Farewell / Sun & Mon Apr 7 & 8

Three months have flown by and we've had the most incredible experience. Hard to believe it's time to head home. Crystal did everything in style for our farewell - from the entertainment to saying good-bye at the airport.

The singers, dancers, musicians and acrobats that performed on our last evening were amazing! Crystal flew in performers from around the world and the show was outstanding! They even had two people who did a Cirque de Soleil type act. We were in Monte Carlo so the show had a James Bond casino theme.

All the performers on the stage at the end

There was a balloon drop to start our journey and another one at the end. It was a very festive way to finish our cruise.

On the day of our departure Crystal provided a private car and driver to take us to the airport in Nice. It was a pretty drive with beautiful views of the Alps.

As soon as we got to the airport, a Crystal rep met us and took us to their private lounge. A class act all the way!

Below is the view leaving Nice.

Then we flew over the Alps. Gorgeous scenery from the beginning of the trip until the end.

I can't believe this awesome trip is over! We've learned so much, seen so much, made good friends and have memories to last a lifetime.

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Dakar, Senegal / Wed Mar 27

Today we docked in Dakar which is the capitol of Senegal. We took one of the ship's tours since we weren't sure what to expect safety wise. Surprisingly, the tour bus was pretty modern complete with air conditioning and our local tour guide's English was good. We spent about 4 hours going to some of the highlights of the city. We didn't always stop for photos and the windows of the bus were quite dirty so there aren't that many great photos to share. Dakar has many modern high rise buildings, well paved roads and a decent highway system yet there is so much poverty. People are set up almost everywhere selling their goods and piles of garbage are all around. On one corner we saw someone selling bed frames and in another area, selling refrigerators. There are modern cars on the road as well as horses, wagons and goats. You can see how developed the road system is in the city... We saw a number of small, colorful buses on the roads. T

Busselton / Tue Feb 19

We tendered in Busselton, Australia today. Busselton is best known for the the Busselton Jetty which was built in 1865. It's more than a mile long and is the longest timber piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. At the end of the jetty is an underwater observatory. You can get to it by walking the length of the jetty or by taking the Jetty Train which looks like a Victorian locomotive but is powered by solar panels. We spent the day in Busselton with two other couples. We sat on the beach for a couple of hours then walked into town to explore. We met Walter who was quite the character. After that we had a snack at a local restaurant then took the train to the end of the jetty and toured the underwater observatory before walking back to the tender. Fun day!

Parting Thoughts and More ...

It didn’t take too long to re-enter our normal lives. Although I did miss having our linens changed daily, Larry was delighted to get back home so he could eat dinner wearing shorts (not long pants) ... which he couldn’t do on the ship. Because I get sea (and motion) sick I used the scopalomine patch on this cruise. Usually Bonine is enough but the cruise started in rough waters (crossing to Hawaii from LA) so I decided to use the patch. It worked really, really well with no side effects so I continued using it. When it was prescribed (by two different doctors) I asked each if using it for almost 3 months would be an issue and both said 'no.' Well, I should have done more research as it turns out you can get addicted and experience withdrawal .... and I did. I wasn't able to get off it until the 3rd time I tried and even then it took about 3 weeks to be free of all symptoms. After going online to find out how to withdraw, I saw that some people have much more trouble t

Opals and Romeos

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