DAY 60 SEA DAY & DAY 52 CRYSTAL SERENITY

Before dinner last evening we went to the Crystal Cove to listen to John Mentis play the piano.  Since yesterday was 51 years since the Beatles had made their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show Keith mentioned that to John and he played a medley of Beatles songs.  We also sat for a little while with dear friends John and Linda.

Anne Marie with Nathan who often serves us drinks at the Crystal Cove.

Afterwards, we dined at the Crystal Dining Room.  We dine in first seating which tends to have more demand than later seating on World Cruises and last night it was quieter than usual with many guests dining at other dining venues.

We began our meal with salads.

Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie had the Hart of Boston Lettuce with Pear-Celery Salad, Dried Cherries and Pecan Nuts.  

Senior Waiter Ayhan sensing that it might not be enough lettuce ordered another plate for Anne Marie with some salad and a few nuts and cherries and Keith tried a little of it too.  We both thought that the combination of ingredients made for a very tasty salad, and really enjoyed the Pear-Celery portion of the salad too.  

We each had the Chilean Sea Bass Entrée from the Modern Cuisine Menu which was accompanied with Spinach Pearl Couscous, Saffron & Poached King Crab.

For dessert, it was Strawberries for Keith and Honeydew for Anne Marie.

Last evening was also the Officer's Mixer which was the first time this has been held on the World Cruise.  It was held in the Crystal Cove.

We've mentioned that Anne Marie has been working on a number of knitting projects and this is a Market Bag that she has just completed.

When we arrived back to our room last evening there was a nice letter from World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston about some upcoming events, as well as a card and a gift from Crystal Cruises which was a Caviar Dish.

We slept very well last evening as we are sailing towards Papeete, Tahiti.

Anne Marie is doing better and we would say she is now 90% well.  The biggest challenge is if she engages too long in a conversation that she has the urge to cough so she is still being careful about that.  Today will be her last of the ten days of antibiotics so maybe tomorrow she can try some wine again.

Keith was up first and enjoyed a nice workout at the Fitness Center.  He then went to the Lido Cafe to for coffee and to read and write.  

Anne Marie walked for an hour before we had breakfast in our room.  While Anne Marie was walking, Keith went up to the Fitness Center for a second workout.  The Fitness Center was fairly busy.

Today's program featured three lectures in addition to the 50+ activities.

Anthony Terry spoke about the Disappearance of the La Perouse Expedition.

Leo Thorsness spoke about POW Lessons and Humors.

Dr Melvyn Bowen spoeke about the measurement of time.

We wanted to mention that the lecturers on board this segment of the World Cruise have been one of the strongest collective group of lecturers we have seen.  The only lecture that Keith didn't see live yesterday was given by World Affairs Lecturer Stephen Cole in the afternoon, but Keith watched it when he worked out this morning on the Elliptical Machine.  This was one of those lectures where Keith learned so many items that he didn't know before the lecture and walked away with several take-aways as well.  It was a compelling lecture about the challenges to the European Union and why it might just fail.  Time will tell but certainly there was a lot to think about.

Later in the morning, Keith took another indoor cycling class.  It was a full class. There is so much interest in these classes that the second class for today scheduled at 4:00 PM also has the maximum number of people signed up.

Anne Marie continued to work on her knitting projects and the two of us sat together for a little while.

We had our regular type of lunch and that was salad entrees.

In the afternoon, Anne Marie continued to knit and also walked an hour, on the Promenade Deck.

Keith played Paddle Tennis and he also met up with dear friend Bob and a few other guests.  The weather changed back and forth a few times when Keith was playing tennis.  A couple of times they had to stop as it rained but then it would clear up and become sunny.

In a few days we will be in Auckland and then some of the other ports in New Zealand where we have a couple of private tours planned so Keith has been working on this as well.

We received a letter from Captain Giske about an itinerary change towards the end of the World Cruise.  In short, Crystal was notified by Miami Custom Officials that there would not be sufficient time to clear the ship based on the current schedule.  As such a change was made to the original schedule.

Date        Original Schedule         Revised Schedule
May 1      Sea Day                        St. Thomas 
May 2      Grand Turk                   Sea Day
May 3      Sea Day                        Sea Day
May 4      Miami                           Miami

The guests and crew will all go through USA Customs immigration in St Thomas.  We think it's a wise change and the good news is that it will provide two sea days at the end of the World Cruise.

This evening we will be back at the Crystal Dining Room for the second consecutive night.

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

“Education is the most popular weapon you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela

Keith & Anne Marie