Last evening we enjoyed a wonderful World Cruise shore side event in Sydney, Australia. The event was called “A Walk-About Sydney. It was held at the Crystal Palace Ballroom, at Luna Park, in Sydney. We had a wonderful time.
We all met at 5:45 PM and at 6:00 PM we boarded another ship that was docked alongside the Crystal Serenity. We were taken on a Harbour Cruise for about an hour. We were so very happy to have the opportunity to cruise around the Harbour to see both the beauty of the Harbour and to see such beautiful views of this wonderful city. We were served a variety of Hors D’oeuvres and wine and soft drinks during the Harbour Cruise. We sat with fellow World Cruisers John and Linda, Jim and Judy and Bill and Sandra.
When we arrived at the Luna Park we made our way to the Ballroom for the World Cruise Event. It took awhile to get all of the passengers over there but eventually all of the passengers made it over there. During our welcome, a choir composed of 40 or more people (may have been fifty) sang several songs for us. Both the Captain and the Cruise Director gave welcome comments. During the event there was a variety of entertainment to appeal to the different age groups and interests of passengers. We were entertained before the meal, between each course and at the end of the meal. The entertainment was terrific. It included dancing, a five person band, a woman who sang during dinner and played an instrument, a trio of singers who sang a variety of songs including several opera songs and also provided some comedy in their act.
The menu included an Australian Dinner Menu. We had an appetizer course of Ballontine of cured salmon rolled in summer herbs, brandade, rocket L Crème fraiche. The main course included an aged sirloin wrapped on caramelized onion and a portao tart with onion puree. For dessert we enjoyed an individual pavlova with yoghurt cream and berries. There was also fresh bread rolls and a variety of beverages including water, soft drinks, red, wihte and sparkling wines and a couple of Australian Beers.
We sat with John and Linda, Bill and Sandra, Jim and Judy and Jerry. We had a wonderful table and really enjoyed everyone’s company at the table. We enjoyed several toast at the table and we all laughed quite a bit throughout the evenings festivities.
We had two options for returning to the ship bus or boat. We all opted to take the bus and arrived back to the ship at around 10:45 PM. All in all it was a nice evening. The ship left Sydney at 12:00 Midnight. We had a wonderful time in this incredible city and look forward to coming back to this lovely city in the future.
Sydney was wonderful and we enjoyed a very special day in this vibrant city. For those of you who have never been to Sydney we highly recommend it. All of Australia ports have been great. There is so much to see, people are friendly, each city is vibrant, we felt very safe there, it is nice that English is the spoken language and you can even drink the regular water. ☺ We hope that we will return to Sydney, as there is so much to see in this beautiful city.
This morning Keith awoke early and went to the Fitness Center while Anne Marie took it easy since she is still sick. Keith enjoyed a wonderful conversation with Mary as he does almost everyday we workout. He ended up working out on the Elliptical machines for his longest workout yet; two hours. He will make up for that at tonight’s formal dinner. Mary and Keith also talked about what each of us had done in Sydney. We really enjoyed Sydney as we have enjoyed all of the ports in Australia.
We enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room. The rest was good for Anne Marie. She is actually feeling worse rather than better but will hopefully be on the mend soon.
During the Captain’s daily talk he shared with us his thought for the day, which is “People don’t resist changed. They resist being changed.” Once again, we have come to appreciate the thoughts that Captain Glenn shares with us during each day of the cruise.
Keith attended Rap with the Rabbi and enjoyed the session. Some new people attended who are on this leg of the World Cruise and the Rabbi had prepared a very interesting talk and discussion.
We also signed up for the various World Games. During the course of this segment of the World Cruise there will be a number of games where passengers will have the opportunity to compete with one another. This will include Team Trivia, Basketball, Shuffleboard, Bridge, Shuffleboard, Fast Walking, Solitaire, Swimming, Paddle Tennis, Golf, Darts, Chess, and many more activities. Olympians Cathy Rigby and Mitch Gaylord will be on hand for these games. These games are lots of fun and provide a nice opportunity for passenger’s to get to know one another.
Later in the morning Keith attended a lecture given by Former FBI Profiler Clint Van Zandt who discussed the history of criminal profiling and the wy of youthful violence. Mr. Van Zandt also discussed what occurred at Virginia Tech University and provided his personal thoughts on how and why our youth of today can commit such crimes and what can be done to prevent similar occurrences from happening in the future. Mr Van Zandt was a lecturer on last years World Cruise. He appears on a variety of television shows including MSNBC, CNN and NBC and CBS. He will be giving three additional talks during this segment.
At the same time, Anne Marie picked up here complimentary needlepoint kit for this leg of the segment.
Afterwards we attended our first session of Team Trivia. There was one person from Cruise Critic on our team along with a couple who we know from last year and their two daughters and son in law. We answered 10 of 15 questions correctly and believe we finished in a tie for third place.
We enjoyed a very nice lunch in the Main Dining Room. After lunch, Keith played table tennis with a friend from last years World Cruise. Eventually, other passengers joined in and we also played several games of mixed doubles.
Before dinner this evening we attended the Captains Welcome Reception. We always look forward to this reception. We then enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. The attire for this evening was Formal and it was so very nice to see everyone dressed in formal attire. We believe this adds to the overall ambiance of the cruise. Given the length of this segment of the World Cruise, there will be four formals this time around.
Tomorrow we will visit the Port of Brisbane, Australia. We are signed up for a complimentary shore excursion but we will have to see how Anne Marie is feeling.
Keith & Anne Marie
