DAY 20 - DAY 15 CRYSTAL SERENITY - DISEMBARKATION DAY - BOSTON

Before dinner, we had pre-dinner drinks at the Crystal Cove. We sat with Tommy along with a very nice couple that we met for the first time this cruise.  Once again, we enjoyed listening to pianist John Mentis and look forward to seeing John again on the 2015 World Cruise.

Last night was our final dinner for this voyage.

We wanted to go with a seafood but when we looked over the menus the night before the two on the menu were not the ones we prefer.  One was Fish 'n' Chips from the Crystal Classics menu and the other on the Modern Menu was an Arctic Brill with Lobster Potato Hash, Pea Puree and Carrot Vinaigrette and we just wanted something simpler so we pre-ordered Sea Bass.

The sea bass was a wise decision.  It was very tasty and very moist.

We won't go through the normal detail of what we had for dinner except to say we enjoy another fantastic meal in the dining room and we thank everyone who made this another wonderful experience for us and that includes not only the wait staff and sommelier but also the galley team.  Thank you.  Thank you.

When we arrived back to our room, we finished packing and put our suitcases right outside our room.  Rao saw Keith putting out the suitcases and he said he would take care of it.

During the course of this cruise we sailed from Southampton to Boston and we sailed at total of 3,927 nautical miles or the equivalent of 4,516 land miles.

Like clockwork, Keith was up early and did some reading and writing and then went to the Lido Café for the final time of this voyage.  He not only enjoys this time of morning as he has some coffee, but it provides a great opportunity for him to speak with the extraordinary Lido Deck Café Stewards as they busily prepared for the morning breakfast.  With this being disembarkation day, they had lots to get ready as the full Breakfast Buffet was to being earlier than normal.   Others from the Specialty Restaurants and from the Galley began their day earlier as well.

Keith thanked those from the crew who he saw at the Lido Café one more time and wished them all the best.  Some will be onboard as soon as we board in late December while some will be home and rejoin the cruise later. 

He brought back coffee for Anne Marie and then we began to freshen up.  We had early breakfast in our room and as we did throughout the cruise kept if very simple just eating for breakfast what we regularly eat at home.

Each guest disembarking Serenity in Boston received luggage tags and the color and the number on the tags indicates the time that they may disembark the ship.  It is primarily based on each guest’s disembarkation plans including whether or not they are staying in Boston, times of departing flights, as well as what type of transfer they have arranged. 

There was a slight delay in disembarkation by around thirty minutes.  We do know that one woman's name was called a couple of times about meeting with immigration personnel.   

While we waited to depart the ship we spoke with friend Barbara and also to several crew members and officers.  Hotel Director Josef came up to us to wish us his best and to say he looked forward to seeing us when he board on January 4.  We kidded around with some crew members depending on their schedules as some will welcome us when we board on December 21 and we will welcome some when they board after that.  We spoke with one member of the crew as we were in the cruise terminal who will be beginning a new role on land after many years at Crystal Cruises.  Her boyfriend is on land so it was now time for her to begin the next chapter of her life.  Hopefully, we will see her again when we visit her home country.

Our vehicle met us a couple of minutes before our scheduled pickup time.

The Black Falcon Cruise Terminal is located a short distance from downtown Boston and relatively close to Logan Airport.  Once at the airport we checked in for our flight and since we were each approved for the pre TSA approval we were fortunate that we didn't have to remove shoes, belts, liquids and computers.  

We took two flights back home and thankfully both were on-time and we must say that the flight crew on each flight were quite good. We were in the front of the plane for both flights and the food on the longer haul flight was better than usual for airline food.  It was certainly not like the food we've had for the past couple of weeks but for airline food it was quite good.  

When we arrived to the luggage claim we were met by our driver and once we collected our luggage we were driven home.

Now its back to reality.

This has been another extraordinary cruise.  We were fortunate to have wonderful weather for our pre-cruise and other than one day of some moving and shaking at sea we had terrific weather for a North Atlantic Crossing both at sea and in port.  The ports of call were very enjoyable and a highlight for us was our first visit to Belfast.  Our on board experience was amazing and we really enjoyed the enrichment and entertainment programs, the cuisine, and the outstanding service.  

We hope that you have enjoyed this Blog and in someway felt apart of the voyage.   

We will do a much more extensive Blog when we board Serenity on December 21 and we hope you will follow along.

Until then.....

Keith & Anne Marie

DAY 19- DAY 14 CRYSTAL SERENITY - BAR HARBOR, MAINE

Before we set sail from Halifax last evening, the Captain spoke from the bridge and mentioned that the weather forecast for our final port of call in Bar Harbor, Maine calls for a high of 70 degrees Fahrenheit with lots of sun.  It doesn't get better than this.

We went to the Crystal Cove for drinks before dinner as we have done almost every night of the cruise.  We sat with Tommy and also Jay Wolff (who is the destination lecturer on this voyage) and his lovely wife joined.

Afterwards, we were back at the Crystal Dining Room for dinner.

Keith spoke with Augusto earlier in the morning about dinner.  Before we get to what we had we just wanted to mention some of the items on the menu.

Modern Cuisine Menu included:

Two appetizers; Shrimp Duo, Carpaccio and Escabeche, Baby Greens and also Shiraz Braised Oxtail Ragout and Silky Poached Egg.

Cold Soup: Zucchini Vichyssoise, Lemon-Thyme, Red Pepper Espuma.

Two Main Course: Grilled Tuna, Tuna Poke, Japanese Rice and Honey-Ginger Soy Butter, Baby Bok Choy (we had this the first time the modern menu was rolled out this past April and enjoyed it) and Pheasant Breast in Rosemary Batter, Pear & Vanilla Compote, Crispe Confit.

Three Desserts: Pina Colada Sherbet, White Chocolate Passion Fruit Delice and Meyer Lemon Black Currant Trifle.

The Classic Menu included two appetizers, one soup, two salads, a pasta specialty and five main courses plus a salad entree and several side dishes.

The entrees included: Dover Sol a la Meuniere, Black Angus Prime Rib, Baby Lamb Shank and Exotic Mushroom Spring Roll.

We began our meal with Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail for Anne Marie and Augusto made Keith Tuna Tartare for the final time of this cruise.  Keith really enjoys this and loves the way Augusto prepares it for him and this one was as spicy as it gets.  

For our next course we each had a salad.  Anne Marie had the same salad that Keith enjoys most nights.,

For the entree, we ordered ahead of time Chateaubriand.  As many of you know we do not eat red meat very often and when we sail we have mainly seafood but we thought it would be nice to enjoy this entree.  For us Chateaubriand is special because we have it not only infrequently but we had it one night on our Honeymoon in Bermuda so it does bring back special memories for us.

For dessert, Keith just had a bowl of blueberries and Anne Marie had the sugar free Marble Cheesecake.

We did some additional packing after dinner and we also got the benefit of setting the clocks back one hour before we went to sleep.

The seas were relatively calm and we slept very well.  

Our morning routines was pretty much the same as usual with a couple of modifications.  Keith worked out early and did the laundry and Anne Marie also woke up early and she worked on packing and then she took an hour walk outside on the Promenade Deck.

Shortly after breakfast, we did meet with USA Immigration in the morning since Bar Harbor represents our first USA call.  In fact, this is the first time that Serenity has been back to the USA since January of this year.  As such, there were some inspections today for the ship. 

All guests were assigned specific times to meet with the immigrations personnel.  When we arrived there was only one but the line moved quickly and he was very friendly welcoming us back to the USA.

Shortly after that doing so we went ashore.  We took a tender from the Serenity over to Bar Harbor.  We didn't take a tour as we have visited Bar Harbor before.  One of the places that we previously visited was Acadia National Park which is an absolutely beautiful park.  When we first arrived it was not to crowded but by the time we left it was.  Keep in mind that the local population is around 5,500 people and in addition to Serenity the QM2 and the Balmoral cruise ships were also anchored and between all of the guests there were likely as many tourists including those staying on land as locals and possibly more if you add in any crew from the three ships who went ashore.

We thought the weather was terrific yesterday but today it was even better and it was sunny the entire time.  We walked in residential areas for awhile and then we made our way to the area with stores and restaurants and other businesses.  Some of the stores were quite nice including several that carried clothing and we went into a wood store and even saw Olive Oil wood similar to what we had seen in April in Italy.  We had a great time just strolling the town.  We also spoke with our son, Eric, and our daughter, Jennifer by telephone and it was wonderful to hear their voices.

The security team on board Crystal is both professional and also friendly and we have known many of the security officers for many years and this is Ajoy.

As we walked we followed these signs which describe the house or other building that was on this walking tour.

We loved the sign in this clothing store.

Many of the exteriors of the buildings have that small town charm that one gets from a town as small as this one.  The only challenge was taking photos given the width of the streets and the cars that were parked.

One of the fantastic Lido Deck Stewards with some soft drinks for those guests who were thirsty while waiting for a tender. 

We had our final lunch of this voyage back on the ship.  We went to the Lido Cafe but for the first time since we boarded we ate outside and with very few people sitting outside it is almost as if you are on a private yacht.  In addition to enjoying the food we had beautiful views of the coast of Maine and some of the nearby islands.  

In the afternoon we packed and took care of some final items on board the Serenity.

This evening we will be back in the Dining Room for our last dinner of this voyage.

Keith & Anne Marie

DAY 18- DAY 13 CRYSTAL SERENITY - HALIFAX

Before dinner last night, we enjoyed a drink at the Crystal Cove and once again sat with fellow guest Tommy while we listened to John Mentis play the Piano.

We had dinner at Prego and were joined by Cruise Director Rick and Food & Beverage Manager Tayfun.  Like old times, our waiter for the evening was Costa who took excellent care of us throughout the World Cruise earlier this year.  

We enjoyed lots of great conversation and lots of laughs with Rick and Tayfun and we mean a lot.   There were times that Anne Marie laughed so hard she had tears rolling down from her eyes. They both have a great sense of humor and also are such caring people as well has highly professional which are all terrific attributes. 

We enjoyed lots of great cuisine starting with salads and for our second course we had the additional Pasta entree as our appetizer.

We each had a seafood entree and what we noticed is that many of the entree presentations have a different look from when we were on board earlier in the year and we thought the presentations were very nice and appealing.

Following dinner, we attended the Captain's Reception sometimes referred to as the Farewell Reception.  The good news is we still have two more days before this wonderful cruise will come to an end.  We went through the reception line and we didn't say goodbye because we will see Captain Giske on the 2015 World Cruise, Cruise Director Rick on the December 21 cruise, Hotel Director Josef starting with the January 4 cruise and Crystal Society Hostess Alissa starting with the January 4 cruise as well.  

One of the Production Shows was shown afterwards called Curtain Call with showings starting at 8:30 PM and 10:45 PM and the good news is that we turned the clocks back one hour before going to sleep.

We slept well and the seas were relatively calm.  

Keith was up early and truly enjoyed the one hour rollback of the clocks.  We will roll them back again this evening.  The morning routine was the same with the only difference that we had breakfast in our room thirty minutes earlier than usual.

We arrived to Halifax on time.  Since we have been here several times in the past we did not schedule a tour.  It was sunny upon our arrival.

We were the first ones off the ship.  Not by plan or design but just happened to be at the right place when they opened the doors to the gangway.

When we were first walking it was moderately cool but then when we got to an area with a lot of sun it got warm.  September is very popular in Halifax and that is because there is usually very little if any rain (at least that is what a local couple told us when we walked up the steps with them to the Citadel) and the temperature is moderate.  

After leaving the ship we headed past the surrounding area and over to the boardwalk.

There was another ship in port with us.

A welcome to the HarborWalk.

Later in the day we saw some children's books with this character featured.

We then visited the Citadel which we had last visited in 2007.

We enjoyed some scenic views from Citadel Hill.

We then walked to the Halifax Public Gardens which is one of the finest surviving examples of a Victorian Garden in North America. It began in 1836.

A code of arms of the University of King's College of Halifax.

We then passed by the Royal Artillery Park.

We walked along some other streets in the downtown area featuring many different shops and then we passed a couple of churches all near each other and this one caught her eye.

 Along the way we ran into friend Barbara.

As we got closer to the Cruise Ship Terminal we took these photos.

When we arrived back to our room, there was a letter on our bed about the time we need to meet tomorrow morning to go through the United States of America Immigration Inspection.

All in all we had a lovely day in Halifax.  The weather was just perfect as is this charming city with its rich history.

We arrived back on the ship for lunch and we dined in the Crystal Dining Room for the first time since we embarked the ship and we were joined for lunch by Cruise Director Rick.

In the afternoon, Keith played Paddle Tennis, Anne Marie walked outside on the Promenade Deck and Anne Marie also did some packing.

This evening we will dine at the Crystal Dining Room and we will do that again tomorrow evening which is our last evening on the ship.

Keith & Anne Marie

DAY 17- DAY 12 CRYSTAL SERENITY - SEA DAY

Before dinner, we sat at the Crystal Cove with Tommy and a couple that we met for the first time this cruise a few days ago.

Afterwards, we dined at the Crystal Dining Room.  It was nice to be back to the dining room after being away for two nights.   We had pre-ordered pretty much the entire meal with Head Waiter Augusto so we didn't have to select anything until dessert.

Head Waiter Augusto and Sommelier Javier joined us for this photo.

We began our meal with appetizers; Anne Marie had Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail and Augusto made Keith Tuna Tartare.

For our second course, we each had salads with Keith enjoying his standing order salad and Anne Marie ordering one of the mixed green salads which was on the menu.

For the entree, Augusto made each of us Penne Pasta with Lobster. Augusto has made this from time to time in the past and it was absolutely wonderful.  It is a special treat.  Augusto is from Rome although he and his wife and children live in Norway.  

He made Keith's with a little more spice than Anne Marie's and we both loved this entree.

Since we didn't order anything from the menu we just wanted to mention some of the items from the menu mainly from the Modern Cuisine Menu.

The Modern Menu featured two appetizers; Poached Lobster Medallions, accompanied with Truffled Greek Yogurt, Apricot & Chutney and the second appetizer was Veal Sweetbread with Pepper Sauce and Spinach.

There was a Clear Soup of Beef with Asparagus Custard.

The Main Courses for the Modern Menu included a 72-Hour Prime Beef accompanied with Horseradish Mascarpone & Morel Foam and the second entree was Fresh Angler Fish with Shrimp Ravioli, Fried Zucchini Flower & Tarragon-Saffron Fumet.  There were also two desserts on the Modern Menu.

The Crystal Classic Menu featured three appetizers, one soup, two salads, a Pasta, four Main Courses, one Salad Entree and several side dishes.  For the dessert lovers there were ten dessert items; including the two from the Modern Menu.

On top of this, one can order cheese served with a nice array of crackers.

For dessert, Keith had mixed berries and Anne Marie had the sugar-free Vanilla Profiteroles with Fudge Sauce.

Later in the evening the Elton John Production Show was shown at and it is a very upbeat show.  We love the music and song of Elton John.

There was some movement of the ship and the rocking put us to sleep relatively easy.

What a difference two days make. When Keith awoke and worked out it felt like most other sea days on board Serenity as we continue to make our way towards Halifax, Canada.

Keith was up early as he always is and he had the same routine.  He worked out, went to the Lido Cafe for coffee, brought one cup back to Anne Marie and then she walked for one hour before we had breakfast in our room.  Keith also did one load of laundry.

Today is the fourth consecutive sea day and our final sea day of this voyage.  Tomorrow we are in Halifax and the next day we have one more port stop before it is time to say goodbye.

There was so much on the program for today.

There were actually four lectures.  The first one was given by Clive Clark who did a Q&A presentation on Golf as he sees it.  Next up was Ambassador Adrian Sindall who spoke about an Embassy Life.  The third lecture of the morning was given by Dr. John Renninger who spoke about whether or not peace is possible between Israel and Palestine.  Finally, in the afternoon. Dr Jack McManus spoke about Social Networking for Corporations.

In keeping with the themes of the cruise there were two Golf Clinics and the Q& A about Golf as we mentioned earlier and in the afternoon there was a lecture given on Whiskey Tasting and later in the afternoon there was a tour of the Crystal Dining Room Galley.

In between all of this we enjoyed just spending time speaking with some fellow guests and friends including Barbara who we chatter with in the morning.  The seas were perfect and people were out and about.

Once again, we each enjoyed lunch at the Lido Cafe where we each made Salad Entrees.

Anne Marie walked in the afternoon.

Keith was able to play two hours of Paddle Tennis for the first time since we began the first of four consecutive days at sea.  The weather was good.  He began with a fleece but after a short while removed it.  A little windy but all fun.  The person he was playing with he was playing with the other day and it was today that Keith learned he is a Bandleader on Symphony and Keith and his partner who are both lefties (doesn't happen very often) stayed together the entire time and kept winning.  Maybe it was the luck of being lefty.

Keith took a brief rest and then took another Spin Class and similar to the other day instead of being offered in the morning this one took place at 3:15 PM.  The intent of this was to try to make it available to those guests who might not be able to attend in the morning when the majority of the indoor cycling classes have been offered.

This evening we will have dinner at Prego with two special guests.  Afterwards, we will attend the Captain's Farewell Reception.

It's been another wonderful day on board the Crystal Serenity. Keith & Anne Marie

DAY 16 - DAY 11 CRYSTAL SERENITY - SEA DAY

We had mentioned that we were recognized at the Crystal Society Reception for the number of voyages we have taken with Crystal Cruises.  This is a copy of a photo that was taken of us following the presentation made by Crystal Society Hostess Alissa.  Captain Giske is standing next to Anne Marie and next to Keith is Crystal Society Hostess Alissa and next to Alissa is Cruise Director Rick who escorted us.

We wanted to continue today's Blog with some photos from the Sunday Brunch which was held from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM, yesterday.   The Sunday Brunch offers an array of items to enjoy.  On selected that are of a certain length and with four or more sea days either a Sunday Brunch or a Grand Galla Buffet is offered.

The Wait Staff began setting up for the brunch at around 8:00 AM and the food preparation began the day before. So much hard work goes into this.  Then at 1:30 PM begins the hard work of disposing of all of the food items and taking down all of the tables and putting away all of the accessories and then placing furniture back in its original spot and cleaning up the area.  Kudos to all of those who are involved with this brunch.

Two of the staff who mans the Crystal Reception Desk.  This is our first time sailing with Carolina.  After just the first time we met her, she remembered our names. Just amazing.

Although we did not dine at the Crystal Dining Room last evening, the Guest Chef who prepared our meal at the Vintage Room oversaw the preparation of some menu items for last night's dinner in the Dining Room.  The items he oversaw were:

Appetizer of Icelandic Salmon - Torched Salmon with Smoked Onion Apple Cream Cheese and Horseradish Flavored Aioli.

Main Course of Wild Caught Icelandic Cod, Noisette Barley, Cauliflower, Lemon, Icelandic Rye Bread, and Dill Infused Oil.

Dessert of Icelandic Skyr and Wile Blueberries: Skyr Lemon Ice Cream Served with Peanut-Blueberry Mousee, Spicy Crumble, Lemon Thyme Marshmallow & Wild Blueberries

Before dinner last evening we went to the Avenue Saloon.  We actually first went to the Crystal Cove but it was very crowded with many there for pre dinner drinks before late seating as we were dining later last evening than we normally do.  When we first arrived it was quiet at the Avenue Saloon since many people were at the Cove where John Mentis was playing the piano.  We met a few other people while we were there who we conversed with and then we took a 30 minute walk around the ship before it was time for dinner.

Was last night Orange night?  It was for us.  LOL.

We then dined at Tastes with six other people.  We were invited to Tastes by World Renowned Organist Hector to celebrate the Birthday of his lovely wife Lieve.  We have seen Hector perform for a few years on selected Cruises and it was through Paddle Tennis that we first met Lieve.  Keith played Paddle Tennis with Lieve on two different voyages last year and on one prior in the prior year,  in addition to this voyage.   Over the next eight months there is a good chance that we will sail with Hector and Lieve on three different voyages.  We were honored to be included in Lieve's Birthday celebration.  We did not know the others but they included the iMovie Instructor, a musician on land and a Doctor and his wife.  

Since we were with a group we decided not to take photos of the food we ate but we had many of the courses that we shared with you the other day.

We did include a photo of  Lieve  with her Birthday Cake.

The good news is that although we dined later than we usually do, we did set the clocks back another hour after arriving back to our room.  This is what we love when we sail East to West rather than West to East.

Keith was up early and after his workout he went to the Lido Cafe for coffee.  The seas were a little calmer than the night.

The Lido Deck Stewards know that Keith has a favorite table to sit at and that he takes two cups of coffee over to the table in take out cups and how he arranges the table so after the first two days they started to arrange it for him.  When Keith arrives he is usually the first guest at the Lido Cafe.  LOL, but true.  This shows how they had the table arranged for Keith so he could use his iPad and had room for the two cups of coffee as well.

Today was the third of four consecutive sea days as we are sailing to our next to last call in Halifax, Canada.

Once again there was lots of enrichment on the program including over 50 items on the schedule.  

There were two very interesting and informative lectures.

Ambassader Marc Ginsberg gave his most challenging talk since it was about whether a two state solution is in the cards for Israel and the Palestinian's, given where we are today.   The lecture was well attended and pretty much all seats occupied.  We had seen this talk on the World Cruise but Marc updated it with more recent events with ISIS.  He also covered items such as the Iran Nuclear Situation.  We could probably see Marc deliver this presentation over and over and learn more each time we hear it.  What is apparent to us is that with each passing decade, if not year, the entire situation is getting more complex as it involves so many parties.  That is true of the Middle East as a whole.  

In the afternoon, Jay Wolff who on this cruise is the destination lecturer spoke about Halifax with special emphasis on the Titanic Graves and the Immortal Legends.   We watched Jay's lecture on the Television.

We dined at the Lido Cafe for lunch.  It was fairly busy and we enjoyed our usual Salad Entrees.

During his talk from the bridge the Captain discussed the improving weather and also noted that the weather forecast for Halifax is even better than it was before with highs of around 64 degrees Fahrenheit forecasted as well as partial sun.  Let's hope that the weather forecast comes close to what we will actually have that day.  We all know about weather forecasts.  LOL.

Since the outside weather conditions are still not conducive to Paddle Tennis, Keith worked out at the Fitness Center after lunch, while Anne Marie walked for an hour inside the ship.

Since this is a Food and Wine Themed Cruise, there was wine tasting in the afternoon and the focus was on red wines of California.  In also keeping with this being a Golf Themed Cruise Golf Pro John Clark gave not one but two Golf Clinics.  We have sailed with John and his lovely wife Pauline on many voyages as they have been on all of the World Cruises that we have been on with the exception of this year's World Cruise and they will be returning for World Cruise 2015.  

Every afternoon we have some fruit delivered to our room rather than having canapés.  If it is on certain days when our butler is off then another butler will deliver the fruit and change out the ice.  Today, we had a nice visit from Jijo.  Jijo had been our Senior Waiter for several voyages and a couple of years ago was promoted to one of the Butler positions.  

This evening we are back at the Crystal Dining Room where we will dine for three of the next four nights before we disembark Serenity in Boston.  We will be in Prego tomorrow night.  This evening Jonathan Kane will perform two Production Shows appropriately titled Rocket Man which features the songs of Elton John.  It's a wonderful show featuring so many memorable songs that Elton John has performed over the years.

All in all it has been another wonderful day sailing on the Crystal Serenity.  Although the weather is still overcast outside, the sun shines inside the ship.

Keith & Anne Marie