There was a parade today in the downtown Centre.
St. Paul's Cathedral.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Highlights From Yesterday and Today
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New Zealand, New Zealand, New Zealand
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We mentioned this in yesterdays post but since yesterday marked our final stop in New Zealand we just want to note one final time how much we enjoyed our time in New Zealand. We will never forget the warmness and the charm of so many people we met from New Zealand and the beauty and the charm of the places we have visited. We highly recommend travel to this beautiful country.
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After we posted yesterday, we enjoyed our time on the ship before the ship departed the port of Dunedin. Keith decided that he hadn’t had enough of the Fitness Center particularly because he couldn’t play paddle tennis so he ended up going back to the Fitness Center for an hour to workout. He enjoyed his workout and then we read, wrote and got ready for dinner.
Before dinner we sat in the Crystal Cove with one passenger who we know so very well from prior World Cruises and we listened to pianist John Mentis play the piano.
We also spoke with some of the folks who work at the Reception Desk before we went to dinner last evening. We find them to be very helpful, professional and always a pleasure to talk with. We thought we would mention a few of them today. There is Melanie who is from Cape Town, South Africa who we also sailed with in 2010. She won last month’s employee of the month. There is Micha (sp) who we first met on late years World Cruise. She majored in Hospitality Services and was in the same program at the same University as our son and graduated one year later than our son. We met her college roommate who was in the same program and who works in a similar position on the Crystal Symphony. Then there is John who we first met this year and he went to a different college but also majored in Hospitality Services. Again, we have found all of these wonderful people to be very professional, courteous and on top of what needs to be done. They work in excellent positions and often those in these positions move into other positions on the ship, which is always great to see as we follow their career progression. For example, we have known quite a few who in time have moved over to concierge positions or to other areas such as the shore excursion department and then there are many other career options for them. There is a very high retention rate of employees on the ship as there are back at the Los Angeles Headquarters location.
Last evening we enjoyed another wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. The dining room was not very crowded as many passengers were dining in other venues.
We want to note that the scenery was breathtaking as we left Dunedin. We sit in the middle of the dining room but we could easily see the beautiful scenery from our room.
The evening attire was informal which is dress or pants suit for the ladies and a jacket and slacks for the gentlemen and a tie is optional. The theme for the dinner was Neptune Dinner.
Appetizers included Golden Fried Oysters “Chinoise” with Parsley Mint Sauce, Scotch Whiskey and Dill Cured Salmon, and Salad of Herb Roasted Chicken Filets, Avocado, and Graperfrut.
Soups included Soupede Poisson, which is a Creamy Fish Soup with Saffron and Sauce Rouille and a Consommé Douple with Chive Celestine.
Salads featured a Farmer’s Vegetable Salad and a Heart of Boston Lettuce salad.
The Pasta Special was the Four Cheese Ravioli Pasta in Marinara Sauce, with Fine Herbs and Toasted Pine Nuts and the Salad Entrée was a Marinated, Grilled Chicken Breast on a Bed of Baby Greens Tossed in Honey Shallot Lime Dressing, Garnished with Asparagus, Palm Hearts, Orange Segments and Caramelized Walnuts.
Main Fares included a Fresh Dunedin Hapuka Fillet, Curried Seafood and Red Lentil Ragout, Steak Mermaid which is a Grilled Filet Mignon accompanied by a Giant Prawn, Served with Homemade Truffle Fries, Broiled Tomato, Zucchini and Sauce Bearnaise, and Braised Baby Lamb Shanks. The Traditional Main Fares entrées included Grilled Black Angus T Bone Steak and a Roasted Turkey Breast.
The Vegetarian Selections included a Crisp Polenta, Mushroom and Herb Spring Roll with Saffron Tomato Coulis and Wilted Greens as thse entrée and there were also a variety of lighter side items on the menu.
If you still have room of course there was dessert.
The Sweet Finale Desserts included “Bugs Bunny” which is Carrot Zucchini Cake, Marble Vanilla Coconut Tapioca and Raspberry Sherbet and “Villa D’Estee” which is Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse on Chocolate Rice Crisp with Frozen Simple Vanilla Yogurt. The Sugar Free items featured Strawberry Mille Feuille and Mocha Ricotta Pudding.
The Classic Desserts featured Chocolate Ooze Cake a la Mode, French Vanilla Crème Brulee, Blueberry Crumble Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream, Vanilla, Green Tea, Chocolate Chip or Strawberry Ice Cream with a choice of toppings, Freshly Frozen Nonfat Dutch Chocolate or Simple Vanilla Yogurt, Refreshing Raspberry Sherbet and Homemade Cookies and Seasonal Fruit.
Still have room or skipped dessert there was the Cheese Trolley featuring an array of international cheeses and very tasty premium crackers.
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room.
After we ordered our dinner, we began our meal as we do each and every evening by toasting our love for one another, our happiness to enjoying such as wonderful cruise and ending by saying “Life Is Good”.
We began our meal with salads. Anne Marie had one of the salads from the menu and Keith had his standing order salad. We each had the a Fresh Dunedin Hapuka Fillet entrée and it was wonderful. We also ordered a small portion of the filet mignon and we shared that. We don’t often have red meat but thought it would be nice to do and it was quite good. We also had our regular side order of vegetables. Keith had a bowl of strawberries for dessert and Anne Marie had the sugar free Mocha Ricotta Pudding. It was very good.
Dinner was just superb. Once again, we just want to note how much we adore the wait staff team who really takes wonderful care for us. They are on top of everything and each night they are just flawless in all they do. This is not an exaggeration but they have to be the best Crystal Dining Room senior waiter and waiter team we have ever had and we’ve had some excellent ones in the past and in fact the team we had on our Symphony cruise last November comes in with a close second.
Today is the first sea day of this leg of this world cruises as we cruise the Milford Sound. We will then have two additional sea days. Prior to today, we have visited seven different ports of call in New Zealand including overnight in Auckland and in Tauranga.
Keith began the day at the Fitness Center and put in another long workout on the Elliptical Machine. He is really enjoying these morning workouts and is certainly putting in a lot of miles on this machine. Unlike yesterday morning, for the first half of his workout he had the Fitness Center pretty much to himself. By the time he finished there were about ten people working out.
Anne Marie also enjoyed a very nice one-hour walk. She began her walk on the Promenade Deck but after a short while it became fairly windy so she finished her walk on the treadmill in the Fitness Center.
After Anne Marie finished her workout, it was just a few minutes later that Alexander came to our room with what he normally likes to say “a little breakfast” and we both enjoyed breakfast in our room.
A little while after we had breakfast, Anne Marie had one of her long gowns taken up. There is a seamstress on the ship and we had the butler make an appointment for her to come to our room for the fitting. After hemming the dress with pins the seamstress took the dress with her and once finished it will be sent back to our room. The seamstress does wonderful work and it is so nice to be able to get this done on the ship.
Today we sailed the Dusky, Doubtful and Milford Sound. Dusky and Doubtful are the two largest of South Island’s 14 major sounds. This country is known for its beautiful sounds and most expert consider Dusky and Doubtful Sounds as the must see fjords.
In addition to Dusky Sound we sailed north along 24 more miles of New Zealand Coast heading into the narrow passage that Captain Cook called Doubtful. This is the second largest fjord after Dusky but some consider it even more breathtaking. On top of this we are also enjoying Milford Sound, which is also very breathtaking. As we post this we are sailing in Milford Sound and we will post pictures tomorrow.
In order for the guests to enjoy the beauty of the Dusky, Doubtful and Milford Sounds the activities for today were more limited than normal and today was not considered a sea day. The only lecture was given by Dr. Gavin McLean who spoke about The Tasman Sea and how the infamous Tasmania and mainland Australia are linked by the Tasman.
As such, we spent a good portion of the day taking in all of the beautiful scenery that was all around us. We viewed this breathtaking scenery from our very own verandah, the public decks on the ship and from the Palm Court, which offered panoramic views. Additional food service was available so that guests could maximize their viewing pleasure with a special continental breakfast from 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM and a soup and sandwich buffet from 12:00 Noon until 1:30 PM in the Palm Court.
For those of you who have not had the opportunity to sail in these sounds we highly recommend it. The scenery is just spectacular and words cannot adequately describe how wonderful and breathtaking these Fjords are along with all of the scenery that one will see throughout a good portion of the day.
After we sailed the first sound we sat in the area near the on board-booking consultant where there is a little round table and four chairs. It’s a good spot to read but to also see fellow passengers and crew. At one point we had several people talking with us including Vincent and Pauline who we first met in 2007, Tommy and Heather who we sailed with last year, the Rabbi, Cruise Director Gary Hunter, a few other passengers and even the Pastry Chef who we spoke with a for a few minutes inquiring about a particular cake. In some ways, it’s like sitting at the small town coffee shop and talking with neighbors from your local town.
We had lunch at around 12:00 Noon in the Main Dining Room rather than the Lido Café. It was a good time to have lunch as we were in the open sea. We were each a bit cool from having been outside so we each began our meal with a Beef Broth. We each had a salad entrée for our main course. Keith had the Salad Nicoise, which included Anchovies, Sardines, Fresh Tuna Chunks, Olives, String Beans, Onions, Boiled Egg and Potatoes on a bed of Fresh Greens, and he also asked for an additional serving of Butter Lettuce. Anne Marie had the Grilled Lamb Salad, which came with Assorted Greens and Roasted Root Vegetables, which was topped with a Grilled Lamb Brochette, Feta Cheese and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, and she also asked for some extra greens. Both salads were fabulous.
We also managed to both go up to the Fitness Center together for an afternoon workout while we were sailing in the open bay.
It was much cloudier this time around than in 2008 but all in all we had many breathtaking views and it is great to see the same place in different ways as it looks different with clouds than it does when it is sunny.
This evening we are dining with another couple in their suite and we will post more about this tomorrow.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..
“The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer somebody else up.” - Mark Twain
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