We then made our way to the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant for dinner.
Slavko, is now the Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' as he swings between this position and the position of Head Waiter based on whether or not Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' Antonio is on board Serenity. Slavko welcomed us to Prego along with Head Waiter Mario who has now returned from a well deserved Holiday.
We were joined at dinner by Food & Beverage Manager, Tayfun.
Costa was our Waiter and took excellent care of us. As we mentioned yesterday Costa is from nearby Portico, Portugal and we road on the tender with him so we asked him how everything went with his home and the garden he is most proud of and the good news is that all was good.
As Costa's station has been moved, we too were moved to a table in the back half of Prego. There were a lot of people dining at Prego which is not surprising as this was the second night of this cruise but it was not so full that it had any impact on service.
A Sommelier from Crystal Serenity's sister ship, Symphony, is on temporary assignment on Serenity having joined Serenity for this voyage. He will be on for about a month or so and he took very good care of us.
We had a fabulous time dining at Prego. The company, cuisine, service and ambience were all great. We never ran out of conversation and we laughed quite a lot throughout our meal.
There was one change to the Prego Menu with one entree item being brought back to replace another one.
We each had four courses including appetizer, salad, Fillet Mignon Steak for Anne Marie and Bronzino for Keith and fruit plate for both of us. Often we will have the additional pasta entree as a small appetizer, but it is one that we don't prefer although many others do like it. Linda, if you are reading this it is the additional entree of Spaghetti and Clams as this is usually served on the second night of the cruise given the shelf life of the Clams. We know you love this one so we were thinking of you.
The photos show the appetizers we had; Crab Meat for Anne Marie and Lobster for Keith.
Anne Marie has had this Crab appetizer a couple of times before.
This is the first time that Keith has had the Lobster Appetizer and in addition to a nice presentation, he thought it was very tasty.
After dinner, we stopped by the Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle Party. We got there close to 8:00 PM, although the party began at 7:45 PM but we stayed there until the end. There were close to 25 people in attendance. Other than one couple who was on the last voyage, everyone else just boarded in Lisbon, and those that were there we met for the very first time.
Several of the people at the party are going to the Grand Prix in Monte Carlo. In fact, some booked the cruise just for the Grand Prix.
Nat asked if we wanted Canapés. We have a running joke with Nat and some of his colleagues about the Canapés as we don't have them very often. In fact, Keith has only had one since boarding Serenity and Anne Marie has had around a hand full of them.
Before we went to bed, we had to turn the clocks forward one hour as we are sailing into a new time zone. Thank goodness this is the last time we will forward the clocks until we leave Serenity on May 31.
We slept well as we were cruising to our next port of call in Gibraltar. The seas were relatively calm.
Keith was up first as usual and enjoyed a good workout at the Fitness Center before he went to the Lido Cafe for coffee and to read and to write. The Lido Cafe was very quiet with Keith the only guest there for quite awhile. People were sleeping in given that we forwarded the clocks by one hour.
Anne Marie was up next and after she had her coffee she walked for an hour.
We arrived to Gibraltar at 9:00 AM and stayed until 6:00 PM. Interestingly enough, usually when we have been to Gibraltar in the past we have been there for about four to five hours either arriving at 8:00 AM and staying until 1:00 PM or arriving at around 12:00 Noon and staying until 5:00 PM.
We first visited here in 2008 and have visited there several times since then including last year.
As such, Anne Marie stayed on the ship and had her hair done while Keith went out on his own and walked for a couple of hours.
Gibraltar has a population of around 30,000 residents. It is a popular designation for cruise ships including many from the United Kingdom as it has duty free shopping.
Gibraltar is iconic with its unique look and it soars almost 1,400 feet. Within its limestone base, more than 140 caves have been discovered. Gibraltar is physically linked to Spain but it keeps very close ties to the United Kingdom. Highlights include:
Cable Car to the Upper Rock which offers beautiful views of both Europe and Africa.
Apes Den which has many apes running around.
Moorish Castle which dates back to the 8th Century.
St Michael's Cave which is one of the many caves on Gibraltar and one of its most visited.
It is about a mile walk from the Cruise Ship Terminal to the entrance to the town and very easy to fine thanks to several signs that point you in the direction of the town. There is also a city shuttle which is small vans, but the lines were quite long with more than one ship in port.
As Keith started his walk, he thought about the last time we were in Gibraltar in May of last year, that the two of us walked for quite awhile with friends Caryn and Stan and how we enjoyed a nice conversation with the two of them.
In all the times we have visited Gibraltar, this was the busiest Keith had seen the town at the hour of the day he walked in there. Factors might include the number of ships in port.
These are school children walking to school and they were singing songs together.
Many of the stores had wall-to-wall people.
There are lots of little side streets.
This factory has been here since our first visit in 2008.
As many times as we have walked between the Cruise Ship Terminal and the City Centre we each know the route very well but it is still nice that signs are in place directing passengers back to the Cruise Ship Terminal.
For lunch, we were back at the Lido Cafe where we each enjoyed Salad Entrees.
Afterwards, Keith played Paddle Tennis for a few hours. The weather was absolutely wonderful. It was sunny, with a light breeze and the temperature was just perfect. Keith played for a few hours and not many people played so there was no waiting time between games. The only disturbance was the P&O ship that was next to us that was playing all sorts of music in preparation for their sail away.
Anne Marie walked for an hour outside and then she sat outside at the Pool. By the time Keith finished playing tennis, there were lots of guests sitting by the pool and some in the pool and the hot tubs.
This evening we are back at the Crystal Dining Room for dinner.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.....
When you get to the end of your
rope, tie a knot and hang on.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Keith & Anne Marie
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