A Look At What Is Happening Today:
Treated Today As A Day At Sea ✔
Dinner At Prego ✔
Before dinner last evening we stopped by Prego to speak to Antonio the Specialty Restaurant Maitre d'. We ran into Christian who is the Head Chef of this restaurant. We will be dining there this evening.
Afterwards, we went to the Crystal Plaza and we listened to the World Cruise Choir. The Choir is held only on World Cruises and it includes guests those who are taking one or more segments of the World Cruise as well as those taking the entire World Cruise. Ken Rees who is an enrichment lecturer participated as did David Spiecker who is part of the entertainment staff and this helps round out the number of male participants. The choir is directed by one of the members of the Crystal Orchestra. Assistant Cruise Director Scott Mitchel played the piano and The Bellissimo Strings also performed.
They sang three songs and their final song was Yesterday. There was a nice turnout of guests and other crew members to listed to this concert.
After the concert, we spoke with one of the members of the Shore Excursion Team, Joyce. She has been a true pleasure and has provided us with some terrific input regarding the Central and South America places on this itinerary.
Sharing a moment at the Crystal Plaza before the Choir performed.
Last evening we dined at the Crystal Dining Room and these are the dinner menus.
We had a great time dining. Since the night before was a formal night, the dining room was not very busy as many people dined at other locations so there was more time to talk with our wait staff team. We also chatted with Maitre d' Leo Assmair for awhile which is always enjoyable for us.
Afterwards, we went to the Crystal Plaza and we listened to the World Cruise Choir. The Choir is held only on World Cruises and it includes guests those who are taking one or more segments of the World Cruise as well as those taking the entire World Cruise. Ken Rees who is an enrichment lecturer participated as did David Spiecker who is part of the entertainment staff and this helps round out the number of male participants. The choir is directed by one of the members of the Crystal Orchestra. Assistant Cruise Director Scott Mitchel played the piano and The Bellissimo Strings also performed.
They sang three songs and their final song was Yesterday. There was a nice turnout of guests and other crew members to listed to this concert.
(World Cruise Choir)
(The Bellissimo Strings)
(Assistant Cruise Director, Scott Mitchel)
After the concert, we spoke with one of the members of the Shore Excursion Team, Joyce. She has been a true pleasure and has provided us with some terrific input regarding the Central and South America places on this itinerary.
Sharing a moment at the Crystal Plaza before the Choir performed.
Last evening we dined at the Crystal Dining Room and these are the dinner menus.
We had a great time dining. Since the night before was a formal night, the dining room was not very busy as many people dined at other locations so there was more time to talk with our wait staff team. We also chatted with Maitre d' Leo Assmair for awhile which is always enjoyable for us.
We began our meal with Salads. Once again, Anne Marie had the same standing order salad that Keith has. We then enjoyed a fabulous Entree that Head Waiter Augusto made for us. Augusto was born in Rome and now lives in Norway.
Augusto made each of us Veal Scaloppini which was accompanied by Pasta which he also made for us. This is a real great Italian treat and it was absolutely wonderful. He prepared it with white wine, lemon, and mushrooms. He coated the veal with flour before cooking it. The plate seemed large but the pieces of veal are quite thin so the serving size was perfect.
At one point, Head Waiter Frantz who we know very well stopped by our table so we got a photo with him. We asked him if he road his bicycle in port, but given that there was a crew life boat/emergency drill there was not time for that.
Anne Marie surprised Keith with the second cake in a row which she ordered with Head Waiter, Augusto. As most of you know, we do not have desserts very often except for the sugar free ones that Anne Marie orders. This one was not sugar free.
Our waiter, Christoph brought out the slices after they were cut by Augusto. This is Christoph's first contract with Crystal Cruises and he assists our Senior Waiter Jijo.
Speaking of length of service we were talking with one of the dining personnel about how long they have been with Crystal and then one of the Senior Waiters happened to approach us and the Senior Waiter began with Crystal Cruises four months after Crystal launched their first ship. This is the 23rd year of Crystal Cruises being in operation and there are several members of the crew who have been on board 20+ years.
We also enjoyed wine at dinner. Anne Marie had a Napa Valley Chardonnay and Keith had an Italian Cabernet. We each enjoyed the wine.
After dinner, we attended the variety evening show. The show featured dancing by Curtis and Beverly, a Ventriloquist performance by Cruise Director, Gary Hunter. The final show was performed by International Virtuoso Violinist, Michal Bacala. Michal's final song was "Hey Jude" written by Paul McCartney. He had the audience participate. The show was great and it capped off a wonderful evening on board the Crystal Serenity. The variety shows are nice because it provides a nice mix of performances so hopefully each guest likes one, two or all three of the performances.
We both slept very well as we sailed to our next port of Call in Lima, Peru. This is our second time visiting this city.
Keith was up bright and early and enjoyed another nice workout at the Fitness Center. Afterwards, he arrived to the Lido Cafe and spoke with some of the Lido Deck Stewards including Ross, Ed and Jun. He spoke for a couple of minutes with friends John and Linda. John is normally working out in the Fitness Center at this time of the morning but he will be participating in golf today that Golf Pro John Clark organized for those guests who were interested in playing golf. This is the second one he has organized as some of the guests played in Aruba.
Anne Marie walked for an hour before we had breakfast in our room. We chatted with Rao for a little while before and after he prepared our table for breakfast. We enjoyed some great laughs as we always do with Rao.
We first visited Lima in 2007. We have three days and two nights in port. This is because the first segment of the World Cruise ends in Lima so those guests leaving the ship have today to explore Lima and then they will depart the ship sometime tomorrow morning. Those guests joining the ship tomorrow will have the overnight in Lima and then the following day so it gives those guests departing or arriving in Lima time to explore the city. For those of us continuing on the voyage, one day to tour around really works well. We have a full day independent tour arranged for tomorrow so we spent the day on the ship today. We also wanted to note that the three days in port allows some guests to go to Machu Picchu and other guests to return from the Galapagos Islands.
Lima has a city population of close to eight million residents. The spoken language is Spanish. The Spanish arrived around 1531 and was easily to take control of this area from the Incas. An earthquake in 1746 devastated this city and the Spanish rebuilt the city with more exquisite architecture. During the 1800's, Lima was invaded multiple times by forces from both Argentina and Chile.
There were some stores at the Pier so we spent about an hour walking them. Some of them were in stalls. There were some stores with the same type of items we saw yesterday and then also a few higher end stores such a H. Stern.
Our purchase was the three Post Cards that Anne Marie bought.
At the same time we ran into several guests, crew members and those from the enrichment program. Like us, some guests have tours either tomorrow or on Sunday so were just staying around the ship today since the shuttle bus take around 45 minutes each way.
Before lunch, we visited with friend Elaine and enjoyed a nice talk with her.
We changed a couple of things up in the afternoon.
We had lunch at the Crystal Dining Room. We just had a salad entree.
Afterwards, Keith worked out at the Fitness Center since no one was around playing Paddle Tennis.
Anne Marie walked for an hour and attended a Yoga Class later in the afternoon. Keith met up with friend Bob.
With a very port intensive cruise it was nice to make today like a sea day.
This evening we are back in Prego for dinner
Augusto made each of us Veal Scaloppini which was accompanied by Pasta which he also made for us. This is a real great Italian treat and it was absolutely wonderful. He prepared it with white wine, lemon, and mushrooms. He coated the veal with flour before cooking it. The plate seemed large but the pieces of veal are quite thin so the serving size was perfect.
At one point, Head Waiter Frantz who we know very well stopped by our table so we got a photo with him. We asked him if he road his bicycle in port, but given that there was a crew life boat/emergency drill there was not time for that.
Anne Marie surprised Keith with the second cake in a row which she ordered with Head Waiter, Augusto. As most of you know, we do not have desserts very often except for the sugar free ones that Anne Marie orders. This one was not sugar free.
Our waiter, Christoph brought out the slices after they were cut by Augusto. This is Christoph's first contract with Crystal Cruises and he assists our Senior Waiter Jijo.
Speaking of length of service we were talking with one of the dining personnel about how long they have been with Crystal and then one of the Senior Waiters happened to approach us and the Senior Waiter began with Crystal Cruises four months after Crystal launched their first ship. This is the 23rd year of Crystal Cruises being in operation and there are several members of the crew who have been on board 20+ years.
We also enjoyed wine at dinner. Anne Marie had a Napa Valley Chardonnay and Keith had an Italian Cabernet. We each enjoyed the wine.
After dinner, we attended the variety evening show. The show featured dancing by Curtis and Beverly, a Ventriloquist performance by Cruise Director, Gary Hunter. The final show was performed by International Virtuoso Violinist, Michal Bacala. Michal's final song was "Hey Jude" written by Paul McCartney. He had the audience participate. The show was great and it capped off a wonderful evening on board the Crystal Serenity. The variety shows are nice because it provides a nice mix of performances so hopefully each guest likes one, two or all three of the performances.
We both slept very well as we sailed to our next port of Call in Lima, Peru. This is our second time visiting this city.
Keith was up bright and early and enjoyed another nice workout at the Fitness Center. Afterwards, he arrived to the Lido Cafe and spoke with some of the Lido Deck Stewards including Ross, Ed and Jun. He spoke for a couple of minutes with friends John and Linda. John is normally working out in the Fitness Center at this time of the morning but he will be participating in golf today that Golf Pro John Clark organized for those guests who were interested in playing golf. This is the second one he has organized as some of the guests played in Aruba.
Anne Marie walked for an hour before we had breakfast in our room. We chatted with Rao for a little while before and after he prepared our table for breakfast. We enjoyed some great laughs as we always do with Rao.
We first visited Lima in 2007. We have three days and two nights in port. This is because the first segment of the World Cruise ends in Lima so those guests leaving the ship have today to explore Lima and then they will depart the ship sometime tomorrow morning. Those guests joining the ship tomorrow will have the overnight in Lima and then the following day so it gives those guests departing or arriving in Lima time to explore the city. For those of us continuing on the voyage, one day to tour around really works well. We have a full day independent tour arranged for tomorrow so we spent the day on the ship today. We also wanted to note that the three days in port allows some guests to go to Machu Picchu and other guests to return from the Galapagos Islands.
Lima has a city population of close to eight million residents. The spoken language is Spanish. The Spanish arrived around 1531 and was easily to take control of this area from the Incas. An earthquake in 1746 devastated this city and the Spanish rebuilt the city with more exquisite architecture. During the 1800's, Lima was invaded multiple times by forces from both Argentina and Chile.
There were some stores at the Pier so we spent about an hour walking them. Some of them were in stalls. There were some stores with the same type of items we saw yesterday and then also a few higher end stores such a H. Stern.
Our purchase was the three Post Cards that Anne Marie bought.
At the same time we ran into several guests, crew members and those from the enrichment program. Like us, some guests have tours either tomorrow or on Sunday so were just staying around the ship today since the shuttle bus take around 45 minutes each way.
Before lunch, we visited with friend Elaine and enjoyed a nice talk with her.
We changed a couple of things up in the afternoon.
We had lunch at the Crystal Dining Room. We just had a salad entree.
Afterwards, Keith worked out at the Fitness Center since no one was around playing Paddle Tennis.
Anne Marie walked for an hour and attended a Yoga Class later in the afternoon. Keith met up with friend Bob.
With a very port intensive cruise it was nice to make today like a sea day.
This evening we are back in Prego for dinner
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY............
“Life is like a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert
Einstein
Keith and Anne Marie
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