Honolulu, Hawaii
After a great nights sleep, we awoke early this morning and worked out in the Fitness Center. There are several passengers who have now become the regulars in the center at the time we work out. It’s nice to see several passengers at a variety of age groups who work out regularly.
Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine. For a portion of the workout Keith showed the computer instructor who we have come to know so well from last years World Cruise how to use the elliptical machine as he normally uses the treadmill and he did great using the elliptical. At the same time, Anne Marie was on the treadmill next to the computer instructor’s wife. We each enjoyed nice conversations so the time passed by relatively quickly. After finishing our workout, we went to the Lido Café and enjoyed a nice breakfast. It was less crowded than normal. We suspect that some folks took advantage of the late morning arrival to Honolulu to sleep-in a little later. As we were leaving the Lido Café, we could see land from some Island.
After our arrival to Honolulu, we proceeded off the ship to find a couple, Joan and Mac, who were meeting us on the ship today. We had previously made arrangements with Crystal for them to come on board the ship while we were in port. Crystal is one of the only cruise lines that still allows visitors on board the ship as long as approval is received in sufficient time prior to the visit. We first met Joan and Mac on a London to New York City cruise on board the Crystal Symphony in the fall of 2004. Since that time we have kept up with them through frequent e-mails and through occasional telephone conversations. We also had the opportunity to see them in 2006 when we visited San Francisco. We had a wonderful visit with them today, including a very nice lunch in the main dining room, and are so glad to see them. They had sailed on the Crystal Serenity in 2006 and they remembered some of the staff that they saw today and the staff remembered them. They were also able to spend time with our friends Allan and Helen King who are on the World Cruise with us. Our first sailing with Allan and Helen was also from London to New York City in the fall of 2004.
We walked with Joan and Mac over to the main cruise ship terminal called the Clock Tower Terminal so that they could pick up transportation back to where they are staying. The walk over there and back to the Pier was delightful, The weather was wonderful.
During the World Cruises Crystal offers one complimentary shore excursion on each segment for all cruisers. The complimentary excursion for this segment was this afternoon/evening was a Luau. By the time we got back to the ship after saying our goodbyes to Joan and Mac it was too late for us to attend the Luau so we ended up having a very quiet dinner on the ship. We went to Prego, which is a Specialty Restaurant, which serves Italian Cuisine. We had a great waiter who we first met on last years World Cruise. We also had a nice conversation with the head waiter of Prego who was our head waiter in the main dining room last year.
Tomorrow we will arrive in Maui. We have been invited for lunch with a very nice couple who we met on last year World Cruise who is staying there on vacation. Some of our fellow passengers have also been invited for lunch.
We also spoke with our daughter and our son and it was very nice to catch up with each of them. We miss them and send them our love.
Keith & Anne Marie
