After leaving Auckland on Tuesday evening, we sailed across
the 'Mighty Tasman' Sea for two days before arriving in Sydney. But first, after we boarded the ship, we
walked in to our stateroom and found...
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies! Our butler, Engin, told us that the
notation is in our file that Mr. Rowe likes Crystal's oatmeal raisin cookies,
so here they are! There's a story to this, which is recounted in one of the
posts from our Crystal Esprit cruise in September of 2017.
It was great to see the results of the big drydock in
November, especially the complete renovation of Palm Court. More photos to come
as we go along.
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| In the new Palm Court. The bar menu has been updated and now includes a Gin & Tonic selection with different types of gin, herb infusions and juices along with the tonic water. The fishbowl looks big, but it has lots of ice in it! |
We have, of course, met up with many of the crew members
we've known for a long time, even some we didn't expect to see. Ross, who was a
pool and Lido Cafe server when we first met him on Crystal Harmony, is now a
sommelier, about to take his exams. Great for him!! We've also seen most of the
regular pool and Marketplace (formerly Lido Cafe) staff from the past few
years, some barkeeps, and Mariya, the Bar Manager. We were most surprised to
run into Ross Martin, who was Bar Manager on Serenity before his promotion to
managing the Bar Departments for all of Crystal, including the River and Yacht
divisions. We look forward to having a nice chat with him before he has to
leave the ship.
On Thursday we went to one of the new dining venues, Silk,
for dinner. This replaces Tastes on Crystal Serenity and has a Chinese style
menu. Larry had read a number of mixed reviews online, but wanted to reserve
judgement until he'd tried it himself. Good thing, because we found everything
to be delicious. Dishes are served family style, but geared to the number of
people at the table, and the portions are just right. There aren't any photos
for your 'foodies', but we'll put some in a later post once we've visited
again.
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| The new Silk dining venue - minimalist but comfortable seem to be the watchwords for the new decor, and it works! |
The big event yesterday was the sail-in to Sydney Harbour.
No matter how often you've done it, this remains one of the most beautiful
ports in the world, and it can't be missed. The ship is almost full for this
segment of the cruise, and it seemed that practically everyone was either
outside or in Palm Court for our arrival. Unfortunately, there was no sailing
past the Opera House or under the Harbour Bridge - Serenity is too high to fit
under the bridge, and Carnival Spirit, which was in Auckland the day before we
boarded, had the prime spot at the Overseas Passenger Terminal. So it was left
for us to anchor at Athol Buoy, just off the Taronga Zoo.
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| The point at the south side of the harbour entrance |
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| The Americas Cup sailing races will be back in Auckland in 2020, and there is a grand prix circuit to set the competitors. This is Team USA on a practice run in the harbour. Boy, can those boats fly!! |
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| Watching the sail-in |
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| One of the world's most iconic views |
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| Sydney Harbour has always got sailboats on it, especially on weekends |
Yesterday afternoon we took the tender in to Sydney to do a
little bit of shopping. Monica has a favourite store for buying workout gear,
and their main location is not far from Circular Quay, so it is worth a stop.
There is now a store at home in Don Mills, but, as the girl in the shop pointed
out, they're in the wrong season and they won't have these designs in yet. That
done, we decided to go back to the ship instead of walking around to Darling
Harbour for dinner. Good thing, as it started to rain quite heavily, with some
thunder and lightning thrown in, a little after 6 p.m., and it lasted for a
couple of hours in total.
We had dinner at Umi Uma, which used to be called Silk Road.
When Crystal made some big changes to both ships, making open seating possible,
they also renamed the restaurant venues. Umi Uma is the Japanese word for
Seahorse, which is a perfect fit as Crystal's logo is a pair of seahorses. Much of the menu here is
the same, but a few new elements have been added. Again, it was an excellent
meal.
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| A selection of sashimi and sushi rolls. Yummy! |
This morning we were back on the tender into the city. We
headed for Circular Quay as we had to catch the ferry to Watson's Bay just
after 11:00 to be in time for our noon lunch reservation at Doyles on the
Beach. We had some extra time on our hands, so we walk around to, and then all
the way around, the Opera House. This is the last weekend for the Sydney
Chinese Lunar Year Festival, and the huge decorations were still up. Many were
the same as we'd seen last year, but they were in different places around the
Quay.
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| 2019 is the Year of the Pig, and this cute display was at the Overseas Passenger Terminal |
Anyone who's read previous instalments of the blog knows
that lunch at Doyles is a must-do on each of our visits to Sydney. We used to
have the seafood platter for two that included at least one of almost
everything under the sun PLUS french fries, but we found last year that it was
getting harder to finish all the fish and seafood. This time we opted for
individual starters and main course, and managed to finish everything!
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| We had a nice table right on the beach promenade. Monica's assorted appetizer plate with a raw oyster, smoked salmon pate, fried calamari and a stuffed shrimp |
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| Larry chose a half dozen Sydney Rock Oysters |
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| Never one to resist fish and chips, at least he went local with barramundi |
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| Monica's barramundi with saffron sauce and veggies |
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| And ice cream for dessert |
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| Monica's favourite coffee affogsto - ice cream with espresso and Kahlua. Pour everything on top of the ice cream and enjoy! |
On the way back, Monica managed to dodge the Chinese
tourists to get a few good photos of Serenity with the Bridge in the background.
So now we're back, 8,500 steps later, taking a load off and
catching up with blog writing. We'll be leaving Sydney around 6 p.m., headed
for Hobart, Tasmania. Let's hope the Tasman stays nice and calm for us
tomorrow.
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