Keith1010

I know the water they make is now in new bottles and they told me it is new water so I am srure this is the case. Keith

Thank you Cruise Critic. They just sent me an e-mail with the following. Keith This post was recognized by LauraS! "Thanks for generously sharing your time at sea with everyone at Cruise Critic!" You were awarded the badge '"Live from...."'

When their time comes I am sure they will do just that but hopefully not for awhile. 😄 Keith

I was asked either here or on the other thread where is the World Map? Well, your wish came true. Here it is. Keith

I was asked either here or on the observations thread where is the World Map? Well, your wish came true. Here it is. Keith

I always like the clock tower and the colors of the exterior buildings. Keith

Good point Dwight. I guess I had to save energy for Paddle Tennis today. I ended up playing a game against two guests and somehow won. LOL. I was lucky. Keith

The last 24 hours have been superb. We dined in Waterside last evening and the food was superb. Anne Marie tried a new dessert recently created. Keyword is yummy. After dinner the evening entertainment featured Comedian John Joseph in the Galaxy Showroom. John combines comedy, music, and improv so you get it all with him in one fantastic show. We sailed for our next port-of-call Portofino, Italy around 11:00 PM. We have visited this beautiful area of Italy several times and the last time was in 2015 on a very special milestone birthday for Anne Marie. Anne Marie is half Italian, so it was fitting to be in this area in 2015. In fact, first time was our first cruise on Serenity in 2005 when we did a back-to-back cruise. We tendered ashore and saw our four table-mates and spontaneously found someone to take us over to Santa Margarita and he waited for us to take us back after we walked around and had lunch. Two photos from 2005 included. See if you can figure out which ones. LOL. I went over there by myself today. Getting into the tender you really bumped around with strong sea swells. When we proceeded the tender would go up and down and make that big noise as it hit the water over and over. It calmed down close to shore. The return was much calmer. Several guests who went ashore early were on walking tours. I walked for quite a while visiting sites that we enjoy. He took several photos of the clock tower as this is a photo he likes to use for Blogs and other travel write-ups. One nice the aspect of Portofino we enjoy is it is small and doesn’t get overrun with tourists. Things are mainly as they were which we love. We enjoyed the rest of the day on board Serenity. Anne Marie walked on the Promenade Deck for the second time. I played Paddle Tennis for a while, and we enjoyed conversations with crew and guests. Cheers, Keith

My wife had the soup in Waterside on Formal night and enjoyed it. Keith

This is the new menu for Osteria d'Ovidio. Hopefully it is a bit more readable. Keith

For some reason when I write using my back up e-mail they go into the unsent folder so I can't answer your questions and for some reason you were not getting my regular e-mail so I think you'll have to wait until I am home. Keith

For those of you who ask what has changed here's one. Name badges. Years ago some guests would say "I can't read the name of the crew member as the lettering is too small". Back then not a problem for me. Fast forward years later and I am thinking to myself the same thing. The new name badges are much easier to read as they eliminated the home city which allowed them to go from three to two lines and make the letters much larger. While you know longer know their home city you can easily ask them as part of your converstation. Keith

Internet much better than before most of the time. A few time slow going but I am picky about the internet given all I post so overall pleased. With that said I hear of a few people having issues. Could it be something in their room? Possible. Or could it be their device or internet browser? Possible. So overall good and I believe they will make it better. Keith

You are not going to see Lasagne, Beef Carpaccio, or the Mushroom Soup on this menu. You cannot special order it. It is a completely new concept. The mushroom soup from time to time will be on the Waterside menu. Again this is new and personally I am glad they have rolled out a new menu. Keith

Yes it is hard to read the menu and I've tried a few other times so for now I won't post one. To begin with the print is very small so the only way to read it which I recommend is take a magnifying glass up to it that is what I do for similar things when at home. Keith

Sometimes pictures tell a thousand words but sometimes pictures do not tell the complete story. For example: I was in The Bistro this morning. First time I set foot inside since we boarded although I have walked by. Standing inside I remarked that the change up looks real good with the wooden like flooring and the new colors on the wall. The room is the same size but between the changes I mentioned plus the furniture it looks larger and very nice with its new look. To me much enhanced over the photo. So maybe don't judge the book (room) by its cover (photo) and see (read it) for yourselves. Keith

I'll post some additional food photos later but this is a new dessert for Waterside. Now I didn't have it but I know two other people who did last night.

Some of you asked if I could post the menu from Osteria d'Ovidio. Here it is. Keith

Well. For me I am starting this day off late and in a moment will start to exercise. I do want to make one final comment. A number of people have touched my heart since we boarded. So many I new knew before this cruise. This makes up for things one has to put up with just because he/she enjoys a product. One of the many things I learned as a child was to be happy when others are happy. I do know some people who take pleasure in insulting others or who simple cannot be happy for others. As I noted early on in this thread I choose to focus on the positive. Since retiring I do not do things I do not like. If I sail on a cruise line (and I have) and it was not to my liking I move on. I recognize we all are human and as such have different preferences and tastes and if we were all the same there would not need to be so much choice in products. I don't spend a minute focusing on that cruise line I didn't care for or thinking the worst because others enjoy it. I am happy they found something. I do feel bad for those who get pleasure of spending countless time looking for things they don't like because in my book life is too short to waste time for that. None of us are perfect. No company is perfect. No cruise is perfect. No product is perfect. While some companies strive for consistency things happen. And finally, if you are old enough to have Parents who grew up during the depression/WWII and heard what life was like for them for some like myself you would put all of that in perspective. You see while some cruise lines rooms are not so large compared to others and want to complain I think to those who had to live through all of this (many died) and when they spoke to us never complained once. Not once about all they went through including those with markings on their arms who were in concentration camps. I remember meeting a man with those marking on a Crystal Cruise. So yes the glass for me is half full. It always will be. Keith

Good morning everyone. I do want to mention I am happy to answer many questions which I am doing but as I mentioned on the other thread I am here to have a good time so there will be questions I choose not to answer either because of lack of time or maybe for some other reason. As I have noted for many months and since boarding the majority of the crew returned but certainly there are new crew as well in many positions as there are new to Crystal people on land with returning members from Crystal. While headcount in some positions have been reduced because you have less guests in other positions they have been increased (butlers come to mind) as every room now has a butler. But if I didn't know in many cases who was new and who was not I wouldn't know which says a lot for the new hires. This is not to say that new hires know it all as certainly there is a learning curve but that is why they had a soft opening followed by the TA/Media cruise. That gave them two cruises before we boarded. As I noted on the other tread I would say the biggest items still in the works are system/IT related. Final item. I have not gone into the stores yet but the former high rollers room has gone back to being a store as it was before it was converted and part of the store has Crystal logo items such as shirts for sale. Keith

Yes. It will take time including converting space that is selected for the casino, ordering, taking delivery and installing equipment, building whatever systems, if any, are required to run a casino and hiring people. What people might not realize is all of the systems are new which are ones used by those on land and on the ship. Keith

Thanks to Pat and Ray for adding their comments. On this cruise a number of people who I don't know have come up to myself and Anne Marie, It is because of comments I made on this board and another one about being hopeful and overtime providing information that I learned a few months after the purchase took place. It was unexpected and touched my heart. So I asked each person or persons what do you think of the cruise so far? The answer is overwhelming positive by everyone I ask. Are there a few issues? Yes. For example in some rooms phones not working and some TV's freezing the picture or losing sound intermittently. iPads not in place yet and a few other things related to systems the crew uses such as printing out specialty room reservations by say the front desk. But everyone I speak with says the Crystal product is back and many say as I do enhanced. Keith

I have no idea. Honestly, didn't notice it was removed so good catch by you. In some areas new art work such as the new lounge. Keith

I have no idea how many solos there are but I know many myself and they are not in solo rooms only. I have friends on board who are solos and they are in a range of rooms including solo rooms,double occupancy rooms and at least two of the three suite categories. As Patty notes there are signups offered for solos. The solos I know are seasoned Crystal Cruisers and often they know each other or have become accustomed to invite other to join them. Last night four solos were seated behind us in Waterside and I know they know one another from past cruises. Keith

Somewhere between 450 to 500 guests. Keep in mind many rooms were needed for executives and others from Crysta and A&K and other who are on board. And lotts of solos on board. Keith