ON THE ROAD AGAIN TO ST. HELENA - DAY TWO OF THREE DAYS AT SEA

​Catherine yes....somehow a  young boy who started out as a  New York Yankees fan through the bad and good times was/is also a Boston Celtic fan.  Keith always loved those teams that focused on team ball starting with the part of the Bill Russell era  that Keith remembers to John Havlicek, then Dave Cowens and to the Larry Bird  era to their last championship team to the present.  

We began last evening by attending a cocktail party that was hosted by our Travel Agent, Gerri, for the Travel Agency that we book our cruises with.  Gerri is on the left in the second photo wearing the green necklace.  Anne Marie is with  friend Jocelyn in the second photo.  We met Jocelyn and her husband Bob at the World Cruise Gala in 2007 at the Four Seasons Hotel  on  the eve of our  first  World Cruise and have sailed with them many times.

We had a full house as a lot of guests on our cruise book with our the agency we use.  Gerri did a terrific job hosting the event including giving  a very nice welcome address after everyone had arrived.

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We dined at Waterside.  There are many nights when it is difficult to make a  choice and this was the  case  last evening. Which of the two appetizers which sound wonderful should we have?  As it turned out Anne Marie selected one of them which was the Freshly Baked Lobster Strudel and Keith selected the other one which was the Charred Cod.  Each of us were pleased with our selections.

As we do from time-to-time, we both had a small version without meat of the Salad Entree for our appetizer salad.  

We both had the Halibut for our entree.  The sauce which accompanied it was flavorful.

All in all we had a lovely meal with outstanding  service from the terrific waitstaff team of Head Waiter Augusto, Senior Waiter Claudia and Waiter Yiuraj.  We very much appreciate Restaurant Manger Leo who like a conductor of an orchestra keeps everything in the dining venue flowing extremely well.

​Waiter Yiuraj is in the photo with Anne Marie.

St Patrick's Day was celebrated last evening rather than the night before as there was the World Cruise shore-side event that evening plus it was a day in port and the need to have the face-to-face meetings with immigration.  

The  featured entertainment included two showings of a show developed for this voyage as a tribute to the beautiful music and dance of Ireland.

The Avenue Saloon was turned into a St. Patrick's night with song, music, drink and even fish and chips as part of the celebration.

At 11:00 PM the DJ in the Pulse played Irish themed Dance Music.

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As part of the celebration we got another benefit which was a time change.  Yes, we turned back the clocks by one hour before going to sleep.  ​We will benefit from two additional changes of the  clock but payback time will come when we forward the clock on three separate occasions before the  final  segment of World Cruise 2019 comes  to a conclusion.

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We slept very well as we are sailing  to St. Helena.  You can barely feel that we are at sea.  Keith was up first and enjoyed  a nice workout at the Fitness Center.  After his exercise he  spent more time stretching as he  was  trying to realize some of the benefits  from yesterday's massage which  was addressing some knots of his muscles.  Well some might be an  understatement.  Hopefully  those rooms are sound-proof because if they weren't someone might have heard Keith in a bit of pain as  those knots  were being worked on.  LOL, but it's true.

We also enjoyed coffee and breakfast In our room as we got ready for another wonderful day on-board Serenity. Following breakfast  we  went on one of those one hour walks on the inside of the ship.  During our walk we always run into many people we know.  

Today was filled with lots of enrichment and other activities.  

Three lectures:

Tim Severin  gave the first of a two part lecture on The Brendon Voyage.  World Affairs Lecturer spoke about Donald True.  In the afternoon  Joshue Young gave a talk on the a behind  the scenes look at the entertainment business with emphasis on actors John Travolta, Clint Eastwood, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Douglas, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Woody Harrelson and one other person that we will just leave out.

Speaking of lectures before dinner last evening we watched the lecture given by Tony Leon.  As we mentioned he had been opposition leader to two  President's in South Africa.  He is  a  dynamic and charismatic  speaker and  we enjoyed his first lecture of the cruise as we have the previous ones he has given.  He spent a good deal of time discussing the upcoming election for a new South African President as well as discussing previous President's starting with Nelson Mandela.  He spoke about challenges and issues for the government.  The country has  so many natural resources and so much potential that  it will be interesting to watch how they deal with their existing challenges over the coming years.  We have mentioned this a couple of times already but in our own  country there is far less news on these topics so we greatly appreciate these talks given on  the ship on topics that are relevant to the area of the world we are sailing.  We also enjoy seeing coverage while on the ship by television stations that we get such as the BBC.  For us travel is discovery and this is all part of the experience. 

Keith was able to get  in  more Paddle Tennis in the morning and Anne Marie while Anne Marie worked on her second knitting project.

In the afternoon even though this is not a wine and food themed cruise, Head Sommelier conducted a complimentary wine tasting event at Waterside.

We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace.  After lunch it was back to the Paddle Tennis courts for Keith and  a walk for Anne Marie.

Sea days are a great  time to engage with others and to enjoy all of the amenities of the ship and that is what plan on doing for the rest of the day.

Below you will find the daily Reflections Program.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - ST.HELENA - DAY ONE OF THREE SEA DAYS

​Mike,thank you for your comments and we can say that a World Cruise is an amazing experience and we hope that you get to do it after you retire.

All...We continue to enjoy your comments and questions so keep them coming.  

These are the menus from Waterside.

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After we posted yesterday afternoon we spoke with our son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons via video over Whats App.  It is so nice that this technology exists so we can keep up with family while away from home.  

Last night  was the second World Cruise Shore-Side Event.  After lots of careful thought we made the decision to not attend this special event due to Anne Marie's diseases. We just didn't think it would be a good idea for her.

The theme of the event was Star Wars which is something that Keith is very fond of and Anne Marie would have enjoyed.

The theme  of the event was Exploring The  Great Namibia Desert.

The specially  themed Star  Wars event was presented in a landscape to represent the Star Wars desert planet of Tatooine.  The guests were e taken to the  dunes of the Namibia Desert.  The desert has been in existence for over 43 millions years, and has remained unchanged for the past 2 millions years.

We are sorry to have missed the event but happy that our fellow World Cruisers went to such a special event.

Rather than go  to one of the dining  venues we decided to have a relaxing evening in our room.  

​Rao organized a wonderful  meal for  us.  

We began with wine, veggies and shrimp.

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For dinner we began with a nice salad of Spinach, Tomatoes and Mushroom.  

Our next course was Spinach Salad followed by Pizza.  This is the first time since boarding that we had Pizza.  The cruse was thinner then in the past and one that we liked very much.

We also attended the Mandatory Immigration Inspection which all guests had to go through on-board Serenity before departure.  The inspection started at 7:00 PM at the Stardust Lounge.  We brought with us the second copy of our landing card (first one was collected at our arrival face-to-fact inspection) along with our passports.  They stamped our passport on the same page they used for the entry stamp a few days ago.  The process was quick and efficient and after that was complete our passports were collected by Crystal Cruises.

We slept well as we are sailing to St. Helena.  We began today with our normal routine of a workout for Keith at the Fitness Center followed by coffee and breakfast.  Afterwards, we both walked inside the ship.

Keith had a massage at the Salon.  This was his first massage on the ship.  He got the massage to focus on relieving muscle issues that Keith has been having.  The Massage Therapist identified several other muscles to work on.  
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Today is the first of three sea days.  The program included two lectures.

Special Interest Lecture Robert Caske spoke about the battle of Roeke's Drift which took place on January 22nd and 23rd of 1879.

Former Ambassador Tony Leon spoke about 2019 and the year of living dangerously in South Africa.  He spoke about the prospects of new President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa winning this year's election and reversing the corruption and low growth  of his predecessor.

We have seen Tony Leon speak on several World Cruises.  His first time was in 2010.  He was an Ambassador from South Africa to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.    He was also the  former leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of South Africa during the Presidencies of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.  

Keith got into the Irish Spirit wearing  a shirt for his favorite baseball team.  He does have some leprechaun in  him as he  has  always  been a Boston Celtics Fan.

We  had lunch at Marketplace.  Today's lunch featured the Asian Buffet.

​We are including photos that we took yesterday of green deserts in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon doing things that we enjoy including Paddle Tennis for Keith, walking and knitting for Anne Marie and conversations with fellow guests and members of the crew.

This is the daily Reflections Program  for today.

​Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith