January 14 - Los Angeles

Today all of the passengers who are only going on part of the world cruise are boarding so there wasn’t a lot on the list of activities. 

The highlight of the activities was an afternoon concert presented by the University of Southern California Trojan Marching Band.  There were about 40 or 50 members of the 300+ member band plus flag twirlers, dancers and a baton twirler.  They played a spirited concert for us. 

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Video of band concert.
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To add to the fun they were at the terminal at 6:00 as we cast off for our cruise…and they kept playing until we were well away.  Great group of kids and a great send-off.

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Video of band at departure.
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Even the San Pedro Harbor was rather festive at night with all of the lights.

Then it was off to dinner.  The ship has open seating in the main dining room but we opted to sit with other dinners so we were able to chat and get to meet some of our fellow travelers.  Of the 800+ passengers on board over 300 are on the World Cruise and most of them are repeat Crystal Cruisers.  They all have great stories. 

The show tonight was a great variety production show, Crystal in Motion.  It was an excellent show. 

We hung around until 10:30 for the balloon and confetti drop in the Crystal Cove (main lobby).  The Cruise Director said that they used to do the drop at midnight but too many of the passengers were in bed by then (the average age of the passengers appears to be pretty old).  

The balloon and confetti drop was pretty awesome (and pretty messy).  

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Video of balloon drop..
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Then it was off to bed.