Anne Marie registering for some of the World Cruise Games. We also each received a World Cruise Games Shirt.
Some additional photos from our afternoon walk in Sydney, Australia two days ago
Archibald Fountain near St Mary's Cathedral
St. Mary's Cathedral
The Domain/Royal Botanic Gardens
The Art Gallery Of New South Wales
The Sydney Tower
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Highlights From Yesterday and Today
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Presentation by Gregg Michel, President of Crystal Cruises followed by Question and Answer Session with Greg Michel and Thomas Mazloum, Senior Vice President for Operations.
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We greatly enjoyed the Presentation given by Greg Michel followed by the Question and Answer Session with Gregg Michel and Thomas Mazloum. We greatly appreciate that these Senior Executives of Crystal Cruises take/make the time to not only come onto the ship for a few days for each World Cruise but that they also take the time to meet with all of the passenger’s in this type of forum. They can also be seen around the ship. The presentation covered 2011 and beyond and we found the presentation very informative as we did the Question and Answer Session.
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It was nice to be back in the Main Dining Room after having been away for the past couple of days.
Last evening was the first formal for this leg of the World Cruise and formal nights are always very special in the Crystal Dining Room and all around the ship.
The theme for the menu was the Captain’s Gala Dinner and it’s just a superb menu and dinner.
Appetizers featured Ice American Malassol Caviar accompanied by the traditional Condiments, Ragout of Morels, Chicken and Asparagus in Puffy Pastry Bouchons, and Fresh Sydney Rock Oysters with Champagne Mignonette and Cocktail Sauce. Soups featured Forest Mushroom Soup Cappuccino Style and a Clear Oxtail Soup. The Salad was the infamous Captain’s Salad, which features Selected Bouquet of Fresh Garden Lettuce with Cocktail Tomatoes, English Celery, Cucumber, Grapes, and Fresh Sprouts. The Pasta Special was Papardelle Pasta “al Pesto Tiguilio” with Basil Pest, Fagioli and New Potatoes. The Salad Entrée was a Beef Tenderloin Salad accompanied by an array of delectable items.
Main Fares included Broiled Australian Fresh Rock Lobster, Fillet of Fresh Australian Barramundi, Chateaubriand, and Pan Seared Squab Breast. Traditional Main Fares were Plain Grilled Chicken Breast Fillet and Grilled Black Angus Sirloin Steak. The Vegetarian Selection included an entrée of Gratinated Wild Rice Crepes Stuffed with Fresh Spinach, Corn and Oven-Dried Tomatoes, Served on Red Pepper Coulis. As usual there were also lighter side items to choose from.
There were lots of Classic Desserts on the menu and the Ice Cream featured Vanilla, Cookie Dough, Coffee or Strawberry with lots of toppings to choose from and the Freshly Frozen, Nonfat Yogurts featured Raspberry or Banana Yogurt. Petits Fours and Chocolate Truffles were also served at each table.
Sweet Finale Dessert featured “Chocolate Delice” which was a White Chocolate Truffle Cake and Frozen Raspberry Yogurt and there was the “Mocha Bean” which was Coffee Pudding with Kona Coffee Ice Cream and Pistachio Biscotti. Sugar-Free desserts featured a Rice Pudding with Fresh Berries and a Frozen Key Lime Bomb.
We began our meal with salads and Anne Marie enjoyed the Captain’s Salad while Keith enjoyed his standing order salad. We each had the Broiled Australian Fresh Rock Lobster, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We have had this in the past and find the taste, texture and the size of the lobster to be wonderful. In many places around the world Crystal will fly in Fresh Maine Lobster. In a few places such as this part of the world Crystal will bring on board Australian Lobster which personally we think is the best of the Lobsters we have had and when the ship sails in Africa usually they will bring on board a South African Lobster which is also quite delicious. We also shared the Fillet Of Fresh Australian Barramundi We had our side order of vegetables and Keith had a baked potato. For dessert, Anne Marie had a fruit plate and Keith had mixed berries and a couple of the Petit Fours, which Anne Marie selected, for him.
Afterwards, we attended the Captain’s Welcome Reception held in the Palm Court. As we have mentioned often these receptions include dancing to the Sextet Band and complimentary wines, champagne and various drinks with spirits are offered as well as a wide assortment of drinks without alcohol. Captain Okland welcomed everyone to the reception including those who just boarded the ship in Sydney and those who have already been on the ship for one or more previous voyages. They also had a large group sing for us. They are from the University Of Virginia and we counted at least thirteen of them. We sat with friends Bob and Glo and a few other people joined us as well.
Formal nights are very special with us because we find that seeing most everyone decked out in his or her formal attire truly adds to the ambience found on board the ship. The vast majority of the men dressed in either tuxedos or wear a dinner jacket with tuxedo pants while most women wear evening dresses, gowns or other formal attire.
The evening entertainment was a show by Stephen Fisher-King who is Australia’s Award Winning Broadway Baritone.
The seas were relatively calm so we slept very well as we sailed to Brisbane, Australia. The good news is that we set the clocks back another hour as we sailed to another new time zone.
Keith woke up very early and enjoyed another nice workout in the Fitness Center. He worked out for his usual ninety minutes on the Elliptical Machine while he watched news and the ESPN sports station.
He was the only one working out until two people arrived a few minutes before his workout was done.
He stopped by the Lido Café and brought some coffee back to the room. He spoke with Lido Deck Stewards, Nat, Jun and Rosano who are part of the Lido Deck Team now working in the Lido Café for this voyage.
Anne Marie did not workout in the morning since we had an early tour and we had breakfast in our room at 6:30 AM. After breakfast we got ready for our tour.
At around 7:45 AM we learned that we would be delayed arriving to Brisbane by one hour. The delay was due to weather/sea conditions that caused congestion getting into the Brisbane Harbor. As a result, the start times for the tours including our tour were revised. The ships departure time from Brisbane was pushed out from 6:00 PM until 7:00 PM to offset the late arrival.
Brisbane is the capital of the Australian state of Queensland and is the largest city in that state. It is located midway on the East Coast of Australia.
The city is situated on the Brisbane River on a low-lying floodplain. It offers its residents and its visitors a very diverse landscape. Very hilly suburbs surround the inner city. The population of Brisbane is approximately four million people.
We were originally going to do a tour but with the delay getting into port and other plans we decided to cancel the tour. This is our second time to Brisbane as we were here in 2008 and that was a maiden port of call for Crystal at that time.
We took the complimentary shuttle into town and walked for a few hours. We visited the Botanic Gardens, which are quite extensive, and we walked all around the gardens. We also visited other areas including the Parliament House, The Mansions and the University. We also visited a nearby market. Brisbane, is a lovely city and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. We found the locals to be quite nice and very helpful as we have experienced throughout Australia.
When we arrived back to the ship we met Charles and Margaret. We know Charles through Cruise Critic and we made arrangements for the two of them to visit the ship for lunch with us. They had sailed on the Crystal Serenity and on Crystal for the very first time in 2010. They live in Brisbane. We all went to the Crystal Dining Room for lunch and we had Jijo and Grenold as our Senior Waiters and Waiters and we all enjoyed a lovely conversation along with the wonderful food and the wonderful cuisine of the Dining Room.
We spent the rest of the afternoon on the ship.
This evening we will dine in the Crystal Dining Room and will post about that tomorrow.
We wanted to share two thoughts for the day which relate to helping others.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……..
Today’s thought of the day is a reminder to look for opportunities to help others not only when major events occur but also in our day-to-day lives.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……
“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” -Muhammad Ali
Keith and Anne Marie
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