WELCOME TO KEY WEST - DAY 20

A Look At What Is Happening Today:

First Stop Of The World Cruise At Key West, Florida ✔ Dinner In Prego This Evening ✔ 

Yesterday, was a spectacular day and sometimes words do not do justice to describe how exciting the start of the World Cruise is.  There is the excitement of sailing with so many of the Crystal Cruises Crew who one has sailed with for several years.  Several crew members just returned from vacation for the start of the World Cruise.  In addition, we have now come to know literally hundreds of guests from previous World Cruises.  Some return every year, others every odd or even year and others every several years.  The excitement in the air since everyone boarded yesterday was unbelievable and you could also sense that excitement during last evenings kickoff.  It made for a very special day.

This is another photo the night of the on board Gala.

We wanted to begin with some additional photos from yesterday afternoon.

Anne Marie with Crystal Cruises Vice President of Entertainment/Enrichment 

Head Waiter Bojan with one of the members of the Crystal Dining Room Wait Staff

Jeff Walters who makes the magical World Cruise Videos and many other Videos for Crystal Cruises.

Some of the wait staff of the Crystal Dining Room in their new daytime outfits.  

Alita Arranage, Crystal Cruises Director, Loyalty Programs & Guest Relations

Activities Hostess Mari also in her new daytime attire

Before dinner, we each spoke with our son, Eric, for quite awhile and it was so very nice to catch up with him.

These are the menus from the Crystal Dining Room from last evening.

Before dinner, we went to the Avenue Saloon for a drink and then we went to the Crystal Cove when we saw Bob and Glo

Anne Marie with Glo

Anne Marie with Barbara Rinella who impersonates characters in various novels.  Usually they are historical figures.

Last night was the Bon Voyage Dinner.  We began our meal with salads. 

Anne Marie had the Baby Spinach Leaves Salad.

Keith had the standing order salad.

For our entree we went with the fresh seafood.  We enjoy seafood and when it is fresh that is preferable for us.  The fish entree was Broiled Fillet of Fresh Florida Snapper.  

Keith went with the entree as it was listed on the menu. He enjoyed the glazed sweet peppers that accompanied the fish.  It was very tasty.

Anne Marie changed up the Snapper by adding mashed potatoes, and vegetables in lieu of the pepper as pepper can bother her stomach.  She enjoyed the Snapper as well.

For dessert Keith went with the mixed berries and Anne Marie.

During our meal, Leo Assmair, the Maitre d' of the Crystal Dining Room came by to chat with us for a few minutes.  Given that the first segment of the World Cruise is sold out, he looked very relaxed as we are sure it is always more of a challenge when the ship is sailing full to accommodate all of the table requests that many guests have.  

We do want to note that when we say the ship is full that  is to say that all of the rooms are booked.  With many people who travel solo the ship can accommodate far more passengers then are on this sailing.  

Head Sommelier, Bart Dufour, also stopped by to see how we were enjoying the wine that was poured last evening.  We also chatted about how much we enjoyed the wine he had selected for the Vintage Room dinner we had on the January 4 cruise.  His knowledge of wine is truly amazing.

After dinner we ran into Line Captain Shane of the Crystal Ensemble of Dancers and chatted with him for a few minutes.

At 8:00 PM there was the lifeboat drill.  It was very well attended and just another reminder about the importance of safety at sea.  Our designated muster station is the Casino.

This was followed at 8:45 PM by the 2013 World Cruise Welcome in the Crystal Plaza.  This welcome began on the 2010 World Cruise and has become one of the traditions of kicking off a Crystal Cruises World Cruise.

The event was hosted by Captain John Okland, Cruise Director Gary Hunter, and World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy. It included a Sparkling Wine Toast.

The balloon and confetti drop were fantastic and a great way to kick off the World Cruise.  In past kickoffs, many of the crew attended as well, but because of the need to have the lifeboat drill before our sail away at 9:00 PM and because many of the crew is needed in other areas of the ship including housekeeping and the restaurants and bars it was not possible to include many of the crew.

The balloon drop and confetti drop was still spectacular and with over 900 guests on board and a sold our first segment of the cruise the Crystal Plaza and atrium above it were fill with lots of guests and still some members of the crew.

A little while before the Balloon and Confetti drop we spoke with Cruise Director, Gary Hunter, and World Cruise Hostess, Elise Ivy.

There was also music and dancing before the start of the Balloon and Confetti Drop.

Cruise Director Gary Hunter and Captain Okland toasting the start of the World Cruise.

Friends Bob and Glo enjoying a dance together as the orchestra played.

Eventually we put our cameras away (Anne Marie was videoing the event) and And Keith burst several of the balloons as did many others.

Anne Marie with our friend Lynn.

When we arrived back to our room there was a pretty floral arrangement and box of candy from our son Eric and Daughter in Law Kara.  Thank you so very much Eric and Kara.  We love you!

In our room was also a very nice letter from World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy along with a calendar that listed many of the upcoming events for the first segment of the World Cruise.

We slept very well as the ship sailed to Key West, Florida.

Today marks the first full day of the World Cruise.

Keith awoke early as he does on most days and was back up to the Fitness Center.  He worked out on the Elliptical Machine and also lifted weights.  By the time he finished there were several some people there and likely more then usual as some were getting over the jet lag.

Anne Marie didn't work out as we had an earlier breakfast at 7:00 AM since we were arriving to Key West at 8:00 AM.

Keith stopped by the Lido Cafe for Coffee and the Lido Cafe teams had rotated as they do every two cruises.  Also a few of the Stewards returned from Vacation including Clark who we have known for years.  Some people call him Superman aka Clark Kent.

We took the first tender over to Key West and we chatted with Joe and Maria Kita.  Joe teaches Memoir Writing and both Joe and Maria teach Yoga.  We have sailed with them on three other World Cruises.  We also spoke with the daughter of a World Cruiser who usually comes on for one segment each year and starting a couple of years ago she would play Paddle Tennis with Keith.  We have known her Mom from several World Cruises.  We learned that her Mom passed away this past Thanksgiving and had been booked not only on this World Cruise but the 2014 World Cruise.  We were so very sorry to hear the news of her passing.  The many people we sail with at Crystal Cruises including crew and guests and the many people who work on land for Crystal Cruises are part of what we refer to as our extended Crystal Cruises Family so the loss of this very nice woman is similar to losing a member of your extended family. We will remember many of her thoughts that she shared with all of us over the years at the Rap with the Rabbi sessions that are held on World Cruises and some other selected cruises throughout the year by Rabbi Morrie.

We have visited Key West several times over the years.  Our last visit was in 2010 with our daughter, son, son in law and daughter in law on board and it was close to 32 degrees on January 10th of that year factoring in the wind chill factor.  Today was quite different and thankfully the weather was quite nice while we were there.

Key West has a city population of approximately 25,000 people.  It is located closer to Cuba than to Mainland Florida.

Tourism is the major driver of its economy.

Major attractions include:

Hemingway House

Mel Fisher Maritime Museum

Audubon House

Lighthouse Museum

Little White House

We visited the Hemingway House and the Little White House.

Author Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote at this house for almost ten years.  He lived there from 1931 to 1939.  This was our first time to tour this house.

The Harry S. Truman House, which is also known as the Little White House was built in the early 1900’s.  Several dignitaries used the house starting with Thomas Edison who during World War I worked on depth charge research for the United States Navy.  In 1946, President Harry S. Truman began to use the house from time to time.  President Dwight Eisenhower used the house in 1956 while recovering from a heart attack and in 1961 the house played host to President John F. Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan during the Bay of Pigs Incident.

We first visited this home in the 1990’s while on a cruise with our children, Jennifer and Eric and have returned here from time to time.

A former neighbor and friend of ours when we lived on the East Coast used to send us White House Ornaments each year so we have many of these.

There were several pieces of art outside the Key West Museum Of Art and History.

When we visited Key West with our family the first time we took the Conch Tour Train.

As we walked around the town we saw many Roosters.

We also walked by many beautiful homes.

With the tides changing the carpenters and other crew were trying to construct a platform to stand on to make it easier for guests to get in and out of the tender at the tender pier.

All in all we had a wonderful time in Key West.  It was nice to revisit the Little White House and to visit the Hemingway House and to walk around town.  It was also nice to see areas that are as we remember them many years ago.

We had lunch at the Lido Cafe and as usual we each had a Salad Entree.

In the afternoon Anne Marie took a nice hour long walk on the Promenade Deck.

Keith was able to get in one hour of paddle tennis.  None of the guests were playing so he played with two members of the crew.  By that time it was hot and humid but always a lot of fun.  Several members of the entertainment group were practicing for a show they are performing out on the deck so Keith got to hear some of their performance.  Keith also spent time with our good friend Bob.

We also worked on finalizing a couple of tours we will be taking on this segments and caught up with some of our fellow guests.

Later this afternoon there is a sail away event and we will post about that tomorrow as we will about dinner at Prego.

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

“Whoever is happy will make others happy too.  He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery.” – Anne Frank