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The last several days have gone by in a blink of an eye between getting ready for the new adventure and having family with us. Our family from Australia was with us for a few days and our family who lives a couple of hours from our home visited one of the days. For the first time since June of 2017 everyone was here under one roof. Keith also closed out the year by teaching four group Fitness Classes on Monday and Tuesday at one of our on-site Fitness Centers. This included two indoor cycling classes, one HIIT class (High Intensity Interval Training) and one Cross Training Class.
 Yes, we are ready to go. We have shipped luggage and completed the rest of the packing. The items on the things to do lists are checked with the exception of a handful of items which will be completed the morning we leave.  Cruise Documents were received 30 days prior to the start of the cruise. They came in a newly designed travel wallet.  As we've done in the past, we used a luggage service to ship some luggage for delivery to Crystal Serenity the day we board. Anne Marie prepared a detailed listing of all items packed in each suitcase. Each list is numbered to correspond with the number on the respective suitcase. She also does this for luggage we take with us.  Planning a trip such as this one is a team effort. This includes those items each of us doe along with assistance from others. We want to thank our wonderful travel specialist Gerri for all her help along with her terrific assistants Ashley, Gabby & Cassandra. Gerri and her team are amazing.   From L-R: Gabby, Ashley, Gerri, & Cassandra There are many people from departments across Crystal Cruises to thank. This includes personnel from reservations, documentation services, on-board guest services, land programs, and members across team Crystal Serenity. Thank you so much. We want to close with some final thoughts. We love to travel and look forward to each adventure. This trip is no exception and has special meaning for us for a couple of reasons. Family Time. We love having the family together with us and this trip provides the opportunity to bring the family together for a fun-filled week. This is more of a challenge with one of the families living over 9,000 miles away. Health & Wellness We had some medical challenges a few weeks before Anne Marie's surgery was scheduled including one scare from one of the test results. This made us wonder if travel of any kind was in our future. The health issues reinforce two core beliefs we share. This includes to not put off until tomorrow those things you can do today and to take the glass is half full approach. In other words we believe in making the most of each day and focusing on all that is good and to appreciate each day we have together. In fact, health related items were the catalyst for us taking our first World Cruise when Anne Marie's sister was diagnosed with stage 5 cancer and passed at a very young age. With this and the loss of parents who passed way too early we decided to take our first World Cruise sooner rather than later. Two photos from our first World Cruise in 2007. These related to the World Games which is part of each Crystal Cruises World Cruise. One of the two Olympians on-board for the World Games was Dorothy Hamill. For many years Anne Marie had the Dorothy Hamill hairstyle which was very popular during and after she won the Gold at the Olympics. We were fortunate to sail with this amazing person a few years later on a subsequent World Cruise.
We love to hear from you. You can provide comments and ask question through this Blog. We will read each of your comments and respond to your questions. Comments and/or questions can be provided by clicking on the comment button located at the end of each post. Should you have any private questions/comments you can make use of the contact tab to send us a private message. Should you wish to contact us directly click you may do this by pressing the comment button on the top right hand side of the home page or by filling in the information found on the right side of this blog. Going forward we will post daily. Blogging daily does have its set of challenges which includes not enough time in the day to proofread. It is not possible to reread what we write so we ask your understanding for any grammatical errors and/or typos as we expect to make several of them.  We are taking our time to reach Orlando. This includes starting our trip as we often do by staying at a hotel closely to the airport. Rather than flying on one day we will stay over at another airport hotel. With no direct flights on our preferred carrier and the chance of wintry weather this time of year we chose to break the travel up. Starting today we will Blog daily throughout the adventure. As we close out today's Blog entry we want to wish each of you a safe, healthy and happy holiday season. May 2020 be the best yet. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith 
2 Comments
Aldeya
12/26/2019 09:47:06 am
Keith and Anne Marie, Wishing you another memorable adventure and thank you for sharing the fun with us all here. We are also planners, so I appreciate the time and energy needed to prepare for such a lengthy time away from home - bravo Anne Marie for making those lists of your luggage contents!! After the challenges of the last few months, you must surely be looking forward to spending time with your family and lovely times on board your favourite ship. Bon Voyage and safe travels!! Leave a Reply. |
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