Headline News: We haven't seen it but have heard from several friends that Keith was in the CBS Morning Show about Crystal Cruises sailing the Northwest Passage. We wanted to give a shout out to the Crystal Serenity Crew. There are many crewmembers that have been unable to get off the ship since the Northwest Passage epic voyage began. Yet, they have not only put forth 100%+ professionalism and dedication throughout this voyage but have displayed enthusiasm and delight for each of us. This to us is Team Crystal at its best. At the same time so many members of the crew have been providing so much support to make this a successful expedition. This includes those crew members who are performing functions other than their normal day-to-day responsibilities such as the those standing on stair wells to direct us to the zodiacs, those who put our life vests on for us, those who wait for our arrival back from the zodiacs, and those who assist us getting in and out of the zodiacs. Other examples include crew members who worked had to secure the zodiacs on the beach landing areas which was not an easy feat between the tides and the wind. It also includes those crewmembers who were performing escort functions for a few hours at a time at the two beach areas. We could go on and on with examples. They all do all of this with smiles on their face, ensuring our safety and taking pleasure in their duties. Thank you Team Crystal Serenity for all that you do each and everyday to make this and all of our sailings so very special. You are the best. You rock. Also thank you to all the members of Team Serenity who do so many amazing things on board the ship including the fantastic entertainment team, food and beverage, housekeeping, front office including reception, and concierge, shore excursions, the technical side, the fitness and salon areas and so many other areas on board the ship. Also kudos to Jim Manager of Shore Excursions from Crystal Symphony. He was on the island all-day yesterday without returning the ship until the end. At that point the weather had turned so very cold and it was snowing. We do not know how he did it. Just amazing. Before dinner we were back at the Avenue Saloon for a pre-dinner drink. We spent our time at the Avenue Saloon talking through with one another all that we have experienced these past view days. We have taken what we had read before this journey began, with all of the on-oboard lectures and put this together with our own experiences such as yesterday. We feel very blessed to be part of this epic and historical adventure. As to the on-board experience we also talked about that. We have sailed a couple of times on 200 passenger ships and there were some items that we very much found unique about them. At the same time there are downsides with small ships. When we walk into the Avenue Saloon or for that matter when we would go to the busier Crystal Cove we have found a similarity to something we enjoyed about the small ships but something you don't normally find on a ship of say 1,000 passengers but something that makes Crystal special for us. When we walked into the Avenue Saloon last night as has been the case every night, the moment we walk in the bartender sees us and as we are seated if we look up to the bar we see him putting two chardonnay glasses on the bar and he is getting ready to pour the specific chardonnay that we enjoy. When one of three of the bar staff come over with drinks it is hello Mr. and Mrs. Steiner here is the x brand of chardonnay that you enjoy. It's a feeling of being on one of those small ships. It might seem small but it is those little details that we appreciate. Dinner was at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. This was only our third visit since boarding Serenity. Originally someone else was supposed to join us but with the upcoming unexpected tour for the next day he was unable to be with us. Instead we did enjoy a quiet evening with just the two of us at dinner. We had a wonderful time at dinner. Food was just marvelous. One of the aspects of Silk Road under the direction of Nobu are the sauces that accompany many of his items. Take the photo of the trio of Nobu Specials. They are sashimi. Anne Marie does not eat sashimi the way Keith does. Yet, she enjoys the trio because with those sauces she isn't thinking that the items are sashimi as they add so much to the taste but also to the texture of the sashimi. We laughed last night when Anne Marie used the chop sticks. After all these years she still asks for the American chop sticks. Translation; fork and knife. Many years ago she used to use chop sticks on training wheels. Translation; chop sticks with a rubber band to keep them together. Last night she used the chop sticks to eat the mushrooms that were in the pot that the mushroom soup came in. Job well done. Keith always said if you can thread a needle and sew you can use chop sticks. LOL. The evening entertainment featured multiple events. Trumpet Virtuoso Gary Guthman performed pre dinner show for those on late seating at 7:45 PM and an after dinner show for those on early seating at 8:45 PM. In between these performances a Country Western Dance Party was held in the Crystal Cove featuring live music performed by the Crystal Sextet along with dancing. In preparation for this event two days ago line dancing was taught by Northwest Passage Hostess Stacey Huston and yesterday country western 2-step was taught by dance instructors Curtis and Natalie. The only bad news was that when we returned to our room we forwarded the clocks forward by one hour as we sail to yet another new time zone. We kept to our normal morning routine of exercise for the two of us. This included a workout at the Fitness Center for Keith and an indoor cycling class and a one hour walk for Anne Marie along with Yoga. While we sailed into where we would be anchored Keith was taking an indoor cycling class and the views were amazing. We had the opportunity to take yet another unexpected adventure which was a one hour zodiac cruise off Crocker Island. Our tickets arrived last night with a letter. As much as we thought about doing it, we passed on it for two reasons. Keith is not 100% back to normal but is certainly doing much better. However, the other reason is that Anne Marie is on a chemo medication for a blood disorder she has. It requires being hydrated throughout the day and evening. We make an exception from time to time but with no restrooms on zodiacs and in the case of yesterday no restrooms ashore this means that for several hours before these types of tours she doesn't hydrate. We didn't think it was wise to do this two days in a row. We would normally not explain this to others but are doing so in case some think to themselves why in the earth didn't those two get off the ship today. While we are on the subject of unexpected adventures we wanted to briefly explain how that works. Either prior to boarding Serenity or once on-board each guest can indicate which of the unexpected adventures that they would consider. They might vary as to whether some or all are offered on any given day but these were the choices: zodiac, kayak, helicopter, fast boat. One day or so before the event the captain along with his chief officers, the Crystal Cruises project manager and the expedition team get together to decided whether on a sea day an unexpected adventure can be offered. They consider factors such as weather and whether or not we are ahead, on or not on schedule and where we are at the time and what can be offered. Safety is always number one priority. If they can offer the unexpected adventure they finalize the timing and logistics of this and the night before guests receive tickets and a letter about the excursion that also specify time that the people need to meet. If one decides not to go they can turn in their tickets with no cost. If they desire a different time or different excursion every effort is made to make that happen. The logistics to put all this together is amazing. Once a go decision is made the shore excursion group has to print letters, print tickets have them all sent to the rooms and then they personally leave messages on each persons voice mail. At the same time all of the crew who will be involved with the expedition must be contacted and schedules organized. This includes the team on board to get people in and out of the zodiacs, the escorts/crew who will be on the island or wherever we are stopping, the crew who provide directions, and the expedition team must have staffing in all of the right places at all of the right times. This is logistics planning at its finest. The intent is also to provide an experience that is very much like you find an an expedition ship. Yesterday was case in point. A little over 400 guests participated in the the unexpected adventure. As we understand every guest who wanted the experience was able to go as some guests turned in tickets. Many were on the zodiacs as we were. The way the visit was planned you had around 20 guests (sometimes a little more than that and sometimes a little less) on one of the two islands at any given time. Zodiacs ran around every twenty minutes. As one zodiac arrived to the first island either people already there were getting ready to take the transfer over to the second island or had already left or would be leaving soon. It all worked like clockwork so that we never felt crowded. There were many personnel on hand from Crystal and the expedition team so you had as much personal assistance as needed. It provided us with quiet time as for us it was a very emotional experience as we discussed yesterday. Kudos to all of those involved in the planning and execution of these unexpected short excursions. We truly enjoyed the scenery from the ship. It is very unique between the glacier and also the mountains. Absolutely beautiful. The planet we live on is so diverse with so much to see. This area is also so unique because it is clearly pristine. Those on the zodiacs saw some wild life including seals. Expedition Lecturer Hector Williams presented Empire of the Bay. The focus of this talk was about Hudson Bay which is a company founded to trade furs out of all the territory whose rivers flowed into the Empire of the Bay. He covered the history of this company from the late 17th century to the present day.
Later in the morning, Expediton Lecturer Adam LaJeunesse spoke about the Arctic Cold War. This includes Russia, Canada and the USA. He spoke about what some of the issues are. He is optimistic that they will be resolved. In the afternoon, Expedition Lecturer Margar Bertulli spoke about the early arctic people who have lived in the Canadian Arctic for almost 4,500 years. She explored their lifeways based on physical evidence of artifacts and other data that has been recovered by archaeologists. We are posting early now. Keith & Anne Marie Breaking News The last 24 hours have been absolutely amazing. Yesterday afternoon we saw our first iceberg of this epic and historical voyage. This was part of some of the unexpected sightings. A good deal of pad was built into the schedule in the event that we encountered ice that would slow down our journey. Since that has not been the case, this provides opportunities to spend more time in certain areas and to do unexpected sightings and excursions. As we started sailing towards the two icebergs, the sun was shining bright and the outside temperature was 30 degrees Fahrenheit . About seventy-five minutes later the temperature rose to a balmy 36 degrees F. We call the one on the left the boot. Looks like cowboy boot. On the right, we call this one layer of a layer cake. On the right are butlers Cetin and Jijo. Metin was a Waiter in Prego before becoming a butler and Jijo is our butler. The Captain turned the ship so we saw one of the Icebergs from a different angle. The ship also launched one of the drones to take some photos. Once again we returned to the Avenue Saloon for a pre-dinner drink. On each cruise we often find ourselves changing some of our patterns. For several years we used to go the Crystal Cove for a pre-dinner drink but the last few cruises we now go to the Avenue Saloon. Plus side for the Avenue Saloon before early dining is that it is relatively quiet. Downside is that we miss out on a live pianist. Next cruise we'll try the Palm Court. LOL. Dinner was back at the Crystal Dining Room for the second consecutive night. This time we were by ourselves. We do love to mix it up and dine with others some evening's while dining by ourselves on other nights. Head waiter Augusto made Keith tuna tartare and Anne Marie had jumbo shrimp cocktail for her appetizer. We each had salads for our next course. This was followed by Fresh Halibut Fillet. The featured evening entertainment was a special cabaret show. This featured Jonathan Hawkins, along with Curtis and Natalie as well as Sarah Combs and Eric Strong. They were accompanied by The Galaxy Orchestra. This was a pre-dinner show performed at 7:00 PM for those on early seating and at 8:30 PM for those on late seating. The performance was amazing. Jonathan sang a wide range of music from a song by Justin Timberlake to an opera song.
When we arrived back to our room we received tickets for an unexpected adventure. Weather permitting we will take a zodiac and make a beach landing on Beechey Island. We will have time to walk around the island. We will rebound the zodiac for a short ride over to Northumberland House for another visit. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this happens. Sees were relatively calm and we slept well as we sail towards Beechey Island. We began the morning as we normally do. A workout for Keith, early breakfast and a workout for Anne Marie. Two lectures on the program. We watched the first one from our room as we got ready for our unexpected tour. It was given by Expedition Lecturer Henry Pollack who spoke about glacial landscapes. He spoke about moving ice as an erosional agent, capable of carving deep valleys and plucking and transporting bedrock to new locations. The next lecture we watched later in the day. It was given by General Nick Halley and covered what he calls radical Islam and why he thinks the fight will go on for 5000 years. It's his guess and none of us will be around to know whether or not he is right. In the past two days we have heard about the centuries of exploration of the Northwest Passage starting with the first exploration and continuing through the 19th century. In this afternoon’s talk, Destination Lecturer Adam Lajeunesse took this a step further by discussing exploration starting in the 20th century. The reality is that by the early 20th century European explorer had mapped most of the Canadian Arctic. However, some of their information was limited and the majority of the sea-lanes were not well understood. He spoke about the exploration that occurred in the 1950’s with both American and Canadian icebreakers finishing what men like Sir John Franklin had started. We took the 11:45 AM unexpected tour over to Beechey Island. various Once on Beechy Island we walked the area and payed our respects to the brave people who lost their lives. After we finished walking around we took what they called a shuttle (zodiac) over to Northumberland House where we saw artifacts including the woodshop. We then took a zodiac back to Serenity. For the first time we were on the 10 person zodiac rather than a 20 person one. We were on with just some of the people from the expedition team and one of the ship’s photographers. We did get some splashes of water inside the zodiac, which added to the experience. Words cannot adequately express our emotions from having to do this unexpected adventure. We visited a place where so few on this planet have ever put their feet on land. We also felt humbled and felt the emotion of those who risked their lives as part of discovery. This is how the world got discovered with brave people who set sail in vessels far from the luxury ship we are on. We would say that about 400 or so guests did one of the unexpected adventures. This was mainly those guests doing the zodiac landing as well as those doing the fastboat. The fast boat visited the same sites but they don’t land as we did. We did see some helicopters and we believe some guests when up on them. The landing at the respective beaches was just a bit more challenging for some as you had to walk on rocks while in water and then up a steep incline. As they say, weather can change rapidly in this part of the world. By late afternoon, it was snowing. We’ve included a photo of one of the zodiacs arriving back to Serenity when it was foggy, windy and snowing. We hope that our photos will give you a feel for our experience. The past few days have clearly been one if not our most memorable experiences of all our cruising. More fun planned for this evening
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