TRIPACIAN

You beat me, British Airways "lost" my suitcase for only 35 days!!! Actually they new where it was but they just couldnt get it to me. I finally got it in New York and to this day they don't know where it is and apologizes occasionally for there mistake. They did give me the maximum reimbursement for my clothes.

A little bit different "sunset" pictures. We were on the Serenity in November 2019, when we were in Turks and Caicos at the same time as the Symphony. These were taken from my balcony as the Symphony left the docks at sunset. If i am not mistaken Roy was on the Symphony after the transatlantic from Barcelona on the Serenity.

We look forward to seeing you this Friday, doesn't that sound great. Only 5 days to go!

Yes

The Grove in Lakeway.

We won’t be going back before our upcoming trip. See you next week on the Silver Moon!

An interesting thing happened to us last night. We were at a local restaurant in Austin, and during our meal a waiter came up to my wife and said "you sailed on Crystal." Of course we struck up a conversation and he worked on the Symphony from 2015 until the ship was shut down in March 2020. His name is Salih Taysi, he is from Turkey and he worked as a waiter in Waterside. We talked for quite a while off and on and we new several of his fellow waiters. He said he worked closely with Remy. He remains in contact with many of his friends from Symphony and he said several were working on Silversea. He is married and has a 9 month daughter. We asked about returning to Crystal and he said he has been contacted about returning in March, but he is staying in Austin with his new family. Small world isn't it?

You are correct! Many of the crew had never played in the snow and they were having fun. One of the younger passengers built a snowman.

Serenity, January 3rd in Charleston, SC

We have stayed at Villa D’Este before and to be honest, we are like you, we sometimes stay at the “name” hotel and sometimes we choose other hotels for many reasons (location, price, convenience, etc). We never choose a hotel just because of its reputation alone. We have been disappointed as often as pleased. Covid has definitely changed the quality equation as anyone that has traveled over the last two years knows.

We just returned from a trip to Northern Italy and like you we stayed at the Hilton. We loved the hotel especially the rooftop pool, bar and restaurant. The location isn’t ideal but the hotel was great. I don’t pay much attention to people that feel like it is beneath them to stay within their budget.