Throughout most of last evening and well into the middle of this morning the seas had been fairly choppy, In spite of the seas, we enjoyed a good nights sleep last evening. We awoke early and enjoyed a nice workout in the Fitness Center with many of the regulars working out as they normally do. Keith worked out on the elliptical machine and Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and then did some stretching exercises.
Keith was the second person to arrive to the Fitness Center and Anne Marie was the fourth. Also working out was John who we have come to know quite well as he and his wife Linda was on last years World Cruise. The other person working out was Mary, the wife of the computer instructor who we also got to know so very well on last years World Cruise. About fifteen minutes before we finished our workout several other passengers had arrived to the Fitness Center, many of who are regularly up there at this hour of the morning. The seas continued to be quite choppy and there were some rain showers as well.
After our workout, we enjoyed another nice breakfast in the Lido Café. It was less crowded today than has been the case since we boarded the ship in San Pedro as we suspect that some of the passengers were sleeping a little later than normal since today is a sea day. Also, since today is a Sunday various morning services were offered from a Catholic Mass at 8:00 AM to a Protestant Worship Celebration at 9:05 AM. We ended up having breakfast with one passenger, Andrew, who is also on the Full World Cruise. Our breakfast mainly consists of cereal and fruit. We have really enjoyed the various berries from blueberries to strawberries. Since we are on the ship for such a long time, we do try to pace ourselves.
We were supposed to have lunch with the Cruise Director at 12:00 Noon but when we firmed up the date for lunch we had not realized that today was the Grand Gala Buffet, which is a very elaborate luncheon that is set-up outside the main dining room. As a result, we contacted the Cruise Director and rescheduled our lunch for tomorrow.
We took advantage of the day at sea to get our wash done this morning. Crystal provides complimentary self-service washing machines and dryers on the various passenger decks. Since we have boarded the ship we have now washed clothes on two separate occasions and both times there have been very few to any fellow passengers washing their clothes. Since last year we found the machines to be in use much of the day we are not sure if the change this time around is due to the time of day we are doing our wash or if the machines are less crowded on this particular passenger deck or if it is just too early in the cruise to be doing washes. We’ll report back on this again. ☺
Each morning, the captain provides an update at 9:00 AM which include the location of our cruise ship, weather forecast related information along with the location of the sister ship; the Crystal Symphony. This captain also provides a quote of the day, which we have found to be quite meaningful. Here is the quote of the day from today which we thought we would share with you. “It is not who is right, but what is right that counts.” This may seem very simple, but it is so true.
There were many activities offered throughout the ship today since we are at sea today. These activities include fitness classes and sports games, various levels of bridge classes and bridge play, classes for golf, Spanish, dance, computers, and piano, a memoir writing seminar, and so many other activities from a $20 slot tournament, to an art lecture, to silk painting, to yoga, to team trivia and too many other activities too numerous to mention here. In our opinion, Crystal offers more activities than any other cruise line we have sailed on.
We also attended some very nice lectures given today. There was a talk given by conservation biologist Bill Toone titled “Natures’s Passion, A Peek Between Mother Nature’s Sheet”, along with a lecture given by Richard Kahn who is past President of the Academy of Motion Pictures titled “ The Movie: From Nicklelodeon to i-Pod to an Art Lecture given by Art Director and Historian Dr. Cristina-Ashjian.
By mid-morning the seas had become calmer than they had been so that was great news.
Today was also the Grand Gala Buffet, which includes an array of culinary creations from appetizers, to entrees, to breads, to cheese and fruit, to wonderful deserts. The Buffet is set up directly outside the Main Dining Room and will be offered one time each segment. We posted some pictures from today’s buffet to our picture web site so please be sure to visit the site. Also, right on this Blog is a picture of Keith’s lunch.
Before this evenings dinner we attended a World Cruise get-together, which included complimentary drinks and also was organized so that a picture could be taken of each passenger on the Full World Cruise. We will receive a copy of the book later in the voyage, which will include a picture of each person/couple along with the name of each of the World Cruise passenger. Last year, we found the booklet to be very useful in order to help remember the names of our fellow passengers. Those World Cruisers who dine early were in the afternoon session and those who have late dinner were in the evening group session.
Today had dinner again at the Prego Specialty Restaurant. This was because last evening we had enjoyed the fish entrée which was a wonderfully prepared fresh fish that had been brought onto the ship in Maui that by dining at Prego we could enjoy this fish one more time. We had a wonderful time at dinner in a restaurant with wonderful food items outstanding service, along with an excellent dining ambience.
Today, we once again enjoyed an outstanding sea day on board the Crystal Serenity.
Keith & Anne Marie
