Crystal Serenity – Triple Southern Caribbean Cruise – FLL to FLL – 11/28 – 12/22/2025
November
28, 2025 – Travel Day
Because of the
Thanksgiving Holiday, we cannot fly into FLL the day before we join the
ship. We are doing something quite rare
for us – we are flying in on Embarkation Day, which means a very early flight
for us. The other issue today is the
Winter Storm coming to the Chicago area this afternoon – up to eight inches of
snow expected along with strong winds.
We have to get out of here before that.
Our flight, United 1421 is scheduled to depart ORD at 7:06 AM (arrival
in FLL at 11:16 AM). Working backwards,
I set up a taxi pickup at 5:15 AM, which means getting up around 4 AM. We’ll nap on the plane.
When we moved
into this condo, we decided to pitch the alarm clock in the bedroom so the only
alarm I had was on my phone (my watch also had an alarm but probably not loud
enough to wake me up). As is generally
the case, I get up before the alarm goes off and I was up around 3:30 AM. We both got ready – all the suitcases were
ready yesterday and by the door so, when the text from the taxi came in, we
headed downstairs. The doorman on duty
helped us get the bags ups the lobby stairs we boarded the cab (#48) at 5:15
AM. The cabbie was snoozing in the front
passenger seat but he did pop up and help us with our bags.
It was cold
and dark (but no snow) as we took a different route to ORD – Gross Point to Dempster,
then to the Edens, then to the I-90, and then to ORD. It seemed shorter because the route involved
fewer surface streets. We were at the
airport around 5:50 AM. When I checked
in for this flight, I set up an outside expedited bag check (first time) and
when we arrived in Terminal 1, there was a bag drop out there (sheltered
fortunately from the cold). The agent
checked our IDs, scanned our digital boarding passes, and tagged our bags. Our next stop was TSA at the far left side of
T1. There was no one in line at TSA and
we zipped right through.
We crossed
under the tarmac to Concourse C and found our gate C22. Our plane was there and we had about 45
minutes until the 7:26 AM Boarding Time.
Our gate was crowded so we found seats across the way. We are in Mileage Plus seats, 11A and 11B, on
this plane (an A321 Neo) but looking at my boarding pass I noticed that it said
“no window”. I had carefully checked out
these seats to make sure there was a window.
I took my issue to the agent at C22 and she told me that the plane was
full but she would see what she could do.
(Note – she was not able to do anything).
We boarded
pretty much on time and found our seats. They were comfortable enough but there
was no window. I solved the mystery
pretty quickly – this was not an A321 Neo but a B737-800 – swapping equipment
resulted in no window. I might write
United when I get home to lodge a complaint.
We took off on
time (and beat the snow) – the flight – a little over three hours – was smooth
(no bathroom visit for me) and we arrived 25 minutes early in FLL. We deplaned and headed to the baggage claim
area, where we saw a man holding a sign with our names on it. He asked us if we
got the text – I hadn’t seen it because it came in just as I switched on the
phone. This was our chauffeur, Russ, who
was going to take us – just us to the Cruise Terminal to our ship. I was expecting a van but instead we got into
a huge SUV (a Lincoln maybe) parked just a short distance from baggage
claim. There was bottle water and a very
comfortable ride to Port Everglades. Russ told us that there were seven ships
here today.
We broke with
tradition and, taking Russ’s advice, kept our suitcases which we would take to
our cabin and place outside the door. To
that end, we walked right into the cruise terminal building, through security,
scanned our boarding passes and headed on to the ship. On the ship, we were sent to a table to
complete the check-in process and register our credit card (I had done that on
line so this was a kind of verification).
Crew members took our suitcases and said they would drop them at our
cabin.
We went up to
the Trident Grill and Marketplace Restaurants on Deck 12 for
lunch. I had their always wonderful
Gazpacho (the best anywhere) and their oversized Impossible Burger along with a
Belgian beer. I was officially on board.
I checked out the cabin – 7020 – a very nice stateroom portside forward in the Entertainment area (guest entertainers and speakers are domiciled here) (We were next door the last time on Serenity). The suitcases were there but no room keys – I called Guest Services and they said they would send up keys. The keys arrived and they covered all three short cruises and were good until 12/22/2025.
There was a packet from
the Cruise Director Raphael Derkson and Assistant CD Holly England,
laying our the speaking schedules as well as the rules and regulations for the
Entertainment Staff. There was also a
meeting scheduled for 5:45 PM in the Galaxy Lounge. I called Holly England to discuss some of the
issues in the letter and everything was clarified.
There were a
lot of ships here – I could see a lot of them from Deck 12. Celebrity Reflection and the Liberty
of the Seas were here.
The keys did
arrive and we also unpacked and hung up our clothes. The closets have a lot of room and plenty of
hangers.
We went up to Palm Court on Deck 12 Forward to get the big picture.
We attended
the Muster Drill at 5:30 PM in the Galaxy Lounge and stayed there for
the Entertainment Meeting. The gathering was small – the Singers and Dancers
who usually attend weren’t there. There are two other speakers David Cooper,
World Affairs, and Adrian Kerr, Destination. Raphael went through the standard items and
introduced everyone. It’s always a nice
meeting.
From there we
went to the Waterside Restaurant (Deck 5) for Dinner. The Maitre D’ (Leo) found us a nice table -
#141 (where the entertainers sit) in the back of the restaurant – perfect for
us – away from people and quiet. I had
vegetable soup, Cesar Salad, and Halibut (originally, the halibut came with
“cockles’ – I had to Google “cockles” which turned out to be small clams – the
chef de-cockled my dish). Everything was
good – portion control is the key here.
Ellen had the Seared Salmon Salad.
I had Key Lime Pie and Ellen had a chocolate construction for dessert
along with decaf and tea. The service
wasn’t superfast but efficient.
Ellen asked if we could get that table every evening and I got the impression we might. (post cruise note: Leo was wonderful to us - as was our Head Waiter, Bratislav (a guess) the entire time we were on the ship).
The Welcome
Aboard show “Crystal in Motion” was at 9:30 PM. We had seen it before, were tired, and so we
opted not to go but head to the room instead.
Because of the early start and superlong day, I felt jet lagged without
flying anywhere.
We could hear
the band through the floor of our cabin – we would chat with Holly about that
tomorrow. Tonight, earplugs would be required.
Lights out at 10:00 PM.
