Hi All,
We are home in Dahlonega. We left the ship at 830am on Monday. Since we had previously cleared immigration in St Thomas, we only had to go through customs in Miami. We collected our luggage (5 bags) with the help of a porter named Fleming. He loaded the bags onto a large cart, and we got in the line for the customs inspector. After a short wait, we were cleared and made our way out of the terminal. The company we were using to ship our luggage, Luggage Concierge, had a truck right in front of the terminal. They collected the three bags we were shipping and the porter took us and the other bags to the car that was waiting to take us to the airport. Crystal was providing car service to over 600 world cruisers, so scheduling all this must have been challenging. We were each given a time to leave the ship, and I must say it worked perfectly. In about 15 minutes we were at the Miami airport and checked in about 9am for our 1245pm flight to Atlanta. Our flight left on time and at 230pm we arrived in Atlanta. Waiting for us holding a sign with our name was the driver to take us to Dahlonega. We collected our checked luggage, got in a very nice Cadillac sedan and made the hour and a half drive home. We decided we could get used to limo service!
All was well in our home. Our townhouse is so easy to lockup and leave for months at a time. Our HOA takes care of everything on the outside. All we have to do is turn on the water, do a bit of dusting, and we are home. On Tuesday, Jer went to check on the motorhome. After sitting for four months with the batteries not being charged, it started right up, YES! After Jer worked a bit on a little electrical issue, the motorhome is ready for the trip to Traverse City. We are leaving on the 16th for Forest City, Iowa for some warranty work on the coach, and then on to TC. We are looking forward to our 8th summer in TC and seeing our Michigan friends.
So, what about the cruise? Did we enjoy it? Was it too long to be on a ship? Yes, we loved the cruise. Nearly four months on the ship wasn’t too long, but it was long enough! We were ready to get home and on to our summer in TC. We chose the cruise for the itinerary, and it didn’t disappoint. The highlights for us were Easter Island, Pitcairn Island, New Zealand (could move there tomorrow), Australia, Africa, and especially South Africa. We loved Buenos Aires. Rio has never been one of our favorite cities, and it still isn’t. The Amazon River is simply amazing.
Crystal is a wonderful cruise line. They work very hard to meet the passengers expectations. The service on board is absolutely the best. The passengers are certainly of the senior demographic, so Crystal probably would not work as well for younger cruisers. We are also seniors, but I would say we were in the youngest 10% on the ship. The ship’s doctor told another passenger that over the 108 days of the cruise, 20 passengers were evacuated from the ship for medical reasons. One passenger died on the ship (she was about 100 years old), and another very elderly woman died after being evacuated from the ship. She was taken off the ship in Australia and died later in a hospital. The ship had its share of the usual colds and bronchitis that seems to get passed around on any ship. Except for one bout of the bronchitis, we stayed well on the ship. Oh, except for that little stomach issue after drinking the Inca beer in Lima :). Would we do another world cruise? Maybe, but not anytime soon. The itinerary would have to be really something special, as this one was. For now we will return to the shorter cruises we have been taking for many years. We have booked a Princess cruise to the Caribbean for the fall.
Now to our last day and evening on the ship.
Jer's last lunch, keeping it healthy. Burgers so good, especially with bacon and blue cheese!!!
Crystal did a DVD for the entire cruise, each passenger received a copy. We had a showing of it on our last afternoon. At the end of the showing, a couple hundred crew members marched down the showroom aisles to the stage. The crew on the ship were fantastic.
In the evening we had a big farewell party which included a ballon and confetti drop. The Captain thanked everyone and wished them safe travels home.
Ready to go!
Dancing before the big drop.
Bombs away!
Helen seems dazzled by it all!
The heart and soul of the ship are the Lido deck crew members from the Philippines. Each of them will call you by name after your first day on the ship. Here are some of them. Most of the pictures are with Jer since Helen was taking the pictures.
Joe always served us drinks by the pool and in the Cove in the evenings.
Nino, he went home after the cruise.
Raymond, a really nice guy!
Ed, always on duty when Jer went for coffee at 5am.
Leo, love his hair!
Mel
Lovely Pamela from Chile. She always knew what we were drinking.
Helen with Crystal dancer Beverly who wowed us with many shows.
Crystal lead dancer Dimitri on left with friend. Dimitri toured with River Dance, and he had some amazing moves.
We made many wonderful friends on the ship, here are some of them.
Peggy from NYC with her medal from team trivia.
Elaine from NYC on our day safari in South Africa.
Sal and Linda from California.
Kathy from Boston, we did some private tours together.
Carl and Christeen from New Jersey. She does triathlons for fun!
Stephen and Peter, retired doctors from NYC, we toured with them. They brought two bicycles on the ship which they used in many ports. We always said they looked like brothers.
Lois from Vegas baby!
Hans and Sylvia from Germany, they played golf in many of the ports.
Jean Guy from Canada. He was Helen’s daily ray of sunshine (wait, I thought I was).
So that wraps up our last day on the cruise. The next day we were in Miami heading for the airport.
The car that brought us home.
We have loved doing the blog and hope those that followed it enjoyed it. We have a request. If you were along with us, please drop us an email at gbfleming@att.net, we really don’t know who was viewing the blog. Thanks.
So, bye for now from Jer and Helen!
Have a great summer!
