Anne Marie with Crystal Society Hostess Isabell and Captain Birger.
We spoke with some of the guests, including friends, Jim and Judy as well as some Senior Officers and senior staff who were also at the reception, including Executive Housekeeper, Andrea, and Hotel Director Hubert. We also spoke with Captain Glenn Edvardsen and his lovely wife.
Anne Marie with Executive Housekeeper Andrea.
The cocktails concluded with a talk by Captain Birger. As part of the talk he introduced all of the senior officers and key staff who was in attendance including the Vice Captain, first Officer and the other officers that we mentioned earlier.
Captain Birger also noted that we were at the halfway point between Bermuda and our arrival to Azores/Ponta Delgada and even mentioned that this would be his first visit to the port. He kidded around that the weather would be sunny since he planned to go ashore in port. He also introduced Captain Glenn and they both showed their good sense of humor. Captain Glenn said that he hoped that Captain Birger could find the Azores since this would be his first time sailing there and Captain Glenn joked that we would be sailing with sunny rather than cloudy skies if Captain Birger put took a less direct route there. It all made for some good laughs between the current and former captain and of course was all in good fun.
Since our dinner reservations were not until 7:00 PM before dinner we stopped by the Crystal Cove. We didn't have anything to drink but just chatted with some of the guests who were passing through the area as well as some members of the crew.
At 7:00 PM we went to the Tastes Restaurant. We were joined for dinner by Patty, and on-board booking consultant Daniele. Another passenger, Nancy, came for a short while for a drink.
This was our first time to Tastes since the last segment of the World Cruise when we dined there with dear friends Bob and Glo. We had a different waiter than we have since boarding Serenity on December 21, as waiter Deirdre started a well-deserved Holiday on May 4 when the World Cruise ended in Miami, Florida.
As usual dinner was terrific and we enjoyed the complete package of service, cuisine and the ambience of Tastes along with good conversation.
We probably ate too much but did order two fewer courses than we usually do. Since we only come to Tastes, once per voyage unless the voyage is very long, we do try to enjoy the food and order a bit more than we would normally do. As they say, it's all about balance and on most nights in the dining room we stay with the salad, fish and fruit so that once in awhile we can eat foods like we did last evening including sharing two desserts. For us, this works very well.
It was a very nice evening. However, we did pass on the evening entertainment, given the time we finished dinner and knowing that we would be forwarding the clocks again which is the only down-side to this crossing. The good news is that this evening will be the last time we forward the clock on this voyage.
This was the first time since we boarded Serenity other than for a couple of days when Keith was ill earlier in the cruise that he overslept as he does not set an alarm but just relies on his body clock. In fact, by the time Keith got up this morning he changed up the routine and just went to the Lido Cafe for Coffee.
After Anne Marie had coffee, she walked for an hour inside the ship and that is when Keith worked out at the Fitness Center.
A few minutes after arriving back to the room, we both had our breakfast and then a short while later, Keith took another indoor cycling class.
Crystal really puts a lot of effort into these themed cruises and we have been very impressed with the amount of activities and entertainment that has been available on this cruise. We took a Film and Festival Themed cruise only a few years ago, and the amount of enrichment activities and entertainment on this voyage far exceeds what was offered on that last voyage. With so many sea days on this voyage this might be one of the reasons that there is so many activities related to the theme of this cruise on each and every sea day.
Today was no exception.
There were two talks given in the morning. The first talk was given by Esther Kim Lee who spoke about the Broadway career of Sandra Allen. Switching gears the second of the two talks in the morning was given by Ronald Marks who spoke about the cyber world and how we got here and how intelligence can keep up with the vast amount of information and the speed at which it travels.
In the afternoon, Brian Gendence spoke about the creators and innovators of popular dance moves that are seen today on both television and in film.
Later in the afternoon Sandra Allen offered insight into her inclusion of the movie To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen's Journey and then the movie was shown right after that.
As we did yesterday, we caught two of the lectures on television today and will view the third on tomorrow.
Keith attended another indoor cycling class in the morning. These classes have been offered on each of the sea days and will continue to be offered on the remaining sea days of this cruise.
About 30 minutes later, Keith returned to the Fitness Center for the final time of the day for one additional workout on the Elliptical Machine and multi-tasked as he also watched one of today's lectures that was rebroadcasted on one of the Crystal Television Channels.
Anne Marie did some additional packing. Again, the reason we have started this process so early includes not only the volume of luggage, but because we are not shipping all of it home as we are taking some with us and because the next and our final voyage is very port intensive with only one sea day.
We had lunch at the Lido Cafe as we pretty much do each day and we did have salad entrees.
In the afternoon, we watched the two lectures as we mentioned earlier, and Keith played Paddle Tennis for a couple of hours and Anne Marie walked for an hour and also did some additional packing.
This evening we have a special dinner and will post all about it tomorrow.
We wanted to share a couple of additional thoughts of the day that Captain Glenn share on the 2012 World Cruise.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY......
Who we are never changes, who we think we are does.
You are what you are when nobody is looking.
Keith & Anne Marie
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