December 3 and 4, the end of the trip

Last night on board.  We went to a magic show, had a really nice time in the Avenue Saloon with Claire and Allan listening to Mark Farris at the piano and dinner at Silk Road with Andie and Rich. The food at Silk Road was, as usual, very good and I particularly enjoyed the rock shrimp and the black cod with miso. 

Funny how on this very short cruise, where on our last day there were still many faces we'd never seen before, we've socialized perhaps more than usual and felt more at home than ever.

Must mention that there is a Christmas craze going on; just when you think the ship's decked out to the max, out come yet more decorations. It's really beautiful and festive but makes you think that when they all come down the ship will look quite bland.  Not true of course.

Disembarkation was a breeze.  We had to clear customs quite early but had a lovely breakfast on the Lido deck and I had one last slice of French toast which I savoured very, very slowly. This is one of Crystal's small treasures and I wanted to make sure the taste stays imprinted on my mind until I have the pleasure of sailing with Crystal once again. 

We're now at the airport and this adventure has come to an end. I'm carrying home a sombrero, a few extra pounds around my waist and a bagful of great memories. Hasta luego!

Thursday was port day in Puerto Vallarta.  We had chosen to take an excursion to San Sebastian, a Unesco site located an hour and a half drive from the port.  The first pleasant surprise was the lush, mountainous countryside, so different from the dry desertic landscape of Cabo San Lucas. The second one was San Sebastian itself; a former silver mining town producing twenty five pounds of silver daily at its peak, nestled high up in the Sierra Madre mountains. It dates back to the 1600's and has retained a lot of its charm.  An unexpected highlight of this excursion  was a visit to a quaint, local museum privately run by the descendants of one of the town's three original founding families.  The tour of the museum culminated with a hilarious depiction of the original families members' pledge to never mix with the indigenous locals which resulted in a series of intermarriages that, through increasingly convoluted bloodlines, created amazing situations in which a single person's uncle is also her nephew, is also her father-in-law, is also her cousin, etc., etc.; mind boggling but funny and true.

A very good authentic Mexican lunch was served at a restaurant located in a most pleasing and peaceful setting.  Altogether a very nice choice for an excursion.

Friday and Saturday were sea days. Days of doing nothing other than enjoying the weather, reading, talking to fellow cruisers and watching a movie in the Hollywood Theatre. No pressures, no important decisions to be made; simply recharge our batteries and eat much too much good food, including the very popular and nicely done Asian and American buffets.

Friday night we had drinks with Claire and Alan at the Avenue Saloon and together went to the farewell reception, twirled around the Starlight Club's dancefloor and, for the last time this cruise, had dinner with the Captain and enjoyed the French gala which was as good as ever.  My choices included the Malossol caviar and, with the memories of Monday night's dinner still causing me to salivate, picked the lobster for my main course.  Insanely delicious Grand Marnier Souffle and carefully chosen wines made for another memorable dinner in the main dining room.

Tonight is our last night on board and we will be joining friends Andie and Rich at Silk Road. This short cruise has delivered exactly as expected.  Another delightful Crystal special, tailor-made to dissolve the stresses and worries of the past few months.  Two more cruises have been booked and we cannot wait. 

Our early morning excursion was a combination of a short but pleasant boat ride to see Cabo's rock formations and wildlife up close, followed by a drive to a restaurant offering impressive views and photo ops.  The tour was enjoyable but nothing too spectacular; this was our fault as we had been so keen on not doing anything but rest that we had neglected to reserve any tours and by the time we got to it the most interesting ones were already fully booked.

Afternoon tea has become somewhat of a ritual for us; a very civilized affair with traditional offerings such as cucumber sandwiches and scones with strawberries and clotted cream, and not-so-traditional ones which today included the sinfully delicious Mozart hot chocolate;  a concoction of belgian chocolate, rum, whipped cream and chocolate shavings.  Today we had to curb our enthusiasm as we had a date with the Vintage Room. 

After tea we went on a tour of the galley.  Some amazing statistics on food procurement and consumption were followed by an interesting Q&A session with the Executive Chef and ended with an enlightening walk through the main dining room kitchen.  Sr. sous chef Daniel from Chile brought to life the behind-the-scenes acrobatics that result in the various thousands of delicious offerings appearing on our tables and staterooms each day and made it sound almost easy!  not so; it is a carefully choreographed dance that produces the famed Crystal dining experience day in and day out.

The Vintage Room

This evening deserves a writeup of its own as a few words cannot properly describe how unique and fun it was.  It began at 7 pm and ended four hours later; the Vintage Room:  seven courses, seven impeccable wine pairings and twelve people from diverse places and of diverse ages and backgrounds meeting for the first time; anything is possible.  A man who's not from Scotland wearing a kilt, another one proclaiming to be a chef who does not make any money, an opinionated octogenarian, a wine lobbyist, an asian woman who fell asleep at the table, to name a few.  The stage is set.

The fun started as the Brut was being poured.  "The bubbles of the best champagne rise elegantly in a single column from the bottom of the glass; these bubbles rise in disarray, someone says ".  As the main course - a lovely duo of grilled Wagyu beef filet and short rib - is placed in front of us, the self-proclaimed broke chef suddenly quips "filet mignon is a disgusting cut of meat". Huh?? Leonard, our head sommelier is in for a good one.  Don't get me wrong, we had a blast.  The food and wines were outstanding, the service was flawless, the experience was wildly entertaining.  I have always believed that the wisest thing to do when meeting people for the first time is to never discuss politics.  Imagine how polarized and at times confrontational the conversation around the table turned that we purposely brought up politics as a safer alternative!  Afterwards, a few laps around the Promenade deck under a star studded sky helped walk it off before collapsing in bed, still laughing about it all.

A dedicated team of Crystal professionals pulled it off brilliantly and we're already looking forward to our next Vintage Room dinner. 

Last night was formal night. I love formal nights. We went to the Avenue Saloon and were treated to a great jazz performance (this is a Jazz themed cruise). The Captain's welcome reception followed and we learned that there are approximately 750 guests onboard, 322 of which are from California, and 69 are canucks.

We finally realized that we'd landed at the Captain's table and where the previous night there had been only four of us, tonight we had a full table and got to enjoy Captain Giske's company (and wine!).

While most of the table ordered the malossol caviar, I opted for the chicken liver parfait. Served on a tall dessert glass, dolloped on top of pear puree and port terrine, the cloud-textured pate was delicious and rich. The fresh lobster entree was spectacular; tender, buttery tail and claw perched on a bed of truffle-herbed rissotto. Although somewhat of a cliche, the molten chocolate cake was nonetheless oh so yummy.

The show tonight was Curtain Call. The lead singers are quite good and they had strong performances. After dinner we went to the Palm Court for a little dancing.

We sailed into Cabo San Lucas before noon. This is an overnight stop so we decided to stay on the ship and signed up for a tour for tomorrow. It was easy to do nothing in the morning, nothing in the afternoon and take a nap in between! later in the day we went for a power walk on the Promenade deck and spied a pod of whales spouting off in the distance. Having been to Antarctica and Alaska earlier this year, I've become quite the whale spotter.

Cabo, with its distinctive rock formations, cacti and sandy beaches is very beautiful; plentiful wildlife, including numerous kinds of birds, sea lions, whales, dolphins and an abundance of fish, together with the many tourist activities available, make this an attractive travel destination. But the impacts of the enduring economic downturn and the surge in violent criminal activity that has been plaguing many Mexican cities of late can really be felt. Many condos and houses empty, construction sites abandoned; all silent witnesses to the surrounding beauty.

The cruisecritic meet and mingle was held in the Palm Court at 7:45; unfortunately, we had 8 o'clock reservations at Prego and were only able to "mingle" for a short while. Prego was simply flawless. Very uncharacteriscally for us, we ended up ordering the exact same things: melt-in-your-mouth beef carpaccio dressed to perfection with capers, aged balsamic vinegar, evoo and parmesan cheese; the legendary rosemary bread bowl mushroom soup, and dainty gnocci with a rich braised venison bolognese sauce. Desert and a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino rounded off the outstanding meal. We went to bed early as a 7 am tour awaits tomorrow.

Jazz at the Avenue Saloon

Captain's Reception

Parasailing in Cabo

Curtain Call

This is a lazy post on a lazy afternoon. Considering all the things I could be doing but have chosen not to do, watching small birds seemingly suspended in the gentle breeze suddenly take a dive to skim the shimmering ocean surface for some unseen silvery catch.

Today we awoke to the rythmic rocking of the stabilizers, still a bit groggy having lost one hour overnight as we crossed a timezone. Sleep was an elixir we have seldom imbibed these past few months, ordinary worries and extraordinary stress crowding our dreams night after night. But as I wake up, my only worry is whether or not I'll have time for coffee and a pastry before my scheduled facial. This level of pampering sets the tone for a week of pure rest and relaxation.

We've spent the day doing not much at all; giddily absorbing the heat and the sunshine from the refuge of our balcony, eating prize-deserving burgers and sweet potato fries at the Trident Grill and generally having a heck of a time. Familiar faces greet us as several of the Lido guys come by to say hi. The are awesome and a Crystal cruise would not be the same without them. The Symphony feels just right; all decked out for Christmas it looks elegant and festive, welcoming and familiar. High tea in the Palm Court is pure joy; spotting the ocassional whale fluke off in the distance, listening to the fantastic string quartet play Mozart, wiping the clotted cream off my chin. We chat with Slovan, our Croatian waiter and discuss the virtues of Vancouver and Victoria both of which he's visited while doing the Alaska runs this past Summer. We agree that Victoria is the nicest of the two and that it is a bit like the Symphony; beautiful and very civilized.

We left Vancouver at an ungodly hour yesterday morning. Rain was peltering the tarmac as we took off. Minutes later the captain announced that the weather awaiting us in LA was, well, perfect! We arrived at the port before noon and within thirty minutes were being seated in the main dining room, our carry-on bag having been taken care of, a glass of bubbly firmly in hand. Everything is good.

Sail away was nothing short of magical. Yes I left my camera in our stateroom so my word will have to suffice. We left LA as the sun went down, a sliver of a moon hanging in the indigo sky above Catalina island , sun rays as I have only seen on religious paintings shooting up from behind a hill, palm trees in sharp contrast and Louie Armstrong singing in the background.

Mark Farris entertained us at the piano in the Avenue Saloon. This is one of our favourite hangouts for a pre-dinner cocktail. We had really enjoyed Martin Orbidans on our previous cruise but Farris did not disappoint. Dinner was a lot of fun even though we were seated at a table for nine -more on this later- and only two of our tablemates showed up. Andy and Rich from California are great table partners; we had a nice, long, entertaining dinnertime. Particularly enjoyed the marinated shrimp appetizer.

Best of intentions led us to the Palm Court for a little dancing but the band was on a break. We decided to call it a night.