DAY 29 - DAY TWENTY-ONE ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

We forgot to mention that yesterday we walked over 12 miles in Honolulu.  Walking around a city is always nice and it is made extra special when you walk with someone you love and take in all of the pretty sites all around you.

As we were waiting for the ship to be cleared yesterday morning, we ran into several people we know and one person include Zita. We first met Zita on the 2007 World Cruise where she was working the Reception Desk and we think of the team of Zita and the team she worked with as the "A" team.  There was Nina who went on to be the Chief Concierge and is now the Crew Officer and there was Daniele who also became concierge, assistant to the Hotel Directors and now works as the on board Cruise Sales Consultant and Frantz who became a concierge and then a head concierge and has left Crystal Cruises.  Zita was later promoted and worked in the back office doing accounting for the Crew.  Many of the people who work the reception desk are similar ages of our own children and they are part of that Crystal Family we think of.  We always look forward to seeing them and share happiness when they are promoted or other wonderful things happen to them.  We were thrilled when Zita became engaged to Christian, Sommelier in Prego, and when they married last year.  Zita is now leaving the ship and at least for now will stay on land in Hungary in a small town where her parents and other family members leave.  This will provide a very good support structure during the times that Christian is away working at sea.  We are sure that our paths will cross again whether she eventually returns to work at Crystal or should she come to visit while Christian is on the ship.  

Before dinner last evening, we went back off the ship to mail a post card and to just walk around the nearby area.

When we returned, we stayed at the Crystal Cove where we spoke with good friends John and Linda and also Pianist John Mentis.

Pianist John Mentis and in the background friends Linda and John.

We went to dinner at Prego which is the Italian Specialty Restaurant on board the Serenity.  Our waiter for the evening was Paolo who is from Portugal.  We normally have Costa but he was off since only 25 people had reservations for Prego for the entire evening.

Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' Antonio sat us at a nice window table and asked if we wanted the shades open which we did.  We could see the Clock Tower and other sites of Honolulu.  

Head Waiter, Mario, also came by our table a few times to check on us.

In most cases the Waiters for Prego work in the Crystal Dining Room to develop skills that will be of tremendous value to them should they be selected to work at Prego.  Paolo worked on the Crystal Symphony for a couple of contracts as a Waiter in the Crystal Dining Room, who assisted the Senior Waiter.  When he moved over to the Serenity he worked as a Waiter in the Crystal Dining Room as well and he was later promoted to a Senior Waiter in the Crystal Dining Room where he worked for around three additional contracts before being promoted to Waiter in Prego where he has also worked for a few contracts.

It was a pleasure to get to know Paolo last evening.  With so few guests in the dining room there was a lot of time to talk with Paolo about the menu, and about his background including his home town.

We each began our meals with salad. Anne Marie had the Caesar Salad and Keith had his standing order salad from the Crystal Dining Room.

For our entree, we each had the cod which was served with grilled vegetables and a black risotto.  The fish was cooked perfectly.  We also each had a side order of additional grilled vegetables.

For dessert, well it was not the soufflé or some other traditional Italian dessert.  Rather, we each had a fruit plate.

After dinner, we went back off the ship and walked around for a little while.  The weather was perfect as was our evening on board the ship.

Since we had an overnight in Honolulu, unlike most nights there was no gentle rocking of the ship as we slept but we still had a good night sleep on board the Serenity.

Keith woke early and go in his early morning workout and his coffee at the Lido Cafe.  There were many early morning tours so the food was set up early and more people were there than usual.

These are a few photos he took this morning.

Clock Tower At Night

As part of the makeover of the Lido Cafe and Tastes Specialty Restaurant three living walls were added to the Lido Deck.  These are views at night and they provide a nice look and soften up these areas.

Since we had an early excursion and we asked Rao to bring our breakfast earlier than normal, Anne Marie did about forty five minutes of her usual one hour morning walk.

As many of you know when in port when we are in port we do a combination of things that can range from just walking around, or just doing our own excursion on our own, or taking a private excursion or booking a shore excursion through Crystal Cruises (both by ourselves or one with a group).  Today, we did the latter.

We chose what is classified as a Crystal Cruises Signature Shore Excursion which was limited to a maximum of fourteen (14) guests.

As part of this excursion we revisited places that we have been to before but also experience a portion of it in a different way.

Our excursion began with a drive over to Pearl Harbor's Visitor Center.  We were last there in 2012 as part of another Crystal Cruises Shore Excursion called Home Of The Brave which took us to all of the Military areas that related to that fateful day in Pearl Harbor and also areas that played a key role later in the war.

Our driver was a former Navy Seal who served in three wars.  He provided a lot of good information about the tour and about Pearl Harbor.  When we arrived to the visitor center we had about one hour on our own.  We managed to go through both of the museums and also walk around the entire area.

We then entered the theatre to watch a 25 minute movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Although it was the same movie we saw two years ago, we watched the movie in awe.  After a short wait, we boarded a Naval launch for the ride over to the Pearl Harbor Memorial.  As many times as we have visited this Memorial we find it to be a very emotional experience.  While we are not of the World War II generation, and we are part of the Baby Boom Generation, we owe so much to what is known to many as the Greatest Generation.  Back then it was not about me, but it was about the common good.  

From the memorial areas, we boarded a mini-van that took us over to the USS Missouri.  We first visited the Missouri as part of a second Crystal Cruises Shore Excursion in 2012 when we boarded the ship in the evening for a tour and also for dinner.  This time, we got to revisit the ship in the daytime and in a very small group to get a tour that was focused on the "Captains Life" including touring areas that we didn't see before and also a lunch in the Captain's Cabin.

The tour is unique from different perspectives and one of them was having two tour guides for our small group with one playing the role of the ships Commander and the other playing the role as the Captain's Aide.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by the Aide and taken around the ship.    

A view from the USS Missouri

Lieutenant Frank.

After this portion of the tour we were greeted by the tour guide who played the role of the Captain and taken to the Captain's Quarters. We were given a tour of the quarters including the bedroom and we also had lunch at the quarters.  

The room that we dined in was visited only by the most prestigious of guests including President Harry S. Truman.

Captain Bob spoke throughout Lunch and took answered each and every question.  At the conclusion of lunch they showed us a movie about the surrender by the Japanese and the signing of the surrender treaty on board the USS Missouri.  The surrender document is only one page and the surrender on board the ship took less than 25 minutes.

From Left to Right Lieutenant Vincent, Anne Marie, Captain Bob and Keith

We certainly did not sign up for the excursion for the lunch but it was done nicely.  We passed on the beef and the cake but it was certainly a nicely prepared meal.

After the lunch both Captain Bob and Lieutenant Frank took us all over the ship to so many places on different levels that you normally do not see.  We had the opportunity to also see the various senior officers staterooms and also the Presidential Stateroom.

The USS Missouri also known as Mighty Mo was the last of the Battleships constructed.  It actually served in three wars; World War II, Vietnam and Desert Storm.  It was commissioned June 11, 1944, decommissioned February 26, 1955 and recommissioned May 10, 1986.

This commemorates where the surrender treaty was signed and it was signed by Japan and the United States and all of our Allies.

 The tour was very moving and very informative.  When you put it all together the visit to the USS Arizona Memorial Sites was Chapter 1 of our involvement in World War II as it was on that fateful day that the United States of America was drawn into World War II.   Our visit to the USS Missouri represented the Final Chapter of the War as it was on that very ship that the Japanese officially surrendered to mark the ending of the War.

We always say that travel is part of discovery and today was no exception.  This is only the second time that this tour has ever been given to any group and we are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate on this tour.  This coupled with our first visit to the USS Missouri in 2012 provides us with a very strong understanding of the importance of this vessel in the three Wars that it participated in and also to the brave men who served on this ship.  In today's Navy we say the brave men and women.

At the end of the tour, each person was presented with a dog tag commemorating the tour with today's date inscribed on it, a commemorative coin and a small piece of the teak decking from the ship.

This was a very special day and one that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

We returned to the ship late evening.

This evening we will be dining in the Crystal Dining Room and will post all about this tomorrow.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY......……

A photo that Keith took today at one of the two museums we visited at Pearl Harbor.

"Yesterday, December seventh 1941, a day which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.  We will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God."  - Franklin Roosevelt

Keith & Anne Marie