DAY 90 - DAY 84 CRYSTAL SERENITY

3/15/2019

ON THE ROAD TO LUDERITZ, NAMIBIA

Catherine, we were also advised that we needed two blank visa pages in our Passport for South Africa. When we met with them for the first face-to-face inspection they did place the first stamp on the first of two blank pages and yesterday they placed the second stamp from our final face-to-face with them right below that.

Doris, thank you for your kind comments about the blog and the two of us. They are very much appreciated. South Africa is a very interesting country to visit.

As mentioned, last evening we attended the mandatory muster drill for all guests. This included those who embarked for this new voyage and those, in-transit guests, like ourselves who have been on one or more previous cruises.

Afterwards, we had a drink in the Crystal Cove. Bartender Marvin was one of two bartenders who took great care of us.

For pretty much the entire cruise we have not had any canapés. This time Keith said yes. You'll see why in a moment.

These are the dinner menus from Waterside where we dined for the second consecutive evening.

We were joined for dinner by our wonderful travel specialist Gerri. Gerri and another colleague will be on-board for this entire segment.

It was very nice to dine with her. We enjoyed terrific cuisine & service and wonderful conversation.

The food photos are the appetizer which Keith had which was Smoked Trout, an entree salad which Keith had without meat and a smaller salad appetizer portion and and salmon which we both had.

We enjoyed a nice bottle of wine which is not part of the inclusive wines.

We were supposed to leave Cape Town at 7:00 PM. Shortly before 8:00 PM, Captain Birger spoke from the bridge and said that due to high winds the port was closed. This is not unusual for Cape Town. The Captain said we might leave at Midnight, sometime later or even in the morning but that we could make up the speed to get to Luderitz on-time.

During today's talk from the Bridge Captain Birger noted that we received additional fuel so we would have more given the possible increase in speed. The good news is we departed the port at around 11:45 PM. From time to time ships have had to stay one to two additional days in port due to the port being closed down. If that happened because we had completed our face to face meetings we would not have been able to get off the ship. All in all great news for us.

We slept well and the seas were relatively calm. We started the day as we always do. Keith was up early and enjoyed a good workout at the Fitness Center. The guest Laundry Facilities opened at midnight so Keith did a couple of loads of wash. Today the laundry rooms will likely be busy since the rooms were closed the past few days and with many people having been on Safari and undoubtedly have lots of clothes to wash. We both enjoyed coffee and breakfast in our room.

We had a busy morning of several fitness activities. After breakfast we both went to Personal Training with Melanie (Keith) and Charlotte (Anne Marie). Keith attended indoor cycling afterwards. Anne Marie went to Yoga. Corrinme Welke is the new Yoga Instructor. Keith played Paddle Tennis until he met with one of the officers about an event we are sponsoring.

Some of the toys we use at Fitness starting with ones that Anne Marie used.

Since today was a sea day there was lots on the daily program.

The lectures included:

Ken Rees spoke about Namibia and covered the two ports of call we will be visiting.

Daniel Silke spoke about the State Of Africa and the challenges they have.

Fee Halsten spoke about Ardmore Ceramic Art which has been featured in the on-board store.

We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace. The theme was African and included several dishes from Africa along with food that is typical of the buffet.