YUCATAN DISCOVERY BLOG - DAY 8 CRYSTAL SERENITY

DAY 8 CRYSTAL SERENITY – DISEMBARKATION

We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink with friends Anne & Larry and friend Stacey Huston.  Stacey boarded Serenity the other day to prepare for the 2017 World Cruise as she is the World Cruise Hostess. She has also been in this role on other World Cruise Voyages we have sailed.  We live near Stacey's home and from time to time have lunch with her back home.  It was wonderful to catch up with Stacey and to for our friends and Stacey to meet one another.

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We enjoyed our final dinner of the cruise with Anne and Larry at Silk Road which is the Japanese Specialty Restaurant on board Crystal Serenity.  It was develped by Chef Nobu who has restaurants in many cities around the world including the United States of America.

We were taken great care of by Anthony.  We only took a couple of photos but rest assured we enjoyed lots of great food and drink too.

The evening featured a wide range of entertainment including My Life: The Music of Billy Joel.  We really like the new evening entertainment concept which includes other shows from time to time in the Stardust Lounge and performances by other musicians and vocalists in other areas of the ship in additon to the two piano players.

We really like the new evening entertainment concept which includes other shows from time to time in the Stardust Lounge and performances by other musicians and vocalists in other areas of the ship in additon to the two piano players.  For example when we left Silk Road last night we watched pianist Scott Mitchel perform in the 
Crystal Cove playing with another musician instead of performing solo.
 
What is nice is that for those who were tired of the Production shows on many nights they have other options.  For those who are newer to Crystal or who like the tradition of the shows they still can see them.
 
To us it's similar with the menus in the Crystal Dining Room. When Crystal introduced the Modern Cuisine Menu they didn't eliminate the traditional one and offer many items that are classic Crystal on one menu with the modern cuisine menu on the other one and you can order all from one or mix and match.
 

In addition, the College Football Championship game bewteen Alabama Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers was shown live at the Hollywood Theatre and on all guest televison sets.  It was a bit of an upset depending on which team you were hoping would win.

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We slept very well as Serenity sailed to our final stop of this cruise Miami, Florida.  

As we are posting this we will be having Breakfast in our room this mornnig at the same time we have been each day of this voyage.

We arranged a vehicle through the Crytstal Cruises Head Concierge.  We will meet him at the Crystal Cove at 8:45 AM and we will be escorted to the terminal where we will be assisted with our baggage, go through customs and be taken to the vehcile waiting for us.

We have enjoyed so many exceptional cruises with Crystal Cruises starting with our first one on Crystal Harmony in 2002 when we sailed Alaska.  This one was not an exception and while one of the shorter ones in terms of total days it was another terrific experience for us.

It has been very nice not only sailing with dear friends but experiencing a first time look at Crystal Cruises through their eyes. 

We hope that whether or not you have never sailed with Crytal Cruises or have sailed one or more times with Crystal Cruises that you have enjoyed our Blog.  We will continue to Blog on our future trips including another Crystal Cruises with our entire family in a few months, followed by a land vacation a few weeks later and continuing with a cruise on our very first River Cruise later in this year on one of the new Crystal Cruises River Vessels.  

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY......... 

We never get sad when a cruise ends because we always have one or several more booked to look forward to.  We will return to Serenity in May.  Our children and spouses who are all Crystal Soceity Members will be on board with us.  At the same time we wil introduce to two-and-one-half year old children and one five-and-one-half year old child to the Crystal fold.  

We do get sentimental about each cruise.  There is something unique about each one and a lot of it has to do with the chemistry of the passengers and crew who are on-board for a specific sailing.  In short, a new community gets built on each cruise.

We know that we will see many crew who we know very well on the next cruise and that we will also see some familiar guests.  However, all 1,000 or so guests and 600+ crew who were together on this specific sailing will never all be together on another sailing.  Of course we know the next one will have its own chemistry so there is much to look forward to.  

There are some crew members who won't be returning but as they say you never know when our paths will meet up again.  We might see some on land or via Face Book or on another type of Crystal Vessel or even on this vessel in the future.  Life carries with it twists and turns and that is part of what makes the world go round.  

​Keith & Anne Marie