A Look At What Is Happening Today:
Enjoyed Last Night With Friends Ricki and David ✔ Great Cruise Critic Party ✔ Wonderful Dinner ✔ Enjoy A Couple Of Hours in St. Kitt's.
Although we ate in Silk Road last evening, these are the menus from the Crystal Dining Room
We enjoyed a wonderful evening with friends Ricki and David. They first joined us in our room before dinner for appetizers, canapés and champagne. As they did last year, on the day of embarkation Ricki and David brought Keith a favorite cookie from his childhood which are rainbow cookies. They are Italian Cookies. They will last quite a while and Keith had two of them last night after getting back to the room.
Ricki and David thank you so very much for being such wonderful friends.
We enjoyed wonderful canapés and appetizers that Rao organized for us as well as Champagne.
We toasted to our wonderful friendship and to a wonderful voyage.
Although we ate in Silk Road last evening, these are the menus from the Crystal Dining Room
We enjoyed a wonderful evening with friends Ricki and David. They first joined us in our room before dinner for appetizers, canapés and champagne. As they did last year, on the day of embarkation Ricki and David brought Keith a favorite cookie from his childhood which are rainbow cookies. They are Italian Cookies. They will last quite a while and Keith had two of them last night after getting back to the room.
Ricki and David thank you so very much for being such wonderful friends.
Anne Marie with Ricki and our Butler Rao.
We enjoyed wonderful canapés and appetizers that Rao organized for us as well as Champagne.
We toasted to our wonderful friendship and to a wonderful voyage.
Afterwards, we enjoyed a terrific meal at Silk Road. Silk Road is Crystal Cruises Japanese Specialty Restaurant that is under the direction of Nobu who has several land based restaurants. We really enjoy this restaurant. Many of the items are very unique in the way they are prepared. Service and the overall ambiance is outstanding.
We ordered sushi and sashimi plus our waiter Albert organized some special items with us. We also each had two other courses. This is a photo of our waiter Albert. We have known Albert for many years starting when he was an assistant waiter to Sigi who at that time was a Waiter. Sigi is now the Head Waiter of Silk Road a position he has held for the past few years.
This was the first item we had which Albert had ordered ahead for us. It is all vegetables with a tasty light sauce.
This was a trio that Albert also ordered for each of us of three different Nobu Sashimi Specials. What makes these unique are the way they are prepared. They are very tasty. Many guests who are not big sashimi fans normally enjoy these because of the way they are prepared.
This was our table at Silk Road.
Some of the sushi and sashimi that Keith and Anne Marie enjoyed. Keith had all of the sashimi.
We didn't take photos of the other items that we had. Anne Marie had a Mushroom Soup and Keith had a Mushroom Salad. The Mushroom Salad is quite tasty and unique because the mushrooms have been sautéed and are warm and it comes with a very tasty sauce. Albert squeezed the juice from lime which accompanied salad adding yet another nice taste to the salad. Anne Marie ordered the Nobu Box as her entree which is a trio of three sampler entrees and Keith had the Hot Soba Noodles which is served in a broth and rather then having the tempura which accompanies this entree he had some scallops added to the soup instead.
After dinner we went to the Cruise Critic Party. If 10 or more members of Cruise Critic sign up for the party, then Crystal Cruises hosts a party. We had around 34 people sign up and over 20 in attendance. It was a very nice group and many of the people we met for the very first time.
We want to thank Crystal Cruises for not only hosting the party for us but having so many senior officers and senior staff in attendance.
This included the Captain, Hotel Director, Food and Beverage Manager, Cruise Director, Executive, Housekeeper, Front Officer Manager, Crystal Society Hostess, Shore Excursion Manager, and a few other members from the crew. We appreciate that they not only came to the party that many stayed for almost the entire time. We know that their schedules are busy.
Keith chatted with the Captain for about ten minutes and other then the receiving line at the Captain's Reception this was Keith's first long talk with the Captain.
These are a few photos from the party.
Crystal Society Hostess Jaque in one of her new Crystal Cruises uniforms and Daniel the Shore Excursion Manager.
Cruise Director Rick Spath with Ricki and David.
Head Housekeeper Elena with some of the members of Cruise Critic.
Cruise Director Rick Spath with members of Cruise Critic.
Lido Deck Steward Liebert with Cruise Critic Members.
Cruise Critic Members.
Keith with Jasminike the Front Office Manager
We slept very well last evening as the ship sailed towards St. Kitts.
Keith worked out as he does each morning on the Elliptical Machine. There are four machines.
This is the machine that Keith prefers to use which is the one on the far left.
Some of you ask why Keith works out so early in the morning. He does it for two reasons:
First he just likes to get the workout behind him since when we are in port we want to be off the ship and on a sea day there are so many other enrichment activities that we want to take part in later in the morning and in the afternoon.
The other reason is just like Fitness Centers at home, if someone is waiting to use a machine then you should limit your use of the machine to 30 minutes. Since Keith prefers workouts of around 90 minutes by working out early there will not be a wait for machines.
After his workout he enjoyed coffee in the Lido Cafe. Several of the Lido Deck stewards from the various areas were getting everything set up for breakfast so Keith had a chance to speak with many of the Lido Deck Stewards as well as Sigi who oversees the Lido.
Anne Marie also got in a nice one hour walk on the Promenade Deck before we both enjoyed breakfast in our room.
Today's port of call stop is at Basstere, St. Kitts which is located approximately 1,200 miles from Miami.
The major drivers of the local economy include tourism, light manufacturing and agriculture.
This town has around 15,000 residents. We docked at Port Zante and the other ship in port with us is the Royal Caribbean Adventure Of The Seas.
This port had the feel of what you see in many of the Caribbean Towns that are near the port. Unlike yesterday when the taxi drivers and tour guides were not aggressive, these locals were very aggressive often asking you several times if you wanted a tour or a taxi ride around the island.
As we passed the various groups of local that were trying to offer local tours (many more not show in the photo) you get to a little area with all of the shops you typically fine in a Caribbean Port Of Call such as Diamonds International, and Effy Jewelers along with other jewelry shops and duty free stores.
We made our way past all of these shops and then entered the town.
Utilizing the map provided by Crystal Cruises we navigated ourselves around town looking for several sites that were included on the Map.
Our first stop was the National Museum which was opened up in 1992. It features historical artifacts of this area.
We then walked several blocks until we reached St. George's Anglican Church. We walked on streets with narrow sidewalks and passed lots of local stores many of them oriented to the locals.
The original church was established on this site in 1670. The current church was built in 1859 but had to be restored ten years later due to fire.
On our return to the Serenity we stopped in shops to find some post cards but believe it or not we could not find any. We will look in our next port of call stop tomorrow.
As we mentioned, most members (not the butlers or the concierge for example) of the crew who interface with the guests are getting new uniforms. As the tailors finish the alterations we are starting to see the crew members wearing them. These are photos of two of crew who work the reception desk in their new uniforms. At night they will accessorize using ties. Eventually the stewardesses will also get the new uniforms but that will not be for quite a while.
Front Desk Crew Member Dragan
We enjoyed lunch at the Lido Cafe. We ate with friend Ricki and David. Keith went to play Paddle Tennis and Anne Marie stayed for awhile.
Keith played for a few hours other then for a rain delay of about 20 minutes. There were periods of rain a few times in the afternoon and then the rain would stop and the sun would come out.
Anne Marie was able to get walk for one hour in the afternoon and then she sat out on the verandah to get some sun.
This evening we will be back in the Crystal Dining Room for dinner. We also signed up to see the Magic Show this evening. We will Blog about this tomorrow.
We ordered sushi and sashimi plus our waiter Albert organized some special items with us. We also each had two other courses. This is a photo of our waiter Albert. We have known Albert for many years starting when he was an assistant waiter to Sigi who at that time was a Waiter. Sigi is now the Head Waiter of Silk Road a position he has held for the past few years.
This was the first item we had which Albert had ordered ahead for us. It is all vegetables with a tasty light sauce.
This was a trio that Albert also ordered for each of us of three different Nobu Sashimi Specials. What makes these unique are the way they are prepared. They are very tasty. Many guests who are not big sashimi fans normally enjoy these because of the way they are prepared.
This was our table at Silk Road.
Some of the sushi and sashimi that Keith and Anne Marie enjoyed. Keith had all of the sashimi.
We didn't take photos of the other items that we had. Anne Marie had a Mushroom Soup and Keith had a Mushroom Salad. The Mushroom Salad is quite tasty and unique because the mushrooms have been sautéed and are warm and it comes with a very tasty sauce. Albert squeezed the juice from lime which accompanied salad adding yet another nice taste to the salad. Anne Marie ordered the Nobu Box as her entree which is a trio of three sampler entrees and Keith had the Hot Soba Noodles which is served in a broth and rather then having the tempura which accompanies this entree he had some scallops added to the soup instead.
After dinner we went to the Cruise Critic Party. If 10 or more members of Cruise Critic sign up for the party, then Crystal Cruises hosts a party. We had around 34 people sign up and over 20 in attendance. It was a very nice group and many of the people we met for the very first time.
We want to thank Crystal Cruises for not only hosting the party for us but having so many senior officers and senior staff in attendance.
This included the Captain, Hotel Director, Food and Beverage Manager, Cruise Director, Executive, Housekeeper, Front Officer Manager, Crystal Society Hostess, Shore Excursion Manager, and a few other members from the crew. We appreciate that they not only came to the party that many stayed for almost the entire time. We know that their schedules are busy.
Keith chatted with the Captain for about ten minutes and other then the receiving line at the Captain's Reception this was Keith's first long talk with the Captain.
These are a few photos from the party.
Crystal Society Hostess Jaque in one of her new Crystal Cruises uniforms and Daniel the Shore Excursion Manager.
Cruise Director Rick Spath with Ricki and David.
Head Housekeeper Elena with some of the members of Cruise Critic.
Cruise Director Rick Spath with members of Cruise Critic.
Lido Deck Steward Liebert with Cruise Critic Members.
Cruise Critic Members.
Keith with Jasminike the Front Office Manager
We slept very well last evening as the ship sailed towards St. Kitts.
Keith worked out as he does each morning on the Elliptical Machine. There are four machines.
This is the machine that Keith prefers to use which is the one on the far left.
Some of you ask why Keith works out so early in the morning. He does it for two reasons:
First he just likes to get the workout behind him since when we are in port we want to be off the ship and on a sea day there are so many other enrichment activities that we want to take part in later in the morning and in the afternoon.
The other reason is just like Fitness Centers at home, if someone is waiting to use a machine then you should limit your use of the machine to 30 minutes. Since Keith prefers workouts of around 90 minutes by working out early there will not be a wait for machines.
After his workout he enjoyed coffee in the Lido Cafe. Several of the Lido Deck stewards from the various areas were getting everything set up for breakfast so Keith had a chance to speak with many of the Lido Deck Stewards as well as Sigi who oversees the Lido.
Anne Marie also got in a nice one hour walk on the Promenade Deck before we both enjoyed breakfast in our room.
Today's port of call stop is at Basstere, St. Kitts which is located approximately 1,200 miles from Miami.
The major drivers of the local economy include tourism, light manufacturing and agriculture.
This town has around 15,000 residents. We docked at Port Zante and the other ship in port with us is the Royal Caribbean Adventure Of The Seas.
This port had the feel of what you see in many of the Caribbean Towns that are near the port. Unlike yesterday when the taxi drivers and tour guides were not aggressive, these locals were very aggressive often asking you several times if you wanted a tour or a taxi ride around the island.
As we passed the various groups of local that were trying to offer local tours (many more not show in the photo) you get to a little area with all of the shops you typically fine in a Caribbean Port Of Call such as Diamonds International, and Effy Jewelers along with other jewelry shops and duty free stores.
We made our way past all of these shops and then entered the town.
Our first stop was the National Museum which was opened up in 1992. It features historical artifacts of this area.
We then walked several blocks until we reached St. George's Anglican Church. We walked on streets with narrow sidewalks and passed lots of local stores many of them oriented to the locals.
The original church was established on this site in 1670. The current church was built in 1859 but had to be restored ten years later due to fire.
We also walked to Independence Square.
On our return to the Serenity we stopped in shops to find some post cards but believe it or not we could not find any. We will look in our next port of call stop tomorrow.
As we mentioned, most members (not the butlers or the concierge for example) of the crew who interface with the guests are getting new uniforms. As the tailors finish the alterations we are starting to see the crew members wearing them. These are photos of two of crew who work the reception desk in their new uniforms. At night they will accessorize using ties. Eventually the stewardesses will also get the new uniforms but that will not be for quite a while.
Front Desk Crew Member Dragan
We enjoyed lunch at the Lido Cafe. We ate with friend Ricki and David. Keith went to play Paddle Tennis and Anne Marie stayed for awhile.
Keith played for a few hours other then for a rain delay of about 20 minutes. There were periods of rain a few times in the afternoon and then the rain would stop and the sun would come out.
Anne Marie was able to get walk for one hour in the afternoon and then she sat out on the verandah to get some sun.
This evening we will be back in the Crystal Dining Room for dinner. We also signed up to see the Magic Show this evening. We will Blog about this tomorrow.
Today's Thought For The Day.....
"The only
man who makes no mistake is the man who does nothing." -Theodore Roosevelt
Keith and Anne Marie
Keith and Anne Marie
Wow, it was so thoughtful of them to bring you rainbow cookies again. Such nice friends!
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