It is a cold, wet and miserable December 1st here in West Virginia. I have Cindy, a fire in the fireplace, and memories of a marvelous trip across the Atlantic to keep me warm and help me forget the reality of now. For twenty-one delicious days I didn’t make a bed, cook a meal, shop for food, do laundry (although Cindy did on the ship) or wash a dish; I had people!
We were very lucky with weather across the Atlantic on the Crystal Serenity. With the exception of the first two days when the seas were somewhat rough and high, the bulk of the seven-day crossing to St. Thomas was smooth, warm, and delightful. On the evening of the second night there was a classical pianist whom we had heard on the last cruise with Crystal. He is fantastic and we were looking forward to his concert. Despite the fact that they had sandbagged the legs of his grand piano to minimize motion, there were several times as he was playing that the piano would move away from him a few inches due to the rocking of the ship. He would stretch to keep his fingers on the keys and then the piano would roll back to him and he had to once more adjust, without missing a note. He was professional and funny in that he turned it into a game, much like Victor Borge would have done. We enjoyed it immensely (his playing, not the piano rolling around).
The journey was wonderful and we easily fell into a ‘schedule’ that included lots of exercise in the morning, followed by coffee and fruit and then more walking the decks. Cindy was fierce in her commitment to keep her PT schedule at least 3 times per day (the orthopedist was mightily impressed with her progress upon our return). If I reached my goal of 10,000 steps before noon, I would reward myself with a glass of Champagne before cleaning up and dressing for lunch. After lunch Cindy would attend art class - where she made all kinds of lovely tiles, cards and colorful envelopes - while I walked the deck. We would meet for a nap at four, walk together at five, and then proceed to dress for cocktails at seven and dinner and eight-something. After dinner we would dance for a few hours - or longer if the Disco was jumping - and then sleep, wake up and repeat.
The food, wine and service were uniformly wonderful, with some highlights in their Italian and Asian specialty restaurants. We are not buffet people so most of the time we would eat lunch and dinner in the restaurant, which was always half empty for lunch since most of the guests seemed to enjoy eating at other venues. The first night we asked for a table for two and since most everyone was eating in the restaurant the first night, we were seated about six inches from another two-top, which was six inches from a third table for two on the window. The couple at the middle table just insisted on being chatty and introducing us to the others they had just met. If it hadn’t been so absurd, I’m sure we would have found it horrible but we outlasted them all by lingering over Champagne before ordering and they finally disappeared. The next night I slipped the Maître d’ a few Sees Lollipops and told him of our plight with our new “friends” and mentioned we didn’t need any more of them - and from then on we were always seated at a table for four by the window with no one around us. (It didn’t hurt that we had contributed $200 to the Crew Morale Fund, something that seemed to pop up every time they checked our room number.)
We chose this cruise because it had a Big Band theme and they had a marvelous sixteen piece big band that played all of our favorites and had outstanding musicians, all of whom seemed to be genuinely happy to be there. They also had a competitive Bridge theme and there were two hundred passengers who were deeply, deeply involved. We would see them in the morning lined up for coffee before the lectures and tournaments that began at ten. We would see some of them at lunch, hunched over their sheets of whatever, talking about how to bid and things like that. Most evenings they would have more games or lectures, and oh my goodness how earnest they all seemed to be. Give me dancing anytime!
Had a day in St. Thomas and we got off the ship just to walk on dry land for a bit and then right back to our routine. The last two days were smooth sailing and we were soon off the ship and in a HUGE GMC Suburban (dubbed The Beast) that seemingly slept six, for the drive from Ft. Lauderdale to Punta Gorda where we stayed for two days and visited the kids for Thanksgiving. On the day after Thanksgiving we had lunch at a lovely country club in Sarasota courtesy of our dear friends Barbara and Rodney who also invited our friend, now their friend, Sharyn. We had all lived and worked in Europe, Barbara and Sharyn for the Department of Defense Dependents’ Schools and Cindy, Rodney and I with Boston University. It was a delightful afternoon filled with great memories. All too soon we mounted The Beast and headed to Tampa Airport where I spent the better part of twenty minutes filling it with gas!!
We are now getting organized for our next excursion to Europe, departing on the 12th and returning March 1st. I’m determined to avoid snow!
Best wishes, Cindy and Wm
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