DAY 41 SANTA MARTA COLUMBIA AND DAY 33 SERENITY

When we were finished getting ready for the start of the evening we took a selfie in our room.  If only Keith had a longer arm.  We do have a selfie holder for the iPhone which we have not used yet, but this was just using a camera.

Before dinner we attended the first of two Crystal Society Parties.  Once you complete your first Crystal Cruise you become a member of Crystal Society and based on the number of cruises you complete you become quality for various milestones from credits, to room upgrades, to complimentary cruises of up to 7 or 12 days depending on milestone achieved. A recent change to the program is that on selected cruises of  16 days or more it counts as two cruises rather than one.  That is the case with the first segment of the World Cruise so even those who are on their very first Crystal Cruise got credit for two cruises and automatically became Crystal Society members on the first day of this voyage and therefore everyone on board was invited to the Crystal Society Party.

We took a photo of Anne Marie while we were waiting for the doors to the Palm Court to be opened.

When we entered the Palm Court we were greeted by Crystal Society Hostess Alissa, Captain Giske, Cruise Director Gary and Hotel Director Josef.

After walking a few steps we were offered drinks and rather than having a drink we had Anne Marie pose for a photo with the wonderful Lido Deck Stewards who represent the heart of the crew. Sorry about the glare but there is a lot of daylight coming into the Palm Court for the first of the two receptions.

From L-R Ed, Jun, Reggie, Anne Marie, Martin, & Max.

There are seats all around the dance floor.  We usually stand towards the back where we can move easily and speak with fellow guests and Senior Officers and other members of the crew.  

We spoke for quite a while with Vice Captain Maro who lives with his wife and young son in Dubrovnik, Croatia as well as Activities Hostess Urara.  The Vice Captain will be on for a couple of more segments of the World Cruise and then will go on Holiday when Vice Captain Nenad returns and then we will see Vice Captain Maro later in the cruise.  

This evening rather than recognizing some of the guests who have the highest number of milestones on board this voyage, Crystal Society Hostess made four different presentation recognizing people ranging from 50 to 100 milestones which we thought was very nice to get more people recognized.  Each person/couple was announced and called to the front and presented with flowers and Alissa read a short biography on each of them.

Afterwards, we were back at the Crystal Dining Room for dinner. 

Senior Waiter Ayhan took our orders and as usual was very helpful including recommending how our entree should be cooked.  

We began our meal with salads.  Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie had the Selected Crunchy Field greens Tossed Salad which included Grapes and Roquefort.

For our entrée we each had from the Modern Cuisine Menu the Grilled Ahi Tuna.  This entrée included Tuna Poke, Japanese Rice & Apple Cider, along with Baby Bok Choy.  We had this entree shortly after the new Modern Cuisine menu was rolled out last April on Serenity and we consider this a wow. It is very tasty and we had the tuna cooked medium and it was just perfect.

For our last course we each had fruit.  Keith had mixed berries and Anne Marie had blueberries.

We decided to pass on the entertainment since Keith felt he needed to rest.  The entertainment included performance by Comedian John Joseph and Virtuoso Violinist Michael Bacala.

The good news is that when we arrived back to our room, there was a reminder on the television channel for us to turn the clocks back by one hour.

We were able to speak with our son, Eric, whose birthday was yesterday and our daughter in law Kara.  As we've said before thank goodness for all of the technology that exists today so we can keep in close touch with the family including three three grandchildren.  

Keith slept better last evening, other than not sleeping for about an hour midway through his sleep but overall no complaints.  He was up fairly early.  He did a mild workout in the Fitness Center.  When we say mild we mean a shorter workout with less intensity on the Elliptical Machine following the doctors instructions.  Afterwards, he went over to the Lido Cafe to have coffee, read and write.  Anne Marie woke up earlier than usual and just did a partial walk as we ate breakfast one hour earlier than usual since we had an early tour this morning.

This is our first visit to Santa Marta, Colombia.

Santa Marta was founded in 1525 by the Spanish conquistador Rodrigo de Bastidas and it was the first Spanish Settlement in Colombia.  It is the countries oldest city.  Because of its location and climate it is a popular tourist destination.

We had an exceptional tour and this is one of those places that we were very happy to have toured around rather than just walk around town because in the end we walked away with a much different impression.  

As background, most cruise ships go to Cartagena, Colombia which we will visit tomorrow and have visited many times in the past.  This city is more like Cartagena was ten or so years ago.  Whereas during the summer season one or more ships call on Cartagena each day, in contrast one or two ships a month visit Santa Marta.  

Our tour guide was Alexander.  When we first began the tour he said his English was not strong.  Well, Alexander is very modest because his English was exceptional.  He was outstanding.  He told us so much about the history of the city, gave us a lot of information about Colombia and the different areas that make up this beautiful country and was very pleasant, with a great smile.  He is 35 years young, no siblings, lives with his parents who he takes care of.  

Our driver was Carlos who drove very carefully.  In the old area of the city most of the streets are one way and there are many places when you are dropped off the driver has to keep driving while you are out and about. We didn't get a photo of the driver but did get a photo of the car.

We first drove to the Quinta de San Pedro. 

The drive took about 30 minutes and to get there we drove through town.  Alexander pointed out several different streets and each street provided a perfect description of what would be seen on the street.  For example, San Francisco Street is home to a Church, San Dominico was home to a Church, Prison Street had been home to a Prison, Pond Street has what else a Pond, and Big Street is the widest street and in the town.

Quinta de San Pedro is one of the most beautiful places we have visited.  It was the sugar cane plantation where the liberator Simon Bolivar sent his last being taken care of by his physician before he die of TB.  The area still includes the home where he stayed, a museum, the Altar of the Motherland which includes a memorial building with flags of representing countries which are friends of Colombia on both sides of a pathway leading up to the Monument.  We were fortunate that we were the first people there ahead of others on tour.  There were a large number of workers who were doing maintenance and cleaning while we were there which to us explains why it was immaculate.

Alexander first explained what we would see.

There were many unique looking trees.  This was just a very small portion of this tree which is from India.

This is the room where Simon Bolivar passed.

One of several Iguana's that we saw.

We then viewed a beautiful Marble Status and Marble Floor designed in Italy.  It features three views of Quinta de San Pedro Alexandrine.  Looking forward and to the left he looks strong and holding a sword.  If you look on the right side he looks old and it appears he is holding a cane rather than a sword.

Looking old.

Looking Strong.

This Mural depicts the journey of Qunta de San Pedro Alejandrino.

We then drove to the Cathedral which is the Cathedral of Sana Marta, build in 1765, and one of the earliest basilicas built in Latin America.  Initially, Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino was buried there, during an earthquake his body was moved to another area of the Cathedral until eventually he was moved and buried in Caracas, Venezuela where he was originally born.  When he first passed, the ruler at the time of Venezuela would not allow him to be buried there saying, dead or alive, he was not welcome.

Next stop was the Museo Tayrona, which contains three floors of jewelry and other artifacts made by the Tayrona Indians.  Carlos did an excellent job of literally explaining each and every exhibit to us.

We also drove high atop the city to get a picturesque view of the city and to also visit La Rodadera which includes not only the beach but a very high end area.

We will post more photos tomorrow.

All in all it was a great day and a great tour and we got a great appreciation for the city.

For both of us Colombia is amazing.  Keith first visited Colombia on a corporate trip to negotiate with telecommunication countries in Colombia and several other South American Countries in 1994.  That was back in the day where things were very unsafe in Bogotá and Colombia.  In fact the insurance company would not allow the private jet I was on to stay in Bogota after we were dropped off and it was the fist time that I placed a chair at the front of my hotel room door.  The Father of the in country person who took us around had been kidnapped by the Gorilla’s and there were guards at our hotel with Machine Guns.  With that said, I thought the city was amazing and beautiful and the people we met with were vibrant and very well educated so I am so very happy to see the continued improvement that has resulted in this country to address the drug issue. 

When we returned to the ship, we had lunch in our room. We had our usual salad entree.

This evening we will be dining at Silk Road with one other
person and will post about that tomorrow.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.......

“Push yourself again and again.  Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.” – Larry Bird 

Keith & Anne Marie