Let THe World Cruise Begin - Day 1

We were able to post several pictures. Some of the pictures are from last evening and other pictures are from today.

We wanted to begin by saying how much we enjoyed last evening. Since we were already on the ship there was a gala for those of us on the World Cruise. We had cocktails at 6:00 PM, followed by dinner at 6:30 PM in the Prego Specialty Restaurant.

In total there were 29 guest, including those on the full World Cruise and family.

Everything was fabulous including the meal.

Before the meal, Keith had a very nice conversation with Cruise Director Gary Hunter who we have sailed with several times including the 2007 World Cruise. While Gary will not be sailing on the 2010 World Cruise he will be on for the 2011 World Cruise. Keith also had a very nice conversation with the assistant cruise director.

We all had assigned tables with assigned spots and we were at one table of seven which included our six family members and the host for our table; Donna Clark who is Manager of Quality Assurance for Crystal Cruises. She has also served in other roles including working on the Crystal Harmony. She is a delightful person and the conversation was delightful. Crystal truly takes quality assurance important and is constantly making improvements to its product which we see all the time as passengers and is reinforced by the work that Ms. Cook and others do for Crystal.

The meal included Seared Jumbos Scallops for the appetizer, Heart of Palm Salad, and a choice of Broiled Striped Bass Fillet or Herb Roasted Beef Tenderloin for the entrée followed by a Dessert Flight of Mile Chocolate Napoleon, Raspberry Cheesecake, Caramelized Pineapple and Coconut Flan. Keith had a fruit plate instead. All of our family plus one host from Crystal Cruises was at the same table. It was a glorious night.

We also wanted to mention that yesterday that Key West had a 112 record low. It was indeed very cold.

Last night the seas were fairly rough after we went to bed. The children could feel it the most since given the location of their cabins.

This morning we awoke early as we normally do. Keith worked on the Elliptical machine and finished up a little earlier than normal so that he could be ready to have breakfast with the family. Anne Marie got ready instead of working out and walked in the afternoon with Keith and she also worked out on the Treadmill later in the day.

The ship was already docked in Miami when Keith awoke. The process for the disembarkation of passengers began at 9:00 AM with the last guests off the ship just a little past 10:00 AM. Any guests who exceeded their customs allowance of $800.00 per person was asked to meet with the customs inspection personnel between 7:00 AM and 7:30 AM. Passengers were advised that no longer can the head of the family meet with customs themselves, but rather all family members must attend.

In the early morning it was quite cold in Miami with a low of 36 degrees Fahrenheit. By afternoon, the temperature had warmed up to around 60 degrees. It was a clear and sunny day.

We decided last evening that it would be nice for the six of us to eat in our room so Anne Marie spoke with the butler last evening and with input from our other family members pre-ordered all of the breakfast items for the morning’s breakfast.

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with the children and stayed with them up until it was time for them to depart. We had a wonderful time with them and it was a glorious way to kick-off the start of the World Cruise and we will miss them so very much.

As we were finishing breakfast, Jennifer spotted several dolphins from our verandah so we watched them for a few minutes

We stayed with the children until it was time for them to disembark the ship at around 9:30 AM. It was so nice to have them with us for the voyage. Anne Marie did have a lot of tears immediately after the children departed the ship.

We were originally asked to report to the Hollywood Theatre at 9:45 AM so that we could be escorted off the ship and then wait in a pre-assigned area until the ship was all cleared and we could go proceed back on the ship. However, the clearance officer came up to us to let us know that we could stay on the ship and not leave. Late on the immigration personnel changed the process and we were all asked to go ashore for the immigration inspection. To make a very long story short we did not embark the ship again until around 1:00 PM when they first boarded in transit guests followed by those who were beginning their journey on this voyage. This procedure changes from voyage to voyage in Miami and is up to the local authorities.

During the course of the seven day Miami voyage we sailed 1,913 nautical miles, which is the equivalent of 2,200 land miles. As we have mentioned so many times already it was a marvelous cruise.

The first voyage of the World Cruise is named Tropical Rhythms and is fifteen days in length. We will sail from Miami, Florida to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with various stops along the way.

We enjoyed a wonderful day on the ship and it was so nice to be all settled in. Today we saw so many familiar faces from our previous cruises both crew who boarded the ship and passengers. In many ways it is like a family or school reunion.

We also spoke with a number of personnel from the ship and also from Crystal’s Los Angeles Office who we have come to know so well. We met the World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston and then we saw Cruise Director Rick Spath and exchanged warm hugs with Rick. We sailed with Rick in 2008. We also saw John Stoll who is had of Crystal’s Land Based Programs, which included all of the Short Excursions. We also spoke with Thomas Mazloum who is a Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations for both Crystal Ships. We also saw Rabbi Morrie and his lovely wife Gerri who both boarded the ship today after being on the Crystal Symphony since right around Thanksgiving. We are so very happy to have them on this voyage.

There will be a total of 201 full world cruisers sailing for the entire voyage. The number of passengers on any given voyage will vary.

After we boarded the ship we enjoyed a nice lunch in the Main Dining Room with our friends John and Linda. As has become a tradition for us on embarkation days we each had a Cobb Salad and toasted the beginning of this journey with a complimentary flute of Champagne from Crystal.

We took a very nice walk on the Promenade deck in the afternoon. On one port side of the ship it was very warm and on the starboard side of the ship it was cool.

We met the Room Stewardess and Assistant Stewardess and the good news is that they will be on for the entire World Cruise.

When we arrived back at our room on the sofa were some items including a world cruise journal for each of us, beautiful black world cruise jackets and two World cruise hats.

This evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner in the Main Dining Room. We are now dining during the main seating and have moved to a table for two. While it is a table for two the size of the table can accommodate two additional guests which is perfect should we want to invite others to dine with us from time to time.

This evening following dinner we attended a 2010 World Cruise Welcome event for all of those on this voyage in the Crystal Cove, which is a nice open area between the main dining room and the reception desk. There we toasted the start of the world cruise with complimentary champagne. It was very festive as balloons were dropped from the ceiling.

We are very excited to begin this World Cruise Adventure.

We also wanted to thank you for all of the nice comments we have received on this blog. We enjoy reading each and every comment.

OUR THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……

“Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.

Keith and Anne Marie