Southampton UK - Debark & Day 1 London

We wanted to begin with a shout-out for the team that has taken great care of us in our suite. This includes Suite Attendant Rose who always has a smile on her face and a positive outlook and who works diligently to keep our suite looking great. She was assisted by Junior Suite Attendant Belen on the first cruise and Angel on this cruise. Our Butler is Ayhan who we have known for years as he was our Senior Waiter on a couple of World Cruises, and we would see him on many other voyages and when he became a butler a couple of years ago. Ayhan is very professional and didn’t miss a beat. We also thank Executive Housekeeper Sneha who came by our suite the first day to ensure everything was in order. Sneha was our Suite Attendant several years ago on a World Cruise. We also thank Assistant Housekeeper Nivalda who visited our suite a couple of times and who aided Anne Marie on an item. I also wanted to note how well everyone worked as one team across Housekeeping and Food & Management. Bravo.

Angel on the left and Rose on the right.
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​Let’s continue with yesterday’s lunch at Marketplace. Since Andrea and David were touring we dined by ourselves on the dining venues outdoor deck. We have enjoyed our return to Marketplace with all its choices.
 
We enjoyed the ship the rest of the day. We also needed to finish up packing.
 

Waterside dinner menu from last evening.

For many years our tradition for our last dinner of the cruise is to dine in our room. Back in the day when we sat with others for dinner, we would dine with them on the last night. Many years later we evolved to dining in our room on the last night since we found it very relaxing and we could easily finish the packing of the large suitcases that needed to go outside our room for collection.
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We began with Canapés. Each afternoon Canapés are provided to the suites and they change daily. This is the first time we have had one of the daily ones since we boarded as we normally have fresh fruit in the afternoon.

Dinner was great and we so appreciate all that Ayhan has done over these two cruises.
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We departed Portland at approximately 9:00 PM. The original schedule called for a 7:00 PM departure. Evidently this changed and was noted in the daily reflections program.
 
 
 
 
Today this cruise comes to an end. It has been a wonderful adventure with so many interesting ports of call. We are at a stage in our lives that we appreciate sailing many places within Europe, and in North America. We still love Australia and New Zealand and realize their remoteness is one of the contributing factors that make them special while also making it challenging to visit them other than when we were on-board World Cruises and didn’t have to fly to and from these places.
 
We feel blessed to have sailed all seven continents and to have had the opportunity to sail places like Asia, Africa, The Middle East, Australia, New Zealand multiple times and sailed off Antarctica. 
 
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!
 
Our next chapter comes this Summer and continues into early Fall. Stay tuned for more.

We've had an absolutely thrilling adventure both on and off the ship! We've revisited towns and cities we've visited 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.

We will close this one out in the next day or two with additional thoughts. Stay tuned.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith