We had our final dinner of our time in Miami in our Hotel Room last evening. As mentioned the other day, we received a complimentary dinner from the hotel related to our last stay here and our travel agency provided a credit that can be used for lunch or dinner so it made sense for us to dine at the hotel and with this very nice suite it was relaxing to have in-room dining.
We each began the meal with nice size salads. They were accompanies with many more nuts than we would have added if we were making the salad ourselves, but they did add to the flavor of the salad.
For our main course, we each had all natural chicken, with side orders of grilled asparagus. The Chicken was very moist and the Asparagus very flavorful.
We enjoyed some wine with the meal and also had one of the fruit plates that we had saved from the morning breakfast and had a very relaxing dinner.
Shortly after dinner we spoke with our daughter.
We slept very well having been up fairly late from the basketball game just the night before.
Keith was up first and Anne Marie woke up earlier than normal to get ready for this very special day.
We have looked forward to this day for quite sometime, and it has finally arrived. Today, we board Crystal Serenity, our home for the next several months. It's hard to believe that we booked the World Cruise in April of 2012, and now 20 months later we begin this very special journey.
We enjoyed our last breakfast of our pre-cruise stay in our room, and then finished getting ready for the start of this very special day. We were picked up on-time and assigned the same type of SUV similar to the other ones we were driven in, which was once again provided by Crystal Cruises and arranged by our Travel Expert, Gerri and her team.
Once our luggage was loaded, our driver drove us over to the Port of Miami. We essentially took the same route that we had already taken on numerous walks throughout our stay in Miami. The only difference is that once on the connector bridge to the port, we were now on the right side of the bridge opposite from the pedestrian walkway which we walked several times located on the left side of the bridge. Nevertheless, we passed many familiar sites and signage.
The other difference is that this time we would be going over to Terminal J which is the terminal located on the right side of the highway. This terminal is normally used for the smaller of the ships in port that day. Today, Serenity was one of six ships in port.
Keith's first cruise was when he was 12 years young. His next cruise which represented our first cruise together, included Eric and Jennifer was in 1990 from Port Canaveral. We loved that experience so much that since that time we have cruised many times and on a variety of cruise lines. In 2002, we cruised Crystal Cruises for the very first time. As they say the rest is history.
As many times as we have cruised, and as many times as we have cruised with Crystal, we always are so very excited on embarkation day, as if this was our very first cruise ever. The difference is that embarking Crystal Serenity for us is similar to returning back home to our home at sea, and being in familiar surroundings with so many truly wonderful people many whom we have known for years. It is very special. Words cannot adequately describe all of our positive feelings, enthusiasm, emotion and our joy to be returning back to Serenity to begin yet another journey and adventure at sea.
Boarding went very well and in no time we were back home on Serenity.
Anne Marie with the supervisor, Swenja, of the local team who we have known for many years.
Once on board, we immediately ran into so many members of the crew who welcomed us back home with smiles on their faces. This started from the moment one member who we have known from the Security Team welcomed us on board to Hotel Director and Hubert and Cruise Director Rick Spath welcoming us at the Crystal Plaza. We also met Rick's entire family who are on board for this voyage.
We also have run into many members of the crew who we had just seen in September while others we had not seen since May or sometime prior to then. We also ran into several fellow guests who are dear friends.
We then went to our room where we were also greeted by our stewardess and also Almir who will be our butler for this cruise. Later, the Head of Housekeeping came by our room to check on us. Everyone has been so very kind.
A tradition of ours on embarkation day is to have lunch in the Crystal Dining Room and that is exactly what we did. As we always do, we kept it relatively simple enjoying a Cobb Salad which is our traditional embarkation lunch item, while toasting the start of another adventure on board Crystal with a flute of champagne. We were seated by Head Waiter, Giuseppe.
The Cobb Salad was terrific and it was so very nice to be back in the Crystal Dining Room.
We are going to post early today because we will be busy unpacking this afternoon and getting settled in. This evening before dinner we will attend the mandatory lifeboat drill and then we will have our first dinner on board Serenity at the Crystal Dining Room. We will post all about this tomorrow.
We are so very excited about this journey and we hope you are too.
As we get ready to start another journey we wanted to share our thought for today.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.....
“Our journey never ends, as there
are more places to visit, more adventures to enjoy, more special memories to
make, that together, we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.” – Keith
& Anne Marie
So very kind of you to share the experience. I am thrilled to be able to read your blog and follow you around the world, every day, for the next six months. Bon voyage. Nobuko
ReplyDeleteWelcome Home! I loved the suspense with the photographs on the drive from the hotel leading to Serenity. You both look so happy to be back on board. See you in a few months!
ReplyDelete