On a normal workday, we get up at 4:30. Today we got up a bit earlier at 4:00am to
make sure that we got everything ready for our departure. We were so thrilled to return to Crystal, as
it’s been about a year since we were on a cruise. The trip started off amazingly well, as we
were upgraded to first class for the short flight between Salt Lake City and
Los Angeles. As we were riding in our
Uber from LAX to the port, we spied the Crystal Serenity off in the
distance. The vacation was about to
truly begin.
Keeping the upgrade train going, we also had our cabin
upgraded from an ocean view window to a balcony. Now that is AMAZING!!! After embarkation, registration (which, on
Crystal is handled once onboard), we checked our hand luggage and headed for
our traditional first lunch on board in the dining room. Before we entered the dining room we were given
an excellent glass of champagne.
Now
that is how to start a vacation. We
landed at a table for 2 in Alexsander’s section (Julie mentioned that many
Cruise Critic folks have talked about how he is a great head waiter and they
were correct). We started the meal off
by sharing a seafood appetizer plate and then we each had a Cobb Salad for the entrée. They were both terrific. We especially like how you aren’t overloaded
with too much food as is often the case when you get a salad entrée. The portion size was perfect. After a few more glasses of champagne we
concluded with a shared scoop of triple caramel ice cream. Yummy.
Our room was ready early, so we wandered there (of course,
all of our luggage was there, even the pieces that we hand checked) and
proceeded with the obligatory unpacking ceremony.
We then had a major planning issue: the lifeboat
safety drill was at 5:15, dinner is supposed to start at 6pm, and sail-away was
scheduled for 6pm. Of course, we needed
to have cocktail hour in there some place, so it was a scheduling
nightmare. Our solution was to dress for
dinner early and head to the cove for a Baccaraz (Raspberry) Martini at 4:45
(well, it was 5:45 in Utah, time, well past the 5:00 drinking start time). Just before 5:15, Bob went back and collected
the life jackets and we met at the entrance to the Galaxy lounge (our muster
station).
When the drill was over, Bob took the jackets back and Julie went back to the Cove to order a couple of glasses of wine. We rendezvoused there and then headed up to deck 7 for sail-away. We managed to only be about 12 minutes late for dinner – it worked out perfectly.
When the drill was over, Bob took the jackets back and Julie went back to the Cove to order a couple of glasses of wine. We rendezvoused there and then headed up to deck 7 for sail-away. We managed to only be about 12 minutes late for dinner – it worked out perfectly.
Our standard table is a 2 seater at a window, making for a
wonderful view. Another big WOW. Our head waiter is Olmas and Fernando is the
waiter. For dinner, Julie had a shrimp
cocktail, king crab soup, and salmon with a Chardonnay sauce. She thought that the shrimp and salmon were
excellent, but the soup was only ok.
Bob
loved his lamb meatballs in curry sauce appetizer, that was followed by a nice Caesar
salad and sirloin steak with béarnaise. We
concluded dinner with our favorite desert Crème Brulee.
After dinner, we headed to the room and basically collapsed
into bed.
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