Theobald

Serenity today, anchored at Busselton, Western Australia

Serenity today, from Sydney Harbour Bridge

Serenity today, from the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Serenity today, at anchor near Picton. The photo is from the Snout Track trailhead, a 45 minute walk from the tender dock at Picton.

Thanks for the drinks info. Always best to be prepared. We board in Auckland.

Because they will also forgo costs and, without port stops along the way, Crystal will be able to save more cruises in the Med. The time saving is not just the time in ports, but also the shorter distance and avoiding the go-slows to hit typical morning and evening arrival and departure times. Also, Crystal will probably make an effort to save on customer-facing crew, even if it is just voluntary unpaid or partially-paid time off. Then there is the problem of organizing and marketing a relatively unattractive itinerary on very short notice. The paucity of West African cruises (I looked a few months ago; there aren't many) probably says something about the difficulty of marketing, even with a year or two of lead time. South Africa from Asia is also a rare routing that probably will not fill quickly.

If I paid more attention and had a better memory, I could probably come up with a longer list. In any event, I prefer Symphony because: 1. Better Palm Court (in my opinion, of course). 2. The casino on Serenity is (was, I suppose now) too central and obtrusive. I am curious how that space will look when we board in March and whether I will still think it needs a bypass. 3. Very subjective: We cruised on Symphony 3 times before boarding Serenity, so Symphony will always be the "normal" ship.