Dublin, Ireland

Countdown To Liverpool

Thank you Betty for your very nice wishes.

Let's give a round of applause to Mother Nature. The weather was great yesterday morning and Keith arranged to play Paddle Tennis at 12:45 PM. Walk outside onto the pool deck and all is good and as Keith walks up the outdoor steps to Deck 13 to the Paddle Tennis courts he feels rain drops and sees dark clouds in the distance. Thanks to Mother Nature those dark clouds stayed away, the rain sprinkles stopped after a couple of minutes and with some sun the court dried in minutes. Thankfully Keith got to play Paddle Tennis. 

Waterside Dinner Menu from last evening.

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Last evening we dined at Waterside. It was another wonderful dining experience. Although Waterside is not considered a Specialty Restaurant we love dining there. Menus change daily and although some items are repeated on subsequent voyages there is enough to choose from to avoid repetition plus there are some items we are very happy to repeat. Also, some changes are made to certain of the items so that their presentation and even some ingredients change and which we enjoy.
 
In case you wanted to know the special butter of the evening was mustard and tarragon.
We were in the great hands of Restaurant Manager Paolo, Senior Head Waiter, Jacque, Senior Waiter Enver, Sommelier Rodolpho, Waiter Edson, and Junior Waiter Cyrell.
 
Photos include several members of the waitstaff team and one photo includes Paolo, Jacques and Barabar


First photo Paolo and Jacques and second photo Paolo, Jacques and Barbara.

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Head Sommelier Jiri having some fun.

Brian recently became a Junior Waiter in Waterside and came by our tables last evening to say hello. He is a wonderful member of team Crystal whom we have had the pleasure of knowing for years.
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In one day we will visit Liverpool for the third time so to get in the mood for tomorrow we have a short video trailer with some music. Today it is Strawberry Fields with a mix of photos from both visits.

As we mentioned yesterday.

We selected Strawberry Fields as this is one of two Beatles songs that came out along with their video when the Beatles stopped touring. John Lennon wrote the song Strawberry Field. He was inspired to write this song based on his time growing up in Liverpool. This was where a child orphanage was located where John played many pranks.

Likewise, Paul was inspired to write Penny Lane after John Lennon first brought Strawberry Fields to the studio.  Lennon was writing about a memory from Liverpool. Paul did the same thing by writing Penny Lane which is a memory of his from growing up in Liverpool but mainly from him taking the bus and passing which included a drive on Penny Lane. John and his family actually spent more time on Penny Lane.

We wanted to share more thoughts on The Beatles.

The Beatles songs continue to live on since they broke up.  Take Got To Get You Into My Life which was on their 1966 Revolver Album. Ten years later it is back on the billboard charts and hits number 7 and we can remember playing it in the summer of 1976 on our way to and from Ocean City, Maryland as if it was just released.
 
The Beatles transformed rock and roll, music, fashion, and culture. The Beatles made it acceptable for boys to have long hair like the girls did. Boys had their favorite Beatle. Girls had their favorite Beatle. One time John Lennon said it worked because they were a band, and it wouldn’t have worked as well if they were solo artists. That came to be true in their respective solo careers. He said Paul wasn’t tough enough, that John was not seen as cute as Paul was ,that George came off as too shy, and that Ringo, well Ringo was just a drummer.  
 
Most of their songs were about girls. John and Paul wrote songs to reach out to girls. They wrote songs about others such as their respective moms.  
 
They were never satisfied with their music and with each succeeding album (LP) they took their music to the next level.
 
Their music lives on.  For our age group if you ask when did you discover the Beatles the answer was when they came to America and appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. In fact, we might say this is when we discovered England. Ask someone born five years later they might say they discovered the Beatles when they watched the movies Hard Days Night and/or Help a few years after the movies were released. Our own children discovered the Beatles when we played their music on the radio, cassette tape, and LP album and when we were able to show them their appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.
 
Almost nothing compares to them.  For example, do movies compare to them?  Maybe the closest is Star Wars. How about Theatre? Well maybe Shakespeare to some extent. Candy? A Television series? A book or trilogy of books? There have been many great ones but there is something unique about them. We are just happy that we lived at a time when we could listen to their music and they were there for our childhood and in the years which followed. We also are so fortunate that we will be visiting Liverpool for the third time and all with Crystal.This is something we could only have dreamed of.
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Today's Daily Reflections follows.

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​Earlier today we anchored off Dublin, Ireland. We have visited Dublin many times all with Crystal including last year on Crystal Symphony, except for one-time in 2006. We have taken several tours.
 
Most times we have visited we have been docked downtown and would take the shuttle or a taxi over to Dublin. Dublin changed its policy a few years ago only allowing one ship per week that is a size like Serenity and Symphony to utilize the dock and not anchor.

Tenders would run between the ship and an area near downtown Dun Laoghaire and from there a complimentary shuttle would run to and from Dublin approximately a 45-minute drive each day depending on traffic. I had decided that I would take the tender and visit Dun Laoghaire. I stepped out on the verandah at 7:30 and 7:45 and my sense was tender service would not run. There were strong winds, and it had that look and feel of prior adventures when tender service could not be run safely.
 
Sure enough shortly after 8:00 AM Captain Vincent speaking from the bridge explained why tender service could not be run and the reason is the safety of the guests and crew. The winds were already very strong, and the forecast called for increased wind as the day progresses. We have been in one situation many years ago where tender service was suspended for several hours as the weather made it unsafe and the port shut down. This was a very wise decision by Captain Vincent.

Just a little about Dublin.
 
Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Iceland and is located on the east coast. There is so much to do in Dublin. On past Crystal tours we have visited the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Trinity College where the Book of and even the Mansion House on a Crystal Private tour where we were welcomed by the Lord Mayor of Dublin. We have also been on a tour with a chef who picked up items and prepared a dinner back on the ship for those guests on the tour and have visited a local pub for a drink and just walked around on our own.
 
There are many other things to do including walking the streets, going for lunch at a pub, visiting parks visiting Dublin Castle, Southside Museums, Trinity College, or maybe the Jameson Distillery just to name a few.
 
Our heart goes out to those who had plans for today in Dublin or visits planned to the ship by guests but in the end priority number one is the safety and well-being for all guests and crew members.
 
Today became a sea day and at 10:15 AM Cruise Director Russ announced that there would be two lectures; one in the morning and one in the afternoon with the afternoon one covering Liverpool.  
 
Next up Liverpool.

Cheers,
 
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Anne Marie & Keith