These are some photos from the first segment of the World Cruise
From the Captain's Reception with Captain Birger.
We wanted to mention that yesterday's weather was overcast all day so that it was difficult for those on tours to take photos or to see all of the sights from say the bus. For those of you familiar with the Bund if you were standing on the side with the old city to your back and looking across to the new city which looks like it is out of a science fiction movie you could barely make out any of the modern buildings. It was truly the weather and didn't seem to be the pollution.
We returned to the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant last evening for the second night in a row as we dined with Hotel Director Josef Lumetsberger, who had invited us to join him for dinner. We had a great time with Josef.
We never ran out of conversation. We have known Josef for several years and each time we have a chance to speak with him we learn something new. Josef has now been with Crystal Cruises for twenty-four years so we enjoyed talking with him about his prior experiences on board the Crystal Harmony, Symphony and Serenity before he became a Hotel Director. Some of his experiences include starting as a Chef and eventually becoming an Executive Chef where he was responsibility for all of the food prepared on the ship. He also was a Food & Beverage Manager.
We were taken good care of by Waiter Costa who we have as our waiter most times that we dine at Prego. We did not take any photos last evening just to take a night off from photos. LOL.
We each had a Caesar Salad to being our meal. For entrees, Keith had the same additional seafood entree that he had the night before since he loved it the first time and it was also being served. It is a cod which was very tasty and cooked just right. Anne Marie had a different veal dish from the one she had the night before. She is allergic to orange, which is why she didn't had the additional seafood entree as it contained orange. For dessert, Keith had mixed berries and Anne Marie had a tiny little scoop of ice cream.
We just wanted to mention that Crystal Dining Room had open seating dining from 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM last evening recognizing that some people were on full day tours, others on an evening tour and still others on various overland tours.
From time to time particularly if there is an overnight which was the case last evening, Crystal Cruises will arrange to bring on local entertainment for the guests which is always nice as it is something unique and different. We were able to go from dinner over to catch most of the show. It was quite entertaining. At one point one of the performers was placing a plate at a time on a rod that he used to keep the plate twirling in the area. Then he would do this with another plate as the first one was spinning and every once in a while would have to spin the first one to keep the first plate from falling. This continued until he had something like ten places spinning on these rods as he ran from one to the next one and so forth to keep them from falling. All of this was done to Chinese Music. The finale was dancing by a male and female dancer who did some dancing moves similar to Curtis and Beverly.
Afterwards, we went for an after dinner drink with Josef which was nice so that the conversation from dinner could continue.
All in all it was a wonderful evening and we really appreciated Josef spending so much time with us.
We slept well last evening as the Crystal Serenity remained docked at the Wusong Kou Cruise Terminal, in Shanghai.
Keith was up first and returned to the Fitness Center for another workout on the Elliptical Machine. He did a relatively short workout and just took it slow. With each succeeding day, he continues to feel better. Following his workout, he stopped by the Lido Cafe for some coffee.
He brought back some coffee to the room for Anne Marie and after she got ready we walked for one hour inside the ship. Friend Elaine walked with us for about one third of the walk so we caught up on what she did the past day.
After returning back to the room, we enjoyed breakfast in our room. We chatted with Rao for a little while talking about Shanghai and also about upcoming stops in Hong Kong and in Singapore.
As Anne Marie was getting ready, Keith went back up to the Fitness Center to finish his workout on the Elliptical Machine from earlier in the morning. Keith is hoping to take the Spin Class tomorrow, but is still negotiating that with the boss; Anne Marie. LOL.
We then went down to the Crystal Plaza and read and wrote and this provided a great opportunity to speak with some of the crew such as Nikki the on board booking consultant and several friends, including Rabbi Morrie.
We had lunch in the Lido Cafe and while we were sitting there Cruise Director Rick and Assistant Cruise Director Scott joined us for lunch. We enjoyed a lot of good laughs with both of them.
Afterwards we walked for an hour inside the ship.
Later in the afternoon, Keith met up with dear friend Bob and Anne Marie went to a movie showing in the Hollywood Theatre. The movie was Austenland featuring a woman who was obsessed with Pride and Prejudice (a favorite of Anne Marie's) who travels to a Jane Austen theme park in search for her perfect gentleman.
This evening we are dining at Tastes which is the dining venue which serves tastings from around the World, family style. We will be dining with Elaine and her daughter and with Peggy. We will post all about this tomorrow.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……..
"If you dream it, you can do it." - Walt Disney
Keith & Anne Marie
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