Live From Crystal Serenity – A New Adventure – Vancouver to Los Angeles

[Keith1010]

Today's Reflections.

 

August 14 Reflections.pdf

 

Waterside Dinner Menu for this evening.

 

Waterside Dinner Menu August 14.pdf

 

Keith

[May B]

Happy to see Rich Gabriel as the bridge instructor.

 

Thank you for the posts, Keith! Mr B loves me to read him the dinner menu each evening at happy hour.

[kool kruiser]

14 hours ago, dimundsR said:

So happy to see all those familiar faces, including yours.  We were always used to having the main dining room open for lunch on boarding day, but on Symphony they were closed. Remi said that the dining room was closed on boarding day from the time Crystal came back.  Happy to see this has gone back to the old way.  Didn't really like boarding and being told to go to Tastes, etc. to wait for our room.  Like you, we liked to enjoy a glass of champagne with the seafood plate - in your case the Cobb.

We have the seafood plate, followed by the cobb. We used to finish with the delish raspberry sundae but this was discontinued. After all, we are on holiday...

[BEAV]

4 hours ago, kool kruiser said:

We have the seafood plate, followed by the cobb. We used to finish with the delish raspberry sundae but this was discontinued. After all, we are on holiday...

At embarkation lunch last month I enjoyed the seafood plate and an appetizer portion of the pasta. I didn’t want dessert, but just a “piece of chocolate” to pair with my last few drops of Cabernet. 
 

This is what the server brought! 

[ryndam]

5 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

Today's Reflections.

 

August 14 Reflections.pdf 826.7 kB · 36 downloads

 

 

 

Keith

 

I note that the late night snacks are served 10:00-11:00pm. Typo in today's Reflections? Yesterday's Reflections shows them 11p-midnight. Pizza at midnight+/- in the Avenue is our downfall!!! 🍕🍕

 

Rob

[Keith1010]

Rob,, Pizza at that hour or a Hoagie reminds me of my college days.

 

These days I could be dreaming about a pizza at that hour but definitely not eating one.

 

With that said back in the day we would go to the midnight Buffet when we sailed lines such as Celebrity.  And I remember the chocolate cake one and I did indulge back then.  

 

Keith

[Noggins]

6 hours ago, kool kruiser said:

We have the seafood plate, followed by the cobb. We used to finish with the delish raspberry sundae but this was discontinued. After all, we are on holiday...

'We have' sounds like you were either posting direct from the scene of the action or you were speaking of a recent experience....

Either way, it seems we can expect a summary of your Crystal experiences very soon?!
Adrian

[chaunceyb]

Thanks for sharing the Relections. Nice to see Mark Farris has returned to the Avenue Saloon, he is great and we really enjoyed his piano bar entertainment on the Brazil cruise back in early 2019. 

We will be on the Serenity, Istanbul to Venice in April 2025.

 

BTW, in Sitka, The Kingdom of The Bear is really worth seeing - bears that have been rescued and live their entire life in the sanctuary (Alaska does not allow rescued bears to be returned to the wild).

 

Have a great cruise and wishing you good weather!

Edited August 14 by chaunceyb

[Keith1010]

 

We got settled on Serenity yesterday afternoon. It was as if we hadn’t left the ship. This is one of the many things we love about Crystal. We ran into more guests we know from previous cruises and crew we have known for years. At the same time, we met many new members of the crew and some guests fairly new to Crystal.

 

The Emergency Muster Drill was at 5:15 PM. Shortly after the drill ended, we enjoyed our first dinner on-board Serenity at the Italian Specialty Restaurant Osteria.

 

Dinner was fabulous. Service impeccable. A beautiful venue and the food delicious.

 

There were a few changes to the menu since we last dined here over the Holiday Cruise.  One of the items we tried which was new since we dined last was Homemade Casarecce which was pasta with a pesto sauce, pined nuts and aged grana padano. Anne Marie had the beef as the entree, and it was similar to what is served at the Vintage Room and very tasty.  Wine was great too!!

 

At the end of the muster drill Captain Birger Vorland spoke from the bridge and said that we would be cruising at a very slow speed as we had plenty of time to reach our intended location.  From our table we had a nice view of the shoreline, and we were moving very slowly.  It allowed for some very scenic cruising as we too in the beautiful scenery.

The seas were pretty much as calm as it gets last evening.  

Sea days are always great sailing Crystal, and it was nice to begin this cruise with a relaxing sea day.  It provided a great way to speak with fellow guests and the amazing members of team Crystal Serenity and enjoy the amenities of the ship.  As we always say, you can keep as busy as you like or just sit back and relax or do a combination of both. The program included three lectures; a destination lecture about our first port-of-call Ketchikan; a talk about Russia vs Ukraine, and a talk about searching for our cosmic roots. This was a diverse set of topics.

There were many classes covering fitness, art, bridge, health, dance, and computer.

A favorite of ours is the promenade deck and we were out there today for exercise, fresh air, and taking in the all the beauty surrounding us.  

 

I am including a couple of photos of the signage on the passenger decks.

 

When the ship came out of dry dock last year a small but important enhancement was made involving more signage.  Since we sailed in December additional signage was added at each of the landings on the guest decks showing the direction of room/suite numbers and whether they are odd or even. Often guests new to Crystal or even those who have sailed one or more times are unfamiliar with side to go to after getting off at the stairwell or from the elevator and which way to turn for their room. The size of the lettering makes the signs easy to read. I am including a photo of what one would see at mid-ship of Deck 11. One sign on the port side of the landing and the other sign at the starboard side of the landing.

 

We are having a great time and we’ve only been on-board for 24 hours.

 

As you’ve heard me say before, new Crystal is better than ever taking the best from old Crystal and adding in additional enhancements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, chaunceyb said:

Thanks for sharing the Relections. Nice to see Mark Farris has returned to the Avenue Saloon, he is great and we really enjoyed his piano bar entertainment on the Brazil cruise back in early 2019. 

We will be on the Serenity, Istanbul to Venice in April 2025.

 

BTW, in Sitka, The Kingdom of The Bear is really worth seeing - bears that have been rescued and live their entire life in the sanctuary (Alaska does not allow rescued bears to be returned to the wild).

 

Have a great cruise and wishing you good weather!

Thank you so much for the tip and the good wishes.

 

Keith

[chaunceyb]

2 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

Thank you so much for the tip and the good wishes.

 

Keith

Sorry, the correct name is Fortress of the Bear

https://www.fortressofthebear.org/

 

[Keith1010]

Today's Daily Reflections Program and Dinner Menu at Waterside.

 

August 15 Reflections.pdf

 

August 15 Waterside Dinner Menu.pdf

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[ryndam]

1 hour ago, Keith1010 said:

Today's Daily Reflections Program and Dinner Menu at Waterside.

 

August 15 Reflections.pdf 1.6 MB · 16 downloads

 

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

Keith, today's Reflections again show the late night snacks served 10:00-11:00pm. I know that you're generally not up that late and do not indulge in the late evening carb-eating contest, but could you enquire if this is a continuing typo? Or is this a permanent change to the service hours? Much appreciated!

 

Rob

[Keith1010]

Rob I'll try to remember.  

 

Too bad they don't make it 10 to 11 AM. Just kidding.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, ryndam said:

Keith, today's Reflections again show the late night snacks served 10:00-11:00pm. I know that you're generally not up that late and do not indulge in the late evening carb-eating contest, but could you enquire if this is a continuing typo? Or is this a permanent change to the service hours? Much appreciated!

 

Rob

Rob, I checked on this and the answer makes perfect sense to me.

 

Times will vary based on the cruise. For example, cruises with more sea days it will be later and same for cruises like the holiday cruise. Cruises which are more port intensive and tour intensive they are serving at 10:00 to 11:00 pm as they are doing now.

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

[kool kruiser]

23 hours ago, Noggins said:

'We have' sounds like you were either posting direct from the scene of the action or you were speaking of a recent experience....

Either way, it seems we can expect a summary of your Crystal experiences very soon?!
Adrian

Catching up on life but promise to post eventually...may be a delay for a couple of weeks as we are off to some music festivals ( like our preferred cruise ships, small ones !! ).

Colin

[chaunceyb]

3 hours ago, ryndam said:

Keith, today's Reflections again show the late night snacks served 10:00-11:00pm. I know that you're generally not up that late and do not indulge in the late evening carb-eating contest, but could you enquire if this is a continuing typo? Or is this a permanent change to the service hours? Much appreciated!

 

Rob

Thank you for posting this. Does Crystal still provide a list of inclusive wines? I always ask for it - nice to have if I don't care for the Waterside dinner included white and red wines that change each night.

[Keith1010]

32 minutes ago, chaunceyb said:

Thank you for posting this. Does Crystal still provide a list of inclusive wines? I always ask for it - nice to have if I don't care for the Waterside dinner included white and red wines that change each night.

This is from June of this year.

 

There are also other wines that are in Umi Uma, Osteria, and Tastes plus the list will change based on availability and where ships are sailing.

 

If you write to on board guest services you could also get a list sent to you.

 

Keith

 

Keith

[May B]

Our Pedroncelli Zinfandel was available in November and June. I’ve been drinking it onboard Crystal religiously since June 12, 2015.

 

 

[Sdancer]

From Onboard Guest Services today:

Waterside AI Wine List OCE240327.pdf Bar Menu CSE240327.pdf

[Keith1010]

We enjoyed another a wonderful evening on board Crystal Serenity last night.

 

It was ironic that as we left our room to walk towards the stairwell, we saw a familiar face. It was Franz Weiss who was the former executive chef on-board Crystal Serenity and who has returned to Crystal as Corporate Executive Chef. I knew he had returned to Crystal, and it was great to catch up with him.

 

One of the aspects we always enjoy about cruising is meeting new people. Cruising provides this opportunity as you are together with the same guests for the entire cruise. At the same time, with two ships and a very loyal following we know whenever we sail with Crystal, we are going to know guests from prior sailings and of course the amazing crew. This cruise has been no exception. We have met some very nice guests who we never sailed with before. Last evening, we were touched while waiting in the Crystal Plaza. A widow of about one year recognized us and shared some nice words that her late husband had said. Our hearts melted. The good news she and the couple she is traveling with will be on these two cruises and also on board a couple of cruises we have booked for a future date. We also spoke with another couple we have known since 2007 who we have been on sailings with, and I caught up yesterday with a woman who we have sailed with several times. Yes, this is why we refer to sailing with guests and crew as part of our Crystal extended family.

 

Dinner was at Waterside last evening.

 

Everything was perfect.  Food was amazing including the entree of Halibut served with a very tasty sauce and accompanied by a ravioli. It was a wow!!

 

We were taken care of by the outstanding waitstaff team of Senior Waiter Marcin, Waiter Nitish, Head Waiter Jacques and Sommelier Marli. This was the first time we met Marli. She is from South Africa and was very familiar with the wine we had sent down to the dining venue.

 

Waterside was busy but the pace of the meal was perfect.

 

For us the dining experience at Waterside is like a Specialty Restaurant with outstanding service and cuisine and an exquisite dining room.

 

It was windy outside so rather than starting the day by walking and running on the Promenade Deck, I changed it up.  There are plenty of options so between the fitness center, walking indoors and a walk on the pool deck I got in a great workout.

 

When we first sailed Alaska in the 1990's far less cruise ships sailed this area.  Often, we would arrive to port and including our vessel there would be one or two ships in port.  With the popularity of cruising and this destination more and more ships cruise Alaska during the Alaskan cruising season.  At the same time, with the startup of new Crystal this made scheduling of itineraries more challenging since they had to be put together with far less lead time than normal.  In the case of today, we were docked approximately 7.5 miles from Ketchikan instead of being in walking length of this city. While a shuttle was offered, we decided given an arrival time of 1:00 PM, we would enjoy the ship rather than going into port. We have visited Ketchikan many times and toured the area and even have gone salmon fishing a couple of times. On other visits we have enjoyed additional tours as well as enjoyed walking around the downtown area.

 

The good news is Crystal Serenity served as our destination. The morning featured two lectures: one on mastering your memory and the other one about the implications of a rising China. We also enjoyed walks together and talks with crew and guests. There was great food to enjoy as well. LOL.   We have enjoyed a great time on-board today and we have a terrific evening to look forward to.  This includes dinner at Tastes, White Night and another event and this will be a late night for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

[chaunceyb]

3 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

This is from June of this year.

 

There are also other wines that are in Umi Uma, Osteria, and Tastes plus the list will change based on availability and where ships are sailing.

 

If you write to on board guest services you could also get a list sent to you.

 

Keith

 

Keith

Thnaks much! I'll leave you two alone now so you can enjoy your cruise!

[chaunceyb]

37 minutes ago, Sdancer said:

From Onboard Guest Services today:

Waterside AI Wine List OCE240327.pdf 28.92 kB · 4 downloads Bar Menu CSE240327.pdf 112.46 kB · 4 downloads

Thanks!  What a great and large selection!

[Keith1010]

Waterside Dinner Menu for this evening.

 

August 16 Waterside Menu.pdf

 

Today's Daily Refections.

 

August 16 Reflections.pdf

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Before we attended a function last evening we stopped by White Night as it was getting ready to wind down.

 

 

After we left the function we stopped by the Crystal Cove to chat with a friend and ironically the gourmet snacks which we were discussing were still being served later than advertised.  We didn't have any but they looked good.

 

And let the record show that we closed down the Crystal Cove.  

 

 

Keith