WELCOME TO CARTAGENA - DAY 26

A Look At What Is Happening Today:

Sea Day Up Until 3:00 PM ✔ iMovie Class And Other Activities  ✔  Cartegena ✔  Dinner At Crystal Dining Room ✔

Since there are so many speakers on board at 4:30 PM yesterday afternoon when everyone needed to be on board for our 5:00 PM departure from Aruba, story dramatist Barbara Rinella gave her second story telling performance of the cruise.  We say performance because she does not just tell you about the books that she is covering, but she dresses and acts the part and she does this for both male and female characters.  She is amazing.  We have seen her perform on several World Cruises and then the past two years we didn't see her and her husband as they were on the Crystal Symphony instead.  She presented two topics.  She first did a tribute to Nora Ephron who sadly passed in June of 2012.  She then covered David McCullough's book on the building of the Panama Canal.

Before dinner last evening, we had a drink in the Avenue Saloon which we have done for most of this voyage.  We spoke with a few people although it was not very crowded.

We then had dinner in the Crystal Dining Room.

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

This photo is with Head Waiter Augusto.

Shortly after we were seated, our Sommelier, Jiri, came by the table.  He poured Anne Marie an Italian White Wine.  

Jiri had recommended a red wine from the list of wines that are sold on the ship which was a Don Meclher, Conchay Toro 2006 Cabernet from Chile. He decanted the wine for us, printed off some information about the wine, and also took time to explain the wine to us.  He said that during the course of the meal as the wine had more time to open up that the aroma and the flavors would change.  He was absolutely correct.  Keith really enjoyed it and Anne Marie tried some too and liked it as well although she does prefer white over red wine.

We each had salmon for our entree.  It was very tasty and the sauce which accompanied it added a good deal of flavor to the salmon. Salmon was one of two alternative items on the menu and is available on most nights. 

We spoke with our Waiter Christoph who assists our Senior Waiter  Jiho.  Christoph is from Austria and worked as a waiter for several years in a five star hotel in Austria.  This is his first contract with Crystal and on a cruise ship.  When he joined the ship it was his first time to take an airplane and his first time out of Austria.  He is doing great and we think he will be around for a long time to come.

For Dessert, Anne Marie had the sugar-free Coconut Custard.  It was very tasty and another real tasty sugar-free dessert.

Keith had his regular dessert of mixed berries and he also had some of Anne Marie's dessert.

We didn't go to the show last night as we were pretty tired.  

The good news is that we set the clocks back one hour before we went to sleep last evening.

We slept very well and appreciated that extra hour of sleep.

Keith was up first and enjoyed a nice workout at the Fitness Center. About mid-way through the workout, he looked up and saw a few other guests on treadmills and realized more were there then usual because of the time zone change.

He had his usual coffee in the Lido Cafe.  One of the Lido Deck Stewards, Michael, assisted Keith with the Coffee. 

Michael is a delight and he will be going on Holiday in a couple of days when we arrive to Panama City.  Since Panama City is one of those places which makes it easier for arriving crew to enter the country to arrive to the ship several crew members will be leaving for Holiday while others will be arriving to take their spots.


Anne Marie also got in her normal one hour walk before we had breakfast in our room.  Rao arrived precisely at 8:00 AM. There is just one Rao not two Rao's.

We chatted with  Rao for a few minutes and then we had breakfast while we watched the morning show with Cruise Director, Gary Hunter, and World Cruise Hostess, Elise Ivy.

  
We called in for one of the trivia questions and correctly answered the question.  The question was what United States location has the oldest Monorail? The answer is: Disneyland. 

Although we arrive in Cartagena today, since our arrival time was at 3:00 PM, today was treated as a sea day.  The same was true when we arrive at Curacao the other day at 2:00 PM.

The morning featured two lectures by Ken Rees and Jay Wolff.  Normally you would have one lecturer of their caliber as they each are very capable of covering destinations and special interests so we are fortunate to not only have one but two highly regarded lecturers.

Ken Rees spoke about our next two ports of call; Cartagena and Panama City.  He covered the history of both as it related to the discovery of Gold.  He also spoke about what to do in each city during our upcoming visits.  He always had terrific slides and he adds in lots of great humor.

Dr. Jay Wolff spoke about the pioneers of the Panama Canal.  What makes his talks so interesting is that he tells it as if he was there.  Well, maybe he was.  He uses no notes and just gives terrific talks.

Keith also attended his third of the five digital filmmaking courses for iMovie on the iPad.   Today's class focused on learning the basics of editing on iMovie.  There are about 25 people in the class and Keith has really been enjoying it.  The movie he is making he hopes to put on next years Blog and looks forward to making more movies at home.

Some ask us do you ever get bored on a World Cruise?  Our answer is simple and is one word; "no".  If we had 48 hours in the day rather then 24 hours we could do even more each day.  For example, Keith would love to take the Memoir Writing Class but can't fit that into our schedule.  Anne Marie would take more classes including the art classes.  The fun part is that each person can find those activities that please them the most.  There are so many that we don't speak about because we don't participate in them.

For example, yesterday in Aruba, Golf Pro organized golf for those who wanted to play golf.  Over 20 guests played.  The next on is scheduled for Lima.  He tries to organize at least one golf game per segment.  Some people play bridge and that is held on each sea day.  This year we are not doing team trivia but that is taking place. Because of the popularity of the trivia this year up to ten players can be on a team.  For some people they love to dance and there is plenty of opportunity for that.  There are dance lessons and for the women traveling solo there are several Ambassador Hosts on board the ship so there is plenty of dancing for them in the evening.  The list of daytime and evening activities is truly amazing.

After a busy morning, we had lunch in the Lido Cafe.  As usual, we made salad entrees.

In the afternoon Anne Marie walked, and took an afternoon Yoga Class.   Keith played paddle tennis and got together with friend Bob.

We arrived to Cartagena at 3:00 PM and have an overnight here.  Because we have a private tour for tomorrow, we did not go into town.  There are things to see right at the cruise ship terminal including these guys.

We will tell you lots more about Cartagena when we Blog tomorrow.

This evening we are back in the Crystal Dining Room and plan to go to the show right after we dine.

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

 “A clever person solves a problem.  A wise person avoids it.” – Albert Einstein

Keith and Anne Marie