Live From Crystal Serenity - The Adventure Continues - LA to NYC

[BEAV]

4 hours ago, ryndam said:

Disappointing. We were as much excited about the possible food pairings, as the actual sake tastings. Another time perhaps. 😢

 

Rob

Surprised they scheduled a Vintage Room lunch on a port day? 🤔

[ryndam]

1 hour ago, BEAV said:

Surprised they scheduled a Vintage Room lunch on a port day? 🤔

Port day? What port day? With this itinerary and the number of long-tenured Crystal Society members on board, most guests haven’t been off the ship since we departed Los Angeles! 😂 

 

Rob

[ryndam]

Just to contradict my previous post, we did get off the ship today. Shortest tender ride in history. Got some good views of the ship from the opened front hatches on the tender.

 

Rob

 

[ryndam]

Todays snack. Intentionally light and minimal. Osteria tonight and saving our caloric intake for that menu instead.

 

 

[BWIVince]

5 hours ago, KenzSailing said:

 

And somewhere in Maryland @BWIVincesighs deeply over such a lost opportunity.

 

I LITERALLY did that when I read Rob's message!  Worse yet, I feel like I jinxed their experience with my own personal bad luck just for calling out how amazingly cool it sounded.

 

Also: It never fails that the things I think are cool, literally interest almost no one.  This cancellation due to lack of interest totally tracks.  😞 

 

Vince

[mariners]

ryndam, what a fabulous thread!  The photos of your daily appetizers are almost enough to make us book a cruise. 

 

I am not sure why passengers would not be interested in a sake tasting/food experience other than to say that, perhaps, some passengers don't look at sake in the same way they look at scotch, wine, bourbon, gin or ....

 

My first experience of trying different sake was onboard Crystal.  Back in the "old" days, I tried different flights of sake, and then would have the sake sommelier suggest what I should pair with my order.  How I long for those days!  As BWIVince stated, it would be "amazingly cool".

 

Wishing you a great meal at Osteria and a continuation of a fabulous cruise.

 

Thanks so much for all of your posts!

 

 

[Txcotn]

We've never been sake fans, even of the high end bottle gifted to us by our nephew. However, if there were a sake VR lunch, we would try it in a heartbeat and maybe learn something new. Our next cruise is port intensive so I suspect there won't be the opportunity, but maybe our next multi sea day.....

[ryndam]

Tomorrow’s Reflections.

 

7B4978B8-50C0-4D45-8013-03913DD90902.pdf

[BEAV]

The VR Sake tasting would’ve been our first priority of the lunches offered on Rob’s sailing. 
 

We’d happily forego the tender ride to Georgetown! 

[ryndam]

Just from my purely subjective observation, it’s a relatively conservative crowd onboard, at least when it comes to out-of-comfort range food and beverage choices. 
 

We’ve come to appreciate Osteria. We’ve tried most of the menu and have found our favorites. Similar to our go-to favorites at Umi Uma and Tastes. Try it all. Find what you like. Follow your servers’ suggestions. Then order double portions!

 

It was mildly interesting overhearing the seasoned couple at the next table complain about every single course and how non-Italian the menu was, why was there no lasagna or meatballs or Caesar salad on the menu and how canned Chef-Boy-R-Dee has better Italian food than what was on this “oddball” menu. I guess they’re entitled to their opinion. I get it. But the lasagna, the veal parmigiana, the breadsticks and the meatballs had their day and they’re not coming back, no matter how much one wants to turn the culinary clock back to 1995.

 

OK. End of rant. We lose an hour tonight to finally be in sync with EDT in Miami. Incredible performer in Galaxy this evening. Almost SRO crowd. Her bio is in the Reflections posted earlier.

 

Relatively early night for us today. Very long hike across Grand Cayman today. Flat, but hot. Need a good night rest to recharge.

 

Stay tuned…

 

Rob

[ryndam]

Todays menus.

 

979D12EF-4A72-4D50-8268-85235A893869.pdf 6B6DB69E-28FA-4C87-AE19-851D3CBE7EB9.pdf

[ryndam]

It’s another beautiful sea day. The ocean is as flat as a lake. Captain’s noon announcement states that perfect weather and sea conditions are expected all this week to NYC and also for those continuing on to Quebec.

 

This letter greeted us earlier this morning.

 

Rob

 

 

[BWIVince]

1 hour ago, ryndam said:

It’s another beautiful sea day. The ocean is as flat as a lake. Captain’s noon announcement states that perfect weather and sea conditions are expected all this week to NYC and also for those continuing on to Quebec.

 

This letter greeted us earlier this morning.

 

Rob

 

 

 

Speaking of consistency with Old Crystal traditions, it's great to see the inconsistent proofreading remains.  😄 

 

Vince

[Texas Tillie]

46 minutes ago, BWIVince said:

 

Speaking of consistency with Old Crystal traditions, it's great to see the inconsistent proofreading remains.  😄 

 

Vince

 

Is there another than "Group Letter" and "Group 9"? Will admit that I didn't see it when reading it on my phone, but did on my laptop.

 

Patty

[BWIVince]

1 hour ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

Is there another than "Group Letter" and "Group 9"? Will admit that I didn't see it when reading it on my phone, but did on my laptop.

 

Patty

 

That's what my eye went to...  You know I'm usually the one defending the typos since I know how quickly this stuff needs to be pulled together and I have my own epic fails in my career of crafting notices and comms stuff, but this is the ONE line of the whole letter that 100% of the recipients scan the letter to find, and the first thing everyone proofs and checks when they draft it.  That one is really glaring.

 

Vince

[BEAV]

The Group Letter 9 folks will be treated to a “traditional” Italian lunch of spaghetti and meatballs as compensation for their inconvenience. 

[ryndam]

We’ve had to scale back the afternoon kibbles. Just….too….much….🥯🍞🥖🧀🥚🍳🥓🥩🌭🍔🍕🌮🥙🍱🥟🦪🍤🍚🍦🧁☕️🥤🥂🍺🥃🍷🍾🍽️🥢

 

 

[ryndam]

Reflections. Been to Miami many times to embark or disembark cruises. But this is the first time I’ve been here as merely a port call. Heard that they’re expecting a US Coast Guard inspection while in Miami.

 

FDAD97B8-3EB5-4C79-B5C4-06A18A466BB9.pdf

FDAD97B8-3EB5-4C79-B5C4-06A18A466BB9.pdf

[ryndam]

Tonight’s menu.

 

3426560E-3F43-4320-ADE4-D46C855595EC.pdf

[ryndam]

Miami. Now we just wait for the immigration process to commence.

 

 

[ryndam]

Took 2 hours to get off the ship. 4 immigration officers. Now we wait in the terminal with re-boarding number 7 to get back onboard once ship is totally cleared. It’ll be lunchtime once we get back onboard. Hopefully, this has eliminated the need to do this upon NYC arrival on Saturday.

 

There must be 100+ visitors waiting to board, once all guests are allowed to board again. The visitors are segregated in a separate waiting area in the terminal.

 

Rob

 

 

[ryndam]

Back onboard. Pic is the area of the terminal where the visitors are waiting their turn to board the ship. 
 

 

[ryndam]

Consolation for 3 hours of US immigration this morning.

 

 

[ryndam]

For those interested, the NCL terminal in Miami has won architectural awards. The RCCL terminal has bow-like features. And the MSC terminal, still under construction, is reportedly the largest cruise terminal in the world.

 

Louis just sang the final Wonderful World for this cruise. NYC, here we come!

 

Rob

 

[KenzSailing]

So very nice, almost comforting, watching Serenity depart Miami today.  Great to see a cruise ship that looks like both a CRUISE and a SHIP.  By that I mean the open decks at both the bow and the stern that say "this is for people" ie passengers, ie the CRUISE part.  Then there's the scalloped aspect of the decks, especially at the stern that say this is a SHIP(as opposed to the vertical architecture that screams "floating hotel" like MSC.)  Not sure if we'll see the sisters like again.

 

Also, as to that MCS terminal under construction.  I've been watching that project for a great while now.  My theory is they hired the contractor who built the pyramids, because it seems to be taking about the same amount of time.