WELCOME TO RHODES, GREECE

Last evening we attended the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle Party.  This was one of the smaller parties  in terms of attendance with eight people attending out of thirteen who signed up.  Including us three of the four couples attended the party from the previous cruise. The other couple came on-board for this voyage and this is their second Crystal Cruise.  Hotel Director Hubert, Cruise Director Scott, Executive Housekeeper Mara, Concierge  Anella were on-hand as  was Bar Manager Florent to check on things at the start of the party.  We enjoyed a nice conversation and appreciate how much Crystal supports these  parties in terms of dedicating a lounge and having several members of the food and beverage team on hand serving drinks and canapes and having senior officers and senior staff at these parties.


We had friend Barbara to our room last evening for dinner.  We have known Barbara for several years and have sailed with her from time-to-time.  Barbara sails with Crystal Cruises often and was recognized at the Sunday evening Crystal Society Party for her 81st Crystal  Society Milestone.  Congratulations Barbara.

Before dinner we enjoyed some appetizers.

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We  enjoyed dinner from  two  venues.  We decided to go with two courses instead of three.

From Prego we each began with Caesar salad.  

Anne Marie had Veal from Prego while Keith had the Whole Roasted (white and dark meat) Turkey from Waterside.

Keith and Barbara also  had a fruit plate.

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We enjoyed another nice sleep as we sailed to  our next port of call stop at Rhodes, Greece.  We kept to our same  routine of an  early morning workout for Keith and coffee  and  breakfast in our room.  We then got ready to visit Rhodes.

Our first and only visit to Rhodes was on World Cruise 2017.  We remember this city very well.

Rhodes has a population of 120,000  residents.  
 
Rhodes was famous for the Colossus of Rhodes, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  The old town city is a World Heritage Site.  It is one of the  most popular destinations in Rhodes.
 
When we walked the old town we visited the Jewish Synagogue. The Jewish Community  goes back to the first century AD.  At its  high point the Jewish population represented one-third of the town’s population. During  the holocaust, the Nazis deported  and killed most of the community.

Major attractions include:

Palace of the Ground Masters which was built during the 14th century.  It was damaged and demolished in 1856 by an explosion of gunpowder and restored in 1939 during the Italian occupation.

Archaeology Museum which is hosted in the Hospital of  the Kings ands a rich collection of statues, sarcophagus, vases, mosaics, vessels, ceramics and other artifacts.

Suleyman Mosque which is the largest mosque on the island.

Jewish Quarter which was establishes in 1557 and  is the oldest synagogue in Greece.

St. Nicholas Fort which is the fortification which is built around the medieval town.

We had to revise some of our plans for today:

Anne Marie woke up  with severe pain on her side.  We thought it most likely was a muscle strain.  However, a few years ago she had pain which turned out to be pneumonia  and with her illnesses we didn't want to take any chances.  

Our original plan was for the two of us to walk the walled city and  revisit places such as the Jewish Quarter and Kahal Shalom.

We also had lunch plans to take two members of the crew to lunch; Natasha who works at the Reception Desk and Dennis who is a bartender.  They are married and a delightful couple.  We had planned to go to lunch at Kotor where Natasha is from but they needed to reschedule when Dennis  needed  to  see the dentist.  

We decided it would be best to have Anne Marie see the ship's doctor so we tabled the plans for lunch as we didn't want to have to cancel at the last minute.  We will take them for lunch another time.  

Keith went out by himself as soon as the ship was cleared and walked the walled city and got back in time so that when Anne Marie saw Doctor Soto that he was there.  The good news is that an x-ray confirmed her lungs were clear and it is likely she strained her ribs/muscles.  As they say better to be safe  than sorry.  Other than blood tests that Anne Marie had to take for her blood disorder this was the first time she had to go to the medical center and see the doctor.

Back to the walled city.

Keith covered a lot of ground since it was very early in the morning when he went out and he can move quickly from the ship and to and from the walled city.  Once inside the city he did take the time to "smell" the roses.  In other words he stopped to take in the sites.

He had forgotten how narrow the streets were and didn't remember vehicles inside.  The vehicles were primarily delivering items for the restaurants  and the stores.  He tried to focus more about the walls and the various structures in the city and not on the commercial side although we did include a few photos of restaurants and shops.  As we saw in Kotor, there were many cats walking around the city.  

He also made it to the Jewish Quarter.  It was too early to go inside so we are including some photos from inside the Synagogue from 2007.  He took  a moment to think of all of the Jewish people who were removed from the city during Nazi terror as were so many Jews from across Europe.  He thought about the six million Jews who were killed during the Holocaust.    To put this into perspective there were around 9.5 million Jews living in Europe before the Holocaust and only 3.5 million following the atrocities committed on them.  He said a prayer before  leaving the Jewish Quarter for those who perished in the Holocaust and for the brave men and women who fought on the side of the Allies.  As Tom Brokaw wrote, they were part of the Greatest Generation who sacrificed of themselves to make the World a much safer place.

As he returned to Serenity he was reminded that in spite of the challenges of today they pale in comparison to those of our parent's generation who dealt with both the economic depression and a world at war in both the Atlantic and Pacific Regions.

Back on the ship he met Anne Marie at the medical center.

We enjoyed the rest of the day on the ship.  We had lunch at Marketplace.  Keith played Paddle Tennis for two hours while Anne Marie did more packing.

This is today's daily Reflections Program.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith

WELCOME TO PAPHOS CYPRUS

We wanted to begin by saying when you sail for along time it is not unusual for members of Team Serenity to go home and return while you are still sailing.  For example, on this cruise Hotel Director Hubert, Doctor Soto and Cruise Director Gary who we sailed with earlier in the cruise returned from their well deserved holidays.  We will kid around that we have a longer contract than some of them.  LOL.

These are the dinner menus from Waterside for last evening.  

Although on cruises of seven days or less Crystal does not have a Black Tie Optional evening the dinner menu is one that you would find on this type of evening.

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We  enjoyed  four courses for dinner.  We ate in our room.

Keith had the Caviar and Anne Marie  had Matzah Ball Soup for  an appetizer.  The soups was not on the menu but you can order it any evening.

Our next course was Baby Spinach Salad served with Chopped Eggs.

The main course is a favorite of Anne Marie's which is Fresh Cold Water Lobster.  
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​Anne Marie had ice cream for dessert. Keith had cheese.

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The evening included a Crystal Society Reception and the featured  entertainment included two performances by comedian and musician Jon Courtenay at 8:30 and 10:30 PM.   

We slept well last evening as we sailed to Paphos, Cyprus.  The seas  remained relatively calm.

We began the day as everyone who follows our posts is accustomed with.  This included an early morning workout for Keith followed by coffee and breakfast in our room.

This is our first visit to Paphos, Cyprus and to Cyprus.  Paphos is a coastal city in the southwestern region of Cyprus.  Its population is 35,000 residents.  The city is steeped in mythological history and has an abundance of architectural wonders.  In fact, the entire city  is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Major attractions include:

Kato Pafos Archacologist Park which contains the major part of the Ancient Greek and Roman City.  It continues to be under excavation.

Tombs of the Kings which is underground tombs that date back to the 4th century BCE.

Lighthouse Beach Promenade which due to its expansion now stretches 3.5 miles.

Ayia Kyriaki Chrysopolitissa which is a church that was built around 1500.

Byzantine Museum which is home to many unique collections including the oldest icon of Cyprus the Agia Marina.

We took a tender over to the city.  As soon as we walked from the tender platform down to the tender we knew the weather would be nice.  There was very little  to no wind and  as  we tendered toward  town the water looked like  glass.  

We wore light  jackets which came off as we were walking. Timing is everything.  For example, return in July or August and it will be hot and humid.

The downtown area is a short walk from the tender pier.  There are lots of hotels, stores, restaurants and cafes in town and along the promenade with a beach.  Several people were swimming.  It is clearly a big tourist destination.  

We visited one church and and saw an ancient building.  In hindsight we should have planned a tour so we could get to more archeological sites and to the older town.  Options for touring included a Crystal shared or private tour, a private tour with another company, hop on hop off bus tour or the city tours.  We will plan to do a tour the next time we are here.  Lesson learned.

We still enjoyed our very long walk with  gorgeous weather and a town that was not busy today allowing for a leisurely walk.

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We realize this is an ancient area but had no idea the Flintstones were here.  LOL.

Although this  was a port day since there  are  no additional sea days  there  were two lectures in the afternoon.

We enjoyed the  rest of the day on the ship.  

We had lunch  at Marketplace.

Keith played Paddle Tennis.  Unlike yesterday he was played in shorts and shortsleeve shirt and there was no wind. When you hit the ball in the air you knew where it was going.

Anne Marie took along walk.

We also did some additional packing.

Since this is not a sea day they scheduled enrichment speakers for later in the afternoon.
 
Destination Lecturer  Graham White  wil speak about our next port of call which is Rhodes, Greece and World Affairs Lecturer Dr. Samuel Edelman will speak about the growth of the far right in Europe.

As we post, we are enjoying the rest of the day on-board the wonderful Crystal Serenity.

This is the daily Reflections Program from today.

Cheers,

Anne Marie &  Keith

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ON THE ROAD TO PAGHOS, CYPRUS - A DAY AT SEA

Kathryn M....Thank you so much for your comments.  Glad t hear that you will be visiting some of those ports in September and wishing you a wonderful cruise.  We also hope we will meet you on a future Crystal Cruise.

Yesterday at 5:00 PM newly embarking guests got ready to attend the 5:15 PM mandatory muster (lifeboat) drill. For those newly embarking guests not yet on-board a followup drill was held at 8:00 PM in the Hollywood Theatre.  Since it was for only newly embarking guests we didn't have to attend.
 
We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink in our room.

These are the dinner menus from Waterside.

We decided to have dinner in our room.  We plan to mainly dine in the suite because it is such as beautiful room with its own dining room and we can enjoy quiet dinners up here.  We do love dining at the venues where we can see others and chat with the waitstaff.  With that said this is a full cruise and several venues will be quite busy and the waitstaff will have less time to converse.  This also gives us an opportunity  to speak with Rao.  We have plans to have one or two dinners with others in the room.  

We ordered from both Waterside and Prego.

The first course were appetizers from the Modern Cuisine Menu; Roasted Portobello Mushrooms for Anne Marie and Seared Ahi Tuna for Keith.  Both appetizers were very tasty.  You can see all of the ingredients that are accompany them in the photos.

The second course was Caesar salad from Prego.

Third course was Fresh Halibut for each of us. A  terrific entrée which was cooked beautifully.
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We slept well as we sail to our  next port of call.  We departed Athens at 9:00 PM.

We began today as we normally do with an early morning workout for Keith followed by coffee and breakfast in our room.  

Keith took an indoor cycle class while Anne Marie walked.  It was a great class taught by Melanie.  This  cruise  has a greater percentage of people in the 40 to 60 age bracket and some were in this class. All cycles were in-use  which always adds to the enthusiasm of the class.

There was lots on the daily program including two talks.

Destination Lecturer Graham White spoke about our next port of call which is Paphos, Cryprus and World Affairs lecturer Dr. Samuel Edelman spoke about World War I and its impact on the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

Before we knew it, time for lunch at Marketplace which featured another Asian Buffet.

Then we were off for exercise.  Keith played Paddle Tennis and unlike the last few days while in port he had a lot of people to play with and Anne Marie walked outside the ship.  It was windy outside which made for some interesting Paddle Tennis games as you didn't always know where the ball would go.  Still lots of fun and good laughs and a good workout.

We are enjoying the rest of the afternoon on Serenity as we post this.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith

This is today's daily Reflections Program.

WELCOME TO ATHENS, GREECE - DAY 2 (TURN AROUND DAY)

We want to mention how much we enjoy your comments and questions.  

We posted this on another site earlier today and thought we would share this with each of you.  

We always say that when we sail on Crystal Cruises we create memories which will last a lifetime.

With this in-mind we waned to share a trip down "memory lane".

We began dating while at University shortly before the start of the 1976 Olympics. One of the Gold Medal winners was Dorothy Hamill. In addition to helping to make figure skating popular, Dorothy Hamill had an impact on the hairstyle worn by several women following the olympics. For many years Anne Marie wore that hairstyle as did several friends. 


Fast forward to the 2007 World Cruise and Dorothy Hamill was one of two former Olympians who was on-board when the World Games was played. The kick-off ceremony was held on the outside deck and I will never forget that evening. We happened to speak with her business manager saying how much we admired her and a couple of minutes later he brought her over to say hello and he took the photo of the two of us with her. This was our first World Cruise and we entered several of the World Games. She was on-hand with the other Olympian to present the medals at the ceremonies held every couple of days.

We remember arriving to the Galaxy Lounge before she was scheduled to give a talk to the guests. She was practicing her talk with a video playing behind her on the screen of her winning the Gold at the 1986 Olympics. She looked nervous as she was practicing her talk. Keith said to her if you could win a Gold in Figure Skating you will give a great talk. She did.


Fast forward to the 2011 World Cruise and Dorothy Hamill returned to Serenity. Her husband was on-board as well. Dorothy was on-hand for the World Games. This time we had the opportunity to have dinner with the two of them. We not only enjoyed a wonderful dinner and conversation with her but she thanked us multiple times during and in the days following the dinner about having them to dinner. We kept saying it is us who thank you.

With each passing Crystal Cruises voyage, we have created wonderful memories which will last a life-time and this is an example of one of them.

Last evening we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink in our room.  Afterwards  we  went to Waterside.

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These are the dinner menus from Waterside.

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This was the final dinner menu for this voyage.  There were several items which appealed to us from the appetizer and entree choices.

Anne Marie had three courses and Keith had four.

We started with appetizers; Barbecue Tiger  Shrimp for Anne Marie  and Roasted Vegetable Terrine for Keith.  Anne Marie thought her appetizer was very tasty.  Keith's appetizer was one of the few times since we boarded in December where the appetizer was not one he would have again..  

Our next  was course  was a dinner size red & green Caesar salad. Anne Marie had it the way it was prepared and Keith had it without the red salad.  On a related note on most evening's we have dressing on the side.  We each have a different dressing from one another but we go with that dressing each time we dine at Waterside.

We both had Salmon for our entree.  The salmon was very tasty and enhanced by the spinach it sat atop.

We enjoyed some nice wine.

Sommelier Ricardo who we have had several times over the years stopped by our table to say hello and until next time.  Ricardo is going on a well deserved holiday today.  

Speaking of changeover shortly after being seated Cruise Directors Rick and Gary arrived to Waterside and stopped by our table to say hello.  Gary just arrived to Serenity yesterday afternoon as Rick goes home today.  When one has been on-board as long as we have we have gotten to welcome members back to Serenity who were on with us earlier in the cruise and are returning later on.  Gary was on board starting with the seven day California Coastal cruise before going on holiday when we arrived to Perth.  

Keith had a fourth course which was some cheese from the cheese cart.  There is a menu for the cheese and each evening the selections are changed.  Keith lets Head Waiter Augusto choose the cheese as Augusto knows the type of cheese that Keith enjoys.  Augusto cut three small slices of three different cheeses; two of which are Italian and one French cheese.  One of the two Italian Cheese was made from three types of milk; goat, sheep, and cows milk.

Waterside  was very quiet  when we were  there.  Shortly before we finished our meal several guests arrived.

As we were leaving our table we spoke with friends Rob and Jim who have been sitting at a nearby table with another couple.  Jim and Rob are leaving today so we shared good wished for one another.  Keith tried to find them after his workout this morning as they were leaving the ship at 5:00 AM but didn't locate them.  With early flights from Athens and this being an overnight some guests were leaving as early as 3:00 AM this morning.  

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We slept well as Serenity remained docked in port.

This time Keith made it up to the Fitness Center for an early morning workout before we enjoyed coffee and breakfast in our room.

Today is turn-around day with the Venice to Athens Cruise ending and the start of our final voyage before we depart Serenity on May4.  This is a round-trip Athens  sailing with stops at mainly ports in Greece.

This is the itinerary for the seven day round trip Athens cruise.

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We walked off the ship after breakfast to take a walk over to the town of Piraeus   This was the first time  we have done this.  On all previous  visits we have visited Athens.  

This town is located seven miles from the Athens City  Centre.  With traffic  figure on a thirty minute drive.

It is a  port city, having a population of 175,000 residents.    It does date back to the 5th Century BC and is part of Ancient Greece.  It was the place for all import and export trade for Athens.  It  does contain the largest harbour in all of Greece.  It serves 20 million cruise ship passengers annually.  

The city did host some games in 1896 and 2004 which were part of the Olympics held in Athens.  Our first visit to Athens was in 1998 on-board the Grand Princess with our family.  We returned in 2005 as our second of the two back-to-back cruises on Serenity ended here.  Since this time we have visited several times.

Although it doesn't features several major sites which are located in Athens it does have sites to see.

This includes:

Portions of the ancient Themistoclean Walls and Eetioneia. 

Four Bronze Statues discovered near the Tinaneios Gardens in 1959 and are featured at the Piraeus Museum. It is believed that the statues were buried between the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD for fear of being stolen or destroyed during war.

Our walk took us past several churches, stores, cafes, restaurants and places selling baked goods.

We went into one of the baked food places which had many items for sale including several cakes and other goodies for Easter.

We also visited an outdoor market.  The weather was perfect with sunny skies and moderate temperature.

​On the way back to the ship there was a dog sleeping as we passed it and went to security.  A minute later we could hear it barking and running over to security.  It looked friendly sleeping but not when it was running and barking.  We didn't want to be its meal.  LOL.

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This is the luncheon menu (embarkation day lunch) from Waterside.

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This is another fairly full cruise.  Very few if any guests who sailed the full World Cruise are still on-board.  Friends of ours departed this morning.  

Guests began embarking Serenity close to Noon today.  One of the aspects we enjoy on embarkation day is the music that is performed live at the Crystal Cove near where the check-in tables are located.  Members from the bar staff are on-hand near the check in table with flutes of champagne and sparkling wine for the guests.  The music changes every hour.  At noon today pianist Richard Pucci and Violinist Tamara Sivtsova performed.  At 2:00 PM guitarist Arturo Castillo performed.  At 3:00 PM pianist Ged Scott from the Avenue Saloon will be on-hand to perform.   Pianist Richard Pucci will take over again at 4:00 PM.  

We are enjoying the rest of the afternoon on-board Crystal Serenity as we post this.
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Following is today's daily Reflections Program.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith

WELCOME TO ATHENS,  GREECE

​These are the dinner menus from  Waterside from last evening.

We hosted a dinner/party in our room for some mid-level officers and senior staff as a thank you for all they do to make our stay on the ship very enjoyable.  Many of these people were unable to attend another function we hosted on the Cape Town leg of the cruise.  We say this often but in the end it is the people who make cruising special and who touch our hearts.  

Special thanks to Rao for organizing this. He personally extended invites to each person, planned the food and drink, organized, set up and cleared the buffet.

Also thanks to the Butlers that assisted Rau, including Jose, and to the Food & Beverage Team under the direction of the Hotel Director and Food & Beverage Manager.

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​We slept well as Serenity sailed to Athens, Greece which is the final port of call on this voyage.  

BREAKING NEWS - LOL

For the first time of this cruise Keith skipped an early morning workout deciding to get more sleep since we went to sleep fairly late last evening.  He did manage to do the laundry.  We enjoyed coffee and breakfast in our room.

After breakfast, Keith attended an indoor Cycling Class while Anne Marie walked inside the ship.  The class was the last one taught by Fitness Director Charlotte who will be leaving at the end of this cruise.  It has been a pleasure getting to know Charlotte on this cruise and Anne Marie appreciated the effort she took to prepare and lead her in the personal training classes.

Since we didn't arrive to Athens until Noon, the morning was a sea day.  We took advantage of the time to pull items that we plan to ship home at the end of this voyage.  The more we get done ahead of time the less time consuming it will be just before we depart Serenity on May 4.

The enrichment program included two lectures:

Destination lecturer Marcus Sherwood spoke about Athens.

World Affairs lecturer Ken Walsh spoke about how USA President's become prisoners of the White  House.  We  have seen this talk before so we didn't watch it.

We have visited Athens several times.  The first time was in  1998 on the Grand Princess with our family.  Our next visit was in 2005 on the back-to-back 24 day cruise we took from Rome to Athens on our first Crystal Serenity cruise.  We have visited Athens on three subsequent sailings.  

Athens is the Capital and the largest city within Greece.  Athens history spans 3,400 years.  

Major attractions include:

Acropolis which contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance.

The Agora which is an archaeological site located beneath the northwest slope of the Acropolis.

Plaka which is Athens' oldest neighborhood and is home to many restaurants and cafes.  Several of its streets are closed to motor traffic.

Olympic Stadium which is the only stadium in the world built solely out of white marble.  It is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex.

Syntagma Square which is also known as Constitution Square  and is located in Central Athens.  It has been used for some of the biggest political rallies seen around the world.

Archaeological Museum which is the National Archaeological Museum.

Metropoli Cathedral whose construction began on Christmas of 1842.   

With a noon arrival to the port of Piraeus and this being when Easter is celebrated and Athens being a 30 minute drive from port we decided to stay on the ship.  WE recognize that many places will be closed for the Easter Weekend.

We have not decided what we will do tomorrow.  We have been here many times so we might focus on Piraeus.  We will decide in the morning.

We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace.  With the ship arriving to port shortly before noon the dining venue was very busy.  Keith played singles Paddle Tennis while Anne Marie packed.  Singles is a hard workout but it was a lot of fun even though I lost all the games to one of officers.   While we were playing a bell was ringing non-stop from a nearby church.  It might have been due to the Easter Holiday.

This port always has lots of ships in port and today was no exception

This is the daily Reflections Program from today.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith

WELCOME TO NAFPLION, GREECE

​Views from our room shortly before our arrival.

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These are the dinner menus from Waterside.

Friends Rob & Jim joined us for dinner in our room.  We first sailed with them on the full World Cruise 2015.  They boarded Serenity in Cape Town.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with them with delicious food and non-stop conversation.  
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We enjoyed food from Waterside and from Prego.  This included:

Caesar salad from Prego.

Lobster from Waterside.  which was on the menu Tuesday night since it was Black Tie Optional night and we were able to have it last night.

We enjoyed a great evening.  A  big thank you to Rao for organizing  everything and making this very special for the four of us.  Everything  was perfect.

The featured entertainment was the comedy and music of Jon Courtenay who performed one show at 7:45 PM.  Last night also included the Crystal White Extravaganza Party between 10:00 and 11:00 PM.  

​We slept well as we headed to our second port of call in Greece; Nafplion, Greece.  Keith began the day with an early workout at the Fitness Center. After the workout, we enjoyed coffee and breakfast in our room.  

We anchored off Nafplion, Greece shortly before 8:00 AM this morning.

​Nafplion is a seaport town with a population of 35,000 residents.

Major attractions include:

Bourtzi Fort which was built in 1473.

Palamidi Fortress which protected this town in time of war and is visible from all areas within the city.

Archaelogy Museum which has exhibits about the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Helladic, Mycenean, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods.

Arvanita Beach which is located close to the town and features "Crystal" clear water.

Keith took the tender over while Anne Marie stayed on the ship and walked.  

When he arrived, with map in hand he walked the area and saw some of the major attractions including the Palamidi Fortress and the Bourtzi Fort.  He also visited the War Museum.  There were lots  of shops and restaurants and some parks.

One observation he made is that cars do not yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in the crossing walkways.  

We were the only ship anchored which made walking around town pleasant.  

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Back on the ship we enjoyed lunch at Marketplace.  Keith hit Paddle  Tennis balls  and later joined Anne Marie who was already walking outside the ship on the Promenade Deck.

We are enjoying the rest of the afternoon on-board Serenity as we post this.

This is today's daily Reflections Program.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith