DAY 21 DAY15 SERENITY

BARCELONA, SPAIN

The daily Reflections Program follows.

We originally had reservations at Silk Road for dinner.  However, recognizing that this is a high occupancy cruise and knowing how busy the waitstaff is we cancelled the reservation.  We did it early in the voyage so if someone was trying to get into Silk Road that this cancellation might result in them getting their own reservation.  

Instead we enjoyed Silk Road in our room.  Butler Rao placed the order for us and served the meal course by course.  We enjoyed it all.  We began with sushi and sashimi.  Keith enjoyed the sushi and Anne Marie prefers Sashimi but she enjoys the Nobu specials particularly in this case the Nobu Tuna.  Keith had the Soba Noodles with the soup as an entree and Anne Marie had the lobster.  It was a very relaxing evening and the food is absolutely divine.  Thank you Rao.
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We enjoyed pianist Filip Wojciechowski.  He used to go by Phillip.  He is not only a wonderful pianist (wonderful is an understatement), he is also a very nice person with no ego.  We have enjoyed conversations with him over the years on board Serenity and Symphony when he is not performing and really think highly of him on and off the stage.

Today is turn-around day with the end of one cruise and the start of a new one.  Our third and final cruise of this adventure starts in Barcelona, Spain and ends in Lisbon, Portugal.  Serenity arrived to Barcelona at about 4:00 AM this morning.

Before Breakfast Keith took along walk inside the ship and we had a video call from our daughter Jennifer and while we were talking our Son-In-Law Gui, Grandson Andre and Granddaughter arrived home and we chatted with them.  They are the family who live in Sydney, Australia.  They called to wish Keith a Happy Birthday.  It was wonderful to chat with the family and to see them is extra special. Thank goodness for technology.  Keith received a Birthday Card from Captain Giske.
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While on one of his walks inside the ship this morning Keith stopped by some of the public rooms.  Turn around day is a perfect day for this.  These are photos from Palm Court and Stardust.  Each room will receive a makeover in the upcoming dry dock.  While these rooms surely need the  change and we know will look gorgeous seeing each one brings back many wonderful memories from all of our previous Crystal Serenity Voyages.  We look forward to seeing the changes later in December.

We enjoyed breakfast in our room and then got ready for our move up one floor and into a different. On this cruise we will be in a Penthouse Suite and when we have stayed in this category of suite we have chosen the same room number.  Similar to the Penthouse with Verandah that we have been in these past two voyages we prefer mid-deck and the suite we moved into on this sailing is pretty much above the room we've been in.

We have adored our Penthouse Attendant Puii and Stateroom Attendant Niedja and will miss them.  They make an amazing team.  ​

Crystal Cruises makes the move from one room to another very easy.  We arrived with two piece of luggage.  Clothes that we will not need for this last voyage we packed in part of one piece.  There are bell men who can move us or in this case Butler Rao took care of most things for us.  He coordinated with the stewardesses on Deck 11 to begin cleaning our new room as soon as the existing guests vacated the room.  

Everything on hangers, Butler Rao places on a trolley to bring up to the new room.  We made use of laundry tubs to place loose items in them and some other items.  We waited in our room until the new room was available.  Housekeeping puts priority on cleaning the rooms that will be needed for those remaining on-board who are known as in-transit guests.

The last time we moved was in 2014.  After spending 120+ days on board we could not get the same room as we added that one after we booked the other voyages so our son and daughter in-law could be with us.  We made the same move between the two rooms and Butler Rao was also on-board.

Between Rao and the fantastic people in Housekeeping this was an easy move and quick as a flash we were easily settled into our new room.  Shortly after the new room was vacated the stewardess team of Penthouse Attendant Caroline and Stateroom Attendant Svenlana worked their magic and began cleaning.  Rao came up to our room to let us know the room was available and in short order brought each of our items up there.  At one point they said it would be OK for us to go by there and we places valuables in the safe and left so they could get the entire room in order.  They were very thoughtful and we are most appreciative.

By 10:30 AM the cleaning was done.  While they cleaned we took a nice long walk inside the ship.  When we came by the room all was in order.  Rao came by a little while later and asked if we wanted to have lunch in the room.  He had already written out suggested items that he knows we would have from past cruises.  That worked out well. Chicken for Anne Marie, Tuna Fish for Keith, and we shared some additional Boston Lettuce.

Lunch began at 11:45 AM in the Crystal Dining Room which is 15 minutes earlier than most days reflecting opening a little earlier on embarkation day when that is possible.

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These are some photos of the Penthouse Suite.  We do enjoyed several features in this room.  Although smaller than this one we find the storage and the two desks in the Penthouse With Verandah work out very well for us.  Maybe a combination of the best of both rooms would be great.  LOL....Bu.......

We got a chance to speak with a couple of favorites of ours from Crystal Serenity; Sneha and Langhar.  Sneha was our Penthouse Attendant for two World Cruises and we adored her.  She is very kind, thoughtful and a hard worker and a terrific attitude.  The past few years she has assumed expanded responsibilities becoming supervisor of one of the desks of the stewardesses and being promoted to a higher deck and eventually the top deck of suites on the ship.  She is now filling in as the assistant to the Head Housekeeper and then will swing back and forth.  

We also saw Langhar.  Keith took the photo of Anne Marie and Langhar while standing on one of the steps of the staircase. We had Langhar on a couple of World Cruises and on some other voyages.  We were thrilled to learn when we boarded that she has been promoted to a Housekeeper supervisor. 

Because of ages we think of many members of the crew as our own children.  We do worry about them if they go ashore and we take delight when we see them being promoted.  Langhar has similar attributes to Sneha and we know she will do very well as well.

Crystal provided a complimentary shuttle between the ship to a location close to Las Rambles and we visited the city in the afternoon.  We have enjoyed numerous visits to this city over the years.  In fact our first visit was in 1997 on our first Mediterranean cruise with the family and we had a couple of day pre-cruise stay in this city.  We have done numerous tours of the city and a lot on our own as well.  We enjoyed a nice walk with beautiful weather. This is a perfect time of the year for a visit.

​While it did rain earlier we were fortunate that it cleared.  

This evening's schedule was a little different than a typical embarkation day.  It may have reflected newly embarking guests arriving later to the ship and/or the feeling that newly embarking guests may want more time to visit Barcelona.  The muster drill is for those guests embarking today in Barcelona.  Others already on-board are welcome to attend but this is not mandatory.

The biggest difference is that the muster drill is scheduled for 8:00 PM rather than 5:00 or 5:15 PM.  With that time slot open there was a local dance show at 5:15 PM.  The welcome production show is scheduled for 10:15 PM and that is Crystal in Motion.

We will close for now.  

We will be back in the Crystal Dining Room this evening.

More tomorrow.

Anne Marie & Keith