Time To Say Farewell

Before we tell you about last evening we wanted to share some statistics and final thoughts.

During the course of this cruise, we sailed 7,178 nautical miles, which is equivalent to over 8,254 land miles. This is a vast distance over a seventeen-day period. Just take a look at a map to put this into perspective.

As we have said, this has been a wonderful cruise. Obviously, it is different than most other cruises, as we didn’t select this cruise for the ports. Or should we clarify this to be singular as in port. Instead, we selected this cruise to enjoy the amenities of the ship and all of the activities that were available to us and of course to enjoy the time with the crew and the passengers. Last afternoon as we were walking around the ship, we agreed that this cruise has exceeded our every expectation.

As many times as we have cruised we have the same feelings at the end of each cruise. A cruise provides the opportunity to develop a bond with so many people that you come into contact with during its course. This includes passengers and crew alike. At the end of the cruise, we realize that some of those we have met we will never see again. At the same time, we know that there are others who we have cruised with before, crew and passengers alike who we will see again or others that we have met for the first time, crew and passengers alike, who we will sail with again.

For us, Crystal Cruises is a very unique cruise line because of the retention rate of the crew. We know that the next time we come aboard that we will know several of the crew members because many of them have been with Crystal for many years.

As we have said often, sailing on Crystal is like sailing with ones extended family. We refer to this as the “Crystal Family”.

We do realize that all good things have to come to an end so when the cruise comes to an end, we know its time to say our farewells. At the same time we will look forward to the next cruise we have planned with Crystal.


We enjoyed the last evening on the ship. We attended comedian Kenny Smiles performance. He had two performances; one before the main dining and the other before the late dining. Afterwards, we met Ambassador Peck and his wife Ann for dinner at Silk Road. Often, we have found Silk Road to be fairly quiet on the least evening of the cruise but this was not the case. Many others had the same idea that we did and it was actually quite busy.

The food was great along with the service. We all shared a few plates of sashimi and sushi. We each enjoyed a different entrée. For dessert, the women had a sweet dessert. Anne Marie waited for the last evening to enjoy her favorite which is a chocolate soufflé. Keith decided to end the night with some more Sushi. He has a particular one that is not on the menu so he enjoyed that. The Ambassador had what we normally have which is the fruit plate.

We were touched during the evening when our Senior Waiter from the Main Dining Room stopped by out table in between the mail and late seating to say his goodbyes to us and to give us a large envelope, which contained all of the dinner menus. It was a touching moment for us and we hope that he will be on the ship when we sail again.

After dinner when we headed to our room our stewardess came by to thank us for the note and gift we had left her. She also said for us to say goodbye for her to the “toys”. ☺ She has been a delight.

This morning Keith woke up a little later than usual and after showering went up to the Lido Café. He ran into one passenger who he sees and talks with each morning at that hour that was sitting with two other passengers. Yes, the first word was, why aren’t you wearing your workout gear. Keith told him that today was his day off. ☺

We will shortly have our last breakfast in the room and will say our farewells to the butler.

We expect to disembark the ship at 9:00 AM and then make our way over to the area hotel.

Keith & Anne Marie