Happy Birthday Crystal Harmony / Asuka II

Happy Birthday Crystal Harmony / Asuka II

Ahoy! Today’s “Millergram” from the great Bill “Mr. Ocean Liner” Miller brought back so many happy memories: noting as it did the 35th birthday of my “first ship”, Crystal Harmony” (now Asuka II). In 1990, Kirk Frederick hired me to “help out” on a Christmas Cruise aboard “Harmony” and I was hooked. In 1998 and ‘99 I shipped out on her younger sister Crystal Symphony. It was there on deck “ship spotting” that I met Bill (many of whose books I already treasured), leading to a friendship as strong as anchor chains.

In 2000, Alfredo and I sailed (and worked) together aboard “Symphony” followed by another joint stint on “Harmony” to Mexico in 2001. Then, in 2014 we lectured our way across the Pacific with Bill Miller on “Symphony.” Those two sisters have been a big part of our life!

Ahoy and thank you Kirk and Bill! And, of course, without these two ships, Alfredo and I would not have met.

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6 October 2025: Bill Miller’s “Millergram.”

Anniversary!  The late Mary Tyler Moore would be proud – the Asuka II turned 35 in July. The ship, operated by Japan’s NYK Cruises, is the former Crystal Harmony.  Ms Moore was the ship’s godmother back then, in June 1990, the very start-up of elegant Crystal Cruises. At the time, the 960-bed, Japanese-built Harmony was often described as the “most luxurious cruise ship yet built”.   It was  transferred in 2005 by then NYK-owned Crystal to fulltime Japanese cruise service.

We had the first of many cruises on the Harmony back in Aug 1990.   The ship was absolutely impeccable!  And we were aboard the ship’s final cruise under the Crystal houseflag (to Alaska out of San Francisco) in the summer of 2005.