DAY 14

DAY 10 CRYSTAL SYMPHONY - MAUI

NOTE:

​We wanted to begin by thanking those of you who have provided comments.  We have read each one.  For some unknown reason when we have tried to respond to each of the more recent ones we have received an error message.  Go figure.  LOL.  We will try to sort this out when we are back on land. 

These are the dinner menus from last evening at Waterside.
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Yesterday was Anne Marie's birthday.  Keith planned a special dinner for her which was a visit to the Vintage Room for an exclusive Vintage Room Dinner.  Keith met with the Head Sommelier early in the cruise and with Boris' help he selected each course and also reviewed Boris' recommendations for the pairing of wine.  We invited some other people to join us for this celebration.  

Ironically our first Vintage Room was in 2010 as part of a special Crystal Society trivia contest with questions all about Crystal that Keith and his teammates won.  We could each bring one other person.  We were wowed from that experience and the rest is history.  Since that time we have hosted several exclusive Vintage Room Dinners on our own, participated in another one with two other couples and attended a special one with others that featured cuisine prepared especially for the evening by the guest chef from Iceland who as on the sailing.  As much as we have learned about wine over the years we learn so much from these dinners.  We also have the opportunity to taste many wines for the first time and to taste some that we could not purchase on our own.  We have had wines that have a very limited supply including some that Crystal can only obtain a handful or less of the bottles.  

We had an amazing evening. We enjoyed wonderful conversation, great laughs, excellent education on the champagne and wine we enjoyed that was paired with a six course dinner.  Everything was amazing from the set up of the table to the wine and champagne to the food.  The food was served in new dishes that was introduced after the dry dock of the ship.  The presentation of the food was unique even though we have had some of these items in the past on-board Crystal and it had to be the tastiest of the foods that we have eaten in other vintage rooms. Before the meal concluded the Executive Chef and Executive Pastry Chef who oversaw the preparation of the food stopped by the room.  We gave them a round of applause.

The menu included:

Pan Seared Sea Scallop

Lobster Thermidor "New Style"

Porcini Mushroom Risotto (Never saw a presentation of Risotto quite like this one).  It had a wafer on top that was about six by six inches and had melted parmesan cheese topped with paper thin edible gold leaf.

Grilled Filet Mignon with Gorgonzola Crust

Selection of Artisanal Cheeses 

St. Honore Cake (double layer)

Homemade Vintage Room Chocolate Pralines

Wines 

Champagne: 

Dom Perignon 2009

White Wines:

Riesling Wachstum Bodenstein, Weingut Prager, 2012

Chatauneuf du Pape Blanc, Chateau Beaucastel,  2012

Red Wines:

Barolo Vigna Giachini, Fratelli Ravello, 2011

Cabernet Sauvignon, Chateau Montalena Estate 2010

Cabernet Sauvignon, La Sirena Heidi Barrett, 2010 

​Dessert Wine:

​Chateau Rieussec, Premier Grand Cru Classe, Sauternes

The show last evening was a local show.  We didn't make it to the show given the length of last evening's dinner.  We both slept very well.  The wine helped.  We were well too sleep before the ship departed Honolulu at around midnight.  The seas were relatively calm as we sailed to Maui.

We enjoyed breakfast in our room and then we prepared for our visit to Maui.  We have been here several times both by sea and also by plane having spent one week here on one land trip.  We didn't plan anything for today other than to take the tender ashore and walk around.  

We arrived early before any stores opened and walked past all the stores over to a residential area and continued walking.  We enjoyed nice views of these areas to our right and of the water to our left.  On our return walk we stopped at some clothing stores and found a shirt for the grand baby and walked into a couple of gallery's  Those in the stores were very kind as were the motorists as we crossed from side to side various times.   We also stopped at an outdoor market.  We ran into a couple who sailed we met on the 2015 World Cruise and by coincidence it was also her birthday yesterday.  It's a small world.  LOL.

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We enjoyed the ship in the afternoon and did the things we love to do.  This included lunch at Marketplace followed by a long walk for Anne Marie on the promenade deck.  On these longs walks Anne Marie listens to audio books.  For Keith it was a few hours of Paddle Tennis followed by conversation with guests and crew and reading and writing.  

This evening we are back to the Waterside Restaurant.  

Aloha,

​Anne Marie and Keith