Travel Sketches from This Cruise

 I was actually able to update my sketchbook as we went along, for the most part. Here are the pages I created in my 2025 Travel book for this cruise:

The Hallgrimskirkja and Tjörnin Lake in Reykjavik

Colourful houses on the hill and the Inuit woman statue in Qaqortoq

Various buildings at L'Anse aux Meadows along with runes and a decoration seen on a rock at Norstead:

A view of the Glynmill Pond in Corner Brook and the famous 'Big Fiddle' in Sydney:

And finally, as we didn't get off the ship in Boston or New York, scenes from our afternoon in Halifax. 

Hope you enjoyed following along for this trip. We're heading back to Crystal Serenity in November for a Bridgetown round trip through the Caribbean for 17 nights, with no duplicated ports. We've been to many of them before, but there will be a couple of new experiences on shore excursions. See you then!

On Board Events

 There's always something going on aboard a Crystal ship. Although Larry went to most of the lectures, I was busy doing the blog and my sketching. I also met up with some of the other regulars who are knitters, so we did have little knitting get-togethers.

One event that I hadn't seen for quite some time was the Hubert Jewelry Fashion Show. Hubert is a jewelry designer who has some absolutely gorgeous pieces that are showcased at Facets, the onboard jewelry boutique. On longer cruises, they also have a fashion show on a sea day, with guests acting as the models. We've known the manager, Karen, for a long time as she sometimes escorts shore excursion groups, so I thought I'd sign up to take part. Here's a photo of me in my finery:

Otherwise, there were the usual Captain's cocktail parties for Welcome Aboard and the Crystal Society. As Larry is active on Cruise Critic, we were also invited to a cocktail party hosted by our friend Keith. We met some other Cruise Critic posters, and everyone was able to put faces and real names to board names. Later in the cruise we also met a couple who have been following Larry on the board for a long time. It turns out they will be on the Symphony cruise with us in Japan in April. Nice to know we'll already have some 'friends' there.

Every Crystal cruise also features a 'White Night Party' with live music, singing and dancing. Of course, everyone is encouraged to wear white, but I didn't have any in my wardrobe for this cruise, and wasn't packing it just for one night.

Cruise Director Russ....before he
donned the 'Mamma Mia boots' which
he does at every White Night - he
was in the show years ago.

An amazing Italian cellist who did a couple
of shows also opened up the White Night
Party.

Although we didn't see the Northern Lights as some people did, there were some spectacular sunsets throughout the cruise. Here are a few examples:

Here's one from our overnight in New York:

And after the rainy periods in the sea days between Reykjavik and Qaqortoq, we even saw a rainbow or two:

The end of the rainbow seems to be just
off our balcony!

Lunch and a Good Walk on the Hills of Halifax

 We had decided against taking a tour in Halifax, mainly because we'd already done a number of the more interesting options. Instead, we wanted to get a good seafood lunch and then walk around to see places we, or at least I, had not visited before. Larry came to Halifax a number of times while with Inspection Division at TD Bank.

We asked our friend Kathy to join us, and we took the tender in to the pier. The tender? In Halifax? Yes, we had to tender. There were two other ships, larger than us, at Piers 21 and 22, so li'l ol' Serenity with our 600 or so guests had to anchor off the pier. No more than a 10 minute ride, and we left after all of the excursions had gone.

Pier 21 also houses the Canadian Immigration Museum and Archive. The records are made public 75 years after the original event so anyone can use them to research family history. My father arrived at Pier 21 in May of 1952, so in a couple of years I'll be able to do the same thing. I think that the records of people landing in other cities are also available through the archive here and online.

There are some sculptures outside of the Pier Buildings commemorating women volunteers as well as one called 'The Immigrant'.

This one is 'The Immigrant'. Very
poignant.

We had made a reservation for lunch, even though we would be arriving at the restaurant, The Bicycle Thief, right when it opened. It was a good thing we had, because it didn't take more than a half hour before there was barely a seat left anywhere, inside or outside!

Just after we sat down, but it didn't stay that
way for long!

Our plate of fresh oysters on the half shell. They
were amazing and gone in about 15 minutes!

I had the Mussels sauteed in white wine and tomato
sauce. I'm going to make them like this at home!

Kathy had a lobster roll. Considering she's from
Boston, this was the first one she had this year,
and she really enjoyed it.

Larry had the Clam and Corn Chowder for
his 'main'.

Here we are. We had a great server who
kindly took a photo for us. See how busy
the restaurant is now?

After all of that, we needed to walk off lunch before we had dinner on the ship. Larry had been to the Halifax Citadel, but neither Kathy nor I had, so we walked up....and up....and up some more, to reach the top of the hill. Then we purchased the tickets to get us into the garrison, and had to climb a few more steps. But that got us to the top of Halifax. The only things higher were the downtown office buildings.

And this isn't even all the way to the top!

Kathy took this one of us

One last photo of Serenity at anchor

As we walked back along the waterfront,
which is quite large and lively, we
saw this view of the lighthouse on George Island

We headed back to the ship and prepared for the sailaway and dinner. It was still a little cool and breezy, but the weather forecast seemed to be improving. We were hoping for a nice sea day to Boston, but - spoiler alert - it started out fogged in and rainy. Things did improve in the afternoon, but it still wasn't warm enough to sit out on our balcony.

Fast forward to Saturday, September 27. We're in Boston and have spent the day on board. I finally got to put my bathing suit on and get into the pool this morning. We went to Beefbar for lunch, and then I started working on the blog. At least it's up to date!

We will be leaving for New York at 6:30 tomorrow morning, so we effectively have a final sea day on this voyage. We're arriving in NYC on Monday morning - we're expecting to pass the Statue of Liberty around 7:30...if she's still there😟. 

We'll update you on all of that in the final post, which most likely won't be published until we get home.

The Food Post

 Everyone's favourite! And this time a little different as we could try the new menu at the Osteria d'Ovidio and have a longer look at Beefbar. 

Osteria d'Ovidio

The changes made here since the partnership with the Alajmo Brothers have been nothing short of spectacular. There were people who absolutely despised the original Osteria after Crystal's relaunch, but then it wasn't anything like the American Italian style of the old Prego. The new menus are authentic Italian, reflecting both northern and southern cuisines, and even offer a tasting menu that pulls from both regions.

On our first visit, we tried the tasting menu and couldn't even get to the end of it. On our second dinner, we each chose a couple of courses and left room for the Tiramisu prepared tableside.

Fettucine alla carbonara

Lasagnetta, mini lasagne with a little more
crunch from the homemade pasta

Parmigiana de Melanzana - my favourite egglplant
parmigiana. It was so tasty, too!

Beef Tartare with Black Truffles - sort of
deconstructed, and the truffle shavings are immense

The Venetian Fish Fry - shrimp, fish, a little beer
and salad all at once

Branzino - sea bass. One of my all-time favourites
on a lemon potato puree

A special of the evening - homemade fettucine
with bolognese

Preparation of the tiramisu at the table includes
ladyfingers made on board, a dip in fresh pressed coffee,
mascarpone layers and a good sprinkle of cocoa on top!

As I look back over the menu while writing this post, I'm already looking forward to our next cruise, where we will have unlimited access to the specialty restaurants....I think we'll be here more than just twice!

Beefbar

We had a couple of opportunities to check out Beefbar on our previous cruise, but it was so short that I think we only had one lunch and one dinner. We've been there about three times for lunch and once for dinner so far. Our second meal will be with our friends Jim and Steve when they visit on the 29th.

The menu here isn't huge, and it varies between lunch and dinner. The servings are a good size but, unless you buy the extra cost large Wagyu steaks, not so much that you walk away stuffed. The special touch is that everything on the menu will have some amount of beef in it, sometimes very subtle, but always there. Vegans and vegetarians beware!

Super Kale Salad - delicious with avocado, tomatoes,
anchovies and parmesan cheese. A sort of Caesar
Salad without the Romaine

Beef Tartare and Tartine

The Iconic pizza - personal size with a very
light crust. This one has arugula, truffles
and parmesan cheese. There's a touch
 of beef in there somewhere!

Bao Buns - with Jasmine tea smoked
Wagyu beef

The Beefy Pepperoni Pizza made with
Wagyu Beef Pepperoni

Umami Caesar Salad, very tasty with the
crunch Kobe karasumi on top

I also ordered the Ginger Sea Bream beside the salad but forgot
to take a photo of it. Here's a shot of the
restaurant instead!

Again, we're looking forward to trying more of the options, although we still have that one more dinner before we leave the ship on Tuesday.

We had Beefbar dinner on Monday night, but unfortunately our friends couldn't join us. I think it was the first time either of us actually had dessert there. They were just as delicious as our main courses.

The Pavlova was light and tasty

A gelato lover's delight - vanilla gelato and your
very own selection of toppings.

Waterside, Umi Uma and the Trident Grill haven't changed much since last time, and there were no special meals served like the Omakase Dinner in July.

One thing that is great about Crystal is that if you have a special request, everyone does their best to bring it to you. I only drink sparkling water after dinner, and I ask for it in a Gin and Tonic bowl glass with whatever garnishes the barkeeps have at hand. They now try to outdo each other, and the drinks look so good that I have people asking what is in my glass!

One of the offerings at the Crystal Cove.

That's a good look at the specialty restaurant food we had on this cruise. Hope you enjoyed it! Oh, I may have to update this post with a couple of photos from Scoops. It used to be the ice cream bar, but now that Crystal has a partnership with an Italian family gelateria, it serves the best gelato!

Later ---  as promised, I managed to grab a couple of photos of the amazing gelato at Scoops.

Licking my lips for November!