Welcome To Cartagena - Day 5

These two colorful birds seemed to be a couple and madly in love and posed very nicely as Keith took their picture.

When Keith disembarked the ship he was greeted by several of the tourist friendly locals who also asked him if he wanted local fruit that they had in these rather large fruit bowls.

Last evening was informal night on the ship. Gentlemen are asked to wear jackets (ties are optional) and slacks and ladies are asked to wear cocktail party dresses or pants suits. This picture was taken in the Crystal Cove which is a lounge on Deck 5 which is also the deck where the Main Dining Room is located along with the reception, concierge and shore excursion deck and also were the Crystal Society Hostess and the On Board Booking Consultant each have a desk and office hours. In the background is a staircase leading to deck 6 and you can see some of the shops.

This picture was also taken on Deck 5 with the nice water fountain in the background.

From time to time we are asked if the ship shows NFL Playoff Games and other sporting events such as College Bowls and the answer is yes. Crystal is great about making arrangements and paying the extra costs to show these types of events and this coming weekend is no exception. We hope your favorite teams win as long as they are the same teams we want to win. Just kidding! J

We enjoyed another wonderful evening on the ship last night. The evening attire on the ship was informal which is Jacket and Slack (tie optional) for the gents and Cocktail Party Dress or Pants for the ladies. For those who prefer casual attire that was offered in Tastes, which provide a casual setting around the pool area.

Before dinner, we had a pre dinner drink in one of the lounges; the Crystal Cove. When we say pre-dinner drink it was Perrier. It was quiet in the lounge so we spoke with one of the members of the crew who is working the lounge that we know very well from previous cruises. From where we were seating we could see the reception desk quite well and we saw the shore excursion manager James who just arrived to the ship from holiday the other day in Grand Cayman. He came out to greet us and we chatted for a while. It’s nice to see him again as we sailed with him this time last year.

We had dinner in the Main Dining Room and the theme for last night’s dinner was California Dinner.

The menus items were in keeping with that theme.

The appetizers included Barbeque Lobster, Grilled Eggplant and Vitello Tonnato.

The soups and salads included Napa Valley Slow Over-Roasted Vegetable Soup, Pear, Yellow Endive and Blue Cheese Salad, Beef Consomme with Sun Dried Tomato and Herb Frittata and Crunchy Salad Leaves accompanied by items that are oriented to California cooking.

There was a Pasta Special of Rigatoni Pasta and a Salad Entrée of Ensalada de Camerones.

The Main Fares included Grilled Fresh Swordfish Steak, Garlic Marinated Sautéed Tiger Prauns, Grilled Californian Lamb Chops and Corn Fed Free-Range Chicken.

A couple of other traditional Main Fares were available including Black Angus Steak and Grilled Fillet of Atlantic Salmon.

There were lots of desserts to chose from with a couple of special ones for the evening including Vintage Banana Tart and another one called Bridge of the Americas featuring Chocolate Tres Leches with Cajeta Sauce, Over-Roasted Banana and Dulce de Leche Ice Cream.

We enjoyed a nice salad. Anne Marie ordered the salad on the menu and made a minor change to it while Keith ordered a salad off the menu featuring his own take on a California Salad. We each ordered the Grilled Swordfish, which was delicious. For our dessert, we enjoyed our kind of California Dessert, which was a bow of very tasty fruits. Once again, we were treated to fantastic service and an equally fantastic meal. We spoke with the wait staff and the sommelier quite extensively. Our Senior Waiter and Waiter will be returning home at the end of this cruise as their contracts both end and they happen to be from the same area; Cape Town, South Africa. As our Head Waiter Augsutu just returned from holiday for this cruise we will have him the entire time we are on board the ship. The sommelier, Manny, has been a delight and we have learned quite a bit about wine from talking with him as we do from many of the sommelier’s on board both ships.

There were two different entertainers performing last evening. At 7:45 PM we saw Jennifer Fair who is an International Vocalist whose performance was called “From Brightman to Cocelli and Piaf to Pavarotti. Her singing was a delight. She was one of the best vocalists we have seen.

At 10:30 PM the late night show was called The Maverick Magician with Jamie Allan. Other entertainment included the showing of the movie Life As We Know It, dancing to the sounds of They Crystal Sextet Band, music by Marcie Castro in the Avenue Saloon, Late Night Dancing to contemporary hits and for easy listening Piano by Bruce Johnson.

We slept very well last evening as the seas continued to be very calm. This might sound like a broken record but we are truly glad to be enjoying such nice weather with very nice calm seas.

Keith awoke early and once again enjoyed a great workout in the Fitness Center on the Elliptical Machine. He put in a long work out. About half way through the workout a couple of people arrived to get in their workouts before we arrive to port. He watched most of the movie Star Trek (the one from a few years ago) while working out so it made the time pass by relatively quickly.

Afterwards, he stopped to the Lido Café for some coffee. Some guests were there as they had early shore excursions. Keith spoke with the Minister and his lovely wife for a few minutes.

With such nice weather Anne Marie continued to walk on the Promenade Deck, which she enjoys to get fresh air and to see, all that is around her. She also listens to audio books on either her iPhone or her iTouch.

Around the time she got back to the room, it was time for breakfast. We enjoyed a nice breakfast as the ship arrived in Cartagena, Colombia.

Our first visit to Cartagena was actually this past November on-board the Crystal Symphony.

Cartagena was founded in 1533 and is located on Colombia’s Caribbean Coast. Initially, the city started with only 200 people. As time went along there was tremendous growth of this city, which was driven by gold in the tombs of the Sinu Culture. Today, its population totals around 1,250,000 inhabitants

A major attraction to visitors is the old walled city with its Iberian-style houses and its crooked streets. In this old world city tourists will still find an atmosphere, which is reminiscent of 19t century Spain.

Since we visited Cartagena in November Anne Marie stayed on the ship today. Rest assured that starting with the next leg of this voyage from Los Angeles to Papeete, that we will both be getting off the ship in all of the ports and that as the voyage continues that we will be taking a variety of shore excursions.

While Anne Marie stayed on the ship, Keith walked off the ship and walked all around the area at the cruise ship terminal. He walked into some of the stores and also right outside the cruise ship terminal area. For those who don’t go on the tours, one option is to take a taxi into the town of Cartagena but Keith didn’t want to do that alone. Instead, he spent about an hour walking around the terminal area and the area right outside the terminal.

The port is also an industrial port. We were docked opposite from where we docked in November. When Keith departed the ship several locals welcomed him and also offered him some of the local fruit. The terminal area was far less crowded than on our last visit and there seemed to be many more birds this time around. There were also a couple of cute deer roaming around. Keith spoke with a few of the locals and found them to be extraordinarily friendly. There was also an exhibit that provided a lot of good information on emeralds. The weather was quite nice. Many guests took shore excursions while others took taxis into the old town.

As we often do, we enjoyed lunch at the Lido Café. We ate outside and enjoyed the view of the nearby area as we had our lunch. We spoke with some of the fellow passengers and the wonderful Lido Deck Stewards.

In the afternoon, Keith played Paddle Tennis while Anne Marie took another nice long walk on the Promenade Deck. The ship departed Cartagena on time at 3:00 PM. Keith played several sets with the Fitness Director and now is keeping the ball in the court and is making good progress.

At 5:00 PM we will attend the afternoon Matinee Production of one of the Production Shows called Standing Room Only. The show is being offered in the afternoon recognizing that many of the guests will want to watch the New York Jets play the Indianapolis Colts this evening in the first round of the National Football League Playoff Games. The game is not only being shown in the individual guest staterooms but will also be shown on a widescreen television in the Stardust Club where popcorn and hotdogs will be served.

Also, this evening the Galaxy Orchestra will be playing Dixieland Music in the Crystal Cove from 7:45 PM to 8:30 PM and there will be dancing. This is also a very popular event.

This evening we will dine in the Main Dining Room and will post about that tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be an exciting day as we transit the Panama Canal. This will be the third time we will have had the opportunity to transit the canal and we look forward to this opportunity as if it was the first time. It is truly amazing.

TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

“The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer somebody else up.” Mark Twain

Keith and Anne Marie