Cruise Overview

Welcome to our Ultimate Panama Canal Adventure Blog.

We hope to keep this Blog updated daily once on board the ship.

We just wanted to say a few words about the format of the blog As you scroll down the blog on the right side you will see a map and an itinerary of the voyage, a table of contents to locate posts from a particular day, a motivational quote that will change daily, and if you continue scrolling down towards the end of the blog you will see links to other sites. The main body of the blog is located on the site from left to middle and contains a little background on us relative to when we began to cruise and our thoughts on cruising and as you scroll down you will come to our first posting. The most recent posting will always be first followed by older posts.

This will be our first time back on-board the Crystal Symphony since we sailed from Los Angeles to Hong Kong in the Spring of 2009.

We board the Symphony on November 2 for a nineteen day sailing, starting in New York City and ending at the Port of Los Angeles World Cruise Center in San Pedro, California. This sailing includes stops in Philadelphia, Charleston, Miami, Grand Cayman, Cartagena, Caldera, Acapulco, and Cabo San Lucas, along with nine glorious days at sea, including a transit of the Panama Canal.

We booked this cruise almost nineteen months ago while sailing on the Crystal Symphony. As soon as we spotted this voyage, we knew it would be a perfect cruise. We especially liked the overall length of the cruise, the fact that it starts and ends in the Continental United States, the timing of the cruise which allows us to get back home for Thanksgiving to be with our family, and the nice mix of port and sea days. We thought the stops in Philadelphia and Charleston would be of particular interest. We have never been to Charleston, SC.

Prior to the start of the cruise, we will spend a few days in New York City with family and friends, and we look forward to visiting some familiar sites, and also seeing a couple of Broadway shows.

The theme for this cruise is Crystal Society. Each past passenger who has completed their first Crystal Cruise becomes a member of the Crystal Society. Many frequent cruisers of Crystal appreciates cruises of this length with lots of sea days as Crystal Cruises offers a very comprehensive enrichment and entertainment program that we believe is number one in the cruise industry. There will be several outstanding lecturers and entertainers on board the ship, some who we know very well from other sailings with Crystal.

The Crystal Symphony was built in Finland and entered service in March, 1995. The size of the ship is around 51,000 tons. Assuming two passengers per cabin the Symphony can carry approximately 960 passengers, along with a crew totaling close to 550 people. As many solo passengers cruise with Crystal, often even if the ship has been sold out, there are fewer passengers on the ship.

In addition to the Main Dining Room, there are two specialty restaurants featured on the ship; Prego and Silk Road. Prego features Italian Cuisine. and Silk Road, features Japanese Cuisine.

Most recently, in late October/early November of 2009 the Crystal Symphony received a twenty-five million dollar makeover. This included a wide range of enhancements including a new look for the Lido Cafe which serves breakfast and lunch, new top of the line woks and pizza ovens, new pool deck furniture and Jacuzzi bathtubs, along with a redesign of the two Crystal Penthouses and an update to all of the other rooms on the Penthouse Desk, a makeover to the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant, along with several other changes. Each of the standard staterooms received new couches and these staterooms were updated just a few years earlier as part of a major refurbishment of the ship. We look forward to seeing all of these enhancements.

We will post again sometime next week before the start of our trip.

As we have done in the past, we will share a thought for the day with each and every post.

OUR THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides and shrugs; and an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all --he's walking on them."

Leonard Louis Levinson