NEW YEARS EVE - MIAMI - DAY 3

A Look At What Is Happening Today:

Celebrated New Years Eve Including New Years Eve Dinner ✔  Took Several Nice Walks ✔ Enjoyed Terrific Weather ✔ Purchased Final Items For The Cruise  ✔


We enjoyed hearing from so many of you today with your very nice comments about the Blog and your very thoughtful New Years wishes.  

We wish each of you a very safe, healthy and happy holiday.


It is hard to believe that today marks the last day of 2012.

We enjoyed another wonderful day in Miami.  We did walk about thirteen miles over the course of the day and night.


Keith was up first and made his way down to the lobby to bring some coffee to bring back to the room.

Before he got the coffee he opened up the back door of the lobby.  As is the norm, it was windy off the bay which is typical for the early hour of the morning.  The area near the back of the hotel is all lit up with holiday lights. There are two swimming pools; one for those who own Four Season residences and a nice size pool for hotel guests.  There are many cabanas and lounge chairs, and an outdoor casual restaurant.

Once again, we enjoyed breakfast in our room.

Afterwards, we walked to a couple of stores to get the final items that we will need for the cruise so we can check this off our things to do list.  We swung by our hotel to drop the items off and then went on a seven mile walk.

We walked over to a small island which is home for various high rise condominiums and also the Mandarin Oriental Hotel

We then walked around a portion of the island on a pedestrian path allowing for scenic views of the bay.  

We could see three ships in port.  Two of the ships (Carnival and NCL) are in this photo.

From this side of the island we could get a view of the other side of the ship that we had seen from the Intercontinental yesterday afternoon.

We then walked up and down several streets and even ran into a familiar character.

As we made our way over to Mary Brickell Village we ran into several of Santa' helpers including Rudolph.

The weather was very nice for our walk.  It was breezy for the first hour or so and then as time went along it became less breezy and partly sunny.  We spoke with our friend Ricki again and we look forward to seeing Ricki and her husband  David on the Crystal Serenity in just four days.

We brought back lunch to the room and then later in the afternoon we went back out for another walk.  This time we went in a different direction which can take you to Key Biscayne as well as Coconut Grove.  

As we write today's Blog we are reminded that today is the last day of 2012 and tomorrow begins another new year.  This year has truly flown by in a blink of an eye.  

At this time last year we were on the Crystal Serenity for the Holiday Cruise which included the celebration of Chanukah, Christmas and New Years Eve and Day, all on one voyage.  

An hour before Midnight we were enjoying the music of a special band that was brought on board for the cruise including the New Years Eve Celebration.

At midnight we were standing one deck above the Crystal Cove, each with a flute of champagne and with our New Years Eve Party Favors as we celebrated the New Year.  

At the stroke of Midnight we toasted in the New Year with the  confetti and balloon drop.

Our evening was a little quieter this time around but was very enjoyable.

We enjoyed an early New Year's Eve dinner at Truluck's Restaurant.  This is one of eleven Trulucks' restaurants which are primarily located in Texas with a couple of locations in South Florida, and one location in California.  They mainly specialize in fresh seafood, but for those desiring beef that is also available.

We first dined at one of the other locations a few years ago and while we were in Miami in November of 2010 during a stop on the Crystal Symphony we spotted this restaurant while on another one of our long walks.  We hadn't remembered it from our previous stays in Miami and that is when we learned it had just recently opened.  Close to sixty days later we enjoyed a New Years Eve dinner at this location with friends Bob and Glo.

While they have a late dining option which included a New Years Eve party with favors, we preferred to dine early. They offered a special New Years Eve menu as do many restaurants.

We had a very nice table in a quite section of the restaurant.

We were treated to a nice glass of rose champagne.

For our first course we shared an appetizer of Fresh Florida Stone Crab Legs which we enjoyed.

Our next course was a mixed green salad which was accompanied with sliced apple, local goat cheese, kalamata olives, and spicy pecans. 

The salad was delicious and those pecans were definitely spicy.

We had several entrees to choose from and our waiter highly recommend three of them and we went with one of his recommendations.  We each had one South African Cold Water Lobster Tails accompanied by Asparagus.  

They were enormous and were very tasty and were prepared perfectly.  

Keith helped Anne Marie finish her entree.

We shared the dessert and we had three choices.  Anne Marie selected the dessert and we had the Chocolate Malt Cake With Chocolate Malt Cream Cheese Icing.  They also served chocolate sauce on the side which we chose not to have.  The photo is only a portion of what was served because by the time we took the photo the waiter had already cut us each a piece of the cake.  It was very rich and very tasty.  We couldn't finish it all and the waiter offered to box it up for us but we passed on taking it back to the hotel with us.

We had a most memorable evening and it was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of 2012 and the start of 2013.

As we walked back to the hotel there were many trees that were all  lit up and this photo shows the tree line outside of our hotel.

There is much happening in Miami this evening.  There will be a massive crowd at Bayside and the highlight of the evening will be the fireworks display.  At the same time, South Beach will be one major party location both inside and also outside on the streets such as Ocean Drive.  For us, watching the festivities on Television is good enough.

Once again, we wish all of you a very safe, healthy and Happy New Year.  

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY............

“Make the most of yourself….for that is all there is of you.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keith and Anne Marie

OUR FIRST FULL DAY IN MIAMI - DAY 2

A Look At What Is Happening Today:

Enjoyed Our First Full Day In Miami ✔  Took A Couple Of Long Walks ✔ Enjoyed Terrific Weather ✔  Purchased Some  Items For The Cruise  ✔Dinner  ✔ 

We really have come to love Miami and this is yet another example of why one needs to be flexible in all that they do.  

Our view of Miami used to not be so good given the couple of times we visited the city in the 1980's and 1990's.  Our preference at that time was Fort Lauderdale.  We may have avoided Miami for many years to come with that image still in our minds.  However, this all changed when we sailed out of Miami as part of the 2007 World Cruise and had the opportunity to spend a few nights in this city and we could see all of the positive changes that took place in many parts of the city from the downtown area to both Miami and South Beach. 

This city has become very cosmopolitan and each time we return we see additional improvements.  Including this visit, we have returned here four additional times since 2007 and we love it more each time.

From December until around the end of May brings a lot of tourists to the city and this time of the year is one of the busier times.  Many tourists from Europe, South American and Mexico enjoy celebrating the holidays in Miami which adds to the diversity of this city.

We spoke with friend Ricki last evening and look forward to sailing with Ricki and David on the January 4 Caribbean Cruise.  We fell asleep easily since we had a very long day yesterday.  The hotel is pretty much full but we could not hear a peep from any of our neighbors.

There are still items from Christmas around the hotel.  These are photos of Christmas Trees from the lower level entrance into the Hotel from the street, and from the main lobby area.

Not your typical Gingerbread house because we are in South Florida. After the devastation from Hurricane Andrew in 1992, artists began to incorporate designs into many of South Beach's lifeguard towers.  This gingerbread-lifeguard tower is a replica of the 3rd street tower.

For those of you who have been following our travels you might remember that normally we purchase some basic breakfast items and have them in our room (cereal, fruit, etc.).  This time around breakfast is included in the hotel package and we had a choice of dining at the restaurant or ordering room service and we decided to go with room service.  We had a simple and healthy breakfast.

While Anne Marie got ready Keith stopped by the Fitness Center.  The Fitness Center is for all hotel guests as well as for those who have residences at the Four Seasons Hotel and also has memberships for others.  It is extremely large and features a wide range of equipment.  For those of you who are in Keith's spin (indoor cycling) class in keeping with the before Spin weight lifting he did his 20+ minutes of weightlifting.  He is committed to keeping up with the weightlifting throughout our travels.

Afterwards, we took the first of several walks and this one was over to a drug store and also to a grocery store to pick up some of the items on our shopping list for the voyage.  These are mainly liquid items that we could not ship, are not allowed to be checked on the plane, or could leak so we will carry them onto the ship ourselves.  Speaking of these types of items we mentioned that one of the suitcases we take is essentially filled up with cosmetic/toiletry items and even in past years when we take many suitcases with us on the plane, there was a note in this one from the TSA noting they inspected the bag.  This makes sense given the amount and type of items that are in this suitcase.  We do lock our bags with the TSA locks so they can easily open the lock without the need to cut it off.  

After having lunch, we took a very long walk.  We walked from our hotel over to the Port Of Miami.  It is about a five mile walk to get over to the port.  

There were six ships in port all lined up.  This included three Carnival ships, one Costa and one NCL ship and the Disney Wonder.  It was difficult to get them all in one photo but hopefully you can see them all.

As we walked back we stopped off at the Intercontinental Hotel and right next to it was a ship called Seafair.  It has not windows and is primarily used to showcase art but tomorrow evening they will have a New Years Celebration on-board the ship.  Later this month it will leave Miami and make stops at several different Florida ports where art shows will be held.

We then walked around other areas of the downtown area.  This is one of the iconic buildings of Miami.  For a special exhibit they are featuring you can see the Gecko's on the facade of the building.

After walking about 11 miles we had dinner.Once again, we dined again at Perricone's and plan to dine there just one more time during our pre-cruise stay.  We have reservations at three other restaurants including New Years Eve tomorrow evening.

We sat in another area of the restaurant this evening.  This is one of the areas that is outside.

We each had a dinner salad.  Anne Marie had the same salad as last evening and Keith had the organic dinner salad which is shown below.

For our entrees Anne Marie had the Yellowfin Ahi Tuna Steak 

Keith enjoyed another entree special.  This time he had Norwegian Salmon crusted with Wasabi.

We thoroughly enjoyed our entire meal including the delicious entrees.

As we were leaving the restaurant we took a photo of one of the entrances to the restaurant.

On our way back to the hotel we made an additional stop to pick up a few other items that we will need for the cruise.  We just have a couple of more items to pick up over the next day or two.

We wanted to close by reminding you that we welcome your comments and questions.  To do so is very simple.  At the end of any given post you will see a comments area which you just click on.  It will bring you to a screen where you can write a comment and then you will be asked to do a simple word verification.  If you do not have a Google e-mail account just click on anonymous before posting your comments.  We will read and every comment and do our best to respond to any questions you may have on the subsequent post.  For those with questions, after we will include the question and answer in the Question and Answer tab which can be found towards the top of the home page.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY........

“If I knew I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself.”  - Mickey Mantle

Keith and Anne Marie

THE JOURNEY BEGINS - DAY 1

NOTE: We had some problems with the text from today's Blog.  It will wrap and the format will be off.  It was too much to type over so we are posting it this way.  We will avoid this going forward.

A Look At What Is Happening Today:

Flight To Miami ✔  Getting Settled At Hotel ✔ A Walk Around Miami ✔  Dinner  ✔ Starting To Purchase Some Items For The Cruise  ✔

When we first put-down the initial deposit for this cruise it was almost twenty months ago, which at the time seemed like an eternity.  By the time we got within three months from the start of this cruise the time began to move rather quickly.  So here we are twenty months later, and today marks the start of our adventure.

We awoke relatively early this morning since we had an early flight. We took care of the final items at the house and a short while later the driver arrived for our drive over to the airport.

All of the private vehicle transfers are provided by Crystal Cruises and arranged by our Travel Agency with our input as to pickup times.

Unlike previous world cruises, it was easier with far less luggage to deal with since we have shipped most of our luggage directly to the ship.  In prior years, when we had all of the luggage with us, we had either been transferred in an executive type of vehicle which is the kind that could accommodate around 15+ people as well as all of our luggage.  A couple of other times we road in a limousine, while another vehicle followed with our luggage in tow.

With only two large bags, plus our carry on pieces, this made everything much simpler.  This time around we will utilize luxury vans for each of our transfers.

This was the luxury van that picked us up at the Miami Airport.

We had a very personable and courteous driver who drove usto the airport.

Coincidentally, he splits his time between our home area and 

South Beach.  In Miami, he captain's private yachts. 

He explained that we were sandwiched in between two well 

known individuals.  Only a few hours earlier he had picked up Willie Nelson and a couple of hours after our airport drop off 

he would be picking up Matthew McConaughley.

There was only one person ahead of us so checkin was 

quick and we had no one in  front of us as we made our way 

through security. After removing all our clothes for the 

security check we collected our belongings.  Just kidding 

about the removal of our clothes!

The flight was not only full but oversold which seems to be  

the norm on most flights. In fact, they were asking for three 

volunteers to give up seats and offering a nice amount of 

money as well as guaranteeing seats on a flight that would 

leave two hours later.

The good news is that our arrival and departure gate for our 

next flight was next to each other and the airline club lounge

was in close proximity as well.

The second flight took off about thirty minutes late but the 

good news is that they made up most of the time and our 

arrival was only delayed by around ten minutes.

About 45 minutes into the flight we had  breakfast.  After  

being up so early we were more then ready to have 

breakfast,even airline food.  Simply put we were famished.

We began with mimosas, followed by croissant with lots of 

butter and jelly, and forour entree we each had eggs 

Benedict.  For dessert we had waffles and ice cream.  

Assuming you have not passed out by now most of you 

know us better so you know this is not what we had for 

breakfast.  Rather, we had coffee, fresh fruit, and oatmeal.  

The oatmeal was quite hot and it hit the spot, and was just 

what we needed.

We were met at the luggage area by the driver and once the 

luggage arrived we drove about twenty minutes to the hotel.

We are staying at the Four Seasons Miami Hotel where we have stayed before each of four previous Crystal Cruises.  

We like the hotel property, and its location.

Our room was not ready so we had lunch at the hotel while  
we waited for our room.  Lunch was great.

Once our room was ready we got settled and then we took a walk.  The weather is great and the forecast for the rest of our stay looks great as well.

After our walk, we enjoyed a very nice dinner at Perricone’s Marketplace & Café.  This is our fourth year dining at this restaurant, which has become a favorite of ours when
staying in downtown Miami.  We plan to dine here a couple 

additional times but we also have reservations at three other 

restaurants for dinner during our stay in Miami.

The menu features a wide range of Italian cuisine, including many traditional favorites.  There is a nice selection of many of the items we enjoy including fresh seafood and nicely prepared dinner salads.  The wait-staff at Perricone’s is very friendly and the overall atmosphere reminds us of some of the restaurants that you will find in city neighborhoods such as in New York City. The interior of Perricone’s is quite unique, with a warm and inviting casual atmosphere, along with a warm and friendly wait staff.  There are several areas within the restaurant to dine, including inside and outside dining.

We dined early this evening.  Two of the areas were full of people but the dining area that we were in only had a couple of people so it was very quiet and we enjoyed a very nice dinner.

This is the dining room that we dined in.  In another hour or so this room will be full of diners.

This is one of a few outdoor areas and has been set for a private party.

We each began with a dinner salad.  The dressing which is not shown was a very tasty balsamic dressing

We each had one of the specials which was pistachio crusted salmon.  Anne Marie had the salmon with couscous and vegetables
and Keith had the salmon with couscous and spinach.  It was very tasty.

The city is very vibrant and there were holiday lights all around us.  We will take some photos tomorrow evening.

The good news is that the weather forecast look great for the six days we will be in Miami.

We know we will sleep well this evening.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY............

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein 

Keith and Anne Marie

READY, SET, HERE WE GO

Remaining Bags Packed ✔ Car Pickups Verified ✔ Things To Do Lists Almost All Complete and Items Checked Off ✔  

After many months of careful planning, our adventure begins tomorrow morning.  Our bags are all packed, and only a few items remain on our checklist to be completed.

We would like to thank our Travel Specialist for all of her help as we prepared for this adventure over the past several months.  We also extend our heartfelt thanks to all of the other travel agency personnel for all of their help they provided including assistance with hotel reservations, car transfers, some selected private tours, and several other items related to the cruise.  We greatly appreciate your professionalism, attention to detail, and your  timely followup to all of our inquiries.

We thank Steve LeTellier, Pinnacle Travel Document Systems, for all of his help to facilitate the receipt of our Brazilian Visas and for answering all of our questions for not only this voyage but for the previous voyages in which we have sailed where visas have also been required.

We also extend our heartfelt thanks to the countless number of people from the Crystal Cruises Headquarters in Los Angeles, California for all of the coordination and support they have provided leading up to the start of this adventure.  This includes personnel from Reservations, Crystal Society, On Board Guest Services, Land Programs and Port Operations, as well as other land based personnel.  We also send our sincere thanks to several members of the Crystal Cruises crew on board the Crystal Serenity for all of their assistance.  

You are all the best!

We will dearly miss family and friends.

We are very excited as we get ready to begin this journey.   We never tire of travel and we realize that each new adventure marks a new chapter in our lives.  We look forward to making memories that will last a lifetime.

We will post again sometime after we arrive to Miami.

It's time.  Let the adventure begin.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY........

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” – Saint Augustine

Keith and Anne Marie