Last evening we had very calms seas so we enjoyed a great nights sleep. We were also very fortunate to have set the clocks back an additional hour. This all made it very easy to wake up early this morning.
It is hard to believe that today is our fifth consecutive day at sea since we were unable to stop at our last port of call the other day due to the weather.
Keith was the first one up to the Fitness Center this morning and Anne Marie arrived just about twenty miles later. We each enjoyed a wonderful workout. Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine and Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill. Several of the regulars were working out including John and Mary. Keith spoke with Mary during most of the workout and was happy to learn that Mary will be an escort on the tour we are book on for tomorrow in Hobart Australia.
We enjoyed a nice breakfast in the Lido café. It was not too busy in the Café as many passengers decided to sleep in a little later this morning. Midway through our breakfast, another fellow passenger joined us. We had a very nice conversation with him.
During the Captain’s Daily Announcement he said the weather would not be as good today as he hoped, but overall the seas have ranged from being calm to just a little rough. Overall, the seas in this area of the world have been a lot better than we expected. Let’s hope this continues until we reach tomorrow’s port of call. Captain Glenn’s thought for the day is “In order to be successful, it is not enough to do things right, you have to do the right things.” This is another nice thought, which makes perfect sense to us.
There were lots of activities scheduled for today from various lessons including music lessons, basic, intermediate and advanced bridge lessons, a Japanese writing class, a Spanish class, memoir writing, dance classes, two classes on computers, and a golf clinic just to name a few. There were two movies; one in the afternoon and one in the evening. There were lots of lectures, a special Asian Buffet Luncheon, numerous opportunities to dance and to listen to live music, team trivia, various physical fitness activities, a paddle tennis doubles tournament, various bridge games, a fashion show, bingo, afternoon tea, along with a list of other activities too numerous to list.
There were also two shows, which has been the case a few times during the world cruise. One of the production shows which normally is held in the evening was held in the late afternoon and then in the evening there was a show featuring vocalist Kaitlyn Carr and Jazz with Doug Cameron.
During the day we attended three lectures. The first lecture was given by Olympic champion medal winner and network television and radio sports broadcaster John Naber who taught us how to maximize our creative thinking and to draw on this to solve day-to-day problems. He gave several examples of Olympians who took unique approaches, which resulted in them achieving new records. He is a wonderful motivational speaker. Thoughts he shared with us included; trust you instincts, allow for blue sky time (take time each day to think), hang in there , back to the drawing board, borrow from outside the box, turn lemons into lemonade, be quick off the block, think on your feet and stay hungry.
Barbara Rinella who dramatized Nora Ephron’s best selling memoir, “I feel bad about my neck”, gave the second lecture we attended. She performed to a standing room only crowd. She is truly gifted and had the audience in stitches. We had the opportunity to attend her sessions during one segment of last years World Cruise and she is a truly amazing woman. We also had the opportunity to share a 4x4 with Barbara and her husband on a tour the other day and enjoyed talking with them. The woman author she portrayed also wrote the screenplay for Sleepless In Seattle and for When Harry Met Sally.
The third lecture we attended was given by Diplomat, Professor of International Relations, and CEO, Rob Warne who gave a presentation titled “Australia Builds a Nation” which discussed the 220 years of rapid political economic development and how it led to a confident, prosperous nation.
During the course of the day we also enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room and an equally impressive Dinner in the Main Dining Room.
Quite a few passengers are still sick. Some have colds, while others have other illnesses with a fair amount of coughing. Over the course of the cruise, many from the crew have also experienced this as well. Keith has been sick two times and should be 100% back to normal in the next day or two. Anne Marie has some initial symptoms so she might be getting sick as well. We have taken lots of steps to minimize this from washing our hands constantly, to thoroughly cleaning the fitness center equipment before we use it in the morning, to not touching our eyes, nose or mouth, to using an anti-bacterial hand wash, which Anne Marie carries in her purse, to trying to keep our distance from those who we believe are sick, etc., but given that we are in a relatively small area it is almost impossible not to pick up what is going around since so many passengers have been sick. Evidently, this started on the voyage right before the World Cruise that went from Miami, Florida to Los Angeles, California. Hopefully, everyone will get better soon. The good news is that Keith has fought through this and other than one morning when he rested in our room he has not let this affect him.
Tomorrow, we will arrive to our first port of call in Australia; Hobart. This is our first time to Australia and we are looking forward to it. Speaking of Australia, last evening we received a little bit of information concerning the first of two World Cruise Events, which will be held off the ship. The first one will be held on the evening that we are in Sydney, Australia and the second one will be held later in the cruise in Rome, Italy.
We may not post information from tomorrow’s port of call until a day or so later than we normally do since we will be on a full day tour.
We are having a wonderful time on our World Cruise Adventure and everyday we are making memories that will last a lifetime.
One of the pictures we posted is of Anne Marie and Benjamin. Benjamin is one of the Lido Deck Stewards who in 2007 was chosen as the Crystal Serenity Employee Of The Year.
Keith & Anne Marie
