ON THE ROAD TO PAGHOS, CYPRUS - A DAY AT SEA Kathryn M....Thank you so much for your comments. Glad t hear that you will be visiting some of those ports in September and wishing you a wonderful cruise. We also hope we will meet you on a future Crystal Cruise. Yesterday at 5:00 PM newly embarking guests got ready to attend the 5:15 PM mandatory muster (lifeboat) drill. For those newly embarking guests not yet on-board a followup drill was held at 8:00 PM in the Hollywood Theatre. Since it was for only newly embarking guests we didn't have to attend. We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink in our room. These are the dinner menus from Waterside. We decided to have dinner in our room. We plan to mainly dine in the suite because it is such as beautiful room with its own dining room and we can enjoy quiet dinners up here. We do love dining at the venues where we can see others and chat with the waitstaff. With that said this is a full cruise and several venues will be quite busy and the waitstaff will have less time to converse. This also gives us an opportunity to speak with Rao. We have plans to have one or two dinners with others in the room. We ordered from both Waterside and Prego. The first course were appetizers from the Modern Cuisine Menu; Roasted Portobello Mushrooms for Anne Marie and Seared Ahi Tuna for Keith. Both appetizers were very tasty. You can see all of the ingredients that are accompany them in the photos. The second course was Caesar salad from Prego. Third course was Fresh Halibut for each of us. A terrific entrée which was cooked beautifully. We slept well as we sail to our next port of call. We departed Athens at 9:00 PM. We began today as we normally do with an early morning workout for Keith followed by coffee and breakfast in our room. Keith took an indoor cycle class while Anne Marie walked. It was a great class taught by Melanie. This cruise has a greater percentage of people in the 40 to 60 age bracket and some were in this class. All cycles were in-use which always adds to the enthusiasm of the class. There was lots on the daily program including two talks. Destination Lecturer Graham White spoke about our next port of call which is Paphos, Cryprus and World Affairs lecturer Dr. Samuel Edelman spoke about World War I and its impact on the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Before we knew it, time for lunch at Marketplace which featured another Asian Buffet. Then we were off for exercise. Keith played Paddle Tennis and unlike the last few days while in port he had a lot of people to play with and Anne Marie walked outside the ship. It was windy outside which made for some interesting Paddle Tennis games as you didn't always know where the ball would go. Still lots of fun and good laughs and a good workout. We are enjoying the rest of the afternoon on Serenity as we post this. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith This is today's daily Reflections Program.
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WELCOME TO ATHENS, GREECE - DAY 2 (TURN AROUND DAY) We want to mention how much we enjoy your comments and questions. We posted this on another site earlier today and thought we would share this with each of you. We always say that when we sail on Crystal Cruises we create memories which will last a lifetime. With this in-mind we waned to share a trip down "memory lane". We began dating while at University shortly before the start of the 1976 Olympics. One of the Gold Medal winners was Dorothy Hamill. In addition to helping to make figure skating popular, Dorothy Hamill had an impact on the hairstyle worn by several women following the olympics. For many years Anne Marie wore that hairstyle as did several friends. Fast forward to the 2007 World Cruise and Dorothy Hamill was one of two former Olympians who was on-board when the World Games was played. The kick-off ceremony was held on the outside deck and I will never forget that evening. We happened to speak with her business manager saying how much we admired her and a couple of minutes later he brought her over to say hello and he took the photo of the two of us with her. This was our first World Cruise and we entered several of the World Games. She was on-hand with the other Olympian to present the medals at the ceremonies held every couple of days. We remember arriving to the Galaxy Lounge before she was scheduled to give a talk to the guests. She was practicing her talk with a video playing behind her on the screen of her winning the Gold at the 1986 Olympics. She looked nervous as she was practicing her talk. Keith said to her if you could win a Gold in Figure Skating you will give a great talk. She did. Fast forward to the 2011 World Cruise and Dorothy Hamill returned to Serenity. Her husband was on-board as well. Dorothy was on-hand for the World Games. This time we had the opportunity to have dinner with the two of them. We not only enjoyed a wonderful dinner and conversation with her but she thanked us multiple times during and in the days following the dinner about having them to dinner. We kept saying it is us who thank you. With each passing Crystal Cruises voyage, we have created wonderful memories which will last a life-time and this is an example of one of them. Last evening we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink in our room. Afterwards we went to Waterside. These are the dinner menus from Waterside. This was the final dinner menu for this voyage. There were several items which appealed to us from the appetizer and entree choices. Anne Marie had three courses and Keith had four. We started with appetizers; Barbecue Tiger Shrimp for Anne Marie and Roasted Vegetable Terrine for Keith. Anne Marie thought her appetizer was very tasty. Keith's appetizer was one of the few times since we boarded in December where the appetizer was not one he would have again.. Our next was course was a dinner size red & green Caesar salad. Anne Marie had it the way it was prepared and Keith had it without the red salad. On a related note on most evening's we have dressing on the side. We each have a different dressing from one another but we go with that dressing each time we dine at Waterside. We both had Salmon for our entree. The salmon was very tasty and enhanced by the spinach it sat atop. We enjoyed some nice wine. Sommelier Ricardo who we have had several times over the years stopped by our table to say hello and until next time. Ricardo is going on a well deserved holiday today. Speaking of changeover shortly after being seated Cruise Directors Rick and Gary arrived to Waterside and stopped by our table to say hello. Gary just arrived to Serenity yesterday afternoon as Rick goes home today. When one has been on-board as long as we have we have gotten to welcome members back to Serenity who were on with us earlier in the cruise and are returning later on. Gary was on board starting with the seven day California Coastal cruise before going on holiday when we arrived to Perth. Keith had a fourth course which was some cheese from the cheese cart. There is a menu for the cheese and each evening the selections are changed. Keith lets Head Waiter Augusto choose the cheese as Augusto knows the type of cheese that Keith enjoys. Augusto cut three small slices of three different cheeses; two of which are Italian and one French cheese. One of the two Italian Cheese was made from three types of milk; goat, sheep, and cows milk. Waterside was very quiet when we were there. Shortly before we finished our meal several guests arrived. As we were leaving our table we spoke with friends Rob and Jim who have been sitting at a nearby table with another couple. Jim and Rob are leaving today so we shared good wished for one another. Keith tried to find them after his workout this morning as they were leaving the ship at 5:00 AM but didn't locate them. With early flights from Athens and this being an overnight some guests were leaving as early as 3:00 AM this morning. We slept well as Serenity remained docked in port. This time Keith made it up to the Fitness Center for an early morning workout before we enjoyed coffee and breakfast in our room. Today is turn-around day with the Venice to Athens Cruise ending and the start of our final voyage before we depart Serenity on May4. This is a round-trip Athens sailing with stops at mainly ports in Greece. This is the itinerary for the seven day round trip Athens cruise. We walked off the ship after breakfast to take a walk over to the town of Piraeus This was the first time we have done this. On all previous visits we have visited Athens. This town is located seven miles from the Athens City Centre. With traffic figure on a thirty minute drive. It is a port city, having a population of 175,000 residents. It does date back to the 5th Century BC and is part of Ancient Greece. It was the place for all import and export trade for Athens. It does contain the largest harbour in all of Greece. It serves 20 million cruise ship passengers annually. The city did host some games in 1896 and 2004 which were part of the Olympics held in Athens. Our first visit to Athens was in 1998 on-board the Grand Princess with our family. We returned in 2005 as our second of the two back-to-back cruises on Serenity ended here. Since this time we have visited several times. Although it doesn't features several major sites which are located in Athens it does have sites to see. This includes: Portions of the ancient Themistoclean Walls and Eetioneia. Four Bronze Statues discovered near the Tinaneios Gardens in 1959 and are featured at the Piraeus Museum. It is believed that the statues were buried between the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD for fear of being stolen or destroyed during war. Our walk took us past several churches, stores, cafes, restaurants and places selling baked goods. We went into one of the baked food places which had many items for sale including several cakes and other goodies for Easter. We also visited an outdoor market. The weather was perfect with sunny skies and moderate temperature. On the way back to the ship there was a dog sleeping as we passed it and went to security. A minute later we could hear it barking and running over to security. It looked friendly sleeping but not when it was running and barking. We didn't want to be its meal. LOL. This is the luncheon menu (embarkation day lunch) from Waterside. We enjoyed lunch in our room rather than dining at Marketplace. This is another fairly full cruise. Very few if any guests who sailed the full World Cruise are still on-board. Friends of ours departed this morning. Guests began embarking Serenity close to Noon today. One of the aspects we enjoy on embarkation day is the music that is performed live at the Crystal Cove near where the check-in tables are located. Members from the bar staff are on-hand near the check in table with flutes of champagne and sparkling wine for the guests. The music changes every hour. At noon today pianist Richard Pucci and Violinist Tamara Sivtsova performed. At 2:00 PM guitarist Arturo Castillo performed. At 3:00 PM pianist Ged Scott from the Avenue Saloon will be on-hand to perform. Pianist Richard Pucci will take over again at 4:00 PM. We are enjoying the rest of the afternoon on-board Crystal Serenity as we post this. Following is today's daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith WELCOME TO ATHENS, GREECE These are the dinner menus from Waterside from last evening. We hosted a dinner/party in our room for some mid-level officers and senior staff as a thank you for all they do to make our stay on the ship very enjoyable. Many of these people were unable to attend another function we hosted on the Cape Town leg of the cruise. We say this often but in the end it is the people who make cruising special and who touch our hearts. Special thanks to Rao for organizing this. He personally extended invites to each person, planned the food and drink, organized, set up and cleared the buffet. Also thanks to the Butlers that assisted Rau, including Jose, and to the Food & Beverage Team under the direction of the Hotel Director and Food & Beverage Manager. We slept well as Serenity sailed to Athens, Greece which is the final port of call on this voyage. BREAKING NEWS - LOL For the first time of this cruise Keith skipped an early morning workout deciding to get more sleep since we went to sleep fairly late last evening. He did manage to do the laundry. We enjoyed coffee and breakfast in our room. After breakfast, Keith attended an indoor Cycling Class while Anne Marie walked inside the ship. The class was the last one taught by Fitness Director Charlotte who will be leaving at the end of this cruise. It has been a pleasure getting to know Charlotte on this cruise and Anne Marie appreciated the effort she took to prepare and lead her in the personal training classes. Since we didn't arrive to Athens until Noon, the morning was a sea day. We took advantage of the time to pull items that we plan to ship home at the end of this voyage. The more we get done ahead of time the less time consuming it will be just before we depart Serenity on May 4. The enrichment program included two lectures: Destination lecturer Marcus Sherwood spoke about Athens. World Affairs lecturer Ken Walsh spoke about how USA President's become prisoners of the White House. We have seen this talk before so we didn't watch it. We have visited Athens several times. The first time was in 1998 on the Grand Princess with our family. Our next visit was in 2005 on the back-to-back 24 day cruise we took from Rome to Athens on our first Crystal Serenity cruise. We have visited Athens on three subsequent sailings. Athens is the Capital and the largest city within Greece. Athens history spans 3,400 years. Major attractions include: Acropolis which contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance. The Agora which is an archaeological site located beneath the northwest slope of the Acropolis. Plaka which is Athens' oldest neighborhood and is home to many restaurants and cafes. Several of its streets are closed to motor traffic. Olympic Stadium which is the only stadium in the world built solely out of white marble. It is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. Syntagma Square which is also known as Constitution Square and is located in Central Athens. It has been used for some of the biggest political rallies seen around the world. Archaeological Museum which is the National Archaeological Museum. Metropoli Cathedral whose construction began on Christmas of 1842. With a noon arrival to the port of Piraeus and this being when Easter is celebrated and Athens being a 30 minute drive from port we decided to stay on the ship. WE recognize that many places will be closed for the Easter Weekend. We have not decided what we will do tomorrow. We have been here many times so we might focus on Piraeus. We will decide in the morning. We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace. With the ship arriving to port shortly before noon the dining venue was very busy. Keith played singles Paddle Tennis while Anne Marie packed. Singles is a hard workout but it was a lot of fun even though I lost all the games to one of officers. While we were playing a bell was ringing non-stop from a nearby church. It might have been due to the Easter Holiday. This port always has lots of ships in port and today was no exception This is the daily Reflections Program from today. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith WELCOME TO NAFPLION, GREECE Views from our room shortly before our arrival. These are the dinner menus from Waterside. Friends Rob & Jim joined us for dinner in our room. We first sailed with them on the full World Cruise 2015. They boarded Serenity in Cape Town. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with them with delicious food and non-stop conversation. We began with seafood and vegetable appetizers which Butler Rao organized for us. We enjoyed food from Waterside and from Prego. This included: Caesar salad from Prego. Lobster from Waterside. which was on the menu Tuesday night since it was Black Tie Optional night and we were able to have it last night. We enjoyed a great evening. A big thank you to Rao for organizing everything and making this very special for the four of us. Everything was perfect. The featured entertainment was the comedy and music of Jon Courtenay who performed one show at 7:45 PM. Last night also included the Crystal White Extravaganza Party between 10:00 and 11:00 PM. We slept well as we headed to our second port of call in Greece; Nafplion, Greece. Keith began the day with an early workout at the Fitness Center. After the workout, we enjoyed coffee and breakfast in our room. We anchored off Nafplion, Greece shortly before 8:00 AM this morning. Nafplion is a seaport town with a population of 35,000 residents. Major attractions include: Bourtzi Fort which was built in 1473. Palamidi Fortress which protected this town in time of war and is visible from all areas within the city. Archaelogy Museum which has exhibits about the Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Helladic, Mycenean, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods. Arvanita Beach which is located close to the town and features "Crystal" clear water. Keith took the tender over while Anne Marie stayed on the ship and walked. When he arrived, with map in hand he walked the area and saw some of the major attractions including the Palamidi Fortress and the Bourtzi Fort. He also visited the War Museum. There were lots of shops and restaurants and some parks. One observation he made is that cars do not yield the right-of-way to pedestrians in the crossing walkways. We were the only ship anchored which made walking around town pleasant. Back on the ship we enjoyed lunch at Marketplace. Keith hit Paddle Tennis balls and later joined Anne Marie who was already walking outside the ship on the Promenade Deck. We are enjoying the rest of the afternoon on-board Serenity as we post this. This is today's daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith WELCOME TO SANTORINO, GREECE The other day we posted photos from the Crew Easter egg Decoration Contest. These are the winners in order of ranking 1. Holy Bling - Ronnie Espina who is an attendant at the Computer University. 2. Mystery Garden - Nora Corpuz who is the florist. 3. Genuine Island Painted Floral Ostrich Egg - Liezl Tamondong who is the Librarian. In addition to showing their artistic talents these are three absolutely wonderful people who we adore. Congratulations to them and everyone who participated in the contest. You are all winners. Last evening was the one and only Black Tie Optional night on this cruise. In addition to the regular dining venues being open, the Supper Club was offered and available for 100+ guests who made a reservation to attend. These are the dinner menus from Waterside. We dined at the Umi Uma Japanese Specialty Restaurant with friends Jim & Judy. We first met Jim and Judy on the 2007 World Cruise and since that time have sailed with them on several World Cruises. They were on-board for the 2019 World Cruise and will be returning home following this voyage. We had a great time with them enjoying lots of conversation, terrific cuisine, wonderful service and the overall ambience of the dining venue. We enjoyed sushi/sashimi and a some appetizers and an entree. Last evening also included the Crystal Society Party at 7:45 PM. The original plans was to have two performance of Crystal Broadways: The Show at 8:30 and 10:30 PM. However, since the seas were very rough they postponed the show to the last night of the cruise and they went with a comedian instead. There was live music at the Crystal Cove; Palm Court; and Avenue Saloon; Karaoke and a late night Dance Party at Pulse. The movie was Puzzle and was shown at 8:00 and 10:00 PM at the Hollywood Theatre. By the time we got back to the room the seas were calmer than earlier in the evening. We slept well as we normally do and began the day with a workout for Keith followed coffee and breakfast in our room. We anchored off Santorini, Greece by 7:00 AM. Knowing that we will be there on the next cruise we planned to stay on the ship and booked a haircut for Anne Marie in the Salon for today. We ended up making the day a sea day and look forward to our visit to this port next week. We wanted to provide some information on Santorini. The total population is 16,000 residents. It is part of the Cyclades Islands. It was once an active volcano which erupted around 1500 BCE. The force was so strong that the center of the island exploded. Major attractions include: Archaeological Museum which is home to artifacts from the 3rd Millennium BCE thru the Classical Period. Megaro Gyzi Cultural Center & Museum which is housed in a 17th century mansion. It contains engravings from old historical manuscript and paintings of Santorini. Lignos Folklore Museum which occupies a traditional cave house dating back to 1861. Red Beach which has black and red volcanic pebbles and hot water. Pyrgos which is a traditional village built on the slopes of a hill. It provides beautiful views. While Anne Marie was at the Salon Keith worked out again and also did reading and writing. We had lunch at Marketplace and in the afternoon Keith played Paddle Tennis while Anne Marie walked and we are spending the rest of the day enjoying the ship. Following is the Reflections Daily Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith ON THE ROAD TO SANTORINO, GEECE - A DAY AT SEA Serenity departed Kotor on scheduler's at 5:00 PM and we are including a couple of photos right before departure from the port. We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink in our room before we visited Apropos which is one of the on-board Stores. These are the dinner menus from Waterside from last evening. Last evening we had dinner at Waterside with friend Barbara. We have known Barbara for many years and have sailed on several cruises with her. Unfortunately she was feeling under the weather so was unable to have dinner with us. The good news is we have another dinner planned with Barbara. We dined with Head Waiter Augusto’s wife who is on board for a portion of this cruise. After hearing about her for years it was a pleasure to meet her. We had a wonderful time. Terrific conversation. Excellent service and excellent food. Throughout much of the meal Waterside was relatively quiet with many guests dining at other venues and others arriving to Waterside later in the evening. Each cruise is different. On some cruises there has been a long queue outside the doors of Waterside before the venue opens and on other voyages the queue has been shorter or non-existent. Last evening it was non-existent. We both had a Duo Of Crab Appetizer. It was a first time for us and in addition to the crab it sat in an Avocado sauce. We each had salads. For the entree Anne Mari had the Sautéed Tiger Prawns and August's wife did the same and Keith had the Ahi Tuna. We were each pleased with hour choices. The only bad news of the evening was forwarding our clocks by one hour to get on the local time zone for Greece. LOL. We slept very well as we sail to our first port of call in Greece. The seas were relatively calm when we fell asleep. Early in the morning the sea swells picked up and the ship was rocking a good deal more as was the case when Keith went to the Fitness Center. It was a bit more challenging for Keith to start the day as he always does but he succeeded and was up at the Fitness enter for an early workout. After his workout we had coffee and breakfast in our room. Today is the only sea day of this cruise. After breakfast Keith took an indoor cycling class while Anne Marie walked. Six people took the class out of the twelve who signed up. This was not surprising given the moving the clocks back by one hour. In fact, the Fitness Center was relatively quiet. Fitness Director Melanie taught the class and it was a challenging class. There was lots on the program. Destination Lecturer Marcus Sherwood spoke about our upcoming ports in Santorini and Nafplion and World Affairs Lecturer Ken Walsh spoke about Donald Trump. We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace. It was the Asian Buffet. After lunch Keith hoped to play Paddle Tennis. Unfortunately, it was too windy. He thought about playing by myself as with the wind he could have served the ball and it might have come right back to him if he hit it high in the air. We ended up walking together. Daily we try to post the dinner menus at Waterside. Today we thought we would post the Breakfast and Luncheon Menus. Whereas the breakfast menu is the same each day the luncheon menu changes daily. Below is today's daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith |
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