Day 8 - At Sea
Today is our last day aboard Crystal Serenity and it is another day at sea as we sail toward New York City. Tomorrow, we will say goodbye to Crystal Serenity and fly back home to Texas.
Of course, we will be posting a full, in-depth review of this ship, her crew, the dining onboard and our stateroom. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on notifications so that YouTube will let you know when these videos are posted.
It has been a very interesting week aboard a ship on which we have sailed twice previously (2013 and 2015). Our objective on this cruise was to discover if this “new” Crystal Cruises is as good as what we remember from the “old” Crystal Cruises. There have no doubt been many changes since the new ownership has taken over and we will do our best to tell you all about these changes in our upcoming videos.
We spend most of this morning packing and getting ready for the trip home. We have arranged a private transfer to La Guardia with a meet and greet time of 10:15 at the port in Manhattan. We are scheduled to disembark at 9:45, and we are allowed to remain in our suite until disembarkation. That is a very generous disembarkation policy compared to many cruise lines that want you out of the stateroom by 8:00am. As a result, we have decided to enjoy room service breakfast at 8:15 tomorrow.
For lunch today, we joined our friends, John and Sandra, at Tastes on Deck 12. We shared a trio of Asian dumplings and potstickers before indulging in today’s Asian buffet in Marketplace.
Thai Chicken Coconut Curry Soup at Tastes
This afternoon we attended another iPhone workshop on how to get creative with the iPhone Camera App. The class was conducted by Jan Kabili, Instructor, Author, and Photographer. These types of technology-oriented classes are somewhat unique to Crystal and they do a very nice job of bringing their guests up to speed on modern technology.
Later this afternoon, I decided to take a walk around the Promenade Deck on Deck 7. Crystal Serenity is one of the few ships you will find nowadays that has a full, wraparound, teak promenade deck. Many modern ships have done away with the promenade in favor of revenue-generating spaces.
The teak decking looks to be in very good condition so I wonder if it has been recently re-surfaced? Teak is very expensive and most newer cruise ships use synthetic materials. But, there is nothing quite like the real thing. All suite balconies are also teak as is the lido deck around the pool.
Wraparound Teak Promenade Deck
At 6pm this evening, we went to Stardust Club for an early show before dinner. Tonight’s entertainment was a musical presentation featuring the vocals of guest entertainer, Bruce Hammond backed up by the Crystal Serenity Show Band.
After the show, we met with our friends one last time (on this cruise) for dinner at Waterside Restaurant. Waterside is the main dining room on Crystal Serenity and it is massive. The restaurant has been completely re-designed since our last cruise in 2015, when it was called Crystal Dining Room. The space is much lighter, brighter and more modern. I believe this space was renovated in 2018.
The evening menu at Waterside is lengthy, but lacks an “always available” selection common to most main dining venues.
Waterside Evening Menu
After dinner, we head back to our suite to finish packing our large duffel which we placed outside of our suite for transfer to the cruise terminal. It has been an amazing week aboard Crystal Serenity and we are happy to see this incredible luxury ship back in service.
