The Female Dancers Are Practicing Their Routine.
Wednesday, February 9
Yesterday afternoon, we saw our first movie of this voyage. We saw the movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps with Shia LeBeouf, Michael Douglas and several other actors. We thought the original movie, Wall Street, was better but nevertheless it was nice to have the opportunity to see this movie and we thought it did reflect fairly accurately many of the items related to the economic meltdown and how catastrophic and even more impacting it could have been. Crystal Cruises is one of the few cruise lines to have a movie cinema, which makes it nice to see full-length movies. While we didn’t have any, popcorn was available when we entered the movie theatre.
We enjoyed another nice evening on the ship last evening.
Last night there was a World Cruise Event for those taking the full World Cruise that was up at the indoor pool area. They covered the pool and use it as a stage for the entertainment and then in between each course they will perform for the guests. This requires a lot of personnel so they close the Specialty Restaurants for the evening so that the staff from these venues can work this event along with other staff such as the Lido Deck Stewards and other personnel. In addition, all of the on board entertainers are part of the performance in addition to others such as the World Cruise Hostess and both the Cruise and the Assistant Cruise Director. The idea for the performance is identified about eighteen months before the cruise so that the necessary items can be ordered. The actual script is written about one or two weeks prior to the performance including the song material. A day or so before the performance the team will rehearse and that continues during the day leading to the evening performance. We saw part of the rehearsal yesterday afternoon.
During the evening open seating was available in the Main Dining Room for everyone else between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM (you can show up at any of these times to be seated). They also offer complimentary wines in the Main Dining Room for everyone to enjoy.
We made arrangements to dine with friends Bob and Glo and we all met at 7:00 PM for dinner. We were fortunate to be seated at our regular dining room table, which does accommodate four people so that worked out nicely.
As usual there were lots of great items to choose from.
The Appetizers included Freshly Baked Crab Strudel, Petit Beef Tartar, and a Tower of Marinated, Grilled Vegetables and Buffalo Mozzarella.
The Soups and Salads included Tomato Soup, Duck Consommé, Medley of Assorted Lettuce Tossed in Lorenzo Dressing, and Marinated Cucumber Salad.
The Pasta Special sounded yummy and it was Involtini di Melanzane e Linguine that included a Baked Eggplant Roll Stuffed with Linguine, Tomatoes, Fontina and Fresh Herbs. The Salad Entrée was Panko-Breaded Golden-Fried Frog Legs on a Bed Crisp of Greens Tossed in Roasted Garlic Dressing and accompanied by Cherry Tomatoes, Avocad, Green Beans and Baby Corn.
The Main Fares included Broiled Fillet of Red Snapper, Fijian Seafood Curry, Roast Cornish Game Hen, Pepper Steak and there were two Main Fares items to choose from which was Grilled Black Angus Sirloin Steak and a Seared Veal Rib Eye.
The Vegetarian Selection included a Sweet ‘n’ Sour Tofu and there was also a lighter side entrée and other items to choose from.
The complimentary wines included two white wines, which was a Chardonnay from the McWilliams, Hanwood Estate from Southeastern Australia another white wine which was Gruner Veltliner, “Sepp,” Kremstal, Austria 2008.
The red wines included a Cabernet Sauvignon, George Rafael, Napa Valley, 2005 and a Syrah, Cortona, Tenimenti Luigi D’Alessandro, Tuscany, Italy 2007.
Then there were the desserts, which included lots of classic desserts. In addition, the sweet finales included “Fiji Delight” which was Coconut Flan with Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramelized Pineapple Ragout and “Chocolate Dome” which was a Dark Chocolate Mousse Bomb Filled with Pistachio Custard.
There were two sugar-free desserts, which included Vanilla Strawberry Cream Cake and a Chocolate Sundae.
The Cheese Trolley, which featured several nice cheese choices, was available as well.
We had a wonderful time at dinner with friends Bob and Glo. We did enjoy a wonderful conversation as we always do when the four of us are together. We toasted before we began the meal.
We even changed it up a little.We began with a seafood appetizer before we had the salad.
We each had a nice salad. Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie enjoyed one of the salads on the menu.
We both had the Broiled Fillet of Red Snapper, which was presented on an Artichoke Puree with Sautéed Spinach and Olive-Caper-Tomato Sauce. This entrée was absolutely delicious and tasted as good as it sounded and looked. Bravo to the Chefs on board the ship and to those who create the recipes from the Crystal Cruises Los Angeles Headquarters.
We had our nice side order of vegetables and Keith had a baked potato as well.
For dessert, Keith had the mixed berries, and Jijo brought out a small sweet that he knew that Keith would enjoy and Anne Marie enjoyed a fat free frozen yogurt.
Afterwards, the women went to see Musical Humorist Dale Gonyea who once again wowed the crowd with another talented and very humorous show, which they loved. Following the show there was a Name That Tune game in the Avenue Saloon with pianist Marcie Castro and the team that the two women were on won with by far the most correct answers.
The men enjoyed a nice conversation in one of the lounges and were joined later by another guest.
It was a great evening and we were up the latest we have been since boarding the ship. We went to sleep at Midnight.
We slept very well last evening as we sailed towards Auckland, New Zealand.
Today was the first of two consecutive sea days as we make our way towards Auckland.
We planned to sleep later but as it turned out Keith awoke early as he always does and enjoyed another wonderful workout at the Fitness Center. He worked out for 90+ minutes on the Elliptical Machine as he caught up with the news of the day.
When he first arrived to the Fitness Center there was a gentlemen working out but after about fifteen minutes Keith had the entire center to himself for most of the time. Fellow passenger Roy did stop by for a few minutes to talk.
In case you are wondering the woman passenger who just yesterday had a telephone conversation using her speakerphone on the treadmill did this once again today. We’ll have to see if this pattern continues.
After the workout, Keith stopped by the Lido Café to bring back some coffee to the room. He spoke with Lido Deck Steward Ray for a little while.
Anne Marie took a one-hour walk on the Promenade Deck. She tries to walk very quickly as she circles the Promenade Deck.
Just around 8:00 AM there was a knock at the door and it was Alexander who set up breakfast for us.
We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in the room as we watched the daily morning show with Cruise Director, Gary Hunter, and World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston. We learned that Wayne Newton will be performing tomorrow evening at 8:30 PM and 10:45 PM.
There were two lectures this morning. Special Interest Lecturer David Drewry spoke about coral islands and that they are the most distinctive feature of the tropics. Following this lecture Special Interest Lecturer David Davenport spoke about the issues related to the United States Constitution from healthcare to immigration to marriage and the tug of war between the federal government and the states over the Constitution.
We played team trivia at 12:00 Noon. Today, we tied for the most points. We believe we are one point behind the top two teams and tomorrow will feature the last Team Trivia game for this leg of the voyage.
Although we didn’t attend it, there was a Jazz Brunch Buffet outside the Main Dining Room.
In the afternoon, Keith played Paddle Tennis until it began to rain and Anne Marie got in another one-hour walk.
This evening we will dine at the Prego Italian Restaurant with one other couple and with Cruise Director Gary Hunter, Assistant Cruise Director Scott Mitchel and with World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston. We’ll post more about this tomorrow.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……….
“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not” - Robert Kennedy
Keith and Anne Marie
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