Service With a Smile

Twelve days on this voyage of a lifetime, and life has taken on a certain surreal quality. Take service, for example. I do not exaggerate when I tell you the Crystal crewmembers are virtuosos in the art of service. They are not simply kind and courteous, although, frankly, that would be enough to make this cruise a very pleasant experience. They have gone way beyond any level of service I would have expected to make me feel like I am their special friend.

I’ve come to know crewmembers and officers from the Philippines, Holland, Hungary, South Africa, India, England, and Scotland, to name a few. They know my name and I know many of theirs. Jesse’s masseure, Albert, even came up to me to say hi in the middle of the mercado in Fortaleza. He didn’t have to do that, of course, but he did because he’s taken the time to know me. The sheer wonder of it is this: they treat EVERYONE this way. In their very real and genuine way, they treat every passenger as if he or she is their only passenger and their special friend. I think this level of personal attention is beautiful. Magical. Authentic.

Another example of the surreal: Today we had an American Classic Buffet for lunch. Here in the Atlantic rounding the eastern bulge of Brazil we had fried chicken, onion rings, jambalaya, cornbread, potato salad and something they called Texas Caviar which was actually a mix of corn, black beans and pico de gallo. I could have closed my eyes and imagined myself at home in Fort Worth. Something was missing, though. A little Hank Williams Jr., Trace Adkins or Rascal Flatts would have been the perfect finishing touch.















We are well south of Recife.

It will take two more days to reach Rio. I don’t know how far we are off the mainland, but today I could see the profile of the land on the horizon. Land ho!

I spent about an hour in the laundry room on deck 10 last night. Even when living a surreal life one needs clean socks.