So I woke up resolved to discard any and all nonessential photos from our recent voyage on Crystal Symphony. The struggle is real, but I managed to part with a couple. We’ve been home exactly one week and it’s been a whirlwind. We watched Isabel’s soccer game on Sunday – eight and nine year olds running up and down the field – their intensity and exuberance were a joy to watch. The next afternoon we fetched Claire and Isabel from school, caught up on everything that we’d missed and then we all headed off to Charlotte’s soccer game. Charlotte scored the first goal and had three assists…proud grandparents. Anyway here are some photos that I couldn’t part with.

Waiting with Arlene and Gil for our Covid test results.
First selfie of the trip.
Always wonderful to find the Champagne waiting ❤️
This was our fourteenth voyage and the first time that we ate lunch in Marketplace. I’m not sure why Waterside was closed on embarkation day.

After lunch we headed down to the Bistro for dessert.
Testing out the sofa while we waited for our last bag to be delivered.
Although pressing is included in the suite fare, I made my one and only visit to the laundry room to de-wrinkle Timmy’s blazer. He only wore it the first night. On this seven night Bermuda cruise evening attire was most decidedly casual.
Second selfie of the week.
That’s Joffrey working his magic
Any wonder why I love this man?
My favorite photo of the four of us celebrating Gil’s birthday in Prego.
First morning on the veranda.
Lunch in Marketplace
I’m so glad that I took a few minutes to watch the cast rehearsing “Rock Pop a Mania” because it was canceled due to the positive Covid tests.
Because lunch just wasn’t filling???
My first panorama…(thank you Dave Williams).
John Joseph’s first show was wonderful.

Photo taken at dock in Bermuda.
I hope you appreciate the fact that I’m only sharing two of the many pics I snapped of the ship while we were in port.
Here we have the Captain and tour guide from our boat trip around the islands

On our last afternoon onboard I was enjoying a wonderful relaxing massage right up until an announcement was made requesting that two guests (who shall remain unnamed) please contact reception. Fifteen minutes later the announcement was repeated with some urgency…the time was 4:45 and I knew exactly what was going on. We were waiting for “runners”. When I returned to our stateroom we had a bird’s eye view of Crystal staff waiting for two guests who had not adhered to the requirement to be back onboard at 4:30 for the five o’clock sail away. Finally at 5:05 a trolley pulled up with the runners. And they were running… some folks on our deck could be heard clapping them back on board.

Photo taken as we sailed away from Bermuda. We listened to Louis and then Timmy played our sail away playlist.
This chocolate soufflé was amazing.
Second breakfast.
Prince and Dinesh in Apropos were very helpful.
Do you recognize my top?
Butternut squash and ginger soup.
Last show on the last evening.
Last morning snap.
Hey Timmy, give me a smile.
On our way off the ship.
Walking down the ramp.

One last look.

The week onboard Symphony was delightful – a bit of normalcy in the midst of this pandemic. We leave New York in eight days for our home in Sarasota. I’m looking forward to walking Siesta beach every day and catching up with our neighbors. I am not looking forward to the three day road trip with the cats. Timmy has been driving Freddie around the neighborhood every day this week- to try to desensitize him. When we travel back and forth – Freddie cries and drools for the first half hour or so each day before he settles in. He also cries when we talk to each other. I hate to see him in distress and I’d like to be able to have a conversation without the cat objecting. Anyway, we’ll spend this next week preparing for our road trip, squeezing in some lovebug time and enjoying the fall weather here on Long Island. Thanks for following along and if you’ve traveled with a cat, and have any suggestions for easing Freddie’s unease…please share them. ❤️