Keith1010

Thank you Nancy. We were very fortunate flying in the day after the storm. Keith

It is for those who don't want to walk. In our case, it would defeat the purpose of say going to the port as we did yesterday. Keith

There are many spots around the pool deck with shade and here are a couple of photos. Along the port and starboard sides of the pool lounge chairs are are underneath areas providing shade plus you have some areas with umbrellas. Then on one side there are tables and some chairs with shade too. As to availability, this is going to vary by cruise. The holiday cruise we will be is either sold out or very close to sold out and on the sea days it likely will be busy out there. While many prefer shady areas some want to sit out with full sun. Someone mentioned that to minimize chair hogs that if items are left on chairs for 45 minutes with no one there that the crew has been instructed to retrieve them and walk them down to lost and found. Keith

For me 50 minutes is no big deal. From there we went to other areas and then back to Hotel and then out again a few more times. Keith

Crystal Serenity Manhattan day before we departed from Northwest Passage cruise of 2016. Keith

Ivi, I would say around 50 minutes. Keith

Great day in Miami. Fabulous weather. Walked from the hotel up Brickell over to the Intercontinental Hotel. Anne Marie stayed there while I proceeded North and then walked over the bridge to the Port Of Miami. This is something we like to do on each visit. I passed the arena where the Miami Heat play their home games. We have seen several games at the arena on past visits. Only one ship was in port and ironically it was at the terminal which we will embark on the 23rd. We walked to a few other places as we passed many familiar sites. This even included a vessel named Grand Luxe near the Intercontinental Hotel which we have seen numerous times this time of year. We believe it sells art work. At least that is what it did several years ago. We think the owner of the Susie Q II is not very pleased at the position of their vessel as you can see in the photo we've included. After lunch we took a walk from the hotel over to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel located on Brickell Key a 44 acre man-made island built in 1943. We walked around the entire perimeter of the island except for the slight detour due to construction behind the hotel. Cheers, Keith

So glad you are experiencing and enjoying new Crystal. Keep enjoying and thank you for your post. Keith

A change from the last time we stayed at the Four Seasons is the use of the Four Seasons App. They had one when we last stayed here in 2021 but they have expanded its use. I discovered this when I asked for a breakfast menu card to fill out and hang on the door. This no longer exists. Instead you can call room service in advance or the morning you desire breakfast or use the App. The app has other features such as pre-arrival requests and requests while you are at the hotel. For example you can request make up and/or turn down service at a specific time or request to have it done at the earliest time. You can even request more large bottles of water, coffee pods, cream and sugar/sweetener. I did the latter and asked for th earliest time thinking that would be tomorrow but after I submitted the request, I realized it would likely be the same day. This was confirmed with a knock on the door a few minutes later. That is excellent customer service. Keith

Thank you Muriel. Marigot is still on our itinerary. When we booked the cruise the itinerary called for St. Marteen. Another port which changed was a stop at Paradise Island Nassau which was replaced. When we visited St. Marteen over the years we never went over to Marigot so we'll probably tender over there or maybe I will do that but the other option is to make it our own sea day. Keith

Arriving to New York City (Manhattan) at the conclusion of the NWP Cruise for an overnight before debarking Serenity. Keith

Ashley, Anne Marie and I were talking about the carpeting here and I mentioned some of the comments that people have made about the Crystal Carpeting. For me, it's just great to be traveling and it's not like I am buying the place. See you soon. Keith

Nancy has it right. Put phone on airplane mode. Go to settings and set your cellular to wi-fi calling on. Log onto the Crystal internet. Make calls at no cost. Keith

We are all settled at the Hotel and have already gone on a couple of nice walks. It's 72 degrees but with a nice breeze. We are staying at the Four Seasons Hotel. Our first stay here was in 2007 as this was the hotel that Crystal used for the pre-World Cruise hotel in 2007 including a World Cruise Gala. Our last stay was in November of 2021. Since then the hotel was sold and the new owners made several updates to the Hotel including updating the rooms with new furniture and carpeting. Overall, they did a nice job but ironically the closet has less hanging room. Sound familiar. LOL These are some photos of our room. Service is excellent and they are very responsive. I am sitting outside in the back of the hotel near the pool area. It's 72 degrees F with a nice breeze. Cheers, Keith

Thank you all for the very nice posts. Ivi this is our itinerary including our pre-cruise stay. We've been to most of the ports but all the time we've been to St. Marteen, have not visited the French side. This time we will. Keith 12/18 Miami 12/19 Miami 12/20 Miami 12/21 Miami 12/22 Miami 12/23 Embark Miami, Florida 12/24 Sea Day 12/25 Sea Day 12/26 St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 12/27 St. John's 12/28 Margot, French West Indies 12/29 St. Lucia, West Indies 12/30 Barbados 12/31 St. Georges, Grenada 1/1 St. Kitts 1/2 Road Town, British Virgin Islands 1/3 Sea Day 1/4 Sea Day 1/5 Debark Miami, Florida

Not sure Ivi but with OC only awarded once. We used it today. Keith

So you all remember when I said berth assignments may change our has. We will now sail out of Terminal E and not J on 12/23. Crystal informed the TA's today and we received notification from our TA. Keith

Bags Packed. Ready To Go. Can't Wait. A New Crystal Adventure Begins, We begin a new adventure today flying to Miami for a pre-cruise stay before boarding Crystal Serenity on December 23. We will sail with some of the CC members and many guests who we have known a long time. Today's airport experience was great. Maybe, because we were on one of the first flights of the day. We arrived to the ticket counter and to our surprise they opened the counter 15+minutes early. I do not believe that has ever happened in all the years I've been flying including frequent business trips all across the nation and around the world. Next up was TSA and we took our place on the TSA pre-check line after walking around for a while. Guess what TSA opened 15+ minutes early. We walked around the terminal for awhile before making our way to the gate. Guess what. There was no mob scene with people waiting in line and not in group order. We approached when they called our group first. The flight is full. We departed the gate on time and at the present time we are to arrive to Miami earlier than scheduled. As they say the night is young but at least the airport experience was good. We have an amazing flight attendant and his voice is terrific. And the AARP magazine I brought with me featured an interview with Ringo Starr. Amazing how well he looks at his age. The Holiday Cruise is expected to be full or close to full. It will be a good test to see how everything works with a full cruise. Happy Holidays and more in the coming days. Keith

The cancelled cruise is for December 2024 not 2023 so this one shouldn't have anything to do with current cruises. Keith

And then there is Tampa during fog season. That is when people say can I make a 10:00 AM flight. My answer. The next day yes. The day you debark. No way. Keith

Yes, autocorrect strikes again. Or was it the longshoreman strikes again? 😀 Either is possible. LOL.

Ivi, that's an incredible story. And I know Buenos Aires port is a bit complicated too. I remember once coming back on a group bus in Ashdod there was a lot of confusion by the bus driver as to how to get into the port and it took about 30 minutes for him to figure it out. We've had interesting experience in several USA ports. The time in Los Angeles where we got delayed getting off I believe the long showmen wouldn't remove the luggage from the ship because they smelled fuel. In San Francisco we were boarding after the World Cruise ended there in 2016 and I don't think all of the luggage from the previous voyage got off until something like noon or later and guess were still on the ship. On our 2004 Crossing on Symphony we were delayed by 90 minutes to get off. Not an issue for us as we were staying over in the city but I remember one of our table-mates (a pilot) and his wife had a flight at 10;00 AM which is crazy to begin with so they missed it. Then again one time I was flying from Dallas to St. Louis. Got on first flight early afternoon. It was canceled for mechanical reasons. A few hours later go on a second flight and it was cancelled for mechanical reasons. Got on a third flight in the evening and about 30 minutes from touchdown they said we couldn't land due to severe thunderstorms and we were turning back to go to Dallas. As it turned out they took us to North Carolina. Are you kidding me? I arrive to St. Louis at 3:00 the next morning. I could have driven it quicker than that. This is why I am a believer in Murphy's Law when it comes to many things including travel. Maybe one day they will be able to beam people to their desitination like they do in Star Trek. Or maybe not. Keith

Another day and view of Serenity and the use of the Zodiacs. Keith

Back to Ivi. We've sailed Miami many times. If there was an issue with the number of ships in port it normally impacts debarkation (clearing the ship) not boarding the ship. You are boarding that day. And in J. So I see no issues for you. When you debark there are only three ships. So I see no issues for you. But since you have a lot of time the day you debark even if there was a delay you don't have an issue. There are some of us who debark the day of the 8 ships. Unless one made a very early flight then I wouldn't have a concern but the good news again is terminal J. Things can happen and not just in Miami. Often the first week or two of the Alaska season in Vancouver boarding can be a real hassle and that is due to the USA clearing citizens before boarding the ship. Our worst experience was on the 2010 New York CIty to Los Angeles Cruise when the maximum number of ships were in port at San Pedro (I believe three) and I don't believe debarkation began until 10:30 AM and there was what looked like a mob scene in the Crystal Plaza (man from CC were on this cruise. This was the French Fry Cruise) and people were screaming at the concierge as if she caused the delay. Lesson is don't book a morning flight home. And I think one of our worst embarkations I saw was WC 2008 in Los Angeles. Big delay boarding. Many unhappy people. Anyway, things happen when we all travel. Most of us have more horror stories related to flights I suspect including airline and even FAA computer glitches, weather and all sorts of other issues. Keith

Yes to both. Signs and easy to see the ships Keith