A slow boat to Australia
SPECIAL TO SALTWIRE NETWORK
“Too many boring sea days.” That was a common comment among our friends when we told them we were taking a long, 24-day cruise on Crystal Serenity from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia, via Hawaii and several exotic South Pacific islands. They were wrong. Crystal Serenity is a 1,000-passenger ship that is consistently rated as among the best in the world. Our trip was the first segment of a 112-day world cruise with disembarkation in Rome in May. In fact, several guests had a half dozen or more Crystal World Cruises under their belts and were planning to do it again in 2019.
Crystal Serenity is an ideal size for cruising — much smaller than the impersonal mega-ships but large enough to provide a huge variety of dining, entertainment and education options. It’s also all-inclusive with meals, wine, spirits and gratuities included in the fare. Our balcony room was well equipped with luxury touches like great lighting, highdef TV, free wi-fi, a comfortable king bed with top quality sheets and a bathroom that had twin sinks and both a shower and tub (rare on cruise ships).
On some cruise ships, a lot of days at sea can be boring.
Not on Crystal.
Among the activities were sports (shuffleboard, paddle tennis, golf, swimming, yoga, tai chi and a well-equipped gym), bridge, knitting and art classes, choral singing, Yamaha keyboard classes, computer skills (Windows 10; iCloud; Power Point; Moviemaking with iPhone and iPad) plus current films in the Hollywood Theatre and daily team trivia. There’s a non-smoking casino and an elegant daily tea (including Crystal’s signature Mozart Tea).
A teak promenade deck encouraged brisk morning walks (three circuits for a mile).
Along with Cunard, we think Crystal has the best range of lecturers in the cruise industry.
On sea days we learned about all the ports we were about to visit, the fascinating history of the South Pacific including exploration by James Cook, astronomy in the Southern Hemisphere, Pacific marine biology plus topics like Broadway musicals, social networking and how to avoid pickpockets.
Every evening, the Galaxy Lounge (the main theatre) featured a performance by individual artists or a spectacular production show by the resident band and 10 very talented singers and dancers (the Russian dance captain was mesmerizing). The shows were always lively, entertaining and colourful (and a bit loud).
Cuisine is always important on a cruise and, in our view, no one does it better than Crystal.
On Serenity, 96 chefs prepared every meal with imagination and flair. On a typical night in the main dining room, guests could choose dishes including sturgeon caviar, beef tartar with quail egg, grouper, rack of lamb, lobster thermidor or beef wellington. Fish dishes were especially good. But, as the Executive Chef told us, “The answer is always ‘yes’ for special requests. If we have it, we can do it.”
We also explored the three optional restaurants (no extra cost) that set Michelin standards for fine dining. Silk Road and the Sushi Bar (Asian cuisine by Nobu Matsuhisa) and Prego (Italian) are world-class. Prego’s mushroom soup in a bread bowl is an iconic cruise-ship masterpiece. Tastes, on the Lido deck, offers small tapas plates that are as tasty as they are beautiful. In all restaurants a knowledgeable sommelier pours an excellent selection of complimentary fine wines.
Our slow route to Australia included some remarkable ports. Our two stops in Hawaii (Maui and Honolulu) were followed by a crossing of the equator (“sorry about the bump”, the captain joked) with a colourful, zany King Neptune ceremony. More than 2,000 miles later we landed in American Samoa, the only inhabited U.S. territory south of the equator. Then it was on to the Republic of Fiji where we visited a spice farm, saw a demonstration of ancient cooking practices and were entertained by traditional songs and dances. In Vanuatu, a country we’d frankly never heard of, we stopped at uninhabited Mystery Island for a few hours of sunning and swimming in crystal clear waters.
We missed a couple of stops because of stormy weather but enjoyed our last port of Noumea in New Caledonia. It’s a French Overseas Territory very similar to St-Pierre-Miquelon off the Newfoundland coast. Unlike St-PierreMiquelon, the local currency is the Franc, not the Euro.
Sailing into Sydney Harbour on a brilliant morning was a treat we’ll always remember.
All hands were on deck as we approached the twin symbols of Sydney, the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. A perfect ending to a remarkable Pacific crossing — with no jet lag!
John and Sandra Nowlan are travel and food writers based in Halifax