DAY 43 - DAY 37 CRYSTAL SERENITY

ON OUR WAY TO PAGO PAGO - DAY 2 AT SEA

Gilly welcome home and thank you for your comments.

Jonathan...Your memory is spot-on about Fanning Island.  There was a beautiful beach.  We didn't see anyone going in while Keith was there but we know of one guest who was returning in the afternoon to go for a dip.  Maybe others did as well.

All....We welcome comments and questions.  That way we know you are reading our Blog.  LOL, but it is true.  

We began our evening with cocktails at Al and Jeff's suite. We were introduced to them via our friends Ashley & Kelly.  It was very kind of them to invite us for cocktails. This is another aspect of cruising we greatly enjoy.  We also met them briefly on the cruise that followed the 2015 World Cruise but did not have the opportunity to speak with them.  We could have stayed all night conversing but we would have been late for our next dinner date.

​These photos are from our room before we visited with Al and Jeff.

These are the dinner menus from Waterside.

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We dined at the Umi Uma Japanese Specialty Restaurant with dear friends Bob and Glo.  We have known them since 2008 and have enjoyed several World Cruises and other cruises with them including wonderful times at sea and on land.  

​This is the Umi Uma menu.

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There is no question that over the years we have enjoyed some memorable meals at Umi Uma (formally Silk Road) and this one was terrific.  We had spoke with Head Waiter Sigi a day before we dined and discussed the meal and he organized the meal so there was very little we needed to order.  In fact, we waited for all of the items to be served before we ordered an entree.  More on that in a moment.

We began the meal with a quintet of Nobu Sushi Specials.  They are mainly sashimi with a couple of them lightly cooked.  Sigi explained the order in which they should be eaten so that the last one would clean the palate.  Each one is unique with its taste which is what distinguishes Nobu from the majority of Japanese Restaurants.  The next course was a large platter of Sashimi and Sushi.  This was followed by a Nobu appetizer.  

Decisions.....Decisions.  Should we order an entree or something else for the last course.  Each of us ordered something different.  Anne Marie had the Nobu Salad with a couple of pieces of Nobu Tuna on top.  Keith decided to have a small plate of Sashimi with a few pieces of Salmon Egg Sushi.  Bob has half portions of two entrees and Glo an appetizer.

Bob and Keith ended the meal with a fruit plate.

Waiter Richie took wonderful care of us and Sommelier Adrian did likewise.  Bob and Keith had the Japanese Beer while Glo and Anne Marie had Nobu Chardonnay.

We also enjoyed lots of laughs and non-stop conversation and dined for two and one-half hours.

It was nice to be together with dear friends, with delicious food and the terrific service and ambience of Umi Uma.
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The featured entertainment was from international virtuoso Gary Arbuthnot who performed two shows and was accompanied by the Crystal Showband with a special appearance from Violinist Irina Guskova.

The good news is that when we arrived back to the room we turned back the clocks as we are sailing into a new time zone.

The seas were relatively calm throughout the night as we continued to sail towards Pago Pago.  It was easy for Keith to get up this morning having turned back the clock and he enjoyed a challenging workout at the Fitness Center.  We enjoyed breakfast in our room as we got ready for the day to unfold.

We walked inside the ship before Anne Marie went to Yoga.

During his morning talk from the bridge Captain Giske covered the distance to Pago Pago from our current route and we will keep to 19.7 knots per hour.  Wind was 26 knots and the outside temperature was 86 degrees Fahrenheit.  

Keith was supposed to played mixed Paddle Tennis as part of the World Games.  He went up to practice but it started to rain so the game has been postponed and will be rescheduled.  Thirty minutes later he went back up and played for an hour.  He was happy just to play.

There was lots on the schedule including three lectures:

Destination Lecturer Ken Rees spoke about our next port of call in American Samoa, World Affairs Lecturer Sir Mark Lyall Grant spoke about the role of secret intelligence in International Affairs, and History Lecturer Carol Baxter spoke about Jessie Miller who during World War I met aviator William Lancaster.

Since this is a food and wine themed cruise (this cruise seems to have everything and more) the guest chef on board (this is in addition to the celebrity chef who is also on board) conducted a food demonstration.  

Speaking of food, we enjoyed lunch at the Marketplace, followed by Paddle Tennis for Keith and an hour long walk for Anne Marie.  We also met up with friends and read and wrote.

We also caught up with a presentation we had missed which was given by Ambassador Scott DeLisi about The Four Horseman of the Robot Apocalypse.  He spoke about how fast technology is changing and the challenges the world has.  He noted that the X-Box which plays video games and sells for $450.00 and is more powerful than the previous Nasa Computer back in the days of the Moon Program which cost 50 million dollars with a large footprint.  He noted that more people die today from overeating than lack of food.  He spoke about the challenges of automation and that so many jobs could be eliminated because of technology and the biotech revolution and artificial intelligence.  By the 2020's most diseases will go away because of nano technology.  By the 2020's self guiding cars take over the road and humans no longer drive.  While the benefit are that seniors could drive the downside are all the jobs that it will eliminate including truck, bus and taxi drivers.  He spoke about who would control the settings for decision making. His example is what happens if a child runs in front of a car and the choice is hitting the child or moving over and hitting an upcoming car.  By the 2030's it is believe our mind/consciousness could be uploaded to a cloud.  By the 2040's non-biological intelligence will be a billion fold more intelligent than biological intelligence.  By 2045 we will multiply our intelligence a million fold with artificial intelligence.  There will be challenges with those who are not educated.  The challenge of many basic jobs going away including those that one went to college for.  What will the world do with the labor market that is no longer needed?  The challenge for most people that their jobs might change too rapidly.  Will all this happen?  It's anyone's guess.  However we have seen so much change since many of us were young that we know there will be a lot of change and that the change is coming faster and faster.  

​This was one of those lectures that makes one think about the future and future generations.  I like these types of lectures that are thought provoking and where you walk out having learned something new.

Tomorrow is Pago Pago.

The Reflections Daily Program follows.

​Anne Marie & Keith

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