We began our evening by having a pre-dinner drink at the Crystal Plaza as we listened to the music of Pianist Scott Mitchel. On the next voyage Scott will assume the responsibilities as Assistant Cruise Director, and John Mentis will join the ship and play the piano. We sat with a guest who Keith has played Paddle Tennis with, not only on this cruise but on a cruise this time last year, and with her Mother.
Before dinner, Keith spoke with some of the people at the front desk including the Chief Concierge and three of the wonderful Serenity crew members who work at the Reception Desk. Their professionalism, smiles and friendliness put smiles on our faces and touch our hearts.
We then had dinner at the Prego Italian Restaurant. We received an invitation from the Crystal Society Hostess on the first day of the voyage to a Crystal Society Dinner which she hosted along with Hotel Director Josef Lumetsberger. Cruise Sales Consultant Daniele also attended.
Anne Marie with Crystal Society Hostess Jaque and the Manager of the Photo Studio, Neil. Keith teased Neil that a photo would be placed on the outside door of his room and a charge would appear on his account. LOL.
From L-R, Keith, Jaque, Daniele, Anne Marie and Josef.
We have had the pleasure of knowing Josef, Jaque and Daniele for several years. In fact, when we began the meal with some wine and we toasted to friendship.
We have sailed with Jaque on five World Cruises and on several other voyages, including some on the Crystal Symphony.
We have sailed with Josef many times. On our first few World Cruises each of the two Hotel Directors were on board for half the World Cruise. A few months before the start of World Cruise 2012, Hotel Director Herbert Dopler unexpectedly passed away and Josef returned a couple of months earlier than planned and was Hotel Director for the full World Cruise. Since that time he has continued to be on for the full World Cruise. Josef has been with Crystal from fairly close to its inception, and has assumed increased responsibilities throughout his career including serving as Executive Chef, Food & Beverage Manager and Hotel Director.
We first sailed with Daniele starting with World Cruise 2008 when he worked the Reception Desk. Since that time, Daniele has assumed increased responsibilities as he has worked in a variety of positions including Concierge, Assistant to the Hotel Director, and Cruise Sales Consultant. Like Jaque, we have sailed with Daniele on both Serenity and Symphony.
Dinner was fantastic. We were taken excellent care of by the Prego Team. Once again, Maria was our waiter and Head Waiter Mario, and Specialty Restaurants Maitre d' checked up on us several times. Jiri one of two Sommelier's did a thorough job of explaining the wines to us and was very attentive throughout the evening. We didn't take photos of what we ate.
We each had the additional pasta as an appetizer which was pasta with a light red sauce and feta cheese. It tasted too good so we each had just a portion of it. For our second course, we had our standing order salads. Keith had the striped bass as his entree and Anne Marie had the veal. Maria had ordered a larger than usual side order of Grilled Vegetables for Keith that could be shared with everyone at the table. For dessert we both had berries. All in all it was a wonderful evening and we enjoyed lots of good and non-stop conversation on a number of items.
Following dinner, there was a performance of Jukebox Musical - "A Love Story" which is a 35-minute show that was shown twice. This show rolled out shortly after we departed Serenity in mid-May of 2014 and we saw the performance in September of last year. It features the male and female lead vocalists and the members of the Crystal Ensemble of Singers & Dancers and also the Galaxy Orchestra under the direction of Raphael Derkson. We thought that show was terrific when we saw it in September. It has a nice theme to it and the Crystal performers are alway fun to watch. We didn't go last night knowing that we have many more voyages coming up to see it again which we plan to do.
We slept very well last evening as we sailed to our next port of call at St. Barts. It seems that on most nights shortly after our heads hit the pillow that we fall asleep with ease.
As usual, Keith was up first and went through his regular early morning routine of exercise and then coffee at the Lido Cafe and also read and wrote.
After waking up Anne Marie went on a morning walk and around the time she got back to the room, Rao came to our room with breakfast.
We had breakfast a little earlier than we do since we planned to visit St. Barts and Keith was signed up for an 8:15 AM indoor cycling class.
Six people took the class. Fitness Instructor Leanne did an excellent job teaching the class as she always does.
Keith was the first one there arriving about 25 minutes before class to loosen up.
Keith took a photo of Leanne.
We had mentioned the other day that former Line Captain of the Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers, Shane Morley is now on board as Events Coordinator for the World Cruise. Shane continues to keep in excellent shape.
We have been to St. Barts on a voyage a couple of years ago for the very first time. If you recall, on the first voyage tender operations was delayed due to the sea swells and we decided not to go into St. Barts that day knowing we would be returning on this voyage.
St. Barts is different than the typical Caribbean Island that cruise ships visit. Many tourists who come to spend their holiday's at this island, are part of what is called the rich and the famous as this island attracts many people from the film and the music industry.
St. Barts is a relatively small island with only 10,000 residents. It is known for its beautiful beaches and has many fine restaurants and shopping.
We took one of the tenders over from Serenity to St. Barts. Although the swells were far less rough than on the Holiday Cruise the Tender was moving quite a bit around as we boarded it and until we were on our way over to St. Barts. It was important to hold on and be very careful when boarding and exiting the tender and several Crystal personnel were on hand to assist each guest.
Once we arrived we walking up and down several streets for about 90 minutes. It was hot and humid which is typical for this time of year. The streets are not wide and in some cases sidewalks do not exist. At the same time you need to be careful where you walk because like many French areas people do not clean up after their dogs.
This is one of those streets with no sidewalks.
This is the St. Bartholomew's Anglican Church from 1855.
There are many high end shops and also many cafes and restaurants in town.
While it is Winter in many parts of the World, it feels like Summer at the ports we are visiting.
We enjoyed many beautiful views as we walked areas by the Port.
This anchor is from the 18th century and was made in England and was discovered in 1980.
Once we returned to the ship, we enjoyed Serenity for the rest of the day. With the very nice weather we have been enjoying, at times it is easy for us to forget that it is winter time for many people living in places such as North America and Europe and back home it has been cooler than normal. That is one of the nice things of cruising when it is winter back home.
We had lunch at the Lido Cafe and we made our usual Salad Entrees.
Keith played Paddle Tennis for a couple of hours with a couple of guests and one Senior Officer. The weather was sunny and warm but overall it was nice to play Tennis with no wind. Afterwards, Keith met up with friend Bob and another fellow guest who they both met on last years cruise before the start of the World Cruise.
Anne Marie worked out for an hour and then wrote a couple of thank you cards and worked on some of her projects.
This evening we will return to the Crystal Dining Room for dinner with two guests who will be joining us as well. We will post all about that tomorrow.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.....
“A
journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control
it.” – John Steinbeck
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