Live From Crystal Symphony - A New Adventure - Reykjavik to Dover

[loriva]

1 hour ago, Keith1010 said:

In London I think it was Ringo's home where he shared it for a period of time with John Lennon and also with Jimi Hendrix but I could be mistaken.  

 

Keith

 

All three at one time or another.  It's at 34 Montagu Square.  It has a blue plaque commemorating John's residence there.

[Keith1010]

I think it is the one with Jimi Hendrix on the front that the three shared.

 

 

[Keith1010]

Greetings from Reykjavik, Iceland

 

Today, we have enjoyed our final full day in Reykjavik.  

We get a lot of pleasure walking around cities and taking in the sites.  Since we spent several days here in 2021 including taking a formal tour we didn’t sign up for any tours.  We do have several tours planned on the cruise and for our post cruise stay in London.

 

When we board tomorrow, Crystal Symphony will be one of three ships in port which is an example of how popular Iceland has become.  

 

Today’s walks included taking in the sites along the walkway by Sebraut road. We walked from where we are staying over to Sebraut and then headed in a westward direction over to Harpa and the Tjornin pond.  

 

We also walked in the other direction which is towards the cruise port of Skarfabakki where we will board Crystal Symphony tomorrow.  It was a lovely walk of 4+ miles and we are including collages of photos from that walk.  

 

We walked another time in the afternoon and I’ll include photos of that walk tomorrow.

 

As we walk a city, small town, village, historical area or have other types of experiences we do think of “What A Wonderful World” we live on.  This is why we believe in travel. It is easy when in our home area to think that the rest of the world sees things as we do and/or has the same experiences. The same goes within our own country.  It is when we travel that we understand about the enormous amount of diversity that exists.  We also start thinking what life was like in each area in years past.  This rings true when we walk ancient areas as it does in the cities of today.  

 

When we cruise with Crystal as we leave most ports, we listen to the song What a Wonderful World sung by Louis Armstrong and the words resonate with us as they do with so many of our fellow cruisers and travelers. We will close with this video. As we close, it is our plan to post each day from Crystal Symphony.  In a few instances our post from a particular day will be delayed until the next day when we are on full day tours such as visiting Normandy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

[USCAdventurer]

Thanks for more pictures, Keith.  And a huge thank you for including the video of Louis Armstrong singing that fabulous song!  It reminds me of being on Crystal.  Enjoy the rest of the time in Iceland and watch your steps!

[Keith1010]

Thank you so much David.

We board Symphony tomorrow.

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[pathdoc]

Thanks for the posts Keith.  My wife and I will be on Symphony b2b starting in late October from Barcelona to Venice.  This will be our first time sailing with Crystal and look forward to the smaller ship and great service.  I'm curious if you have advice/suggestions regarding excursions.  We tend to book through other tour groups or join up with people we meet once on board for small shared private tours.  I haven't found the excursions on offer by Crystal to be particularly appealing or worth the price.  There is ambiguity regarding the cancellation policies as well compared to other cruise lines such as Celebrity.  Have a wonderful time.  We look forward to following your review.

[Keith1010]

1 minute ago, pathdoc said:

Thanks for the posts Keith.  My wife and I will be on Symphony b2b starting in late October from Barcelona to Venice.  This will be our first time sailing with Crystal and look forward to the smaller ship and great service.  I'm curious if you have advice/suggestions regarding excursions.  We tend to book through other tour groups or join up with people we meet once on board for small shared private tours.  I haven't found the excursions on offer by Crystal to be particularly appealing or worth the price.  There is ambiguity regarding the cancellation policies as well compared to other cruise lines such as Celebrity.  Have a wonderful time.  We look forward to following your review.

Glad to hear your first Crystal Cruises involved back to back cruises.

 

With Crystal you can book excursions on line and you will be charged once on board to your ship board account. Tickets will be sent to your room once on board and they will note on them when you can cancel without being charged. Typically about 36 hours before the excursion but again look at what the tickets say.

 

Whether to do the ships excursions really is personal. I always recommend looking at all of this as tools in your tool box. In other words, determine what you want to do in port and then look at whether or not an excursion is necessary. If it is look at what Crystal is offering versus what you can do privately.

 

Keith

[USCAdventurer]

pathdoc,

i will be on the symphony from rome to venice with you.  this will be my second cruise on symphony this year and you are going to enjoy it very very much!  everything about it is wonderful from the ship. to the crew and great food and entertainment!  You will not be bored.  Sometimes when I don't find tours particularly appealing, I just plan to take a hop on, hop off bus tour of a city and then stay on bus after the complete circuit of the city, I stay on and then get off at a stop that looked interesting to me. then another bus will come and pick you up after a half hour or hour that you are there.  hope to meet you on the ship.

[Keith1010]

I have to say that the weather yesterday was really perfect for walking. Sure there were some moments that it was a bit chilly with the wind but overall a great day.  Overall, it was great.  We could have walked even more than we did and it was great to be outdoors.  

 

This is a very nice city.  Every city is different from one another for sure with some offering more to do than others.  This one is just very laid back and fun to be out and about. 

 

Overall, traffic is very light so no traffic jams that we observed. I do not believe anyone honked their horn. Overall, drivers yielded to pedestrians in cross walks, although a few times I had to do my New York thing from years ago and put my hand up as if I am directing to traffic signaling please stop.  

 

Keith

[Texas Tillie]

13 hours ago, Keith1010 said:

 

 

Overall, traffic is very light so no traffic jams that we observed. I do not believe anyone honked their horn. Overall, drivers yielded to pedestrians in cross walks, although a few times I had to do my New York thing from years ago and put my hand up as if I am directing to traffic signaling please stop.  

 

Keith

 

I get what you are saying about politness of the Icelanders, but I'm not sure your comparison holds water. Let's not forget that the entire island of Iceland has maybe 1/5 the population of just Manhattan island.😮😁😏

 

Patty

[Keith1010]

Patty yes the benefit of Iceland is its population.  Not many people not only in the city but the entire island.

 

With that said certain areas of the world drive with a horn such as in Vietnam and some areas of the world even with fairly robust populations don't use a horn and are more respectful of pedestrians and even traffic rules.  

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Greetings from Crystal Symphony.

 

It is exciting to say these four words, so we’ll say it again.  Greetings from Crystal Symphony. More about Symphony in a moment.

 

I wanted to begin from yesterday afternoon.

 

We enjoyed our final walk in Reykjavik yesterday afternoon. The sun was out the entire time and we walked over to the duck pond and this time walked its circumference.  We then walked up and down several streets exploring areas we've been to before along with areas for the first time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great time in Reykjavik.  Since we toured here in 2021, this time we just enjoyed the city without doing any formal tours.  

 

As many times as we have sailed, there is something very special about the morning of embarkation day. It is exciting to know you are going on a new cruising adventure while in this case sailing with several people you know from prior cruises.  

 

As we've mentioned, our last cruise on Crystal Symphony was in May of 2018. We sailed Hawaii via Los Angeles to Vancouver.  We had a wonderful time and planned to return in late August of 2019 and in 2020 but we cancelled 2019 due to a medical procedure and 2020 was cancelled by the former Cruise line due to the Covid Pandemic.  Yes, the third time is a charm.

 

Similar to boarding Serenity for the first time on July 31, 2023 our eyes swelled with emotion as we saw Symphony from the vehicle which dropped us at the port and again as we board Symphony.  Our second Crystal Cruise was on Crystal Symphony in July of 2003. 

 

Soon after we arrived at the port we saw Dr. Soto, Hotel Director Herbert Jaeger, Front Office Manager Isabel along with Chief Concierge Diogo.  As we passed through Crystal on-board Security there was another familiar person welcoming us on board and the same at the Reception Desk.  While in the Crystal Plaza/Cove we admired how beautiful this area is with some update to it since we last sailed in 2018.

 

When we arrived at the suite, we admired it beauty. At the time we booked, we had a choice of the new suites from 2023 or ones redesigned in 2020 and we purposely took one of the newer ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 We enjoyed our traditional embarkation lunch of a Cobb Salad and flutes of champagne as we toast our next adventure sailing with Crystal and our love for one another.

 

 

 

 

We will end early today so we can get settled on board the ship, including unpacking, and walking around the ship.

 

We are thrilled to be on-board Symphony and cruising Crystal and we are thrilled to begin another new adventure.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

[juicyjuju]

Have a wonderful trip! Looking forward to reading about your adventures and experiences. 

[Keith1010]

Thank you Julie.

Keith

[Ibis]

Bon Voyage! Looking forward to your next adventure.. thanks for sharing!

[USCAdventurer]

Keith,

Looking forward to reading about your Symphony adventures!  Have safe and happy voyage!

[Keith1010]

Thank you so much Ibis and David.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Here is the Daily Reflections Program and this evening's dinner menu from Waterside.

 

Keith

 

Sept 8 Reflections.pdff

 

Sept 8 Waterside.pdf

 

[Texas Tillie]

14 minutes ago, Keith1010 said:

Here is the Daily Reflections Program and this evening's dinner menu from Waterside.

 

Keith

 

Sept 8 Reflections.pdff 1.46 MB · 0 downloads

 

Sept 8 Waterside.pdf 75.44 kB · 2 downloads

 

 

Oh, my, now I have 2 "pretend" orders to decide for each evening!

 

Patty

[USCAdventurer]

Keith,

The cruise director, Vicki, is a wonderful cruise director and not only that, but she's a fabulously funny comedian.  I got to know her when I was on the symphony.  I don't know if you and anne mairie to to any of the shows in the main showroom, but she does her comedy routine at the end of the show and she made me laugh every nights.  Please say hello to her and I hope you get to see her perfom and tell her i'll be back on board in november from rome to venice!

[Keith1010]

David I will do my best to give her your greetings.

 

Patty..Maybe order half portions from each menu posted from Serenity and Symphony.  🤣

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Good early morning or good early evening depending on your location.

 

Today's Daily Reflections and Waterside Dinner Menu.

 

We are overnighted at Reykjavik and depart at Noon today following the muster drill.

 

September 9 Reflections.pdf

 

September 9 Waterside.pdf

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Yesterday was incredible.  

 

True, we always are excited to return to Crystal. We hadn't;'t been on Symphony since 2018 and like that time when we hadn't sailed Symphony for several years prior to that we were immediately (and I mean immediately) welcomed by the wonderful on-board team and we immediately felt at home.

 

We engaged with members of the crew including senior staff and officers whom we have known for years from Harmony, Symphony and Serenity while meeting many for the very first time.  They are truly amazing.  The crew on Crystal are unlike any crew we have sailed with on any line or unlike what you find in most hotels on land.  

 

This includes crew who are fairly new to Crystal as we saw first hand yesterday.

 

Last evening at Osteria was also wonderful.  It's not only the food, and the dining venue but the reality is it is the warmth of the crew.  Once again, this includes people like our waiter who has only been with Crystal for four months to the staff who has been with Crystal before we started cruising with Crystal in 2002.

 

More later but just wanted to share some initial thoughts.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

Bridge has transitioned to the Lounge as they ready the former space for the construction of the casino on board Symphony.

 

Place cards on those tables designated for Bridge.

 

Keith

 

[Texas Tillie]

Interesting obervation, lamb curry is on the menu for Symphony tonight and was on the Serenity menu last night, but the descriptions were totally different between the two. Thinking there are recipes that the chefs follow and others where they do their own thing. Just something to remember for those who switch between the ships.

 

Patty