A Look At What Is Happening Today:
Another Day At Sea With Several Enrichment Activities ✔ Thoughts ✔ Canapés In Our Room With Another Couple Before Dinner and Dinner At Prego This Evening ✔
Before dinner last evening we attended a reception at Captain John Okland's Quarters along with some other guests. This is the third time we have attended since boarding the ship on January 4. We were greeted at the entranceway by Crystal Society Hostess Jaque Brown and then Captain John Okland.
We spoke with Jaque and then we spoke with the Captain and also his wife. \
We spoke with several guests and with Hotel Director Josef, Social Hostess Mari, Crystal Society Hostess Jaque and Shore Excursion Manager Daniel.
Anne Marie with Mari.
About 25 guests were in attendance.
The Captain spoke to all of us towards the end of the reception noting that pilots would be coming on board for our cruise of the Amazon River.
After the reception, we made our way down to the Crystal Dining Room.
These are the menus from last evenings dinner.
After being away from the Crystal Dining Room for three consecutive nights it was great to be back to the dining room.
We began our meal with an appetizer. Keith had Tuna Tartare which Head Waiter Augusto made for him and Anne Marie had the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail. Augusto makes a really nice Tuna Tartare that Keith enjoys. Anne Marie always loves the Shrimp too.
For our next course, we both had Caesar Salad which Augusto also made for us. It was delicious. Keith prefer a little more spice then Anne Marie so before Augusto added in the additional spices he placed Anne Marie's portion in a salad bowl.
Originally, Augusto was making us a Penne Pasta as an appetizer but between the first two courses and the size of the pasta we made it our entree. It was delicious. He added some tuna to the pasta along with olives which he diced and a little wine and he made a very tasty sauce.
For dessert, Anne Marie ordered Apple Pie A La Mode and Keith had mixed berries. Keith also tried some of Anne Marie's dessert and we both enjoyed it.
The entertainment from last evening featured two performances of the production show Across The Pond. This is one of our favorite of the production shows and it features many songs and dance from the British Invasion (music that is) from the 1960's including songs from Keith's all-time favorite group; The Beatles.
When we arrived to our room last evening there were photos from the Photo Studio that we had taken the past few days. On this years World Cruise for the very first time the photo studio offered a special promotion which for a set price for each segment of the World Cruise you could get unlimited photos of every photo they took of you. That included not only formal portraits but also ones around the ship and on excursions and the like even including photos from our recent tour of the crew area of the ship and the Captain's Quarters Party we had attended just a couple of hours earlier.
For an additional fee you could get them on a memory stick and you are given the rights to the photos. We signed up for the program as we plan to use the photos from the memory stick for our next Blog and for even a Holiday Card. The photographers have been very creative as we take some of the formal photos and have had us pose in almost every type of post imaginable. It has also created a special bond between those participating in this program and with the photographers. This is something that Keith was hoping at some point would be offered and we are glad it is. We are sure in the future other programs will be launched taking advantage of the continued transformation in digital photography.
We slept well as we continue to sail towards the Amazon River. The seas were calm.
Keith was up very early and back to the Fitness Center for a nice workout. During his workout he watched the recorded talk from yesterday given by Dr. John C McMichan on "The Healthy Traveler". We have seen this Doctor talk before and find his information both practical and very useful. While some of what he spoke about we heard when he spoke last time it is always good to hear it again plus he augmented his talk with updates on some of the items plus added some items related to this cruise; specifically about Malaria. Some take-aways included:
There is bacteria that one can pick up when traveling and eating off the ship. Avoid salads. Avoid fruit that you can't peel or clean yourself. Do not drink tap water. Avoid Ice. Avoid dairy products including Ice Cream. If you are traveling certain third world countries and are not sure whether the bottled water is really the original or if it has been refilled with tap water as he put it get the "fizzy" bottled water.
He covered how viruses and spread and also spoke about Norwalk Virus. The key take away is to avoid touching mouth, nose and eyes. This is easily said then done but it is very important. Also wash hands frequently and also use items such as Purell when you cannot wash your hands.
He spoke about items to help avoid Nausea when at sea. He covered their benefits and any drawbacks. He spoke about three three major items such as Bonine and for them to be effective you need to take them about ninety minutes before feeling sea sick. He spoke about the benefits of ginger whether that is in table form or natural form or even items such as true Ginger Ale. He spoke about the Patch but also spoke about its down sides and the importance of speaking with your physician about the potential side effects. He spoke about the sea band noting that it works about 25% of the time. He noted that Acupuncture is very effective but obviously not practical and he spoke about a device that almost looks like a wrist watch that sends little shocks and that its effectiveness is almost as good as acupuncture and that it has been FDA approved for having a positive effect in people who are given anesthesia for surgery.
He spoke about the different items that could help to prevent Malaria given that we are sailing towards the Amazon but also noted that the occurrence of Malaria has been reported recently as being relatively low. The key here is to understand the benefits and any risks and that none of these are 100% effective. He also spoke about wearing long pants and long shirts to cover yourself as much as possible and other items you can use such as insect repellents.
He also spoke about other items including being sure your tetanus shots are up to date, the shingles vaccine, the vaccine for pneumonia, vaccine for hepatitis A and the flu vaccine.
All in all a good reminder about being pro-active on several fronts.
After Keith's workout he changed and he had coffee at the Lido Cafe. While sitting there he noticed how quiet it was and that was not just because there was only one other guest there when he arrived but the sea was so very calm and there was no noise coming from outside or inside the ship. It was very peaceful.
Keith brought back some coffee to the room and a short while later Anne Marie also got in her morning workout before we had breakfast in our room. While we ate breakfast, we watched the Daily Morning Show hosted by Cruise Director Gary and World Cruise Hostess Elise.
Towards the end of The Morning Show Gary Hunter mentioned that given that the Amazon River is muddy that pro-active steps are being taken to conserve water which mostly the crew is doing. At the same time, he reminded us of items that we could do too such as not keeping the water faucet on while brushing teeth, trying to take shorter showers and also washing larger loads of laundry. All of this makes perfect sense and we will be sure to be supportive of this.
This was another busy sea day with lots of activities on the schedule.
There were three lectures. The first one was presented by Ken Rees who spoke about The Brazilian Rain forest. Later in the morning General Anthony Zinni spoke about the new world disorder. In the afternoon, Dr. Donald Bejnke spoke about the live and music of three famous tenors.
At Noon we had lunch at the Lido Cafe.
Anne Marie walked for one our and shortly after he walk she attended the afternoon Yoga Class.
When Keith took the next photo, Yoga Instructor, Maria Kita, suggested that Anne Marie do the Dog Down position.
Keith took the Spin (Indoor Cycling) Class which was offered in the afternoon. Often it is in the morning, but from time to time it is taught in the afternoon for those guests who prefer an afternoon workout. Today, was all about speed and it was a fun and definitely a challenging class.
This evening we will have a couple to our room for a pre-dinner drink and Canapés and then the four of us will dine at Prego. We will post more about that tomorrow.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY............
Before dinner last evening we attended a reception at Captain John Okland's Quarters along with some other guests. This is the third time we have attended since boarding the ship on January 4. We were greeted at the entranceway by Crystal Society Hostess Jaque Brown and then Captain John Okland.
Anne Marie with Jaque Brown.
We spoke with Jaque and then we spoke with the Captain and also his wife. \
We spoke with several guests and with Hotel Director Josef, Social Hostess Mari, Crystal Society Hostess Jaque and Shore Excursion Manager Daniel.
Anne Marie with Mari.
About 25 guests were in attendance.
The Captain spoke to all of us towards the end of the reception noting that pilots would be coming on board for our cruise of the Amazon River.
After the reception, we made our way down to the Crystal Dining Room.
These are the menus from last evenings dinner.
After being away from the Crystal Dining Room for three consecutive nights it was great to be back to the dining room.
We began our meal with an appetizer. Keith had Tuna Tartare which Head Waiter Augusto made for him and Anne Marie had the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail. Augusto makes a really nice Tuna Tartare that Keith enjoys. Anne Marie always loves the Shrimp too.
For our next course, we both had Caesar Salad which Augusto also made for us. It was delicious. Keith prefer a little more spice then Anne Marie so before Augusto added in the additional spices he placed Anne Marie's portion in a salad bowl.
Originally, Augusto was making us a Penne Pasta as an appetizer but between the first two courses and the size of the pasta we made it our entree. It was delicious. He added some tuna to the pasta along with olives which he diced and a little wine and he made a very tasty sauce.
For dessert, Anne Marie ordered Apple Pie A La Mode and Keith had mixed berries. Keith also tried some of Anne Marie's dessert and we both enjoyed it.
The entertainment from last evening featured two performances of the production show Across The Pond. This is one of our favorite of the production shows and it features many songs and dance from the British Invasion (music that is) from the 1960's including songs from Keith's all-time favorite group; The Beatles.
When we arrived to our room last evening there were photos from the Photo Studio that we had taken the past few days. On this years World Cruise for the very first time the photo studio offered a special promotion which for a set price for each segment of the World Cruise you could get unlimited photos of every photo they took of you. That included not only formal portraits but also ones around the ship and on excursions and the like even including photos from our recent tour of the crew area of the ship and the Captain's Quarters Party we had attended just a couple of hours earlier.
For an additional fee you could get them on a memory stick and you are given the rights to the photos. We signed up for the program as we plan to use the photos from the memory stick for our next Blog and for even a Holiday Card. The photographers have been very creative as we take some of the formal photos and have had us pose in almost every type of post imaginable. It has also created a special bond between those participating in this program and with the photographers. This is something that Keith was hoping at some point would be offered and we are glad it is. We are sure in the future other programs will be launched taking advantage of the continued transformation in digital photography.
We slept well as we continue to sail towards the Amazon River. The seas were calm.
Keith was up very early and back to the Fitness Center for a nice workout. During his workout he watched the recorded talk from yesterday given by Dr. John C McMichan on "The Healthy Traveler". We have seen this Doctor talk before and find his information both practical and very useful. While some of what he spoke about we heard when he spoke last time it is always good to hear it again plus he augmented his talk with updates on some of the items plus added some items related to this cruise; specifically about Malaria. Some take-aways included:
There is bacteria that one can pick up when traveling and eating off the ship. Avoid salads. Avoid fruit that you can't peel or clean yourself. Do not drink tap water. Avoid Ice. Avoid dairy products including Ice Cream. If you are traveling certain third world countries and are not sure whether the bottled water is really the original or if it has been refilled with tap water as he put it get the "fizzy" bottled water.
He covered how viruses and spread and also spoke about Norwalk Virus. The key take away is to avoid touching mouth, nose and eyes. This is easily said then done but it is very important. Also wash hands frequently and also use items such as Purell when you cannot wash your hands.
He spoke about items to help avoid Nausea when at sea. He covered their benefits and any drawbacks. He spoke about three three major items such as Bonine and for them to be effective you need to take them about ninety minutes before feeling sea sick. He spoke about the benefits of ginger whether that is in table form or natural form or even items such as true Ginger Ale. He spoke about the Patch but also spoke about its down sides and the importance of speaking with your physician about the potential side effects. He spoke about the sea band noting that it works about 25% of the time. He noted that Acupuncture is very effective but obviously not practical and he spoke about a device that almost looks like a wrist watch that sends little shocks and that its effectiveness is almost as good as acupuncture and that it has been FDA approved for having a positive effect in people who are given anesthesia for surgery.
He spoke about the different items that could help to prevent Malaria given that we are sailing towards the Amazon but also noted that the occurrence of Malaria has been reported recently as being relatively low. The key here is to understand the benefits and any risks and that none of these are 100% effective. He also spoke about wearing long pants and long shirts to cover yourself as much as possible and other items you can use such as insect repellents.
He also spoke about other items including being sure your tetanus shots are up to date, the shingles vaccine, the vaccine for pneumonia, vaccine for hepatitis A and the flu vaccine.
All in all a good reminder about being pro-active on several fronts.
After Keith's workout he changed and he had coffee at the Lido Cafe. While sitting there he noticed how quiet it was and that was not just because there was only one other guest there when he arrived but the sea was so very calm and there was no noise coming from outside or inside the ship. It was very peaceful.
Keith brought back some coffee to the room and a short while later Anne Marie also got in her morning workout before we had breakfast in our room. While we ate breakfast, we watched the Daily Morning Show hosted by Cruise Director Gary and World Cruise Hostess Elise.
Towards the end of The Morning Show Gary Hunter mentioned that given that the Amazon River is muddy that pro-active steps are being taken to conserve water which mostly the crew is doing. At the same time, he reminded us of items that we could do too such as not keeping the water faucet on while brushing teeth, trying to take shorter showers and also washing larger loads of laundry. All of this makes perfect sense and we will be sure to be supportive of this.
This was another busy sea day with lots of activities on the schedule.
There were three lectures. The first one was presented by Ken Rees who spoke about The Brazilian Rain forest. Later in the morning General Anthony Zinni spoke about the new world disorder. In the afternoon, Dr. Donald Bejnke spoke about the live and music of three famous tenors.
At Noon we had lunch at the Lido Cafe.
Anne Marie walked for one our and shortly after he walk she attended the afternoon Yoga Class.
When Keith took the next photo, Yoga Instructor, Maria Kita, suggested that Anne Marie do the Dog Down position.
Keith took the Spin (Indoor Cycling) Class which was offered in the afternoon. Often it is in the morning, but from time to time it is taught in the afternoon for those guests who prefer an afternoon workout. Today, was all about speed and it was a fun and definitely a challenging class.
This evening we will have a couple to our room for a pre-dinner drink and Canapés and then the four of us will dine at Prego. We will post more about that tomorrow.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY............
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Keith and Anne Marie
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