360Guy

Good Morning, We have docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia after two relatively calm sea days….chilly with some rain yesterday. We enjoyed a number of lectures and braved outside to get some needed steps in order to attempt a balance of the caloric consumption….more work required! We are going to do a self guided walking tour in Halifax aka walking around aimlessly and trying to give the impression we know what we’re doing. Reflections and Waterside Dinner below. Tonight Umi Uma. Waterside Dinner 9.28.24.pdf Reflections 9.28.24.pdf

I am going to gently step into this thread and say a few things since we are presently on Serenity and having a wonderful time. We have just had two nice relatively calm sea days. The enrichment talks have been excellent. Bill Miller is an enthusiastic historian of cruising and gave two excellent talks. Ken Walsh, a distinguished White House reporter has also spoken on three topics around the presidency. All done very well. This cruises has been an escape for two weeks from the political scene in the US. Enough said. There are loads of movies, including some great classics like “Breaking Away” and “All about Eve”. But there are few recent films. Not a big deal to us. Music and entertainment are excellent. We are enjoying Leandro on piano in the Cove and Neal at the Avenue. So just sharing our thoughts and experiences.

Good Morning! We had a very relaxing sea day, and look forward to another today. The enrichment program offered three excellent speakers. Bill Miller gave an enthusiastic talk on the great ocean liners of the 1950s and 1960s with an emphasis on the SS United States. Wonderful photographs with details about the joy of cruising, only for the industry to be vastly diminished by the arrival of passenger jet service in the late 1950s. Bill is giving another talk today and we are looking forward to it! Ken Walsh spoke on the US presidency and Ed Larson on the multi cultural origins of Canada. All very well done. Reflections and menus below Waterside Luncheon 9.27.24.pdf Waterside Dinner 9.27.24.pdf Reflections 9.27.24.pdf

Hi Nancy! It has an interesting history. You might consider a ship tour as the town area is quite small. The town is very walkable. There is a well preserved church with beautiful frescoes from the 1930s. We enjoyed it very much. The local community we spoke with were very warm and welcoming. We speak very little French and their English was much better!

Thank you! Will check that out next time. Our train was about 20 minutes late arriving. Not a problem for us, but the bus would have been 1.5 hours faster. Interesting Via Rail transports checked bags via truck to QC train station. I checked our air tags and the bags were already at the station 1+ hour before we arrived.

Good Morning, We put our clocks forward one hour last night. 2 sea days and looking forward to today’s enrichment talks. Dinner was another wow experience last night. Today’s Reflections and Waterside menus for lunch/dinner. Last evening in Waterside: Lobster medallion appetizer, grilled lamb chops main course and mango ricotta dessert. All delicious. Waterside Lunch 9.26.24.pdf Waterside Dinner 9.26.24.pdf Reflections 9.26.24.pdf

We had one night in Quebec City so we took an Uber. There are three dock stations or possibly more. As was noted the streets in many areas are cobblestone. Despite it being a possible short journey I would personally take an Uber or taxi.

We were able to be on board and have lunch yesterday in Waterside. Ray had the bolognese and I had a starter of lamb meatballs and the Cobb salad. I now understand why Keith enjoys this..it was delicious!

Last evening dinner in Waterside. Outstanding service and the food was delicious. We love our waiter Enver and Marli was excellent with our wine service. Today we visit Baie-Comeau. Looking forward to a nice walk around town! Today’s Reflections and Waterside menu. Serenity Waterside 9.25.24.pdf Serenity Reflections 9.25.24.pdf

Will do! Here is today’s Serenity Reflections 9.24.24.pdf

We have boarded Serenity and are excited for our 2nd Crystal cruise!! We originally booked this cruise to be our first, but my impatience in wanting to experience Crystal and a generous incentive from Crystal caused us to sail the July 2-9 Vancouver round trip…which was wonderful and “Crystallized” us. I will make every effort to post daily menus…we really appreciated those who sailed previously and posted the daily Waterside menus…so we will return the favor! Please let me know if you have any questions. Embarkation went smoothly. We arrived just after 12 noon and had an assigned number. The groups processed fairly quickly and by the time we boarded to finish the credit card, etc., I would estimate from bag drop to glass of champagne was 30 minutes. We spent two nights in Montreal, took the train to Quebec City and had one night before boarding today. We enjoyed both cities very much and the food scene is really very good. We look forward to sharing the journey with you! Bob and Ray Waterside Serenity Lunch 9.24.24.pdf Waterside Serenity Breakfast 9.24.24.pdf Waterside Serenity Dinner 9.24.24.pdf

We board 9/24 Quebec City to NYC. I plan to post along the way! Bob

Sending best wishes for your continued recovery

The laundry also has irons/boards….although I’ll never be able to match the quality of the immaculate Crystal pressing service!

Thank you for your posts, daily Reflections and menus….and I couldn’t help but notice the thoughtful gesture of Waterside to offer a beet appetizer on the final evening…. 🙂 Bob

On our first cruise I went in on embarkation day to do a quick wash….and I was like WOW what a nice set up….and you meet the nicest people!!

Wishing you a continuing recovery and great to see your post! Take care! Bob and Ray

We sailed Serenity July 2-9 in a Classic Aquamarine suite. I took some pictures but came across this video which may help:

Exciting news for Osteria. We enjoyed our dinner in July and are dining first night onboard in September. We love that Crystal is always innovating. The variety in all the dining venues is incredible. I am always grateful when menus are posted! Can’t wait to be back on Serenity!

Thank you Keith for posting the daily Reflections and Waterside menus. Very much appreciated! Bob

Bon Voyage! Looking forward to your posts along the way! Safe travels!! Bob and Ray

We were on Serenity 2-9 July, Not much in the shops that I recall re: windbreakers. Also very little Crystal branded merchandise. We did find a couple of nice shirts to burn our OBC and two coffee mugs with indigenous art. I’d bring what you have IMHO.

We were on Serenity 2-9 July. Wonderful experience. Agree on our visits to the Bistro we found the lighting very bright and the room definitely had a stark or sterile feeling, Maybe soften the lighting? Staff were fantastic.

Thank you for the informative thread! We are sailing next June on Onward. If we bring wine on during the cruise is corkage $15/bottle? Are there any discounts on the wine bottle packages? Bob

Thank you Laganlady02 and Riocca! I’ll have my TA reach out to Azamara and see. I appreciate your help! Bob