It is hard to believe that today marks the 25 year anniversary of the Challenger Disaster and the 25 year anniversary that the song “We Are The World” was recorded. It seems like it was just a few years ago. Much has changed in the world in which we live during the last twenty-five years.
Highlights From Yesterday and Today
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We thoroughly enjoyed the Q&A with Roger McGuinn. Gary Hunter kicked it off by asking several well thought out questions and then opened it up to questions from the audience. In between the answers Roger McGuinn played several songs for us. It has truly been a pleasure to get to know both him and his lovely wife Camilla on this cruise and the one in November. One of the nice aspects we have found from our cruises with Crystal is meeting several of the lecturers and their spouses and then seeing them on future voyages.
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Last night at the Captain’s Farewell Reception it was announced that Melanie was selected as the Crystal Serenity Employee Of The Month. We first met Melanie during last years World Cruise and like so many of the members of the Crystal Crew is outstanding. She began her career with Crystal Cruises as a Stewardess and from there she moved to the Reception Desk where she currently works. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa. She is just a delight. She always has a kind word for the guests, is a very positive and passionate person and is just so very helpful to all of us. She follows up on all requests and is on top of her responsibilities. We were thrilled to learn that she won this award. During the first reception Keith gave her a standing ovation and we cheered and applauded for her during both receptions.
Congratulations Melanie!
Formal Night & Evening Receptions
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We attended both of the Captain’s Farewell Receptions so that we could see fellow guests who we might not see all the time and has a wonderful time at both events.
We enjoyed a wonderful time on the ship after we posted yesterday.
We wanted to mention that the seas have been great along with the beautiful weather.
Keith enjoyed his paddle tennis yesterday afternoon and there is a very nice mix of guests and crew who play. We have had a lot of fun and spirited games.
Anne Marie enjoyed sitting out by the pool yesterday afternoon. It was not humid and there was a nice breeze. She spoke with several fellow passengers.
Last night was a formal night on the cruise. For us this is always very special and is part of the tradition of cruising.
Prior to both the main seating and the late seating there were two Captain’s Farewell Receptions. These receptions are also very nice. There is live music and dancing and the ambassador hosts are available to dance with those women traveling solo. On the world cruise there are extra ambassador hosts as there are many women who travel solo on these cruises. Complimentary drinks are provided along with canapés. We decided to go to both receptions so that we could see guests who we might not see often around the ship as we are sometimes on different schedules.
We sat with a very nice couple at the earlier of the two receptions that we have known from some previous cruises. At the later reception we sat with friends Bob and Glo, the Minister and his lovely wife and a woman who was traveling solo.
We had a wonderful time at dinner last evening. We dined at Silk Road. Before we mentioned the dinner we just wanted to note what was served in the Main Dining Room.
The theme for the Dining Room menu was the Captain’s Gala Dinner as this was the last formal of this leg of the World Cruise.
The appetizers included Ice American Molasses Caviar, Chicken Liver Parfait with Black Truffles and Baked Oysters.
The soup and salads included Cream of Asparagus and a Double Beef Consomme. The salad that was served was The Captain’s Salad.
The Pasta Special was Angel Hair Pasta and the Salad Entree was Beef and Lobster Salad.
The Main Fares included Broiled Rock Lobster Tail, Pink Roasted Supreme of Wild Pheasant, Filet of Beef Wellington and Grilled Veal Medallion.
There were many side orders to choose from.
For those wishing to eat lighter there was the lighter side menu items and also vegetarian selections. The vegetarian selection was the Irish Cobbler Potato Torte.
There were lots of desserts to choose from including two special ones. One was “Mt. McKinley” which was Baked Alaska with Chocolate and Strawberry Sauce and “Symphony of Chocolate” which was Chocolate Grand Marnier Tart a la Mode, Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta and Chocolate S’Mores.
All of these items sound yummy!
We dined at Silk Road with friends Joe and Maria Kita. We first met Joe and Maria on the 2007 World Cruise and then sailed with them on the 2008 World Cruise and then sailed with Joe in 2009 on the Crystal Symphony from Los Angeles to Hong Kong and now we are all back together on this cruise. Joe teaches the Memoir Writing Course and Joe and Maria are each teaching Yoga. They are both wonderful people and like us they love Silk Road.
We had a wonderful time with them at Silk Road. Our waiter for the evening was once again Alberto and we had a wonderful meal with outstanding service and we had enjoyed a wonderful conversation.
The four of us love the food at Silk Road and we also really enjoy the sushi and the sashimi. Joe is certainly a match for Keith when it comes to the sashimi and like Keith, Joe keeps in excellent shape.
We shared a platter of sashimi and a platter of sushi. All of us went with lighter entrees and other than fruit did not have any dessert
We slept very well last evening. Maybe it’s the rocking of the ship, along with a glass of wine or a combination of both but we find it very easy to fall asleep each evening.
Keith was up early to begin another wonderful day by starting off at the Fitness Center. He worked out on his favorite elliptical machine. We are five hours behind the east coast. He watched the news, and also watched the lecture given by Celebrity Bob Eubanks which he missed yesterday playing Paddle Tennis. While playing tennis he did meet Bob Eubanks’ wife and young son. Some days the workouts are easier than on other days and this morning’s workout was an easy one for Keith to complete.
Afterwards, he stopped by the Lido Café to bring back some coffee to the room. He chatted with a couple of the Lido Deck Stewards.
Anne Marie walked for an hour this morning and then when she got back to the room we had breakfast. We chatted with Alexander as he set up our breakfast. We have a very simple breakfast on the ship of oatmeal and fruit and coffee.
While enjoying breakfast we watched the daily show, which is hosted by Cruise Director, Gary Hunter, and World Cruise Hostess, Stacey Huston. These shows are broadcast on sea days. Gary Hunter mentioned why we were not receiving a few of the satellite stations and that is because we are sailing in an area that is not covered by the regular satellite footprint so that Crystal had to contract with another provider which could provide some coverage but not all stations. The reason that the footprint can be limited is that the economics are not there for the satellite company to provide the necessary footprint given that that there is very limited demand for satellite in this area of the world. For a couple of days the Internet was fairly slow due to similar satellite challenges and the good news is that the speeds are much better now. We should have full satellite television coverage soon.
There were two lectures given this morning. Dr. Cyril Wecht who spoke about the Significance of Utilization of Forensic Science in the Investigation of Complex and Controversial Deaths gave the first. He is a very interesting lecturer given his passion, energy and enthusiasm that goes into each and everyone of his lectures. Destination lecturer Ken Rees who spoke about Moorea, Tahiti and Bora Bora gave the second lecture. He covered the story of the Society Islands where Captains Cook and Blight both made their names.
Keith also attended the second of the iPhoto classes, which went through the fancy features that are part of iPhoto. All of the Mac classes have been very well attended with so many passengers now using Mac computers.
Today was the last team trivia game for this leg of the World Cruise. We were not the winning team but we had a wonderful time playing Team Trivia. After all, it is just a game and you can’t take it to seriously. We have a great team who has a lot of fun.
After Team Trivia, we went to the American Classic Buffet and each made a salad entrée.
About the time we finished it became windy and it began to drizzle so Keith took the afternoon off from paddle tennis. Anne Marie walked for an hour and Keith did some reading and writing.
This evening we were invited to a party for our travel consortium but we plan to see the production show Across The Pond since we really enjoyed it on the last cruise. We’ll post more about all of this tomorrow.Today we will share two thoughts for the day.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…….
“The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'" – Ronald Reagan
“Word’s may show a man’s wit but action his meaning.” - Benjamin Franklin
Keith and Anne Marie
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