DAY 165 LIVORNO, ITALY & DAY 157 ON SERENITY

We thank those of you who sent Birthday greetings to Anne Marie.

This is a photo of our son and daughter in laws, son and our Grand Baby Jackson wishing his Nana (Anne Marie) a Happy Birthday.

It was while we were on last year's World Cruise that Keith had the idea of extending our time on Serenity by adding the crossing from Miami to Lisbon and the next voyage from Lisbon to Civitavecchia, Italy.  His thought was that this would not only allow us to visit Bermuda where we honeymooned, and return to the Mediterranean which we love so very much, but it would also be a very nice way to celebrate Anne Marie's Milestone Birthday.  The timing was perfect as we would be in Italy on her birthday and we would end our time on Serenity with a few days in Rome.  

Keith has been planning Anne Marie's birthday for quite sometime, actually booking the Vintage Room over a year ago while we were still on Serenity and then finalizing some additional plans shortly after we boarded Serenity on December, 21, 2014.

Keith had given Anne Marie an invitation to dinner just a few days before indicating that we would be dining at Prego at 7:00 PM to celebrate her 60th Birthday.   He walked her over to Prego and then said we needed to do one thing so we walked past Prego, over to Silk Road, and then proceeded up the deck just a short ways until he led her into the Vintage Room for an Exclusive Vintage Room Dinner he had planned for her with Head Sommelier Mario.

When we walked in, everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.

Keith wanted to keep this part of the evening very small allowing for an intimate Happy Birthday dinner for Anne Marie.  Those attending were Captain Birger, Hotel Director Hubert, Cruise Director Rick, and Food & Beverage Manger Tayfun.  

When Keith met with Head Sommelier Mario, with Mario's input he selected the cuisine choosing not only items from three recommended menus which he knew that Anne Marie would enjoy but he also chose an Italian Cuisine item not on the menu, not only because we are in the Mediterranean and in Italy but also because Anne Marie is half Italian.  

They went over the types of wines that he knew Anne Marie would enjoy but left the specific wine up to Mario.

In addition to the dessert which was one of the items from the recommended menus, about a week ago Keith and Mario met with Executive Pastry Chef Josef Ehammer  to discuss the Birthday Cake.  Keith brought his computer with a photo of a cake that Harald Neufang had made for us for a previous special occasion that he knew that Anne Marie loved and that is the cake they went with.  It's a St Honore Cake, but like all cakes or other cuisine there are different ways to prepare it and that photo was a big help so that it was created the way Anne Marie loves it and it was.

From L-R Standing Hotel Director Hubert, Cruise Director Rick, F&B Manager Tayfun, 

Seated, Captain Birger, Birthday Girl Anne Marie, & Keith

Head Sommelier Mario da Silva

The food was delicious and the wine was superb.

When you have an exclusive Vintage Room there is a set price whether you have one person or up to the maximum of fourteen people.  The less people you have the finer the wines that can be served so we did enjoy some very special wines.  Rather than going with five wines, we had four different types of wine which also allowed for better wines to be served.

When we first arrived we toasted the evening with Champagne which was Billecart-Salmon Rose, Brut, Mareuil-sur-Ay NV and we also had the Champagne with the first course of King Crab.

For the white wine we had Chardonnay Leeuwin Estate, Art Series, Margaret River, Western Australia 2012 which paired very nicely with the Grilled Sea Scallop.  Mario took a few minutes to discuss the different types of corks.  We got onto that topic since wines from Australia are served with screw caps.

Similar to a red wine, we found that after ten minutes or so the wine tasted better as it opened up more and as the temperature rose.    This led to a nice discussion about the temperature that White and Red wines should be when served and a discussion about time for allowing the wine to breathe and open up.

We then had Porcini Mushroom Risotto which Keith forgot to take a photo of.

This was paired with a Red Wine which was a Barbaric, Sori Tildin, Angelo Gaja Piedmont, Italy 2009 and one of those wines where you could take a few minutes just taking in the aroma of the wine.  It was a wow.

The next course was a Seared 72 Hour Prime Beef and as we have done at some of the other Vintage Rooms, two wines were paired with this one; an old world and a new world wine.


The old world wine was a Chateau Angelus, Premier Grand Cru Classe 2003 and the new world wine was a Insignia, Joseph Phelps Vineyard, Napa Valley, California 2011.

We also thought these were two other wow wines.  Which was better?  Normally, we would have a favorite but we enjoyed both of them.

Next course was a section of Artisanal Cheeses paired with a Dessert Wine which was Trockenbeerenauslese, Crystal Cuvee, Krater, Burgenland, Austria 2003.

For dessert we had the Homemade Vintage Room Chocolate Pralines.

Afer we finished the dessert the wait-staff brought in a cake with one lit candle and everyone sang Happy Birthday and then the Birthday Girl blew out the flowers.

This is not a one but a two layer cake.  

When the dinner was over the surprise continued.  Keith had previously met with Cruise Director Rick and the plan was to have us get together with Rick for a nightcap drink at the Crystal Cove which we did right after the Vintage Room Dinner.  The good news is that the Vintage Room dinner ran longer than we planned so we didn't need to spend too much time in the Crystal Cove.

As we were finished our drink, Rick asked if he could show us something that he was working on for next year's World Cruise which was on one of the crew decks.  We walked with Rick and in very little time we took Anne Marie to a surprise party and everyone sang Happy Birthday to her led by the lead vocalist of the Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers Tom.  Anne Marie was very much surprised.  This surprise then turned into a thank you celebration that we hosted for the absolutely superb crew of the Crystal Serenity.  

All in all it was a great birthday celebration for Anne Marie and one that we both will remember for the rest of our lives.  

By the time we got to sleep, it was way past our bedtime.  LOL, but this is so very true.  We slept very well as we sailed to yet another port, Livorno, Italy.

Keith did get up first but later than usual so he changed things up.  Rather than workout, he put up some laundry and then went up to the Lido Cafe for coffee and to read and write.  Then after he put the wash in the laundry he worked out for awhile,letting Anne Marie sleep later than she normally does.

He brought coffee back later than normal for Anne Marie and then after we had breakfast in our room Keith went to the Fitness Center for another long workout while Anne Marie walked for an hour.

As Keith returned to the room, he saw that the remaining new Mattresses were being delivered to those rooms on our deck that did not receive them last week.  All of the rooms on the deck below us had their mattresses changed out today as well.  There will be one more port where mattresses will be changed out on the two remaining passenger decks.

We didn't book any tours for Livorno as Keith knew we would want to keep to a simple day after what he had planned for last night.  We were just in Livorno last year and we visited Lucca and Pissa and on previous visits we have visited other places including Florence.  So, we made today a sea day even though we were in port.

We took more time to do more packing and are in good shape with respect to what remains to be done.  Before we knew it, we had lunch at the Lido Cafe and then after that Anne Marie walked outside on the Promenade Deck while Keith played Paddle Tennis for several hours.  Anne Marie finished up the packing that she planned to get done today and then she worked on her knitting.

By the time he got back, we each shared a fruit plate which we get each day and Keith read and wrote. 

This evening we are back at the Crystal Dining Room for dinner and we have someone special to us joining us for dinner.

TODAY'S THOUGH FOR THE DAY......

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” - George Eliot

Keith & Anne Marie