We also mentioned yesterday that Butler Rao has gone on a well deserved Holiday and that Almir will be our Butler for this final voyage. Almir was our Butler for our first voyage on the Holiday cruise before Rao returned to Serenity on January 4.
Last evening, we had a pre-dinner drink at the Crystal Cove. We sat with Olga who is one of the ladies who now lives on board Serenity. She began living on Serenity in January of this year, concurrent with the start of the 2015 World Cruise. The Cove was quite busy as many people who had boarded yesterday were enjoying their first drinks of the cruise.
Afterwards, we dined at the Crystal Dining Room. On the first night of most voyages there will be a queue when the dining room is first open as those who have just joined the ship need assistance with respect to where their dining room table is located. Many of the Head Waiters can be found at the entranceway that first night so that they can help to escort guests to their table. All of this was the case last night but within a minute or so we were back in the dining room.
We have the same waitstaff team we have had. This includes Head Waiter continues Augusto, Senior Waitermm Ayhan and Waiter Jan. Our Sommelier, Ivana, went on a well deserved Holiday, and Javier who we had for the Holiday Cruise and the January 4 cruise and a good part of last year is back to being our Sommelier.
We tried two nice wines last evening. We enjoyed a white wine which had characteristics of Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. The wine is from Spain which is where Javier is from. We also had a Syrah which is from South Africa.
Our first course was a salad and Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie had one of the salads the menu.
For our next course, we each had Salmon and this was one of the most tasty Salmon Entrees we have ever had and most of you know we have had a lot of salmon over the years. Keith's salmon shown below seemed to be two pieces but it was actually one larger piece.
For our third and final course, Anne Marie had blueberries and Keith had mixed berries.
Shortly after dinner, there was a Tender Drill for all newly embarking guests.
As a result, the evening show was not until 10:15 PM, so we passed on the show.
We slept very well last evening, as we made our way to our next port of call of Portamao, Portugal which is our first time to visit this port of call. Costa, who is the Prego Waiter who we have had for the last couple of years and we had this year starting after Waiter Marija went home for Holiday lives relatively close to this area. This port will now be featured on more itineraries than in the past.
Keith was up early as he always does and he enjoyed a nice workout at the Fitness Center. Afterwards, he went to the Lido Cafe for coffee and to read and write.
Anne Marie walked for about half of her normal workout as we had breakfast in our room earlier than normal as we got ready to visit the port of Portamao, Portugal.
Butler Almir brought us our breakfast and he chatted with him for a few minutes.
This morning we received a letter from the Shore Excursion Department providing additional information about an upcoming tour we have in Monte Carlo which will be the Grand Prix.
We took one of the earlier tenders over to Portimao. This was our first ever visit to this port.
Potimao has a population of just over 50,000 residents.
It is located at the intersection of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It was settled by the Phoenicians around 3,000 years ago as a trading post.
While on the Tender, we sat with Prego Waiter Costa who lives in a village not too far from the city of Portimao. As we tendered he discussed the history of this area, and pointed out various places of interest including the two forts. He also gave us additional perspective about Portugal as a whole. At the tender pier, we got onto a shuttle which took us on a 10 minute or so drive into the downtown area. The guide on the shuttle told us about this area as well. It used to have a sardine processing plant but that closed in the early 1980's and since that time the focus has been on tourism between hotels and restaurants and nearby attractions.
In fact, the Museum of Portico is housed in the former sardine canning factory.
Other places of interest include the Alvor Beach, Silves which is another town known for its orange and lemon trees and the old town.
A portion of the Promenade.
This restaurant is known for its coffee.
Although sardine canning is no longer done at this town, thesis one of several places selling sardines. Of course, you could eat sardines in one of several restaurants around town.
Shortly after arriving back to Serenity, we enjoyed lunch at the Lido Cafe where we each made Salad Entrees.
In the afternoon, Keith played Paddle Tennis and Anne Marie walked for an hour.
We also read and wrote.
This evening we will dine at Prego with one other person and we will post all about that tomorrow.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY....
“You can fool all of the people some of the time,
and some of the people all of the time, but you can not fool all of the people
all of the time." Abraham Lincoln
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