First Day Of The Cruise - Day 8

A Look At What Is Happening Today:

Had A Wonderful Dinner Last Evening ✔ 
Enjoyed Our First Full Day On The Crystal Serenity ✔  

We wanted to share with you a few thoughts from yesterday.

The first day can always be busy getting settled on the ship, including the unpacking of luggage.  Our first day was made much easier with the help of our stewardess Yanina and butler Rao and the fact that they knew all of our preferences.

Yanina had already set up the room with the types of pillows that Anne Marie prefers as well as having other items that we would normally ask for on the first day all in place.

At the same time Rao knows all of our preferences.  In fact, when we mentioned to him about having breakfast in the room he quickly said yes, it will be here at 8:00 AM and he knew by memory all of the items that we have with the breakfast.

This is our first cruise since inclusive was implemented and we are very pleased with this change.  The major difference with inclusive is that wines and spirits are now included in the cruise fare as are gratuities and there is no longer a recommended tip for the specialty restaurants.  We have sailed on other luxury cruise lines with inclusive and will provide some additional comments in a few days about this.

Before dinner last evening we got together for a pre-dinner drink with friend Ricki and David and with Mary and her two sisters (Helen and Georgia) and her friend.  We had a terrific time and it was a great way to start of this cruise.  David arrived a few minutes after we took this photo.

(From Left to Right)

(Mary, Ricki, Georgia, Anne Marie, Helen and Mary's friend 

with Keith standing between Mary and Ricki)

We then went to dinner.  We had our Senior Waiter Jijo who was assisted by Waiter Jiri and our Sommelier was Jiri.  Yes, two Jiri's. Our Head Waiter is Igor.  Jijo was our Senior Waiter on several cruises in the past.

The dining room was busy as it normally is on the first night of the cruise.  As was the case last year, main seating is quite popular.  We chatted with Maitre d' Mario for a few minutes.  We also spoke with a few of the other dining room personnel including Head Waiter Peter (so some refer to him as tall Peter) and Senior Head Waiter (he assists the Maitre d') Carmelo.

We each began with salads and we both had a Spinach Salad.  It was accompanied by a very tasty creamy mustard dressing which we had on the side.  

There were two fresh seafood entrees on the menu.  Based on Jijo's recommendation, Keith had the Broiled Fresh Red Sea Perch Fillet which was delicious.  There was also Salmon but you can order that on any night.  The fish was cooked just right and just the way Keith likes it.

We also had a side order of vegetables.

Anne Marie had the Herbed Ricotta Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breast and she also thought it was delicious.  It was very moist and  it included tomato risotto which Anne Marie also enjoyed.

We enjoyed the wines that accompanied the meal.  Anne Marie had a chardonnay and Keith had a red wine from the state of Washington.  The inclusive wines include a few wines to choose from but if you do not care for those wines you can ask for other inclusive wines.  We asked for the menu of the inclusive wines and there are nine white and ten choices of red wines.

For dessert, Anne Marie had a non-fat french vanilla yogurt and Keith had mixed berries of blueberries and strawberries. Keith tried a little bit of the yogurt and we both thought it tasted great.

A little while after we got back from dinner we attended the Muster (Lifeboat) drill.  Our station for the Muster Drill is the Casino.  There was a very good turnout for the drill, as there should be, and by and large people were very attentive to the instructions.  One of the Head Waiters from the Crystal Dining Room went over several instructions with all of us as he is responsible for our life boat and the Captain also spoke from the bridge. The Captain was very easy to understand.  This is our first sailing with Captain Birger J. Vorland and we look forward to meeting the Captain.

We sat with friends Ricki and David during the Muster Drill.

This was one of the sections of the Casino with guests attending the Muster Drill.

There was an evening welcome aboard show but we were too tired to make it to the show.

After returning to our room, we did more organizing of the room and we stayed up for the sail away.  In addition to all of the passenger ships that call on the Port Of Miami it also is a large cargo port.

A change since we disembarked the ship end of last April is the new outdoor Verandah Furniture.  There are a couple of new chairs (one of the two can be seen in this photo) and the table.

We then went to sleep and we slept very well.  The seas were so calm you didn't even know we were moving.

Keith was up early and for those of you who follow our blogs you know that he went directly to the Fitness Center for his daily workout.  However, as it turned out we had forwarded the clocks one hour and we didn't realize that so Keith was not at the Fitness Center as early as normal but it was still early enough that he was the first one there.  About 30 minutes into his workout, friend John arrived, and it was a few minutes later that Keith learned of the change in time.

After his workout he enjoyed coffee up at the Lido Cafe and he spoke with several familiar crew members.  He saw Alberto and Anthony who both work in Silk Road and also Mario who is head waiter of Prego.  

Afterwards, we did some laundry and this is another nice change since we last sailed on the Crystal Serenity as the most of the washers and dryers have been replaced.  It took Keith a few minutes to figure out how to use each machine.  About half way through the laundry Keith got the expert, Anne Marie, to assist as well.  The good news is we have all of this figured out now.

We enjoyed breakfast in the room as we do on most days.  We do have the type of breakfast we would have at home including oat meal with a banana.

On this 12 day voyage three indoor cycling classes (spin classes) are being offered and today was the first one and Keith took the class.  Today's class was taught by Fitness Instructor Bea (pronounced Beah).  We had a full class which was nice and she did a nice job making it challenging enough but also taking into account that some of the participants had never done this type of class before.

While Keith was taking the Spin Class, Anne Marie walked on the Promenade Deck.  She also continued to organize the room.

There were two lectures this morning.  We missed the first one and will catch that when it is repeated on the television and that was on the history of Tortola and St. Lucia.

Keith attened the second lecture which was given by Professor Louis Rene Beres who spoke about the new Middle East following the Arab Awakening.  He covered many of the countries in the region including Libya, Syria, and Pakistan and issues and challenges.  In short, the challenges are great and in many cases there are not good solutions to the problems that he covered.

On the way back to the room Keith listened to some music being performed by The Bellissimo String Quartet in the Crystal Cove. 

We met Cruise Director Rick Spath for lunch in the Crystal Dining Room.  It was great to catch up with Rick.  Food was terrific too.  We each had a Chicken Broth Soup.  For our entree, Anne Marie had a Shrimp Caesar Salad and Keith had a Greek Salad with Feta Cheese and Olives with Marinated Grilled Lamb Skewers.  It was accompanied by a plate of Warm Pita Bread with Hummus.

After lunch,  Anne Marie got in her second walk of the day outside on the Promenade Deck.  She also sat out at the pool.  Keith played Paddle Tennis with one of the two Fitness Directors and two fellow guests.  It was his first time playing since March of last year as it was too cold to play last April when we were sailing China/Japan/Alaska.  

This evening is the Gala Welcome Dinner which is always a favorite of Anne Marie's as she looks forward to the Lobster.  There are two parties these evening; one before main dining and the other before late dining. We will attend the one before late dining.  There are two shows this evening of the Production Show Million Dollar Musicals at 8:30 PM and 10:45 PM respectively.  We will post about this evening on tomorrows Blog.

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

A person always doing his or her best becomes a natural leader, just by example.” – Joe DiMaggio

Keith and Anne Marie