DAY 1 - Welcome Home To The Crystal Serenity

Picked Up On Time At The Hotel By The Executive Van  ✔

Embarked The Ship ✔   All Luggage Arrived To Our Room✔ First Dinner On Board The Ship ✔ 

After we had breakfast, we finished packing and got ready for the first day of our journey to begin.  


Some of our luggage lined up in our hotel room.

The the sun lit up the Miami skyline.  From our hotel room, we enjoyed a nice view of the Port Of Miami. 


We were picked up from the Hotel and driven to the Port Of Miami. The drive went on the same route that we took on many of our walks from the Hotel over to the Port.  We arrived to the port about thirty minutes from the time we left the hotel.  

As you near the entrance way for the bridge that takes you over to the Port you see this sign for the Port Of Miami.

This is one of the next signs you see for the Port.

The Crystal Serenity was berthed at Terminal E one of the cruise ship passenger terminals at the Port Of Miami.  The Serenity was the only passenger cruise ship in port.  

Once we were dropped off and the luggage was removed from the van a couple of porters took the luggage so that it could be loaded onto the ship.  We were greeted as soon as we got off the van by Chief Concierge Alexandra Dinu.

The good news is that we were able to board right away rather than at 3:00 PM as the morning clearance of the ship and the associated coast guard drill(s) went well.  The good news is that we were able to dine in the Crystal Dining Room and we had our traditional Cobb Salad and flute of Champagne.  When we first entered the dining room we saw our senior waiter from last year Jijo who we will have for the first two legs of the World Cruise.  We also spoke with Head Waiter (Peter) known as Tall Peter who we have known for many years and we also spoke with Food & Beverage Manager Victor.  

After lunch, we checked at our desk and our room was ready so they said it would be fine to go to the room.  We are staying in the same room that we have had the past couple of years.  The room was redone in May as part of the dry-dock of the ship and it looks absolutely gorgeous.

While Anne Marie unpacked our carry on luggage Keith took care of a couple of items such as getting our computers configured to access the ships internet.

Our Stewardess stopped by to say hello and her name is Sneha and our butler stopped by and his name is Rao.  This is the first time we have had Sneha and while we have not had Rao before we know him so very well from being on the ship earlier this year.  The Stewardesses and the Butlers each serve several rooms.

This map highlights the itinerary of this voyage.

This voyage is a Holiday Cruise and it is nice that both Chanukah and Christmas fall during this voyage along with New Years Eve and New Years Day.  This is our first Holiday Voyage with Crystal Cruises.

This voyage features stops in: Grand Cayman; Cozumel; Gatun Lake; Cartagena; St. Lucia; Antiqua; and Grand Turk and sailed round trip out of Miami.

We enjoyed our first dinner in the Crystal Dining Room.  The following are the menus from our first dinner.

We have JiJo as our Senior Waiter for this and the next voyage. JiJo was our Senior Waiter earlier this year and is an outstanding Senior Waiter.

This is our table in the Main Dining Room where we sat earlier this year as well as last year.

We each began our meal with salad.  Anne Marie had a baby spinach salad and Keith had a salad with boston lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and fresh mushrooms. 


For our entree we had the Broiled Fillet of Fresh Florida Red Fish.  We have only had this fish once before and thought it was very tasty.  We also think the portion of the entree was just right; not too big and not too small.  We also ordered a side order of steamed vegetables.

We also had a very nice Cabernet Wine to accompany the meal.

For our dessert, Keith had raspberries and strawberries and Anne Marie had a sugar free Cassis Panna Cotta.  It tasted like a blueberry custard.  Keith tried a taste and we both thought it was quite tasty.  Anne Marie had a decaffeinated cappuccino pictured below with eyes but no nose.

During the course of the meal we spoke with Mario Gallo the Crystal Dining Room Maitre d'.  We have Giuseppe as our Heat Waiter which is always a treat.  Our sommelier is Pierre who we had for one voyage earlier this year and one of the other sommelier's who we have had in the past also stopped by the table to say hello.  Dinner was fabulous and that included the cuisine and the service.

Prior to dinner we spoke with Reverend Rod Broker and his lovely wife Doris Broker.  We last sailed with them in 2007 and look forward to catching up with them throughout this cruise.

After dinner, we spoke with Hotel Director Herbert Jager

At 7:30 PM there was dancing in the Crystal Cove which was followed by the lighting of the Christmas Trees with Captain John Okland and Cruise Director Gary Hunter.

Afterwards, we continued to put items away and get settled in our cabin

We had a very busy first day and are delighted to, once again, be back on the Crystal Serenity with our extended Crystal Family of fellow guest and the wonderful Crystal Crew.

Part of what makes travel so very special for us is the love we have for one another which brings us to today's thought for the day.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY............

“It's wonderful to travel with somebody that you love and we never travel anywhere without one another.” –  Roger Moore

Keith and Anne Marie