EN ROUTE TO CURAÇAO - DAY 23

A Look At What Is Happening Today:

A Great Day At Sea ✔  Lots Of Great Enrichment Programs ✔  

Yesterday late afternoon we went to have our picture taken for the World Cruise Book.  This book has the name of each World Cruiser and the their photo and is prepared on board the ship.  It is very helpful in learning the names of many of the World Cruisers and provides a nice keepsake from the journey.

Before dinner last evening we attended a function at the Captain's Quarters with some of our fellow guests.  Around thirty guests were there.  Several of the senior officers and some of the senior crew members were also in attendance. We spoke with the Captain, the Vice Captain and the Hotel Director as well as some of our fellow guests.

These are the menus from the Crystal Dining Room from last evening.

We enjoyed dinner in the Crystal Dining Room.

We each began our meal with a salad.  Keith had his standing order salad.

Anne Marie had the Caesar Salad.  We mentioned to the Head Waite Augusto that he makes a superb Caesar Salad.  So, you guess it.  Tomorrow we will have Caesar Salad Prepared by Augusto.

Anne Marie ordered the Pan Seared Sea Scallops for her entree and  really enjoyed them.  They were very tasty.

Augusto ordered a special order of the Halibut for Keith and it was even tastier then last evening as it was grilled.  While in Cayman yesterday Keith was wondering how Augusto had ordered the Halibut since the night before it was Pan Fried although on the lighter side menu which Keith ordered from it was broiled.  We ran into Augusto yesterday late morning and asked him and he said  no worries because he knows exactly what the two of us like so he knew to not order it pan fried.  The grilling of this fish added a lot of flavor to it.

Keith had the delicious Cabernet from the night before and Anne Marie tried the inclusive white Gruner Veltliner, Gobelsburger, Kamptal, Australia 2011 wine.  It is similar to a Sauvignon Blanc and she enjoyed its aroma and taste.

For dessert, Anne Marie had the sugar-free Mascarpone Pudding and Keith took a little taste and we both thought it was delicious.

Keith had his standing order of blueberries and strawberries.

The only "bad" news is that we needed to forward our clocks one hour as we sail into a new time zone.  Otherwise, we would have attended last evenings show.

We miss our family when we travel and keep up with them via e mail and some phone calls and with some Facetime.

We also bring several photos of the family on the ship and using magnets that we also bring with us we set up a section on the wall near the door to the room so we will see the family several times each day.

We also utilize another section on the same wall to hang a calendar noting all of the upcoming events planned on the ship as well as invitations to various events.

When we arrived back to the room last evening there was an invitation for the first of two on board World Cruise cocktail parties and dinners with the first one scheduled for January 26.

We slept very well last evening as we are now sailing to Curacao.  We are sailing at around 20 knots per hour as we have quite a bit of distance to cover so that we can reach Curacao by 2:00 PM tomorrow.

Keith was up first for his workout and then Anne Marie worked out as well.

Keith had coffee in the Lido Cafe and spoke with friend Linda for a few minutes.  A couple of Lido Stewards helped Keith including Michael and Ed.

(Eduardo or Ed as he often goes by preparing 

the freshly squeeze orange machine)

We had our breakfast in our cabin as we got ready for another great day. We watched the daily morning show hosted by Cruise Director Gary Hunter and World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy.  Keith called in for the Sports Trivia Question which he correctly answered and Elise jokingly said that she should get a prize too because she correctly predicted that it would be Keith to call in and answer the question correctly.  For any New York Yankee fans you should know the answer to this question.  Which New York Yankee hit his 500th home run in 1967?  

This shows two of the pages in the daily program called Reflections which is a listing of all of the daytime activities offered on the ship today to give you a feel for the quantity and the diversity of the enrichment program offered by Crystal Cruises.

Often we are asked don't you get bored on a World Cruise being on a ship for so long and our answer is no.  On all Crystal Cruises sea days are very busy with all of the daytime and evening activities between enrichment and entertainment and on the World Cruise there is even more to choose from.  There is so much to do that often the biggest challenge is which activities to select.  There are some that one or both of us would like to do but there is not enough time in the day to do so.  For example, on most World Cruises Memoir Writing is offered and Keith would love to do this but he just doesn't have enough time in the day for it.

Today is an example of that.

Keith participated in a couple of morning activities and didn't have time to attend the two morning lectures.  The good news is that he can watch them on television.

Instead, Keith took a 9:30 AM Spin (Indoor Cycling) class.  Like the last class, all of the bikes were used which is great news.  This was probably the best class of the cruise so far as the instructor was able to step it up more since the passengers taking the class today were in relatively good shape.

One of the two Fitness Instructors, Bea (pronounced Bee Ah)
who taught today's class.

Keith and fellow passenger Art who he met today.

After the class he showered and then attended A USC Film Making  Class. This has recently been offered on Crystal Cruises and you can sign up for the class at home as soon as you have made your final payment for the cruise.  This program consists of five classes that will be taught on this segment.  The focus of today's class was "How to Tell Your Story".  To take the class you needed to have your own iPad as well as having loaded the iMovie app ahead of time.  

While Keith was at that class, Anne Marie attended the enrichment program given by Story Dramatist Barbara Rinella.  She presented The Hemingway Pfeiffer Marriage.  We have sailed with Barbara and her husband on several cruises. Barbara does not just review the books she talks about but instead she acts out portions of the book and wears clothes of the characters in the book.  She has play female and male characters and essentially she is acting out the book.  She does an amazing job.  While she rehearses this before joining the sailing, she will add some humorous elements that actually take place on the ship.  She gave a stellar performance today.

We enjoyed another lunch at the Lido Cafe.  The theme of today's buffet was an Asian Buffet.

In the afternoon Anne Marie walked for one hour and Keith played Paddle Tennis.  Anne Marie also took a yoga class offered this afternoon.

Keith was able to watch two lectures from the morning which included Barbara Rinella's book review as well as the other morning lecture given by special interest lecturer Dr. Jay Wolff who spoke about how overtime Spain's empire in the new world was reduced in size as it lost and also covered the Spanish-American War and how this led to the growth of America as we know it today.

We wanted to mention that both National League Football Championship Games are being broadcast live on the ship in everyone's staterooms and also on the big screen in the Stardust Club.  Hotdogs and Popcorn are being served and the bar is open.   

Speaking of sports, two legends of baseball have passed away.  This includes Stan the Man Musial who had an illustrious career for the St. Louis Cardinals and Earl Weaver who was one of the best all-time Managers in Baseball having Managed the Baltimore Orioles.

We will post about this evening's activities when we Blog tomorrow.

We have added three thoughts of the day instead of one.

TODAY'S THOUGHT'S FOR THE DAY............

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” - Robert Kennedy

"I never realized that batting a little ball around could cause so   much commotion.  I now know how (Charles) Lindberg must have felt when he returned from St. Louis"  - Stan Musial

"I became an optimist when I discovered that I wasn't going to win any more games by being anything else." - Earl Weaver