The End….

March 16

Two things on everyone’s minds in these last couple of days: packing suitcases and making sure that flights home from Perth were secured. Now that we would have to deal with it directly, the extent of the COVID-19 crisis was starting to hit home. Many countries had started to close airports as well as ports, imposing 14-day quarantines for anyone arriving from abroad, and international flights were becoming harder to organize, especially from halfway around the world.

We had already arranged to send 4 of our cases home with a company called Luggage Forward. It was one of a number of options, and in doing the research, seemed like the best one. But that meant we also had to itemize what was in those cases as we packed, making the job take a little longer. We were flying to Sydney on March 20 and then home via Vancouver on March 22. Everything was under control…

Some onboard activities still managed to distract us:

Mozart Tea.  Afternoon tea in Palm Court is a regular event, but once per cruise there’s the Mozart Tea, featuring Austrian specialties and the music of Strauss et al. We don’t usually have afternoon tea, but we happened to be in Palm Court as they were setting up, so we stayed for a bit.

And in the evening, we had yet another colourful sunset. This is a real favourite:

We had dinner in Prego again, taking every advantage to have our favourite dishes:

Beef Carpaccio

Mushroom Soup in a bread bowl

Veal Marsala with a side of creamy polenta

Lasagna

And after dinner, the main entertainment event was Liar’s Club. This is the game show where the panelists have to provide definitions for some really wacky words, and the audience tries to pick the one who is actually telling the truth. Tonight the panel was made up of Gary Hunter, Stacey Huston and Rabbi Morrie Hershman. We’d seen Gary and Rabbi Morrie before, but weren’t sure if Stacey could hold her own against them. It turned out to be a lot of fun!

March 17

The next day was St. Patrick’s Day, and Head Sommelier Jiri had arranged a ‘Lunch and Lecture’ session on Champagne in the Vintage Room. Our friends had been really impressed by the champagne talk on a previous segment, so Monica decided to go.

Caviar to start

Seared tuna with pepper

Jiri posing alongside his presentation

The main course, Sole filet

Dessert - cherry and mascarpone with a hint of chocolate

And specially made chocolates to top it all off

Needless to say, dinner that night would be a light meal for her, and there was still the St. Patrick’s Day show and dancing in the Crystal Plaza to look forward to.

March 18

Pack! Pack! Pack! Was the order of the day. That and try to figure out what Virgin Australia was doing. All of a sudden we weren’t on the direct flight to Sydney on Friday, but flying through Melbourne on Saturday, the 21^st instead. So now instead of our two nights in Sydney before our flight home, we were down to one – and we’d have to arrange to stay overnight in Perth. So as Monica continued to pack, Larry got on the computer and booked a night’s stay in the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Crisis averted…

We spent some time with Rene and Kathy that evening. As we were arriving in Fremantle a day early thanks to losing Geraldton, a number of guests had arranged to fly home on the evening of the 19^th, skipping the last night on board and the interminable day waiting to fly once they’d left the ship.

Also because of the number of guests leaving on the 19^th, the Farewell Show was held on the 18^th. The whole entertainment staff was involved:

Stacey and Beverley doing a dance number.

Irina and Rafael performing a duet

 And the most bittersweet of the performances came from Gary Hunter. This was his final cruise as a Cruise Director as he is retiring at the beginning of May. He started out as a guest entertainer – a ventriloquist – and became the first Cruise Director for Crystal Serenity. He brought Mr. and Mrs. Tweed, everyone’s favourite characters, out for the last time – unless he makes some guest appearances here and there in the future. All the best to you, Gary!!

And to cap it off, as many of the crew as could be spared marched into the Galaxy Lounge and up on stage to say goodbye.

March 19

Our final day wasn’t supposed to come for another 4 weeks, but global events had changed that. Nothing we could do about it but take home some lessons learned for the next time – 2023 possibly. Our flight had been changed once again, now going through Brisbane instead of Melbourne, but everything else was organized.

There wasn’t much entertainment going on that evening. It seemed like the ship was being put to bed, as much of the hotel staff would be leaving the ship in the next few days while they still could, and the remaining crew was taking Serenity to wherever she would be laid up until the crisis is over and the world gets back to some kind of normal.

Only a few people listening to Irina play in the Crystal Cove

And fewer still in the Avenue for Joel's set

We weren’t quite ready to say goodbye to our suite, the ship, and the crew, but it was obviously time to do so while we could still get home. E-mails had been getting more anxious and the news reports we had been reading more serious. Although we don’t know when it will be, we have next time to look forward to.