DAY 31 - DAY 25 CRYSTAL SERENITY

WORLD CRUISE 2019 - DAY 2 - THE EXCITEMENT CONTINUES TO BUILD

Doris...Thank you for your good wishes.  Yes, there are some new ports on the World Cruise and the voyages following it.  Same will be true for the River Cruise.

Sophie....Thank you for your thoughtful commments.

Alessa...Thank you also for your nice comments.  You asked about a link at the bottom of the Blog.  If you scroll to the bottom which might require scrolling down several of the posts you will come to a footer.  It will say previous if this is the first one or if you look at an older post you would see previous or forward.  With that said we just made a change which will loading two posts per page which will make it easier to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the footer. 

Barb....Glad you enjoyed the slide show from previous World Cruises and the photos of Richie and Ruel.

We had an amazing start to World Cruise 2019 last evening.  Throughout the evening we reunited with many guests who we have sailed with before and met new guests.  In many ways it is similar to a family, high school or college reunion.  There is lots of hugging and embracing between guests and crew who have become our extended Crystal Family.  

This was our schedule of events:

5:30 PM Hollywood World Cruise Gala & Celebration hosted by Crystal Cruises CEO & President Tom Wolber.  This included a welcome, dancing and cocktails

6:00 PM Hollywood Word Cruise Gala Dinner at Waterside which included a multi-course dinner.  They assigned each guest to a table.

8:30 PM Sneak Preview Of Upcoming Broadway Show. We got a sneak preview of the new play Mrs. Doubtfire.  It included appearances by Tony Award winning producer Kevin McCollum and featured Broadway Stars, Heidi Blicenstaff and Brian d"army James with The Crystal Showband.

9:00 PM to 12:30 AM Afterwards there was live music in three different venues; Avenue Saloon, Crystal Plaza and Palm Court.

​It was an amazing evening and one we will remember for the rest of our lives.

The theme was Hollywood.  After all we were docked less than an hour from Hollywood.  The was a red carpet in the Crystal Plaza leading to Waterside where dinner was held.  Small tables were placed around the Plaza and the area on the next floor with a replica of an Academy Award.

We wanted to mention that we learned that those arriving to the ship yesterday for embarkation were greeted as Hollywood Stars.  After being dropped off by their vehicle there was a red carpet and inside the terminal, they were given flutes of champagne as well as caviar.  

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We saw so many familiar faces at the welcome celebration and also met some guests for the first time.  We also spoke with John Stoll VP of Land Programs; Susan Robinson; Director of Global Public Relations; and Carmen Roig, SVP of Marketing & Sales.  CEO& President Tom Wolber gave a very nice welcome address.
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Next was dinner.  Each guest was escorted to their assigned table by members of the waitstaff team.  Other personnel from the waitstaff came by the table.

Waterside looked amazing and the flowers on the tables were beautiful.  We sat with two couples who we met for the first time and one solo guest (Anne) who we have known since the 2007 World Cruise and CEO & President Tom Wolber.  

We enjoyed a delicious meal with outstanding service, in this beautiful room and a wonderful nice conversation throughout the meal.  

The meal included:

Fresh Dungeness Crab Salad

Cauliflower Soup

A choice of fish or beef entrees.  We chose :

Pan Seared Halibut

Dark& White Chocolate Mousse

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The two hour dinner was a “wow”!

After dinner we went to the show which we thoroughly enjoyed.  The music and the singing was sensational and it did include two songs from Mrs. Doubtfire.  We cannot say enough about the singing of Heidi Blickenstaff and Brian D'Arcy.  Heidi sang throughout the performance songs from various plays including Mrs. Doubtfire.  Brian sang one of the new songs from Mrs. Doubtfire.  When Cruise Director Gary Hunter came out there was a standing overation for the performance and an encore for Heidi to sing more.  

Gary closed out the show by mentioning the remaining entertainment for the evening and also highlighting events  for today including an appearance by the USC Marching Band, the mandatory lifeboat drills and the World Cruise Balloon Drop.  

Yesterday was also Gary Hunter’s Birthday and we all sang Happy Birthday to Gary including another appearance by Heidi Blickenstaff to lead the song.  

When we arrived back to the room there was a beautiful floral arrangement of flowers from dinner, a World Cruise hat, vest and a shirt for the men and a sweater for the women.
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We wanted to share some fun facts about the 2019 World Cruise:

347 Full World Cruisers

63 of the Full World Cruisers are on their first Crystal Cruises.

Of the 284 Crystal Society Members, 105 are taking their first Crystal Cruise.

Captain Giske will be Captain for the first part of the World Cruise and this is his third World Cruise.  Captain Birger will be Captain for the second part of the World Cruise and this is his fourth Crystal World Cruise and he as been on eleven world cruises.

Gary Hunter and Rich Spath will be the Cruise Directors with Rick on his fifteenth overall World Cruise and Gary on his eighth overall World Cruise.  

World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston is on her ninth Crystal Cruises World Cruise.

We slept well last evening but it was not due to the gentle rocking of the ship as we remained docked in San Pedro.

Although we went to sleep late, Keith began the morning extra early with his daily workout.  We enjoyed coffee followed by breakfast in our room.  

We are getting used to the room.  It is the same room as the one we are in other than everything is on the opposite side and that includes the interior of the closet.  We are sure we will be experts in a few days.  LOL.

Keith tried on his new World Cruise 2019 Shirt and wore it today.  

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We enjoyed the rest of the day on the ship.  Keith met at The Bistro with Carmen Roig, SVP of Marketing & Sales.  The  remainder of the day we visited with many guests who we have sailed with on prior cruises, talked to many members of the crew and enjoyed a nice lunch.  

Those guests who are booked for one or more segments of the World Cruise embarked today some of whom we know very well so it was great to see them.  

We set sail for Hawaii at 6:00 PM this evening.

This is the Reflections daily program for today.

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More tomorrow.

Anne Marie & Keith