DAY 12 - DAY 1 SERENITY

BACK HOME ON CRYSTAL SERENITY

Thank you all for the comments to our blog.
 
Please keep the comments coming.  If we can help with questions, please let us know.
 
Apologies if we have missed any comments.
 
This includes:
 
Pat thank you for your comments about the video and we wish you a great Symphony Cruise.
 
Jill and Rod we miss you both.  You two were on our first World Cruise.
 
Lisa thank you for the good wishes.
 
Debbie thank you for the good wishes.
 
Patty, thank you for the love, love, love.  We wish you  were on this sailing. We hope to sail with you again.
 
Karin, thank you for the good wishes.
 
Jacqueline, we will the same way you do about Crystal.
 
Joan and Mac it is hard to believe we first met you both in 2003 on Symphony and we are blessed having sailed with you both and keeping up with you both.
 
Eileen we hope we will meet your Nephew.

We enjoyed our final morning at the Hotel.

After  having breakfast in the room we freshened up.

We were driven to the Port Of Miami in a private  vehicle which Keith pre-arranged for us.  The drive was fifteen minutes.

A lovely day with sunshine and a high of 78 degrees Fahrenheit and low of 61.

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We pinch ourselves each time we travel.  As youngsters we never dreamed we would travel the world and the same was true in our early years of marriage.

Often when we travel Keith thinks back to his childhood when he and family and friends would play a board-game called Risk as well as studying each continent as part of grade school. 

We remember  making new friends on Crystal Symphony in  2004 sailing on a crossing.  This was our third Crystal Cruise at the time.  They booked the first half of the 2005 World Cruise.  Our longest cruises up to this time were 16 and 18 days and we couldn't imagine being on board any longer than that.  In 2005 we sailed Serenity for the first time on two back to back cruises totaling 24 days.  We wanted to do something special for our 30th wedding anniversary for 2007 and originally we planned a sailing of 30 days with Seabourn.  Through the friends who we met in 2004 who loved the 2006 experience we were connected with a very nice couple from Liverpool; Ernie and Val.  We met them for lunch and for dinner on one of the back to back cruises and they walked us through the  World Cruise.  The experience they shared with us plus our enjoyment of Serenity (in our view the perfect size ocean vessel for a World Cruise) we signed up for the 2007 World Cruise even though the itinerary was not released.  Two months later it was released.  As they say the rest is history.  Starting in 2007 we sailed the World Cruise eight times plus 80% of another World Cruise and this time we return for half of the 2020 World Cruise.  We have grown so much from these sailings between the on-board and on land experiences.  It has indeed been an amazing journey.

As many times as we have cruised we are as excited this time as the first time we cruised.  Believe it or not we have sailed Crystal Serenity the equivalent of four years at sea.

​This year is more special given Anne Marie's surgery and other related issues.  We take a day at a time and we count our blessings.

As soon as we boarded we saw familiar faces between the wonderful members of team Crystal along with several guests we have sailed with one or more times on previous cruises.  In many ways the World Cruise is like a school or family reunion given the bonds we have made with so many people over the years. 

We enjoyed lunch at Waterside where we had our traditional lunch of Cobb Salad.  We toasted the start of a new adventure and our love for one another with a flute of champagne.  Senior Waiter Kirsten who we had towards the end of the World Cruise and the voyages after it took excellent care of us.  Hotel Director Hubert came by.  Two good friends sat next to us.  We have seen so many other people who we know.  

​We're home.

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We are very excited to be back on Serenity and look forward to an amazing adventure.  

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith