DAY 54 - DAY FORTY SIX ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

These are some additional photos from the first segment of the World Cruise.

Last evening on the ship was Black Tie Optional and was also the Captain's Farewell Party as the second segment of the World Cruise is slowly coming to a close.

We sat with friends Linda and John before dinner.  John and Linda dined at Prego while we dined at Silk Road.

These are dinner menus from the Crystal Dining Room.  If you click on the menu, you can view it in a larger format.

We arrived to the Silk Road Restaurant a couple of minutes after it opened.  We were seated at a nice table by Head Waiter Sigi.

Our waiter for the evening was Albert who took excellent care of us.

We have known Albert for many years.  In fact, when we first met Sigi he was the waiter and Albert was his assistant.

Albert pre-ordered several items for us with the chef.  We didn't even look at a menu until well into the dinner after we enjoyed each of these tasty dishes. We enjoyed five dishes, but only took photos of two of the five.  Keith was enjoying them so much he forgot about taking photos of the last three.

A triplet of three of Nobu Sashimi Specials.  From Left to Right, white fish, salmon and tuna.  The salmon is slightly cooked.  The white fish has a very light sauce and is to be eaten last (you eat these from right to left) as it will help to cleanse the pallet.  

Lobster Tempura.

Keith then ordered Sushi and Sashimi.   Anne Marie had some of one roll and Keith savored the rest of the items.  Anne Marie also ordered a Lobster Spring Roll, but we didn't get a photo of that.

For our entrees, Keith had the Hot Soba Noodles served with a nice soup broth and had thinly cut scallops added to the soup.  It is very light and tasty and a nice entree after all of the other delicious food.

Anne Marie enjoyed Lobster.  

Before we attended the Captain's Farewell Reception, we went to our room to freshen up.  On our bed was a very nice letter from World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston which contained information about the first of two World Cruise Shoreside events scheduled in a few days in Hong Kong as well as key items and times for various evening events on the next segment of the World Cruise.  These dates/events are very helpful to plan evening get-together with others.

Also on our bed were two gifts.  One is a little tea set and the other item was chop sticks and some other accessories.  Both of these items are to remind us of our stops in Japan and China.

We then went to the Captain's Farewell Reception.  We were greeted at the entrance by Captain Birger and Crystal Society Hostess Jaque and then we spoke with Hotel Director Josef and Cruise Director Rick.  We then just circulated around the room rather than sitting down just so we could speak with many of the guests on board the ship.  Many people who we have not seen in a few days asked about Keith.  We also saw the Doctor and one of the nurses who took care of Keith that evening, and we all gave a thumbs up.

When we arrived to our room it was early morning back home so we caught up with the news on one of the news stations.  Shortly afterwards, we went to bed.  We slept well which is always nice.

Keith was up first and after doing some reading and writing he worked out on the Elliptical Machine.  He then stopped at the Lido Cafe for some coffee and before he left he got one cup of coffee to take back to the room for Anne Marie.  After she freshened up we took our one hour walk inside the ship together.

We enjoyed breakfast in the room which Rao set up for us as we watched the Daily Morning Show with Cruise Director Rick and World Cruise Hostess Stacey.

Today was essentially a sea day as we did not arrive to Hong Kong until 6:00 PM.  As such, there was lots of items on the day time and afternoon program.

The morning talk was given by World Affairs lecture Sir Stephen Brown who spoke about Den Xiao-Ping; The Man Who Changed The World.  We watched this lecture later in the day when it was rebroadcasted.

We ended up sitting in the Crystal Plaza for quite awhile catching up with fellow guests and crew members.  Anne Marie also attended Knitting.  As we mentioned, she finished the first of two Knitting kits she was working on and has now started the second kit. She is enjoying not only the knitting but getting together with various women who are also working on the projects including friends Glo and BJ.

At 11:30 there was a very special event at the Crystal Lounge and Plaza.  It was called a Nostalgic Get-together, "The Beatles Celebration is Back! and featured the four lads from Liverpool (they are all indeed from Liverpool) as well as some members from the Galaxy Orchestra on Brass and the four members of the string quartet.  The last song also included the Singers and Dancer from the ship who wore one of their outfits from Across The Pond which includes songs of the Beatles.

The band played for 30 minutes and we danced to each and every song.

 Our favorite all-time group is indeed The Beatles so we really enjoyed this and we danced to several of the tunes.  While this was there last event on this voyage, this might not be the last time before we leave the ship that we will be writing about them so as they say "stay tuned" for more.

Since the special event was held at 11:30 AM, team trivia was pushed back to begin at 12:10.  This was our last Team Trivia game of this segment of the World Cruise.  We didn't finish in first place but we still had a great time playing and as they say it's all about having fun.  Our team got 10.5 out of 15.  We ended up finishing in fourth place.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice Salad Entree lunch and then we went on a one hour walk inside the ship.  In a few days, Anne Marie will start to walk outside and Keith hopes to get back to Paddle Tennis.

Anne Marie attended Yoga in the afternoon.  While the morning classes attract around 40 people, in the afternoon about 5 to 10 people attend.  Anne Marie has really been enjoying the classes which are taught by Maria Kita in the afternoon.  Both Maria and her husband Joe who also teaches Memoir Writing together teach the morning class.  Around the same time Anne Marie was in Yoga, Keith met up with dear friend Bob.

This evening we are back in the Crystal Dining Room after being away for five days. We plan to be dining there not only for the next two days before the World Cruise Shoreside Event in Hong Kong but also quite a bit on the next segment of the World Cruise. We say Headwaiter Augusto right before we went to Silk Road last evening and kidded around asking Augusto if he still remembered us.  LOL.

All in all it was a great day.  Like so many of our fellow guests and  the crew, we are looking forward to our time in Hong Kong. Unlike some ports, it is such an easy port to visited being docked at Ocean Terminal.  The terminal contains a very large mall which is great for guests who want to stay close to the ship and also those on the crew who do not have a lot of time to go ashore and once you make your way out of the terminal you are in walking distance of many places from restaurants to stores to various sights to see and even to the Ferry Building.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..

"We are tied to the ocean.  And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back to whence where we came." - John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Keith & Anne Marie