DAY 19 - DAY ELEVEN ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

A LOOK AT WHAT IS HAPPENING TODAY:



Puerto Vallarta✔ Dinner At Prego With Dave and Rocky✔

We encountered one hiccup today. When Keith restarted his computer, it crashed.  Thankfully, the ships IT department looked at it and did testing and they have said it needs new memory.  We will try to deal with this in Honoluu.  

We wanted to mention that sometime yesterday an album commemorating our 50th milestone dinner was delivered to our room.   The album included an exquisite photo of the Crystal Serenity. along with a photo of all of us seated at the dining room table at the Captain's Quarters.  We also received separately three other photos including a photo of everyone who attended, and a couple of photos of us toasting the start of the evening evening; one with Crystal Hostess Jaque Brown and the other with the Captain and Jaque.  All of this will add to the wonderful memories that we will carry with us for the rest of our lives from this lovely dinner.  We really appreciate all of the dinner preparations and everyone for attending who made this a very special evening for us.

Before dinner last evening, we sat at the Crytsal Cove to listen to Pianist and Assistnat Cruise Director, Scott Mitchel.  The Crystal Cove was busy with many people having a pre-dinner drink.  We spoke with some guests and crew.

Anne Marie with Lido Deck Steward Jun.

We had made a date with Crystal Society Hostess, Jaque Brown, to join us for dinner.  After we were seated we learned from Jaque that a surprise guest would be joining us shortly for dinner.  A few minutes later, we looked up and there was Cruise Director Gary Hunter.

Gary had wanted to join us for dinner since he was unable to attend our Milestone Dinner the night before.  However, that was not possible since he was performing in two shows that evening. 

We enjoyed lots of laughs with Gary and Jaque as we conversed about a wide range of items including some of the previous World Cruises we have sailed on.

We began the meal with a white wine, which Sommelier Christian had prepared for us.  Later in the meal, we tried a red wine which Christian had decanted about an hour before we arrived to the dining room.

Christian is going home today.  He had extended his contract by over a month as one of the other Sommelier's needed additional time out home due to a family death and that Sommelier is returning today.  Christian will return to the ship in March.  We wish Christian safe travels and also a wonderful Birthday celebration with his son who turns 15.  We wanted to mention that Christian often has a smile on his face and each time he spoke about how happy he is about being happy for his son's birthday it brought out a big smile.  We told him he didn't look old enough to have a son already 15.

We each had a salad as our first course.  Anne Marie had one of the salads on the menu and Keith had his standing order salad.

Jaque had the Gravlax Appetizer which included Frest Salmon, Dill French Toast, Fried Quail Egg and Crème Fraiche.  It was presented very nicely.  Sorry, but we don't remember what Gary ordered and getting photos of items that they ordered was not possible other than this photo of Jaque's appetizer.

The two of us had the Broiled Fresh Ahi Tuna, prepared medium rare, as the Chef recommended.  It was quite tasty and flavorful and we enjoyed the Sesame Onion Crust.

For dessert, Keith had a bowl of mixed berries.

Anne Marie had the sugar-free Vanilla Panne Cotta.

We truly enjoyed a wonderful dinner and it was great to spend time with Gary who will be disembarking on the morning of the World Cruise.  We wished Gary a very Happy Birthday as his birthday was on January 13.  Gary will return to the ship right at the end of the World Cruise so we will see him again in April.

We didn’t make it to the evening show since we had gone to bed fairly late the night before.   We slept well and the seas were relatively calm and we find it easy to sleep with the gentle rocking of the ship.

Keith was up early and enjoyed another great workout at the Fitness Center.  While he was working out there was a member of the night crew cleaning the center which reminded Keith of all of the efforts that go into cleaning the ship.  Many are asleep when the night crew is perfuming their magic.  Each and every night they clean each and every public area of the ship and that includes not only the floors but the walls and the ceilings.  This is part of the tremendous effort that goes into the maintenance of both ships.

After Keith's workout, he enjoyed coffee at the Lido Cafe where he read and wrote and spoke with some of the Lido Deck Stewards.  

We would like to introduce you to Virgilo, one of the members of the Night Crew and one of his responsibilities is to clean the Lido Cafe each and every night.  Keith sees him every morning.

Virgilo cleans every inch of the Lido Cafe every day.

He brought back coffee to the room for Anne Marie and then a short while later she walked for an hour.  It was cool outside and Anne Marie returned to the room for a minute to get a jacket to put on.  The moon had a nice color to it as we began our arrival.  Keith did have a photo of the moon, but unfortunately it is on his computer so we can't post it right now.

We arrived to Puerto Vallarta this morning. We have visited this port many times over the years.  As such, we did not book any excursions but stayed relatively close to port.

This city is located in the western part of the state of Jalisco which is in central Mexico.  It is clearly a tourist destination attracting many tourist annually.  It is known for its inclusive resorts, pretty beaches, restaurants and bars.  Many people visiting here golf and also enjoy shopping as well as water activities.  It is a nice place to visit for those from the United States and Canada to get away from the cold of the winter.

At the same time it has been able to maintain much of its charm even in spite of the tourism and the development that comes with it.  We find the area easy to get around and the people friendly. 
The following is a quote that we find to be special.  We hope you do too.

We find the area to be safe and while there are other ports of call in Mexico that most cruise lines do not call on, this area has had very few cancellations.

After disembarking the ship, we took a nice walk on a street that runs parallel with the Ocean and enjoyed the scenery.  There are many condominiums and hotels located in the area we walked and there was an opportunity to walk out onto the public beach as well as a couple of beaches adjacent to hotels.  It was very pretty.

As we were walking past one of the hotels all of a sudden we heard someone calling out our name and when we looked up it was the Japanese HostessUrara Nakada and she had her arms wide opened and we hugged.  She was waiting in the lobby of the Hotel with Leo Assmair who is Maitre d' of the Crystal Dining Room.  They both arrived here yesterday and were waiting on a van to take them over to the ship. We chatted for a few minutes.

We then headed over to a Walmart which is located across the street from the pier which is a great place for both the crew and those guests staying on for the next cruise to purchase items that they may have forgotten or just need in larger quantities than they had originally anticipated.

We also visited the Liverpool Mall.  There is a sports shop in the mall where we have purchased on two separate occasions Paddle Tennis Rackets for Keith so he just wanted to take a quick look at it.

A short while after returning to the ship we enjoyed another salad entree at the Lido Cafe.  We sat with Bob and Bobbie.  Keith has been playing Paddle Tennis with Bob throughout this voyage along with several other regulars who show up to play each day.  We first met them last year on the January 4, 2013 voyage.

In the afternoon, Keith played paddle tennis and Anne Marie walked outside on the Promenade Deck.  Anne Marie also sat out for awhile and continued to work on her need point project.  Keith also met up with good friend Bob in the afternoon.

This evening we will be dining with Dave and Rocky who we first met a couple of years ago when they sailed on one of the segments of the World Cruise.  We will be dining at Prego.

We wanted to close with two special thoughts for the day.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY............

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life” it goes on.” – Robert Frost

"Never leave home without taking two computers with you".  - Keith 

Keith & Anne Marie