Another view of the Beautiful Crystal Serenity and the Sydney Harbour Bridge
The beautiful Sydney Harbour Bridge
Another view of the Crystal Serenity and the Sydney Harbour Bridge
We walked the Harbour Bridge both ways and spent a while on the other side of the bridge where we walked through several residential areas.
This was another area that we visited after we walked to the end of the bridge.
This was an area on the other side of the bridge where that we walked.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Highlights From Yesterday and Today.
Sydney, Australia.
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There is no question that Sydney is one of our favorite cities around the world. It is a very picturesque city, with a beautiful harbour, and so many places that are easily accessible by foot, by ferry or very reachable in a taxi or even with the hop on hop off buses. There are also other transportation options such as the Monorail.
It has one of the prettiest cruise harbours in all the world and we do like the fact that within minutes we can walk to the Opera House, or over to the beautiful botanical gardens or over to the area called The Rocks which has shops, boutiques, restaurants, cafes and even hotels.
We felt very safe when we walk the streets of Sydney and essentially at peace. It is a very romantic city as well and very vibrant and we like the fact that we see people bicycle riding, jogging and walking.
There is just so much to do in this city and we look forward to visiting here again and see more sites.
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We were asked how many miles Keith covers on the Elliptical Machine during his 90-minute workout. The number of miles will vary based on Keith’s energy level, but on average Keith covers ten to thirteen miles each workout. He uses a fairly high resistance.
We were also asked about the special order we had the other evening of the Beef Wellington. As background, we do not special order very often in the Main Dining Room as most of the items that we enjoy the most are already on the dinner menus. For this particular evening we decided to special order and the question was since we ordered Beef Wellington for two people and it is often made in a larger quantity how does Crystal deal with the leftovers. Well, we could say that we ate the equivalent of eight portions but no one would be that and if they did we would then offer to sell them the Brooklyn Bridge. Our experience is that when something such as Beef Wellington is ordered that the Headwaiter will ask other tables in his section if they would also like to have Beef Wellington that evening and they will find other takers. The same goes true for other items such as if the Headwaiter is making a special Caesar Salad that has been requested before they begin to prepare the salad they will ask if others are interested as well.
We wanted to start off with our walk yesterday afternoon. A little while before we went off the ship it poured for a short period of time but by the time we walked off the ship the weather was perfect.
We walked several streets until we reached the Great Synagogue. From there we visited St. Mary’s Cathedral, which is a beautiful Catholic Church. Indoor pictures were not allowed. As we walked further we had a nice view of the Sydney Tower. From there we walked to the State Public Library, and the Art Gallery Of New South Wales. We then walked over to the Domain and back into the Royal Gardens. Throughout our walk we took in so much more on top of all of this. We will post more photos tomorrow including all of the sites we just mentioned.
During our morning and our afternoon walks we ran into some passengers but also lots of crewmembers as well. It was a truly memorable day and we love Sydney as we do Australia.
As we walked we decided that we were going to change our dinner plans and instead of dining at the Main Dining Room (we were going to have to dine in a section of the Dining Room for the open choice dining and not our regular table since we were arriving back later in the evening from the play) we would instead dine at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant. When we spoke with Executive Chef, Franz Weiss while we were having lunch knowing that we love fish he had asked if we were dining at Prego since as they do often they had bought local fish for Prego so that convinced us we should go with Prego. We were able to see the Specialty Restaurant Maitre d’ and we made a reservation for Prego.
When we got back to our room to get ready for the evening, we caught some of the Oscar’s. The live show was broadcast but we caught some of the Oscar’s as it was being rerun for us.
We went back off the ship later in the evening and walked over to the Opera House where we saw a play. The theatre is called the Drama Theatre and it is part the Opera House. We would have loved to see an Opera but unfortunately nothing was scheduled for last evening. The play was called “in the next room”, which was quite unique and an interesting play.
After the Play we walked back to the ship and dined at Prego.
As we always do, we wanted to mention the dinner menu last evening for the Crystal Dining Room.
The theme of the Menu was the Bon Voyage Dinner.
Appetizers included Sautéed Shrimp, Thinly Sliced Bresaola Ham, and Marinated Grilled Vegetable Carapccio.
Soups included Crab and Sweet Corn Soup and a Consommé Double with Slice Wagyu Beef and Peas.
Salads featured Spinach Salad and a Heart of Crisp Romaine Salad.
The Pasta Special was a Panna Rosa with Fresh Tomato Sauce, Cream and Fontina Cheese and the Salad Entrée was Garlic Marinated Grilled Australian Lamb Chops.
Main Fares included Broiled Fillet of Fresh Line Caught Silver Dory, Pink Roasted Rack of Veal, Braised Chicken Hunters Style and a Grilled Black Angus Sirloin Steak. Traditional Main Fares included Grilled Black Angus Fillet Steak and a Fresh Salmon Fillet.
The Vegetarian Selections included Baked Eggplant Mousse and the Lighter Side included a Pink Roasted Boneless Four Ounce Rack of Veal.
The Sweet Finale included “French Influence” which was Pear Caramel Cake with Vanilla Ice Cram, Poire Williams Sabayon and Caramelized Pear Chip and “Turtle Creek” which was Honey Glazed Pecan Tart, Dark Chocolate Mousse and Vanilla Sauce. Sugar Free items featured Orange Pudding and a Coffee Éclair dessert.
Of course there were numerous Classic Desserts to choose along with the Cheese Trolley.
As we mentioned, we dined at Prego and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. We had waiter Boban as our waiter for the evening.
Our meal was superb. We started with our favorite salad and then we had a beef consommé. We then had a special fish, which is called a coral trout. It is not like a trout that we think of in the United States. Rather it was thick and very moist. It was superb. The Prego executive chef came by our table to see what we thought and we quickly told him how great it was. We also each had decaffeinated cappuccino and Anne Marie had a low fat frozen yogurt while Keith had a nice plate of mixed berries. During the course of our meal we spoke with the Specialty Restaurant Maitre d’, Antonio and headwaiter, Bruno, from time to time. We also chatted for a couple of minutes with Hotel Director Herbert Dopler, and Hotel Director Josef Lumetsberger. Josef Lumetsberger has just arrived to the ship and will take the place of Herbert Dopler who will go on a well-deserved holiday. We also spoke briefly to, Gregg Michel, President of Crystal Cruises.
We can’t say enough about how special it is/was to dine in Prego. The service is just so wonderful and very traditional and European. It’s not the type of service or ambience that you find in most land based restaurants these days. For us, it has the fell of dining at a small town restaurant with superb service and food that is truly prepared for each person.
The ship departed Sydney at 12:00 Midnight but we were fast asleep and we did not hear the ship depart. We slept very well last evening as we are now sailing to our next port of call in Brisbane, Australia.
Keith was up very early and back in the Fitness Center. He worked out for ninety minutes on the Elliptical Machine and then did some stretching and also weight lifting. He worked out alone for most of his workout before a few people arrived about thirty minutes before he finished. He assisted one lady setting up her elliptical machine including the television.
He stopped by the Lido Café for some coffee to bring back to the room. The Lido Deck Stewards who work in three teams have rotated with the start of this leg of the World Cruise so Keith had the opportunity to talk with Lido Deck Steward Nat who he has known for many years. Speaking of Lido Deck Stewards a couple of you have asked about certain stewards who we have not mentioned and in many cases that is because they are on their well deserved holidays. When this voyages ends in Singapore several of the Lido Deck Stewards will be going home for their holidays while several will be returning to the ship such as longtime Lido Deck Steward Benjamin.
Anne Marie worked out in the Fitness Center on the Treadmill, as it was too windy to walk on the Promenade Deck. A little while after she got back to the room there was a knock on the door and it was Alexander with our breakfast. We enjoyed breakfast as we watched the Daily Morning Show with Cruise Director Gary Hunter and World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston.
We registered for the World Cruise Games at 9:00 AM and at the same time we picked up our World Cruise shirt. The World Cruise games include a wide range of activities.
The activities included Backgammon, Basketball Free Throw, Chess, Cribbage, Darts, Duplicate Bridge, Free Cell, Gin Rummy, Golf Putting, Lap Swimming, Paddle Tennis, Photo Competition, Scrabble, Shuffleboard, Social Bridge, Duplicate Bridge, Darts, Solitaire, Sodoku, Table Tennis and Walking Relay and for some of these events such as Shuffleboard, Paddle and Table Tennis there are mixed doubles, men only, women only events as well. At the same time there will also be plenty of other activities during the day as one would find on any sea day so it’s a fun and busy time on the ship. There are also crew only events that take place during the late evening hours. Every few nights they have awards ceremonies where they give out Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals for each event.
Speaking of the world games, last evening before we went to dinner we saw Olympian Dorothy Hammill and her husband. We spoke with them for a few minutes. We had first met Dorothy Hammill on the 2007 World Cruise. She was always someone we looked up to and for many years Anne Marie had her hair styled with the Dorothy Hammill hairstyle as so many women did.
At 10:00 AM we attended emergency muster drill which was mandatory for all guest regardless of when they boarded
At 11:00 AM we attended a special presentation with Crystal Cruises President, Gregg Michel, and Senior Vice President of Operations Thomas Mazloun, which was followed by a question, and answer session, which was hosted by Cruise Director Gary Hunter. The presentation and the question session was excellent and we will summarize major points in a few days.
Afterwards, we attended the first Team Trivia for this next leg of the World Cruise. We came in second place for the day.
This afternoon Keith played Paddle Tennis while Anne Marie took at ninety-minute walk on the Promenade Deck.
Later in the afternoon we both spoke with various fellow passengers and crew and also did some reading and writing.
This evening we will attend the Captain’s Formal Reception followed by dinner at the Crystal Dining Room.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY….
“Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” - Franklin Roosevelt
Keith and Anne Marie
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