DAY 29 - DAY 23 CRYSTAL SERENITY

RETURN TO CATALINA ISLAND, CALIFORNIA

Jen, thanks for your comments.  We were in the Palm Court enjoying great conversation and the views of the city for seventy-five minutes.  While we saw the bridge lights change twice it may have changed more often.  We were not looking at the bridge the entire time.

Thank you for the suggestion about research for the roof tops.  This is precisely what our friends told us.  One couple also went on one (maybe two) organized tours.

Late in the afternoon we attended the Magic Castle At Sea and watched Mark Haslam perform.  He began performing at a relatively young age in England's Lake District performing in village hall and at the young age of fifteen appeared on British television.  Today he lives in Southern California and is a favorite at the Los Angeles Magic Castle.

We have been to several of these shows and we have to say that Mark is one of if not the best Magician we have seen.  His focus was 100% on card tricks with one 52 card deck.

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After the show we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the Avenue Saloon located within a few steps of Pulse where we saw the Magician perform.  

​Bartender Carlos who just returned to Serenity took good care of us.  He was on when we sailed Serenity in September/October.  While Anne Marie had sparkling water, he immediately remember the type of wine she drinks.

After the show we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the Avenue Saloon located within a few steps of Pulse where we saw the Magician perform.

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Right before dinner we saw Shirin and we also listened to Richard Pucci play the Piano at the Crystal Cove.

As soon as we walked up to say hello to Richard, he was kind enough to play a Beatles song for us.  He was in a white tie as last evening was the White Extravaganza.

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We returned to Waterside for dinner and have included the restaurant menus below.

There was a fairly long queue all the way to the shore excursion desk before the doors opened at Waterside that was the second longest we have seen.  In no time they seated everyone.   Despite the queue, fewer people were dining at Waterside at the opening hour than we have seen on most nights when we have dined there.  

We enjoyed a delicious dinner starting with an appetizer salad of mixed greens with avocado, cucumber & hearts of palm followed by an appetizer Warm Seafood & Asparagus Salad.  Both items were delicious.  

We selected the Broiled Fresh Swordfish for our entrée. We had this on the last cruise and enjoyed it as much.  They cooked the swordfish to perfection and the sides that accompanied it were tasty.  

Senior Waiter Kasa and Sommelier Laura took excellent care of us.  Kasa will go on a well-deserved holiday starting tomorrow morning.  We will welcome him back when he returns in April.

He has been outstanding.  He is always upbeat, enthusiastic and has a big smile.

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Last evening was White Extravaganza Night. We usually wear white pants marking the evening but we didn't last evening although Anne Marie had some white on.

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The evening entertainment included two performance of Crystal on Broadway The Show, The Crystal White Extravaganza Dance Party, music in five lounges and a showing of the movie Alpha in the Hollywood Theatre.

We slept well as we made our way to Catalina Island and began our day as we have done since boarding Serenity.  You know the routine.  Workout for Keith at the Fitness Center. Breakfast in our room. A walk inside the ship.

​The daily Reflections program follows.

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This is our second visit to Catalina Island since boarding Serenity.  

We anchored at 7:00 AM.  The island has no docking facilities for cruise ships.  Tender service runs between the ship and the island.

Just like our visit on December 22, Keith went over to Catalina Island on his own while Anne Marie remained on the ship to have her haircut at the Salon.  

Catalina Island is located just 22 miles off the Southern California Coast.  It has a population of less than 5,000 residents.  

There are very few automobiles in use on the Island.  The major mode of transportation is walking or driving the island by golf cart.

Major attractions include:

The Casino which is located in a large Art Deco building.

Catalina Island Museum which features over 10,000 photographs and negatives of live on the island from the 1880's to present day along with Catalina pottery.

Catalina Island Conservancy Nature Center which contains self-guided exhibits of the natural history and conservation efforts of the island.

Wrigley Memorial & Botanical Gardens.  The memorial commemorates William Wrigley Junior.  His businesses included soap and baking soda but his name is most associated with chewing gum and the Chicago Cubs Baseball team and stadium. He also played a key role in the development of the island and the gardens were created by his wife after his death.  His team also had Spring Training on the Island.

Wrigley was ahead of his time and if not for his efforts the Island would not be home to a nature center.  
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The weather forecast changed twice.  It called for a chance of rain in the morning and high chance in the afternoon and overcast skies.  A couple of hours later no rain in the afternoon.  Guess what? It rained in the afternoon.

As Keith was making his way down the tender platform (he would have been the only guest with a couple of the crew) the tender was swaying back and forth and up and down and that is when they made the decision to move the tender platform to the other side of the ship where the sea swells were calm.  

When this is done the platform on the other side of the ship must be put in place and the security scanner and ship card scanner must be moved over as well.  They told Keith it would take about 30 minutes which was fine with him.  He walked around the ship and as it turned out tender operations began about 20 minutes later.  Keith took the first tender over and on-board were two crew members including Manager Storme Brown.  Storme just returned from Holiday the other day and Keith spoke with her briefly in Ensenada so the tender ride allowed Keith to catch up with Storme.

Once ashore Keith retraced many of his steps from last cruise.  As was the case on December 22 he did a combination run/walk for the entire time.  The difference was this time he went up further on several streets that are built on high hills until he got to the top on some of them.  

He took in the various sites in town and residential areas.  

The weather was even better than the last time.

We will let the photos do the narrative.

​As Keith waited to take the tender back to the ship he spoke to Joe who you will see in the last photo.

Back on the ship, we both went on a walk.

We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace as we do most days.  Afterwards, Keith played Paddle Tennis for forty-five minutes until the clouds opened up with rain.   Anne Marie walked inside the ship and we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon on-board Serenity.

This evening we plan to have dinner in our room.  Tomorrow we will move to a room next door from our current room as we could not secure one room in the area we prefer on this deck for all of the voyages.

Tomorrow this cruise comes to a conclusion and the start of the World Cruise.  As a reminder of that we were asked to turn in our passports for the next cruise as well as our Yellow Fever Vaccination Certificates.

​Anne Marie & Keith