WE'RE ON OUR WAY HOME

W'ERE ON OUR WAY HOME 

These words "we're on our way home" are from a McCartney/Lennon (The Beatles) song.

As we write this, we are on our way home from Lisbon on a flight that will take us to the United States.  After we land we will stay over at a hotel and take a flight tomorrow to our home airport.

After we posted we got ready to leave the ship.  We said final goodbye's to some of the members of Team Crystal Serenity as we made our way from our room to the Crystal Plaza where we waited for the Concierge to take us to a private car we booked with Crystal Cruises.

Overall disembarkation was one of the best ever.  We waited just a couple of minutes at the Crystal Plaza and the concierge said our vehicle was early and waiting for us.

She escorted us to the gangway.  The gangway had been lowered since yesterday and was very steep.  Crystal Serenity crew members were at the gangway and the took all of our hand carriage for us as we walked down the gangway.  There was a shuttle that took us on a two minute drive to the terminal where the luggage was placed.  The concierge said the Chief Concierge would be there to guide us along.

Once inside the terminal we were met by Chief Concierge Hayley who pointed us to our luggage.  There were around twenty men in suits and one stopped up to help us wit hour luggage.  We pointed out our luggage, gave hugs to Hayley, and we were escorted from the terminal by a Crystal representative along with the man who had our luggage on a cart.  They took us to the waiting van and the Crystal representative went over the instructions with the driver.

When we arrived to the airport another Crystal representative was on hand and she walked into the airport with us, verified the ticket counter and pointed us at the right direction.

We arrived before the counter opened but once it was opened a very nice airline representative helped us.  They actually recommended checking in at the kiosk and that is what we did.  Every airport is unique and the procedure at Lisbon was as well.  We were interviewed by a member of the security team (we have done similar in places such as Buenos Aires and Charles de Gaulles), then we checked in at the counter.  We made our way over to Passport Control.  We walked to the lounge where we stayed for awhile.  We then checked in at the gate and were taken on a bus to the aircraft.  There were two entrances one for Business Class (that is what we had) and one for Coach.  This is a Boeing 757 which we haven't flown on an International Flight in many many many years.  They have made some changes to the interior so we have personal sets for movies using iPads. Very interesting.  

We did take off about 45 minutes late.  The good news is that it was windy but far less than we expected last night and today.  Thank goodness for that.

At the airport we met a very nice couple who was on their first Crystal Cruise and loved it and later on we met several others from this cruise; some first timers and others who have taken one or more Crystal Cruises.  The feedback from everyone was positive.  

Thank you to those who have posted comments and/or sent e-mails.  It is always good to hear from you.  

Please stay tuned for our next adventure.

Anne Marie & Keith