DAY 7

DAY 3 CRYSTAL SYMPHONY

These are the menus from last evening at the Waterside Restaurant.

Last evening was Black Tie Optional (BTO) on the ship.  This is one of three of BTO evening's scheduled for this voyage.  

We received an invitation sent to our room the night befor inviting us to join Captain Nenad Willheim with other guests for dinner at Prego.  Prego is the Italian Specialty Restaurant.  One other couple attended who we have seen on board both ships for many years.
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These are the menus from Prego.
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Dinner was wonderful between the terrific conversation, cuisine, service and the wonderful ambience of the Prego. The Captain will be going on a well deserved holiday at the end of this cruise.

The two of us had Caesar Salad and Anne Marie Veal Scaloppine and Keith had Fresh Branzino as our entrees.  Keith also had some fresh fruit for dessert.  The wines served were from the inclusive list and of course Italian fitting the cuisine served at Prego.  

A few minutes after dinner we attended Captain Nenad's Welcome Reception.  It's always a nice opportunity to greet the officers of the ship, to hear from the Captain and to mingle with our fellow guests.  With the rollout of open seating it can be a challenge to find a time in the evening to schedule these parties.  Originally, they were scheduled at around 5:15 PM but that became a challenge on BTO nights for those dining later in the evening so they have now scheduled these parties at 7:45 PM. 

Shortly after the reception concluded we attended the first of two performances of Rocket Man which is a tribute to the songs of Elton John.  We enjoyed the performance and listening to the songs does bring back wonderful memories from those days when each song was released.  We hadn't even met when some of the songs were first released.  

The good news is that before we went to sleep we set the clock backwards for the first time of the cruise as we sail into a new time zone on our way to Hawaii.  As the Captain noted in his noon talk from the Bridge and at dinner last evening the sea swells did continue to calm down. We both slept very well. We began the day as we often do when cruising.  Keith got an early start to the Fitness Center and went there for two different exercises; Elliptical Machine and Indoor Cycling.  The Fitness Center has two different types of Elliptical Machines so Keith used one different from the one he used the day before and used one of their programs.  

Photo of our wonderful butler Dario.

We had breakfast in our room and with the change in times we asked Dario to arrive with breakfast 30 minutes earlier than the day before.  We then got freshened up to begin another glorious day at sea.  This time instead of Dario opening up the two sides of the table he kept the sides down to give us more floor room.  

​After breakfast we both walked together for an hour.  When the weather is nice outdoors Anne Marie will walk on the Promenade Deck.  On days when the weather is not conducive to walking outside she will walk deck 6 which has many public rooms.  

Today's program included the usual 50+ activities plus not three but four lectures.  The first one was given by Jim Jimirro on a topic we could related to from our pre-cruise stay at Disneyland.  It was called: "It all started with a Mouse".  Yes, the mouse is none other than Mickey Mouse and it was about the life of Walt Disney.  While Keith was meeting with the Head Sommelier, Anne Marie attended the talk.  Anne Marie thought the talk was outstanding and that he is a dynamic speaker.  Anne Marie learned a lot that she didn't know about Walt Disney.  Keith will be watching this on the Television in our room.

The second talk was given by retired Brig. General Nick Halley who spoke about War Stories and Leadership Lessons.  We passed on this talk as we have heard him give the same talk on a previous Crystal Cruise.  

The afternoon program featured a talk given by Suzanne Eon about her own experience transitioning from a model to a jewelry designer.  Dr. Herb Keyser closed out the lectures with a talk about the life and music of Cole Porter.

We had lunch at Market Place and then Keith went to play Paddle Tennis while Anne Marie walked for an hour.

​Throughout the day we have spoken with fellow guests, with several people on board as part of the enrichment and entertainment program and also several officers and other members of the crew.  Keith ran into the Chief Accountant who used to be solely on Serenity and now swings between the ships so it was great to catch up with her.  

We received these flowrs the first day of the cruise and we received the candy today from Crystal Society.

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While Anne Marie was walking this afternoon Keith played Paddle Tennis for a couple of hours.  First time he played since we boarded and first time in over a year.  Had a lot of fun and great laughs.  Weather was quite nice and the sun was out.
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We are having a blast on board. We are posting a little early.

​Keith & Anne Marie