Day 4 - at sea - Caribbean Sea

We woke fairly early once again and started our day with a walk around the promenade deck. After that, it was off to Marketplace for our coffee and breakfast. We have been eating each morning on the aft deck and it has been glorious having breakfast in the warm sun.

Sea days are the perfect days to relax. We went to trivia and met up with our team. Our score was 11/15 which while respectable, it did not win us any useless coupons. In fact, our one teammate complained that the items she liked in the shop did not get the discount. After trivia, we went to eat lunch in Marketplace and head to the pool. The beauty of Crystal is there always seems to be a great spot to lounge by the pool. The band was just starting their brief set and we enjoying the music while floating around the waves of the pool. We both decided to have a refreshing Gin and Jam before returning to the cabin to change for the 3pm magic show.

We had reserved tickets for the Crystal Magicians at Sea performance. This is similar to the Magic Castle at Sea and is an intimate performance of close-up magic. Mark, the magician during this cruise, told us he was the resident close-up artist at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando and even had a genuine Harry Potter wand to complete the look! Mark started with a clever two sided folding octagon that started out with two colors and ended with him being able to display 6 total different colors. A nifty effect. He then did some rubber band magic that he was very adept at and a few card tricks. Actually one of the card tricks was performed by Chris who followed a script on Mark’s phone to instruct him how to complete the trick. A clever turn on a classic found card routine. He finished with some rope magic, a sponge ball routine and a bottle cap penetration into a coke bottle followed by a chop cup routine making an orange, lemon and lime all appear under a metal cup. This Crystal Magicians at Sea was a winner!

With the magic show over, we decided to return to the cabin to shower for dinner. We went our usual spot the Avenue Saloon to continue our journey through the Manhattan menu. Tonight, I tried the Brooklyn Manhattan which one notable difference was dry vermouth instead of sweet. I was a little worried about that but actually enjoyed it. Chris chose the Crystal Signature Manhattan with barrel aged Woodford Reserve. He thought it was a solid take on the classic Manhattan. We sampled some falafel with beet root hummus. Very tasty and pretty spicy. Chris tried the watermelon with goat cheese as well. The ship is decorated all over with some beautiful decorations but the cross eyed reindeer really stare at you. We found the parent of the bar top reindeer so we posed for a picture on our way to dinner.

For dinner, we returned to Waterside to be served by our favorite waiter, Viktor. Of course he was very busy but the service was still impeccable. We both stared with the King Crab which is like a crab salad with tropical fruits. Chris had an appetizer portion of the puttanesca pasta and I had the salad with mixed greens, grilled vegetables and fried oysters. For dinner, we both went with Viktor’s recommendation of the Caribbean dorado. It had lobster, potato hash and an amazing sauce. The fish was cooked perfectly. We both raved about this dish. For dessert, we sampled the white chocolate delice which was nice as well. Another top notch dinner on Crystal Symphony.

I was very happy to not have spilled or dripped any food or wine on my all white outfit because later tonight was the White Party. We had a bit of time before the festivities so we went to Palm Court to listen the the Double Malt Duo since we had yet to hear them perform. They were very good and I found the female singers voice very soothing. When they took a break, we returned to the Avenue. Petar the bartender had recommended a Stabilizer as an after dinner drink so we went back to try one before the party. A Stabilizer is port wine mixed with brandy. We both agreed it is a fine choice after dinner.

It was then time to head to the Cove for the White Party. The decorations for the holidays complimented the White Party decorations so nicely. The music was upbeat and fun. We tried a white drink but didn’t finish it but we did sample some of the white petit fours. I spotted a cruise critic member I started following on Instagram so we went and introduced ourselves. It was great chatting with them about their previous cruising. I burned off some calories dancing with the Ambassador Hosts and Chris. Curtis and Beverly performed a stellar cha cha for the crowd. Later, I spoke with Shane about the fun I had with him at the White Party on the Hawaii cruise so he grabbed me for a dance around the floor. Chris and I chatted with Beverly and Curtis joined us. I reminded him of when I fan girled him on our first cruise about his working on Days of Our Lives which I have watched for about 33 years! Curtis asked me to dance a fun swing while Chris danced with Beverly. Later, Chris got a waltz with Beverly as well. We stayed until the music was over and finished the evening off with a new couple we met at the party in the Avenue. Tonight’s music was pretty mellow but very nice. Beverly showed up as well and we also enjoyed chatting with her. She is an absolute delight. It was a great night of fun aboard Crystal Symphony