last evening we enjoyed dinner in our suite as is our tradition on the final night of a cruise.
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Today's Reflections (shortened version)

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Reviving Crystal: A Success Story of Ownership and Innovation:

​There's a saying that all good things must come to an end. But fear not, our cruising days and adventures with Crystal are far from over! This is merely the conclusion of yet another thrilling journey. Imagine this as the end of one captivating chapter, with an exciting new one just waiting on the horizon!

We've had an absolutely thrilling adventure both on and off the ship! We've revisited towns and cities we've loved before, and we've also explored some places for the very first time. What an amazing journey! 

We have created memories which will last a lifetime.

The on-board experience has been absolutely incredible! It all starts with the wonderful Crystal family, from fellow guests to 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, and others we've met 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!
 
We have enjoyed lots of good laughs, wonderful food and drink, along with superb service, enrichment, entertainment, the beauty of Crystal Serenity along with many interesting ports-of-call.

​Reviving Crystal: A Success Story of Ownership and Innovation:

Kudos to Crystal.  Bravo to the crew and to those on land and to the ownership and leaders of A&K and Crystal. We are reminded that if not for the ownership the Crystal brand would no longer exist. The owners not only brought Crystal back to life while keeping the brand Crystal. They took the best from old Crystal and added new enhancements to make Crystal better than ever. We believe this is a recipe for success.


A little more about yesterday.


Cards were delivered to each room notifying guests that there would be a delay and that a special session would be held in the Galaxy Showroom at 10:45 pm.


Prior to the session Front Office Managers Marco and Ariella were at the reception desk and asking questions.


Cruise Director Raphael made a couple of announcements about this and noted that the Captain and Hotel Director would be providing the details along with members of the team. It was also noted that the session would be broadcast on Channel 5.


The session included a Q&A.


It was noted that a table would be manned in the Crystal Plaza for guests with additional questions.


Keith was on Deck 5 a few times and it was orderly at the special desk and at the reception desk. 


Late afternoon an announcement was made by the Captain noting that a pilot would now be on board in the morning and that we should be along the dock later that morning. It was noted that new information would go out to all rooms with the updated information about times of debarkation, etc.


At the same time we know that our TA's received an e-mail about the delay announced in the morning and I am assuming the same was the case with the revision and I am assuming that newly embarking guests received information about their embarkations as did their TA's.


For those booked with Crystal Air Crystal would take care of the revised flights and transfers to the airport for those guest booked with Crystal air.


Crystal responded very well to all of this. We do live at a time when people want things taken care of instantly so that is also a challenge and as we all get older things become more stressful


Ironically, if we weren't gone for so long we would have stayed in New York City for a few days but not this time.

The great news is we were docked at around 10:30 AM and ship cleared quickly and announcement made that those guests who were self debarking (taking all their luggage with them) could debark and about 35 minutes after arrival all the luggage was off the ship and an announcement made that all guests could debark.  

Senior Head Butler Rao walked us downstairs and verified that the concierge would meet us. Before we departed Restaurant Manager Paolo came by to visit with us as did Crew Officer LeRoy. A few other members of the crew stopped by as well. 

We want to thank others including Front Office Managers Ariella and Marco and Concierge Thomas and Head Concierge Etienna.

By the way, we got off about 11:50 and most guests had gotten off. Kudos to Crystal for making adjustments not once but twice and working so hard to make it all work with the priority being the guests. They are brilliant.

In the end Mother Nature showed who is in charge but Crystal Cruises showed that they can do a lot responding to Mother Nature. We will take Crystal Cruises anytime.

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Keith had written this to read to crew but did something else, so we wanted to share this today.
 
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 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 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.
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