We had a great time last evening. Before dinner we watched a portion of the Texans and Kansas City Chiefs Football games. It certainly was one of those games where the tide changed from what seemed to be a blowout of Kansas City by the Texans in the first quarter to Kansas City dominating the Texans for most of the remainder of the game. Keith had some wine in the room and Anne Marie just some water. We had dinner at Silk for the first time of this cruise. Silk is the Asian Restaurant that first appeared following the Crystal Serenity dry dock in late 2018. We were invited to dinner for a Crystal Society Dinner by Crystal Society Host Andrew Triplow and Future Sales Consultant Jaque Brown also joined us for dinner. This is the Silk Dinner menu. The dinner was lovely. Andrew Triplow returned to Crystal last year after several years on land. Like his other Crystal Society colleagues and as Jaque Brown and the other Future Sales Consultants do they each swing between Serenity and Symphony. We never ran out of conversation and dined together for over two and one-half hours. Lots of guests were dining at Silk. One of the ways the food is served at Silk is the waitstaff can bring out some of the items ordered and place them in the center of the table so they are all served family style. We prefer to have items that we request placed closer to us so we can share them. This is how we did it last night. We shared items while Jaque and Andrew shared items they ordered. We also discuss with the wait staff how the items will be sequences. For example, all four of us had the salad and we asked for the salads first and not to start on any of the hot items until we finished the salads. This way when appetizers arrived they are good and hot and we enjoy it that way. After we had the salads and some additional conversation time the first set of appetizers arrived and later on the second and final set of appetizers. Anne Marie had one entree while Keith had two different entrees. The portions are on the smaller end allowing one to try more than one entree and also we enjoyed several appetizers as most appetizers have two pieces allowing the two people to try one item of each appetizer the two people order. We were very pleased with the taste and temperature of the food and service was great considering how busy they became. The dining venue is beautiful and special on the evening. All in all a great evening with lots of great conversation, good laughs, and delicious food with terrific service and just a nice place to dine in. Yes, life is good. Some photos. We didn't get a photo of two other appetizers we had nor a fruit plate Keith had. Today is a day at sea as we sail to our next port of call of Nicaragua. We followed a fairly typical routing for us starting with a workout for Keith at the Fitness Center followed by a walk inside the ship and breakfast in the room. The difference is since Anne Marie became sick she is resting quite a bit in the room and not going for her two times a day walk nor Yoga with Maria and Joe Kita. She had two additional nebulizer treatment today and also saw the doctor. After breakfast, Keith also ran outside on the Promenade Deck. Lots on todays' program including a destination lecture about Nicaragua, the port we are visiting and Central America. This was followed by a talk about Brexit 2, and the afternoon included a walk about The Beach Boys. This is one of the many things we enjoy about Crystal. The diversity and depth of the lecture program and the ability to learn so much from the lectures. The program contained 50 or morning and afternoon items. We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace and Keith was once again back playing Paddle Tennis. Keith did sustain an injury playing today. Caryn if you are reading this the good news is Keith had his Sun Glasses on. As he was charging the new the ball hit him right in the glasses and pushed them into the area right between the eye and nose. He immediately sat out and applied a cold towel and ice to the area a couple of times and that helped but he has a partial back eye. If that is the worse that is OK. LOL. We think that Anne Marie finished her treatments at the Medical Center but we will see how that goes. Before dinner this evening we plan on attending a performance by Jim Brochu called Character Man. The daily Reflections program follows. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith
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You might think that last evening was part of the movie Groundhog Day since we went to the same venues before and during dinner. We began our evening with a visit to the Crystal Cove to listen to pianist Richard Pucci perform. He did play a whole set of new songs though as he always does. LOL. We sat with a very nice couple who we met at the start of this cruise. Dinner was at Prego for the second consecutive night. Keith made an error when making the dinner reservations having us dine for two consecutive nights but we decided to leave the second reservation in place. We dined with Cruise Director Rick. We didn't take photos. Since we were overnighting in Panama City and docked (sometimes we tender) we didn't have the gentle rocking of the ship to put us to sleep. Anne Marie did sleep better and Keith slept well too. We repeated the start of the day with a workout for Keith and breakfast in our room. Afterwards, Keith went on a run outside on the Promenade Deck. The Promenade Deck is wide and easily allows up to three people to walk side by side. Typically there are only one or two walking so it was easy for Keith to run by them. He ran for 45 minutes and spoke with a few people he knew afterwards. While Keith was running he saw one of the new locks. After the run he went to the room to get his camera and took a photo of it. Unfortunately he doesn't have his really good camera with us which has a very long lens so he did the best he could taking the photo. The lock is towards the left of the tower. He spent time with friends Jim and Steve this morning. We've known them for many years. Jim is on-board as a lecturer and celebrity entertainer and will be performing before dinner on Monday. It was so nice to catch up with them. He also met former astronaut Scott Kelly and his lovely wife Amiko. They were leaving today. We will always remember his talk with several meaningful takeaways. Anne Marie made another visit to the Medical Center in the morning for the nebulizer treatment. Evidently there were two medical emergencies which meant both rooms were occupied. She was asked to come back at 10:00 AM at which time she received the first treatment and returned later in the day for the second treatment. We have visited Panama City on three different occasions and toured the city two times once on a group Crystal tour and the other time on a private tour arranged by Crystal Cruises. The city has a population of close to one million people who live in the downtown area and the overall population is close to 1.4 million people when including the metropolitan area. Panama City does feature two distinct cities in terms of look and feel; the old city along with a very modern skyline of beautifully designed skyscrapers. Like some cities around the world including some cities in our own nation even neighborhoods in this city change from block to block where one block might have tall modern buildings and the areas adjacent to it may have luxury homes with slums nearby. Panama has a very strong economy. Whereas unemployment was over 15% after the United States gave up control of the Panama Canal, unemployment continues to decrease. The biggest driver of revenue is the Duty Free Zone in Panama City which is focused on companies that sell and buy goods and it is the second biggest Duty Free Zone of the world behind Hong Kong. Of course, the Panama Canal is a big driver of revenue and when the new Locks come on-line that will drive revenue even more. The old city has gone through a major restoration to restore it to its former look. The government moved quickly to accomplish this. Unfortunately, this meant the displacement of many people who had been living there. We are including photos of the ancient city, old city and modern city. Lunch was at Marketplace where we enjoyed salad entrees. Keith wanted to play Paddle Tennis in the afternoon but it was hot which kept people away. Tomorrow is a sea day so there will be play for sure. Later in the afternoon he met up with dear friend Bob. Anne Marie continued to read one of three books she took out from the library. All three books are on the list of books that is on the list for the neighborhood book club. Following is today's daily Reflections Program. Cheers,
Anne Marie & Keith We enjoyed another nice evening on-board Crystal Serenity. We went for a pre-dinner drink (water for Anne Marie) at the Crystal Cove and listened to Pianist Richard Pucci play a variety of songs. We very much enjoying his piano playing. We went to the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant for the first time of this voyage and dined with friend and World Cruise Hostess Stacey. We last saw Stacey for lunch on land a few months ago. There are the restaurant menus from Prego. Dining with Stacey is always lots of fun. She is so upbeat and positive and we always enjoy lots of good laughs with her and a wonderful conversation. Stacey has an extensive career in the cruise industry. For many years she was a dancer. She has also served as Assistant Cruise Director. She has also been World Cruise Hostess on ten of the twenty-five World Cruises including ten since 2009. Prego is very special for us. We think of it as dining at a small restaurant in a village in Italy between the charm of the dining venue and the familiarity with waitstaff and fellow guests. The wait staff is superb, the cuisine delicious and we like the ambience of the dining venue including how the tables are set. We enjoyed appetizers, salad and entrees. The special was calf liver which was the first time we experienced this being an addition. We all passed on this. LOL. All in all a wonderful evening enjoying a leisurely dinner with a dear friend and at a lovely restaurant. We passed on the evening entertainment since Anne Marie is under the weather. Hopefully she will be better soon. Keith slept very well. Unfortunately, Anne Marie did not. Keith followed his regular routine with one change. He worked out at the Fitness Center for part of the time and then walked Deck 6. Deck 6 has many public areas and we find it a good area to walk inside the ship. He took advantage of the time of day to do laundry. Breakfast in our room thanks to Butler Rao. Then it was time to get ready for the Panama Canal Transit. We didn't make our first transit until January of 2007 as part of World Cruise 2007. In fact, prior to 2007 we were booked on two different cruises which included the canal but had to cancel each one. Since 2007 we have transited the Canal several times. This is a good time of year for the transit with very little chance for rain. Temperature can range from warm to hot. In preparation for todays' transit Keith watched the presentation given on the Canal by Destination Lecturesr Dick Mogran. It contained some information he hadn't heard before. Some facts about the Panama Canal: - Workers came from 97 countries to work on the Canal. - The island of Barbados supplied the most workers. - The maximum draft of the Panama Canal is 39.5 feet and the draft of the Serenity is 24.6 feet. - The most common commodity moving through the Canal is grain. - The United States is the biggest user of the Canal. -It takes 52 millions gallons of water to transit a ship. There are many places to watch the transit from and we recommend watching it from the front (bow), back (stern) port and starboard (left 7 right) sides and from points on high, medium and low decks. Each area provides a different perspective. The transit follows the same schedule when sailing East to West: Serenity enters the Gatun Locks, clears the Locks, passes Gamboa Station, enters and clears Pedro Miguel Locks and enters and clears Miraflores Locks. Each time can offer a slightly different experience based on weather conditions such as temperature and whether it is sunny or overcast. Today was sunny and warm and a nice clear day. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the ship. This included visiting with fellow guests and members of the crew, lunch at Marketplace, and Paddle Tennis for Keith. We arrived to Panama City ahead of schedule.\ This is today's Daily Reflections Program. Cheers,
Anne Marie & Keith We returned to the Crystal Cove for a pre-dinner drink. We do enjoy the Cove at this time of the evening as we see lots of people and enjoy the music of Pianist Richard Pucci. On some voyages by the time we arrive it is way too crowded so we will go to another venue such as the Avenue Saloon. However, we find the Avenue Saloon can be too quiet at the time we go. So far the Cove is working out well. Richard played a medley of Beatles songs. They included some special songs written by Paul McCartney,John Lennon and George Harrison. We enjoyed dinner at Waterside for the third consecutive evening. These are the dinner menus. We enjoyed three wonderful courses; Seared Scallops for Anne Marie and Tuna Tartare for me; Dinner Salads for each of us, as well as Whole Roasted Basil Marinated Monkfish. One word repeated three times sums this up. Delicious, Delicious, Delicious. Waiter Fernando who assists Senior Waiter Kirsten. Head Waiter Augusto. We slept pretty well last evening given that Anne Marie is under the weather. Those of you who have read our blogs know our previous routine and those of you new to the blog are starting to get a good idea of our early morning routine. It is pretty much the same routine everyday with a few exceptions. Today, there were no exceptions. Keith was up early and worked out on the Elliptical Machine. With the internet slower than we have experienced the last eighteen months Keith is taking advantage of the early hours when less people are contending for bandwidth to work on the blog which he did this morning. With very few people up he also did a load of laundry. We enjoyed breakfast in our room thanks to butler Rao. By 8:00 AM we arrived to Cartagena, Colombia. Around the time of arrival Keith arrived to take his first indoor cycling class of the cruise. As it turned out the class was only Keith. The instructor had a cold and while he would have taught the class Keith said he would just do his own class with his own music. The instructor would have taught but Keith knows what it is like to teach when one is not feeling well so he was happy to do his own class. As they say there is next time. Our first visit to Cartagena was in November, 2010 and including that trip this will represent our seventh visit to this port city. The city has a population of close to one million people, making it the fifth largest city in all of Colombia. It is the most popular tourist city in all of Colombia. The city has its old town area but also a new very modern area on the other side of the city with close to 50 skyscrapers. Cartagena also has several beautiful beaches, many nice places to enjoy dining, music, dance and drink. While some people do not care for this city, we do enjoy it. Although we didn't do this today, the key is to get away from the port and to travel about 30 minutes into town where there is a lot to explore. We also find it to be safe and with each succeeding year continues to improve. They have significantly increased their tourism over the past few years with many ships calling on this port during the cruising season. On three prior visits we toured this city extensively including a private excursion we booked with Crystal Cruises in 2013. We have visited the walled city, the 400-year-old monastery of Convento de la Popa, the Cathedral along with several other area attractions. Because we have toured the major areas of the city, we decided not to book a tour. Instead, the plan was for us to both walk around the area near the pier and possibly take a taxi into town. With Anne Marie under the weather she stayed on-board Serenity and Keith walked the area near the pier. It is an industrial port so you need to walk in the area for pedestrians. Crystal has two complimentary port shuttles running between the ship and stores. One of the things we enjoy about cruising this time of year is the weather. While it is winter back home with the humidity today felt like summer. As in the past there are some shops and an areas with greenery and some wildlife. You never know what you will see in terms of wildlife. Some years we've seen Deer but not today. The Holland America Eurodam was in port with us. As usual Crystal crew were busy while we were in port keeping the outside of the ship looking nice with paint. We enjoyed lunch at Waterside and in the afternoon Anne Marie went on a short walk inside the ship and rested and Keith played Paddle Tennis with several people This is today's Daily Reflections Program. Cheers,
Anne Marie & Keith We enjoyed a wonderful evening on-board Serenity. We began with a pre-dinner drink at the Crystal Cove. We sat near Pianist Richard Pucci who plays wonderfully. Richard knows we enjoy music of the Beatles and he bean with a medley of Beatles Music. As we were listening to some of the songs we were imagining if those lads from Liverpool realized at the time their music would be played by others including in this manner. We returned to Waterside for the second consecutive night and enjoyed some of our favorite items. We were taken good care of by Senior Waiter Kristen and Waiter Fernando. This included Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail for Anne Marie and Caviar for Keith, followed by a garden salad and Lobster for each of us. As many of you know Lobster is a favorite of Anne Marie's. As a youngster this was something the family had once a year on Christmas Eve. She not only enjoys Lobster but it does bring back wonderful memories for her. Dinner menus follow. Since the rollout of open seating on most cruises there is one Captain's Reception but with this being the start of the World Cruise the Captain hosted a Welcome Reception for all guests on this voyage which we think is very nice. Anne Marie was feeling a little under the weather so we decided to call it an evening. We began today as we normally do with a workout for Keith and breakfast for the two of us in our room. Anne Marie took two short walks. By the time she got back to the room she was not feeling well so saw the ships doctor. She was diagnosed with a throat infection on one side of her throat and she was given antibiotics, along with a daytime liquid capsules for pain and throat relief. Should she not feel better in two days she should go back. Keith went to the salon for a Haircut. Excellent stylist. First time at sea but worked for many years in Dubai and in her home country of Ukraine. We enjoyed the second consecutive sea day of the cruise as we sail towards Cartagena, Colombia. There were three lectures of the program. We enjoyed the one given by retired Astronaut Scott Kelly. He is well known by many for several missions he was part of for the United States Space Program. With Anne Marie not feeling well we watched it live on the television in our room. You can also watch the lectures on-demand shortly after they are given. A lecture that we watched live from our room was given by former Astronaut Scott Kelly. How good we are when we start has nothing to do how we can end up if you work hard and strive to improve. He mentioned examples of this. He was not a good student. He was not the best at flying airplanes when he began. In fact, he almost crashed while flying and was sent home. The Navy gave him options such as be a civilian and fly passenger planes or a cargo plane or try it one more time but you must get better. And this is what he did with hard work and reaching for the stars. He continued to take this approach in all that he does. He accomplished so much. He logged more than 15,000 hours of flight time in more than 40 different aircraft. He was involved in the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope, commanded Space Shuttle Endeavor on a mission to the International Space Station. Many know of him for the record breaking 340 day missions the International Space Station. He could easily have been just a number on planet Earth. Someone who none of us would ever hear of if not for hard work, perseverance and reaching for the stars and not giving up. We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace. On each day at sea Captain Birger gives a talk from the bridge at 12:00 Noon and this was his second one of the cruise. The captain will give some statistics about the outside weather conditions and speed the vessel has traveled and what speed we need to travel to reach the next port of call on-schedule. He often provides us with some information which we look at as education for the guests and also covers the position of the other Crystal vessels. Following lunch Anne Marie walked for a little bit and Keith played Paddle Tennis. It was less windy than the day before when you didn't know where the ball might end up if it was hit too far in the air. Of course when the weather is bad one can blame all their mistakes on the weather. He would have played longer except it started to drizzle. Keith also met up with dear friend Bob. Keith has known Bob since 2008 and have shared many sailings with Bob and his dear wife Glo. Following is todays daily Reflection Program. Cheers,
Anne Marie & Keith We are all settled on Serenity. We attended the muster drill at 4:15 PM. Afterwards we attended a Cruise Critic Reception along with two other couples. Senior Officers and Staff attended including the Hotel Director Hubert; Food & Beverage Manager Jasper, Head Housekeeper Maria, The Chief Accountant, Future Sales Consultant, Crew Officer and Crystal Society Host. From there we had dinner at Waterside and were taken care of by an exception Wait Staff Team under the direction of Restaurant Manager Leo. This included Head Waiter Augusto and Senior Water Kirsten. Food was terrific. Anne Marie had a Portobello Mushroom Appetizer and Keith had Ahi Tuna. We both had spinach salads and Salmon Entrees. Several members of Team Crystal and fellow guests spoke with us. We felt right at home. We felt like we were all settled in onboard the ship by the time we went to sleep last evening. Keith was up very early and back at the Fitness Center for an early workout. Yes it was Keith and the night crew. Keith was back on his regular Elliptical Machine which is the one on the left in the photo. We are posting the Daily Refections Programs from yesterday and today. The internet is a bit slow so we are going to keep today's post shorter. Highlights for today include: Food: Well you have to eat. We enjoyed breakfast in our room and we made our first visit to Marketplace of this cruise for lunch. Exercise: Anne Marie took her first long walk on board Serenity for this cruise and Keith walked most of this with her. She had planned to attend Yoga Class taught by Maria and Joe Kita but she decided to wait a day or two to attend. We continued to run into lots of people we know. In addition to the workout at the Fitness Center, Keith walked and ran and also played Paddle Tennis. It was windy which always makes Paddle Tennis more of a challenge. We took care of some items on the ship that we needed to arrange and spent time with fellow guests and members of Team Serenity. No lectures for us today. We will catch them on the Television as we can watch them whenever we want on demand. Having stayed in this room type for so many cruises it makes it easy to put things in their proper place and we have less luggage this time around. With that said we finished getting everything sorted. We had lots of laundry from our pre-cruise and Keith got the majority of the laundry done and Anne Marie did one load. We make a good tag team as Anne Marie puts the majority of he items on Hangers. A true team and it works as it does in all we do. Keith spent time with dear friend Bob in the afternoon. We have sailed with Bob and Glo for many years starting in 2008. There is a lot on the ship this evening and we will post about it tomorrow. Cheers,
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