A View Of Sky Tower From Albert Park.
The Flowers Show Times From A Clock.
Photos Of Wayne Newton Performing In The Galaxy Lounge Last Evening. The Performance was wonderful and included approximately eighteen entertainers.
February 10, 2011
Highlights From Yesterday and Today
Team Trivia
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We couldn’t do mention highlights without noting that our team finished first in Team Trivia for this past leg of the World Cruise. Regardless, of where we finished, our team has a lot of fun and that’s what is most important. By the way the name of our team is Friendship but spelled as two words Friend Ship. We named the first portion after a couple who has been on several World Cruises who could not make this cruise as one of them is now too ill to cruise again. They had sent one of the couples on our team a nice card before the start of the cruise about Friends and the day we named our team they brought along the card. So,it was a natural to pick this name. If you think of it as one word it is the friendships that we all make in life including those on a cruise. At the same time if you think of it as two words it has a similar meaning but more focused on the friends on the ship.
Wayne Newton
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We attended the first of two shows he performed last evening and it was a performance that we will not forget. He worked tirelessly with members of the Crystal Entertainment Group in preparing for this show. In total,, there were approximately eighteen people on stage. For those of you who have seen the Crystal Pops performance that has become a tradition at the end of the past couple of World Cruises it was reminiscent of that performance with so many people on stage for the entire event. We had a front row seat for the performance and it was a trip down memory lane. As we mentioned the other day, this is not only Wayne Newton and his wife’s first time with Crystal Cruises but also the first time they have ever taken a cruise.
Love For One Another
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Last night at the Captain’s Farewell Reception several people joined us. Two of the people included a Mother and her adult son. The son is around our age. When we sailed on the 2007 World Cruise, for the last four of the seven legs of the cruise we were located at a two-person table by the window right next to the most corner table in the dining room. It is a quiet area of the Main Dining Room. Throughout the time we sat there this woman and her late husband sat at the table in the back corner. It was a big effort for the late husband to make it into the dining room and over to the table. Some evenings all was good and other evenings it was more of a struggle for them to make it to dinner but somehow they did each and every evening. She assisted him during the meal. Every few nights she would send down a bottle of champagne to the dining room and she would toast the start of the dinner and you could just see that they knew that his life would be shortly coming to an end while at the same time seeing the love that this couple had for each other. He passed away later that year. The son now comes on the World Cruise with the Mother as he did last year and this year and we told her last night what an inspiration she and her late husband were to us.
Auckland, New Zealand
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We love Auckland and today we walked and walked and walked and walked. We walked over fifteen miles around this beautiful city during the course of the morning and the afternoon.
We had just an outstanding time on the ship last evening.
We began the evening by attending the Captain’s Formal Reception. This is the final reception for this leg of the World Cruise. The attire for the evening was Formal Attire and most men work Tuxedos or Formal Dinner Jackets with a few gents wearing dark suits. The women looked stunning in a variety of formal outfits including long gowns. Complimentary champagne, wine, spirits and of course non-alcohol drinks are offered throughout the reception by bar lounge staff and lido deck stewards who take your order and then bring the drinks to you. At the same time a nice array of canapés are offered by the staff.
We sat with several people that we know including Destination Lecturer Ken Rees and his lovely wife Lynne along with Musical Humorist Dale Gonyea and a few other fellow passenger’s.
As we have often mentioned, most times other than the first of the formal nights we dine at the Specialty Restaurants as we find them to be less crowded on formal nights. However, since we have dined at the specialty restaurants quite often on this leg of the World Cruise we decided to dine in the Main Dining Room last evening. We had a wonderful time in the Main Dining Room. The ambience of the dining experience was just superb as was the service and the cuisine.
The menu offered an array of wonderful items to choose from.
The appetizers included Iced American Malassol Caviar, Chicken Liver Parfait, and Gratinated Oysters Rockefeler.
The soup and salad selections included Cappuccino of White Aspargus with Lemon Sabayon and Young Peas and a Consommé Double with Chive Flan, Truffles and Morels, baked under a Puff Pastry Dome. The featured salad was the Captain’s Salad, which is always a fancy and well-presented salad.
The Pasta Special was Papardelle Pasta, tossed in Pesto Genovese and Topped with Sautéed Shrimp.
The Salad Entrée was a Veal and Lobster Salad that included Pink Roasted, Sliced Veal Tenderloin and Broiled Lobster that was accompanied by Assorted Garden Greens that were tossed in Hazelnut Vinaigrette with Green Asparagus, Cocktail Tomatoes and Port Wine Shallots.
The Main Fares included four outstanding selections:
Broiled South African Rock Lobster Tail which was served with Melted Lemon Butter or Sauce Hollandaise, and was accompanied by Fresh Garden Vegetables and Sweet Corn and Wild Rice Pilaf.
Slow-Roasted Supreme of Guinea Fowl that was served on Creamed Savoy Cabbage and was accompanied by an Apricot-Walnut Dumpling and Herb Demi Glaze.
Fillet of Beef Wellington which is Roasted Tenderloin of Beef that is baked in a Fluffy Puff Pastry with Tawny Port Reduction, and is accompanied by Cauliflower Flan, Slow-Roasted Tomatoes and Dauphine Potatoes.
Grilled Medallions of Wisconsin Milk-Fed Vaal that comes with a Creamy Porcine Sauce, Glazed Baby Vegetables and Artichoke Ravioli.
On top of this were two traditional fares items, which included Grilled Halibut and Grilled Black Angus Sirloin Steak.
There were lots of side orders to choose from, along with a Vegetarian Entrée of Homemade Potato Gnocchi that was served in a Truffle-Tomato Cream Sauce and accompanied by Green Asparagus, Mushrooms and Buffalo Mozzarella and there were lighter side items to choose from as well.
There were lots of Classic Desserts on the menu along with two sweet finale favorites which included “Baked Alaska” which was served with Strawberry and Chocolate Sauce an “Chocolate Dream” which is a Chocolate Godiva Tart ala Mode, White Chocolate Panna Cotta and Chocolate Orange Praline.
There were sugar-free desserts of Pistachio Cup Custard and Apple Raisin Tartlet a la Mode.
For those who prefer cheese there was the Cheese Trolley with an extensive selection of cheese to choose from along with a nice variety of crackers, which can be pared with each cheese.
We invited Crystal Society Hostess Jaque Brown to join us for dinner. It’s always a pleasure to spend time talking with Jaque as we see her on many days on board the ship and we have also cherished the time we have spent dining with her.
All three of us began the meal with appetizers. Anne Marie had a seafood appetizer with items such as lobster and Keith had caviar.
All three of us then enjoyed Caesar Salad that Headwaiter Augusto prepared for each of us.
We each enjoyed the Broiled South African Rock Lobster Tail, which was absolutely delicious and presented equally well. The Halibut looked great so Keith tried a small portion of it and it was simply divine. We also enjoyed our large array of vegetables that we have each evening. Keith enjoyed his mixed berries for dessert and a couple of Petit Fours and Anne Marie enjoyed a lowfat frozen Yogurt.
Afterwards, we attended the first of two concerts performed by Wayne Newton. We were fortunate to have a front row seat for the concert. Wayne Newton performed with seventeen other performers. This included his own drummer, several members of the Crystal Galaxy Orchestra including Rapheal Derkson, Lead Vocalists Tara Khaler and Dennis Dubbin, one of the members of the Crystal Full Sail singers, the members of the Astoria String Quartet, and assistant Cruise Director Scott Mitchel on the keyboard. It was a wonderful concert with Wayne Newton not only singing but also playing several instruments including the piano, and the guitar. This was a memorable concert and a memorable evening.
We slept very well last evening as we sailed to Auckland.
Keith was up quite early and back in the Fitness Center and enjoyed another ninety-minute workout on the Elliptical Machine. For most of his workout he was alone and he listened to the news related to the situation in Egypt.
After his workout he stopped by the Lido Café to bring back some coffee to the room. He spoke with Lido Deck Stewards Mel and Rauel.
About the time he got back to the room, Anne Marie was ready to walk for one hour on the Promenade Deck. We then enjoyed another very nice breakfast in our room that Alexander set up for us.
This is the second time we have visited Auckland. Our first visit to Auckland was in 2008 where we also enjoyed an overnight as we do this time around.
Auckland is both the largest and the most populous locations within New Zealand. Its population now totals approximately 1.5 million inhabitants, which represents over 30% of the total population for this country.
Auckland is quite unique as it lies between the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Oceanand it boasts two harbors; the Waitemata and Manukau. To us, it has the look and the feel of San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver.
Auckland also has the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere, which is the Sky Tower.
We arrived to Auckland at around 8:00 AM and we were docked at Princess Wharf, which is just a very short walk into the downtown area. Since we had taken two tours the last time we were here we decided to walk around the city on our own.
We could not have asked for better weather as we walked around the beautiful city of Auckland, New Zealand. In many ways New Zealand and Australia reminds us of the United States Of America in the 1950’s when one feels very safe as they walk around both large cities and small towns.
Our first priority was finding a Post Office, which we easily did to mail some cards and post cards. We enjoyed walking up and down the many hills in Auckland.
We then visited Albert Park and the Auckland University. From the University we walked to Victoria Park. We browsed a nearby wine shop where we purchased a couple of bottles of New Zealand Wine (Pinot Gris) for an upcoming dinner at Silk Road with our good friends. We also visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which was established in 1842.
We visited the Sky Tower and took the elevator to the main observation level. The tower is over 1,076 feet in height. Since this was a beautiful day we had wonderful panoramic views of the city and the surrounding bays. We ran into a member of the Crystal Serenity Crew around the time we saw someone doing a sky jump. He told us about a fellow passenger who we know who did a jump and ironically about 30 minutes later we ran into her in another area of the city. Keith had remarked that you could not pay him enough money to do a jump. On our walk over to the next area we saw Head Waiter of Prego, Bruno, on his very own bicycle. We also walked over to the America’s Cup waterfront area.
When we arrived back to the ship we enjoyed a very nice salad entrée in the Lido Café.
After lunch we walked around the city again. We visited two cemetery's including one that was Jewish and we walked all the way over to Auckland Domain which is a very large park. We visited several other areas around the city.
This evening we will be having dinner at our table with a fellow passenger and will post about dinner tomorrow.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…….
“Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm ... As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” - Audrey Hepburn
Keith and Anne Marie
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