DAY 16 - BIMINI

Ricki...Thanks for the good wishes.  You had if we could post the Waterside Breakfast menu and we did on the 9/29 post.
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One of the things we both enjoy about cruising is meeting and getting to know people who live in other places in our country and/or around the world so it was fun for Keith to meet up with someone we met the other day yesterday afternoon to continue our conversation.  This drew us to cruising many years ago.  ​

Last evening's dinner menus from Waterside.

Last evening, we decided to dine at Prego after three nights in a row at Waterside.

We will let the photos do the talking.

What we will say is the food was delicious.  The Prego team took excellent care of us between Waiter Peter and Waiter Mark who helped out Peter from time-to-time and Sommelier Maurizio.   Prego Chef Alfred came by our table as he will be going on a well deserved holiday in a couple of day and Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' Mario checked on us as well.

It is always a wonderful dining experience at Prego and we love it.

This is the daily Reflections Program for today.

We kept to our regular morning routine and you all know the drill.  Yes early morning workout for Keith at the Fitness Center with no one there.  This is the way Keith likes it.  Breakfast in our room and a walk on the Promenade Deck.

​Speaking of the Fitness Center, we wanted to provide additional information and photos of the center beyond what we have already posted.

The Fitness Center is located on Deck 13.  It is open 24 hours, seven days a week.  Normally, it has 2 Fitness Directors except at the present time with less guests sailing with one Fitness Director.  We do want to note Fitness is augmented right now with an additional Yoga/Pilates Instructor.

The Fitness Director teaches a wide range of group classes which are complimentary and for a fee teaches personal training.  

Keith estimates he has spent 5,000+ hours at the Fitness Center on Serenity between exercising on his own, taking group classes, taking personal training and leading some fellow friends when classes were not in session in indoor cycling.

For many years Anne Marie would make use of the treadmill and over a couple of years including in 2019 took personal training.  The last few years she has walked on the Promenade Deck and inside the ship in lieu of the Treadmill.

The size of the Fitness Center is spacious and it has numerous machines and weight lifting equipment and other "toys" as Keith calls them to provide lots of opportunities for fitness.  There is an area for group classes and where guests on their own can stretch using mats on the floor.  

Keith appreciates the 7x24 as for several years his first workout was in the early morning hours where no one was utilizing the center.  In this manner he could stay on various machines such as the Elliptical Machine without having to get off to allow another guest to use it.  If Paddle Tennis was not possible later in the day due to rainy weather or no one to play with, Keith would return to the Center.  In the world of COVID-19, Keith finishes his workout long before others arrive and supplements the workout with walks and runs on the Promenade Deck.

With the Fitness Center being very long he can also run back and forth in the center as he did this morning for one hour.  

With all the delicious food on the ship, this 7x24 Fitness Center and the other ones we have found on Crystal Symphony, the Crystal Endeavor Expedition Ship and the Mozart River Cruise Vessel have been a great way to burn up calories.  

After breakfast we went on walks.  When we opened the door to leave our room there was a card on the door for an upcoming birthday.  

There is a saying never to put off until tomorrow those things you can do today.  We subscribe to this and this was reenforced during the Pandemic.

More recently this was true with Bimini.  With three stops to Bimini over our three back-to-back cruises Keith could have said last week, "I'll wait to go to Bimini (our first visit) until today".  Guess what.  At 8:15 AM Captain Giske spoke from the bridge and said due to high winds Serenity could not dock in port.  Instead they would offer tender service but the distance would be about 45 minutes each way.  As Captain Giske noted, the safety of all was the number one reason not to attempt to dock in Bimini.  

Given the length of the tender, Keith decided to stay on ship and to walk on the Promenade Deck with Anne Marie.

While walking the Promenade Deck, several members of the crew were preparing a section along the wall for work including painting.  Crystal excels at maintaining their ships to the highest levels and it shows day-in-and-day-out.

Since today was technically an embarkation day.....It was time for Cobb Salad.  Champagne is coming later today for us.  

Keith made a stop to check out the Scoops Ice Cream Bar.  He just took photos and spoke with some of the wonderful members of Team Serenity.

We enjoyed the rest of the day on-board the ship.  We've said all along the ship is our destination and these words hold true.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith