Photos from yesterday morning as we sailed the Dusky Sound.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Highlights From Yesterday And Today
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While it was overcast and cloudy, the highlight from yesterday was our sailing of Dusky, Doubtful and Milford Sounds. The Fjords are truly majestic and beautiful and so very special to view from the Crystal Serenity. We received excellent commentary throughout the day with lots of interesting information about each of the sounds, and the Fjords. This is one of the most beautiful areas of the world and we are so appreciative of the opportunity to view this breathtaking scenery for the second time since we first visited this area in 2008. For those of you who have not yet visited here we highly recommend it.
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We had a very nice time with another couple last evening. Even though we did not dine in the Main Dining Room we thought we would highlight last evenings menu.
Appetizers included Mosaic of Fresh Fruit. This included New Zealand Kiwi, Forest Berries and Drambui Liqueur. There was also Buckwheat Crepe which was filled with Seafood Ragout and Served with Herb Sabayon and a Tomato Gazpacho with Otago Queen Scallop Tartar, Chives and Vegetable Confetti.
Soups featured a White Bean Soup with Black Olive Tapenade and Bail Oil and a Chicken Consommé with Pistachio Quenelles.
Salads featured a Grilled Eggplant Salad with Endives and Shaved Parmesan and a Medley of Field Greens Tossed in Green Goddess Dressing with Pancetta, Sliced Mushrooms and Fava Beans.
The Pasta Special was Mafaldine Pasta with Creamy Porcine Sauce Toped with Tomato Confit.
The Salad Entrée was appropriately named Crystal’s Chopped Salad with Crunchy Lettuce, Cherry Tomatoes, Avocado, Green Beans, Squash, Celery, Melon, Roast Beef Tenderloin, Chicken Breast, Lobster Meat and Boiled Egg which is then Tossed in Honey-lemon-Basil Vinaigreete, Sprinkled with Crumbled Blue Cheese. Wow, now that is some salad.
Main Fares featured Fresh Dunedin Sole Fillets with Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes Vichy Carrots and Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc Sauce. This is an example of an entrée that features local items. There was also Pan Fried Medallions of New Zealand Venison with Schupf Noodles, Cider Baked Apple, Asparagus and Lingonberry Cognac Sauce, Roasted Black Angus Beef Prime Rib and a Breaded and Golden Fried Chicken Breast.
Other entrée options included Grilled Black Angus Filet Steak and Broiled Fresh Salmon Fillet.
The Vegetarian Selection featured a Homemade Potato Gnocchi entrée, which was served in a light Gorgonzola Sauce with Parsley-Walnut Pesto Smothered Cherries. Lighter side items were also available.
Sweet Finale Desserts included “The Cotton Club” which was Double Fudge Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding with Sauce Anglaise and Chocolate Ice Cream and a “Dream of Raspberries” which was Raspberry Compote, Mascarone Raspberry Shake and Chocolate Granola Crunch.
Sugar-Free items included Chocolate Profiteroles and Lemon Zest Custard.
There were lots of Classic Desserts to choose from along with the Cheese Trolley.
We dined with another couple that is on for the Full World Cruise who we first met on last years World Cruise who are in one of the four Crystal Penthouse Suites. These are the largest of the suites on board the ship and are simply gorgeous. They happen to have the same butler as we do so we saw quite a bit of Alexander last evening who coordinated the dinner for the four of us.
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner. We each had soup, a nice salad and a fish special entrée from Prego, which was Grilled Filet of Local Tarakihi from New Zealand, and it was wonderful. We also had a piece of cake for dessert. Well, Keith actually had two pieces. We had an outstanding time.
We slept fairly well last night, as we are now sailing towards our next port of call in Hobart, Australia. Anne Marie did wake up a couple of times due to some winds but Keith slept like a baby. Today, is the first of two sea days before we reach Hobart. The good news is that before we went to sleep last evening we set the clock back another hour as we sail into another time zone.
Keith was up early and back to the Fitness Center for yet another workout on the Elliptical Machine. He was able to put in another ninety-minute workout. One man arrived about one hour earlier than normal and Keith asked him if he had set his clock backwards and he had not. They both laughed about it.
During the workout Keith watched most of the movie Invincible that he had never seen before. It was a good motivator type of movie. In fact, he got so engrossed in the movie that he ended up going more miles on the Elliptical in the ninety-minute workout than he has ever done before in the same amount of time. It is a fact-based drama and there are several takeaways from the movie.
Afterwards, he stopped by the Lido Café to bring some coffee back to the room.
A few minutes later Anne Marie took her one-hour walk. Since it was a little windy Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill.
We enjoyed another wonderful breakfast in our room that was organized by Alexander. While having breakfast, we watched the morning show starring Cruise Director Gary Hunter and World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston.
It’s nice to have two full sea days to enjoy as we greatly enjoy the enrichment program that Crystal offers on sea days.
We learned in Reflections which is the daily program that we receive each evening with information about the following days activities that the Crystal Serenity and the Asuka II, formerly the Crystal Harmony and the first ship of the Crystal Cruises Fleet, passed in the night sometime between 1:00 AM and 2:00 AM. When we were last in this area of the world in 2008, the Asuka II and the Crystal Serenity were in Milford Sound in the afternoon and we serenaded each other. It seemed like the two ships were dancing with one another.
We attended two lectures this morning. Lecturer Harm de Blij who we have seen on several Crystal Cruises who spoke about Science, Politics and Climate Change gave the first. While we do not necessarily agree with all of his conclusions, we think he is a wonderful and charismatic speaker and we always look forward to his lectures. After all, it’s important to have a dialogue about issues and to do so it is important to hear a variety of views on any given subject and to be open to the views of one another
General Tony Zinni gave the second lecture of the morning and his lecture was about the rising threat from Iran. This is another topic where there is clearly uncertainty on what the future will bring.
At Noon, we had our second game of Team Trivia held since the start of this leg of the World Cruise. We finished in a tie for second place with twelve correct answers.
For lunch, we enjoyed a very nice salad entrée.
In the afternoon, Special Interest Lecturer Ken Rees who has been on board and has lectured since the start of the World Cruise gave a great lecture titled “The King’s Speech, The Royals, the Media and the Curse of the Celebrity. He spoke about how the ever more intrusive press coverage has created today’s cult of celebrity, where people become famous just for being famous.
In the afternoon, Anne Marie was able to get in another one-hour walk and then she did some reading and writing. Keith did reading and writing as it was too rough and cold to play Paddle Tennis.
This evening is the second formal night on this leg of the World Cruise. There is a Crystal Society Reception, which recognizes and honors all Crystal Cruisers who have completed one or more Crystal Sailings. Afterwards, we will be dining at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant and we have invited pianist John Mentis to dine with us. We will post more about our evening tomorrow.
As we close today’s post, we wanted to share a thought for the day that has become very near and dear to us. Coincidentally, this was a topic that was discussed in a recent Rap With The Rabbi session and was in the speech that was given by President Obama in Cairo a couple of years ago that we recently reread as it was mentioned by the Ambassador Robert Hunter when he spoke about the situation in Egypt.
We believe that often people really want to do what’s good for one another, but we recognize that we live at a time when events and activities seem to move at light-speed.
As we grow older, and as we visit more and more places around the world we recognize more than ever the importance of this rule.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……..
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." From The Golden Rule
Keith and Anne Marie
I'm glad you got to see Christchurch when you did. Looking forward to seeing that new gown. The coral one is still my favorite!!
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