THIRD DAY SAILING THE PACIFIC OCEAN AS WE MAKE OUR WAY TO WHERE THIS CRUISE BEGAN. Thelma...Thank you for your nice comments. Kathleen,...We are glad that you enjoyed the Reflections Program. Muriel....Thank you for your comments. We love to travel and especially to cruise and we are very happy that we discovered Crystal Cruises many years ago which quickly became our go-to cruise line. On most voyages the Captain will host one or more cocktail parties at his quarters over the course of the cruise and some guests will be invited to attend. There is one at 5:30 PM and one at 7:45 PM. Senior Officers and Senior Staff are also present. It provides an opportunity for guests to mingle with one another and to also speak with the officers and senior staff. We attended one of these last evening. Captain Birger and Crystal Society Host Jacco Schrijver greeted each guest at the door. Once inside the Captain's Quarters drinks and canapés are served. We spoke to fellow guests and officers. During his talk Captain Birger noted that this was one of the better sailings crossing the Pacific Ocean with respect to the seas. This has also been our experience. You could see that some guests who have not sailed this area before didn't realize how fortunate we have been with the seas. We know it can be quite a bit rougher than it has been. The Captain said that it should feel calmer the next couple of days. He also explained the change in motion to the ship based on the direction of the wind. These are the dining menus from Waterside from last evening where we dined with Future Cruise Consultant Jaque Brown last evening. We enjoyed dinner at Waterside with Jaque Brown who is the Crystal Future Sales Consultant. We have known Jaque for almost nine years. Before assuming this position in 2018, Jaque was the Crystal Society Hostess for several years and prior to that was the Casino Manager. Jaque is part of our Crystal Family and a good friend of ours. We dined for close to two hours and could have stayed there all night. The food was great. Jaque and Keith had the Sautéed Seafood for our appetizer and Anne Marie had Shrimp Cocktail which is available every evening. The Sautéed Shrimp was amazing and it was served on top of an incredibly tasting Ink Risotto. We all had the Salad Entree as an appetizer salad. The two of us had Broiled Swordfish and Jaque had Wiener schnitzel. Each of us was happy about the entrees we selected. There were many choices for evening entertainment. One was a Variety Showtime Performance featuring Ventriloquist Mark Merchant and 3 Time Grammy Nominee Mark Preston. We slept well as we continue to sail east. The seas were calmer than the past two nights. We began our day as we always do. Keith enjoyed a workout at the Fitness Center and we had breakfast in our room as we got ready for another wonderful sea day on-board Crystal Serenity. We both walked took a morning walk inside the ship and enjoyed morning activities until it was time for lunch at Marketplace. While on our way we passed by The Bistro several times. We remember on our first Crystal sailing that we had never experienced a venue similar to The Bistro on any other cruise ship and cruise line up to that point in time. The Bistro serves a continental breakfast, light lunch, afternoon snacks and petit dessert & cheeses at night. A couple of years ago they introduced a go to coffee bar in the early morning hours including coffee and pastries. It has some similarities to a small-town coffee shop. This is the daily Reflections Program Once again, this was a fun-filled day. When people make their choices in cruising they do so for different reasons. For some it is the ports and for others it is the ports and sea days. I remember our first couple of cruises where the thought of sea days was of concern. After all, would boredom set in being on a ship for a day. For us where we sail is important while the sea days are special and often the ship is a destination itself. On Crystal ships a typical sea day involves 50+ activities, and that is in the morning and afternoon. The evening hours add to this with many choices in entertainment and dining. Today is an example of that with so much to do in the daytime and the evening. There were two lectures: Robert Schrire spoke about Putin's Russia. In the afternoon Jim Rowe spoke about the Coral Reefs of the World. We wanted to note that in the morning there was a special showing of the movie "I Am Alive - Surviving The Andes Plane Crash. This is a documentary that includes Nando Parrado one of the lecturers on this cruise. It covers the 72 days of suffering that followed the crash. The movie shows what an emotional experience this was. Today’s program included golf bridge computer, dancing, art and fitness classes. Other activities included a needlepoint get-together, bingo, organized paddle tennis, organized bridge, a Texas Hold’em Tournament, Mah Jonngg, organized and Table Tennis (ping pong)
There was even an AirDrop party for those wishing to share photos, an open house where one can see different room categories and a favorite of many the Mozart Tea. A tea is held on most afternoons featuring tea (what else/LOL) and an assortment of canapes and pastries. The Mozart Tea is a tribute to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with waitstaff in attire from that period of time along with a lavish display of pastries and desserts and music by the pianist and the violinist. Our afternoon included lunch at Marketside, shipboard activities, a one hour walk for Anne Marie and Paddle Tennis for Keith. As expected it was cooler outside as we are making our way back East and there was windy but not as windy as yesterday. Good news is that it is not raining. We look forward to a fun-filled evening tonight. Anne Marie & Keith
1 Comment
Thelma
1/4/2019 07:12:14 am
Thank you kindly for giving me an idea for dinner. I am going to the commissary today to get veal cutlet to cook wiener schnitzel. I learned how to cook it when I lived in Germany working for the Air Force.
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