SCRIBBLINGS: A DOUBLE CAVIAR










Mon Nov 14 Guadeloupe (French West Indies): Cruise lines, especially 6-star companies like Crystal, are always looking for new, different, even remote ports. Today, it just that – Terre-de-Haute, ”a speck on the sea" part of the island nation of Guadeloupe. Local literature tells us, "So tiny, it is not even included on most maps of Guadeloupe. It has also been described as a "weensy dot in the archipelago known as Iles de les Saintes". We drop anchor in the outer bay, surrounded by lush green mountains jolting out from other islands, and then wander ashore. Surprise: absolute & pure charm! A main street with little restaurants, tiny bars & a harbor embracing a collection of small boats. Houses & shops have wonderfully painted doors: lime, pink, purple, tangerine. The town church is classic Caribbean: a wood frame, bell tower, a slightly ornate altar & long plank pews. The pace here is very obvious: tranquil, paced and the tone slowed by the scorching heat & high humidity. But yes, something different & something very nice.



Shrimp tempura! "I just love, love, love Crystal," said a lady from Los Angeles with 55 Crystal cruises under her bejeweled belt. "There's just one thing I'd change, that I'd add. It's to have room service from Silk Road & Prego [the ship's gourmet specialty restaurants]. My robe, a video & that mushroom soup, Kobe beef & green tea tapioca ice cream in my stateroom!" (PS: I did some checking – and yes, penthouse & suite guests can have room service from Silk Road & Prego.)



Tue Nov 15 at sea: Behind a Crystal Cruises uniform: Dragan is a big, robust Croatian in his 40s. He has been our waiter at both breakfast & lunch on countless days. He has a wonderful, almost Ruritanian way – happy & jovial & warmly philosophic. Today, he tells us that back home he is a CEO of a small company. The company may have only 20 employees, but runs two restaurants & a small hotel.



Usual day onboard: several lectures (including the Jewels of Elizabeth Taylor), the Magic Castle show (very funny presenter), long, leisurely meals & then a video before bed (Murder on the Nile with all-star cast including Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, David Niven, Angela Lansbury, etc).



Caribbean cruising: "Our first cruise was on the Norway back in 1984. It was then the biggest cruise liner in the world. It was all quite wonderful and it was a jazz cruise. Lionel Hampton was onboard. But for years, I thought the Norway had been the Normandie and then the Ile de France, but I just found out (in your talk) that the Norway was the France. Well, the confusion is finally over – we are happy to be corrected."

Wed Nov 16 Bonaire (Netherlands Antilles): One of the ABC Islands (the others being Aruba & Curacao), 50 miles off Venezuela & immaculate (being Dutch, of course).



Memory lane: Today, one of the guests remembered the late Irma Morgan. It sparked recollections of her. She was from New Mexico, very rich and all but "lived" on Crystal for 9-10 months of the year but back in the 1990s. I well remember her. In her 80s, she was by then less interested in travel & seeing ports, but much more to just be aboard and enjoy the ship. The crew loved her – and she loved them. But they put her to work (which she enjoyed each & every day): Each morning, on the Lido Deck & comfortably seated under a big umbrella, she folded hundreds of linen napkins or, for the lido restaurant, folded silverware into napkins. She'd spend hours just folding away. Finally, she was given a crew badge to wear – the only crew badge ever given to a guest in Crystal history.



Thu Nov 17 at sea: Red pencil! The final proofs came through today (by email, of course) for our new book, Maritime Royalty: The Queen Mary & the Cunard Queens. It was sparked by the 80th anniversary this year of the maiden voyage of the beloved Queen Mary back in May 1936. Always interesting to see it, text as well as photographs, come together. John Maxtone-Graham once told me, "Every new book is like a new child – from conception to birth. Then, the first copy arrives and you hold in your hands, turn the pages and – hopefully – then gently smile in appreciation and maybe a little bit of pride."



More material: Long but very interesting interview today with fellow passenger, 81-yr old Captain W J Deijnen, who began sailing with the Holland America Line in 1954. And in retirement, he has done quite a bit of his own research on HAL history. Myself, I like collecting this material, even the tidbits, and then of course like to use it in books, articles, etc.



Trans-Pacific! "Our first cruise was not in the Caribbean or across the Atlantic, but across the Pacific. It was 1962 and we sailed from San Francisco to Hong Kong on the President Hoover. We had a few weeks there & then returned to the States on the President Wilson. It was American President Lines and all American food & service. I still have a few menus. But life on a ship then was much more relaxed, even quiet. There were no lecturers or after-dinner production shows. I think we relied on our own entertainment more in those days. And there seemed to afternoon nap time – the whole ship seemed to rest & become very, very quiet."

Fri Nov 18 Montego Bay (Jamaica): Busy downtown: Shops, vendors, traffic & new hotels and condos being built. Showery day here so beach time for many is disrupted. But meanwhile, Des goes ashore with a certain amount of excitement – he has not been in Montego Bay in over 60 years! Otherwise, the Celestyal Serenity is in port as well – she's a converted Baltic ferry, now totally rebuilt and cruising for Greece's Celestyal Cruises and, after a summer season in the Med, is now running 7-night cruises in the western Caribbean that include 2-day visits to Havana.

Dancing shoes! Chatting with the dance host, we recall "Dr Doris," a regular on Cunard & on Crystal for years. She made countless cruises including a dozen or more world cruises and could tally over 100 trips just with Crystal. Doris started cruising in her retirement, loved playing bridge, but then took to dancing – and dancing & dancing. She took lessons every single day & never missed after-dinner ballroom dancing. She even had her own rating system for the Ambassador Dance Hosts. It became her sole purpose for being aboard. She even did a tango show for the guests – and to celebrate her own 100th birthday. She was here on the Crystal Serenity last winter, making yet another three-month cruise around the world and as she herself turned 102. But it seems to have been her last trip. Last spring, she was placed in a nursing home.

And more from my dear friend & cabin mate Des Kirkpatrick and his 60-year career in travel. After serving on the freighters of Britain's Royal Mail Lines, he was transferred over that Company's cruise liner Andes. He served aboard that 25,000-ton ship as purser. He joined the Andes as assistant purser in June 1960. He would sail that ship for the next eighteen months. "She was an elegant, nicely appointed ship highlighted by tremendous deck space," he recalled. "There were very pleasant public rooms, a dining room, grill room and a theatre. Umbrellas surrounded the outdoor pool. The cabins were very 1930s and all of them with private facilities. There was no 'down the corridor' on the Andes. We usually carried about 400 passengers. We would bring local entertainment onboard in the ports of call, but carried a dance band, a dance couple and sometimes a vocalist and a conjuror. There was also a bridge lecturer and port lecturer. The officers tended to stick together by department, but dined together in the officers' mess. The captain was a classic, old fashioned ship's master."



"The passengers were all British and almost all upper class," he added. "The Andes was very, very British – afternoon tea, long dinners and a quiet but well run tone. She catered to the upper classes, to titled people and chiefs of business. There was a very high number of repeaters, often over 75%. There were also some elderly widows and spinsters. Deck sports were very popular during the day and then there was dining, dancing and some light entertainment in the evening. There was a cruise director, a social hostess and a skilled tour department from Thomas Cook. There were two big tenders, nested on the foredeck, that were very good for use in the smaller cruise ports. They were actually quite big, carrying up to one-hundred each."



Afterward, Des joined the Furness-Bermuda Line, serving on their Ocean Monarch (on the New York-Bermuda cruise run until 1966), then American Express (as shore excursion manager on world cruises of the Rotterdam and other voyages on the likes of the United States, Independence, Brasil, Sagafjord, Statendam, Bergensfjord & Hamburg), then to the legendary Swedish American Line (on their Gripsholm & Kungsholm), then Flagship Cruises (back on the Kungsholm) and then to more exotic Lindblad Travel (sailing aboard their Lindblad Explorer, Polaris & the chartered Yaohua, Illiria & Caledonian Star). Then, it was to the land tour business – from river boats on the Nile & Yangtze Rivers to caravans in upper Mongolia & inner Afghanistan. And his suitcase is still in high use. These days, at 84, he hasn't lost his interest in travel. This year alone, he has made over a dozen trips – from a long weekend in Toronto to a long jaunt over to Tokyo. And next year might include trips back to Japan as well as a run down to Australia.



Sat Nov 19 Georgetown (Grand Cayman): Last port of call on these two combined cruises – with the most perfect weather. Bright sunshine but laced with cool ocean breezes. No other cruise liners in port here today & so the place has an almost peaceful mood.



Deservedly, Crystal is one of the very finest – if not the finest – cruise lines on all the seas. It has gained all sorts of awards & distinctions. Often, new guests come for that very reason. But one lady from Germany told me today: "The elevator in my apartment building was out of order and for over a week. That was too much. So I booked a cruise. It was on Crystal – and ever since I have been hooked. They are the very best!"



Sun Nov 20 at sea: My 4th and final lecture this trip, otherwise a restful final full day on this floating palace. But we were greedy at the farewell dinner – double helpings of caviar with all the trimmings! And the ship is glowing – all the Christmas decorations are up, lighted & adding a festive mood.



"I was hoping you would have mentioned a passenger ship named Washington in your lectures," commented a gray-haired lady from Baltimore. "It has a place in my family history. My father, Jewish and from Poland, was in 5 different concentration camps during World War II. He lived on meager rations of bread & water, but then one day collapsed in a long march. He was thrown on a heap of dead prisoners, but then suddenly moved, showed signs of life & was rescued by the other prisoners. He endured – and was liberated by American soldiers in 1945. A year later, he was pronounced ready to come to the United States. He was sent on a liner-troopship, the Washington. When told me that when he reached New York harbor, he saw the Statue of Liberty & the Manhattan skyline, bent down and kissed the wooden deck, and cried. It was his ultimate freedom."



Mon Nov 21 New Orleans (Louisiana): Half day at sea, then entering in the mouth of the Mississippi by lunch & 3pm arrival in New Orleans. Overnight at the pier.



Tue Nov 22 New Orleans-Newark: Early morning debark, midday flight home & back in New Jersey by 5pm.



All in all, a wonderful trip: 28 days & nights on the flawless Crystal Serenity, 17 ports of call, 8 lectures, other speakers, those nighttime shows and all those wonderful meals (including 6 visits to the exquisite Silk Road restaurant).



But also happy to be home for the next 5 weeks – then to England (in late December), visiting on shore for a change, then homeward on the Queen Elizabeth from Southampton to New York.