GOLDEN STATE DISCOVERY - DAY 1 CRYSTAL SERENITY

GOLDEN DAY DISCOVERY DAY ONE SERENITY

We all met for dinner at a restaurant featuring Italian Cuisine located at downtown Disneyland.  

They gave us a choice of sitting indoors or outdoors.  Keith took their recommendation of sitting outside which was a good decision since it was quite outside then inside.  

Great choices for everyone such as a sea bass fish of the day special which we both had and spaghetti and meatballs which Eric and Kara shared and a pasta for Gui and a salad for Jennifer.  Emma and Jackson had macaroni and cheese and Andre had pizza.  

After dinner Eric, Kara and Jackson made one final visit to the park to go to the Tiki Room and a couple of other venues.  We returned to the hotel with Jennifer, Gui, Andre and Emma to relax and to pack for today. 

We gave each family their respective cruise tickets, luggage tags and information about each vehicle transfer to take each family over to the Los Angeles Cruise ship terminal.

.  

Some additional photos from the past few days follow.

​This morning we went to the club lounge for our final breakfast.  While we ate, everyone else slept later.  Keith had made our transfer to the port then the other family members.  He felt by them having less wait time at the port it would make it easier on the children.

This has been a wonderful three day stay at Disneyland made extra special by having the family all-together.  We benefited from terrific weather with day-time temperature in the mid 70's to low 80's (F).  It is a pleasure to see the joy in the eyes of the grandchildren and their smiles throughout the day.  They have done very well.  From time-to-time we would mention to our own children and their spouses what we experienced with Eric and Jennifer on rides back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, including those favorite rides of the family.  

In spite of most schools in session we found the park especially busy on Tuesday and we were surprised to see  many families at the park.  We were told that in another month the number of daily visitors would increase with the summer school break in full swing.  

After check-out from the Hotel, we made our way over to the Port Of Los Angeles located in San Pedro via SUV.  We arrived to the port first and then a little while later the rest of the family arrived.

Eric and Kara last sailed Crystal Serenity in 2014.  We stayed on board for two cruises following the end of the 2014 World Cruise and they joined us for the final voyage from Rome to Istanbul before we all left the ship together.  Jennifer and Gui last sailed on Serenity in January 2010 when they along with Eric and Kara joined us for a Caribbean cruise before we sailed on the 2010 World Cruise.  There have been several changes since 2010 including inclusive providing certain wine, beer and  spirits as part of the cruise fare and gratuities, the addition of a  modern cuisine menu in the Crystal Dining room in 2014 to complement a menu featuring classic cuisine and the makeover of the Lido Deck.  

We booked three rooms for the families all on Deck 7 without verandahs.  They are close to each other and with the children in mind we avoided rooms with a verandah.  Serenity has some three person rooms but no room to accommodate four people.  We secured a three person room (the sofa is a pullout bed) for Eric, Kara and Jackson.  Jennifer and Emma will share a room as will Gui and Andre.  We took a suite providing space to enjoy a couple of dinners with the family and to provide a place for everyone to meet before dinner.  

From the moment we arrived to the port we ran into many familiar faces.  This included a guest who we know who just disembarked Serenity along with one of the Ambassador Dance Hosts who lives in California.  A little while later we were greeted by the person who is in charge of the local team of people that assist with embarkation and disembarkation.  While we waited to board we spoke with one of the women who lives on the ship along with a crew member.

As soon as we made our way up the gangway we were back at home and greeted by so many members of Team Crystal Serenity who we adore.  This began with security.  We spoke with the Hotel Director, Food & Beverage Manager, one of the VP's from Los Angeles and so many other members of the Crystal Serenity Crew. We saw our butler for the cruise JiJo who we have known for many years.  He was our Senior Waiter for a couple of World Cruises and also our Butler for the Northwest Passage Cruise. 

We all went up to our room which was ready.  The opened the Crystal Dining Room about 30 minutes early since the did an early embarkation.  We introduced our family to Head Waiter Augusto who will take care of us this voyage, along with several others from the Wait Staff.  Head Sommelier Tilmar visited with us.  We enjoyed our traditional embarkation lunch of a Cobb Salad and a Flute of Champagne (well maybe a little more then usual) and this time toasted with our entire family.

As we write this we are getting settled in our room as our suitcases arrived.

As many times as we have sailed on Crystal we are as excited as we have ever been to not only enjoy this special voyage but to create memories which will last a lifetime.  It's so nice to share this with our ever growing family.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY....

Although, Keith first cruised at the young age of 12, this year marks the 25th year of cruising for the two of us along with our children Jennifer & Eric.  We always found that cruising offered the perfect getaway for our family.  This time around we get to experience a cruise with our ever expanding family.  

​Keith & Anne Marie