DAY 78 - DAY SEVENTY ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

Before dinner last evening, we attended the first awards ceremony of the World Cruise Events.  This ceremony recognized those guests who either won a Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal in their respective events that took place on board the ship on Friday and Saturday.  We did not participate in any of these events, but we were happy to attend to applaud for the winners.    

Fitness Director Michael with Olympian Dain Blanton who is showing his actual Gold Medal to Michael

Captain Birger and Cruise Director Rick were on hand for the entire event.

Afterwards, we had dinner at Prego with Cruise Director Rick Spath and World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston.  We had a terrific time with Rick and Stacey and enjoyed not only good conversation but a lot of laughs.  

Our waiter for the evening was Costa who took very good care of the four of us.

We began the meal with an appetizer of the additional Pasta Entree.  This was a very delicious pasta and was very tasty and of course very fresh.  

Our next course was salad.  Anne Marie had the Caesar Salad and Keith had his standing order salad.

We then had the Grouper additional entree as our entree.  It was very tasty.  Like the Pasta, this entree was also very tasty with all of that flavor from all of the ingredients that went into the preparation of this entree.

Prego was quite busy last evening and it might have been one of the busiest nights we have ever seen there.  Yet, it was still quiet and the wait staff kept up with this with superb service.  
After dinner, we attended the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle Party.  Unlike last time there were a lot of guts there.  The Hotel Director, Cruise Director, Food & Beverage Manager, On-Board Booking Consultant and Activities Hostess was also there which was very nice. We spoke with several people including a couple who will also be on our Safari and a couple whose husband took the Spin Class with Keith the other day.

We slept very well last evening as we continued to sail to our next port of call.

Keith was up first and read and wrote and also went to the Lido Cafe for coffee.  A short while after he brought coffee back to the room for Anne Marie we went on a one hour walk on the Promenade Deck.  The weather was absolutely beautiful.  There were many cloud formations in all sorts of different sizes and shape.  For almost half our walk we walked with Mary who is the wife of Stan who teaches the College Credited Course.  We have known Mary and Stan since 2007.  On the first couple of World Cruises the Elliptical Machines used to be next to the Treadmill and Mary and Keith used to talk almost every day as he was on the Elliptical next to the Treadmill that Mary would use.  We talked a lot about the upcoming Safaris.  Stan will be escorting the one we are on and Mary will be escorting another one.

Today was a very busy day.  There are just so many activities to choose from and as we have said we would need 48 hours or more to do all of the activities that are available and of interest to us.  

We began with Breakfast as we watched the Daily Morning Show with Cruise Director Rick and World Cruise Hostess Stacey.  We enjoyed breakfast as we watched the show.

Right after Breakfast, Keith went to his Spin Class.  Often Spin Classes are offered every other sea day but on this voyage Fitness Director Michael has been kind enough to offer them on each sea day.  It was another challenging class.

Shortly after that, Anne Marie played Solitaire which is one of the games that is part of the World Games.  There were three groups and Anne Marie went to the first session.  In that session she won three games in 15 minutes placing her in second.  As it turned out only one person won four games but two others who tied with Anne Marie with three games won did it in faster times than she did.  

Keith participated in the Men's World Games Basketball Tournament which involves foul shooting.  There are several rounds and you begin with each person needing to make 1 of 5 shots to move into the next round and in each succeeding round you must make an additional foul shot to move to the next round.  So, it goes from 1 to 2 to 3 and so forth.  

Some of you know that basketball was Keith's love when he played sports in school.  With that said, there is always a lot of luck when you do this on the ship because of factors such as wind which can play havoc with the ball.  We didn't have Basketball last year due to the inclement weather so this was the sixth time Keith has played this in the World Games and he has been lucky to have won a medal each time.  Today it was Silver and in total he has won three golds, two silvers and one bronze medal in this category.  It was a lot of fun and most importantly everyone cheered for one another and there were a lot of good laughs and that is what counts the most.  

Keith was giving some pointers to this gent who is from Australia.

Keith with Chuck Porter.  Chuck won the gold in Basketball in 2006 and then on our first World Cruise in 2007 Keith captured the Gold.  We got to know people such as Chuck and his wife Kay that very first year through the World Games.

Keith was the first up in all rounds as he was the first to register thanks to Anne Marie who registers the two of us for the games that we wanted to play in.

Closest to Keith is Grant Tharp who is not only a member of the Galaxy Orchestra but is also Chair of the World Cruise Games taking over for former Crystal Cruises Galaxy Orchestra Drummer and backup Band Leader Danny who did this role for several years.

From L-R, Jim (Gold Winner) who we have known since 2007 and we sat with him and his wife Judy at both shore side event, Keith with a Gold and Marvin who we have also known since 2007 who got the Bronze.  As Jim has never won a medal in Basketball, when Keith congratulated Jim he whispered, "about time".

And for those of you who have sailed on the Serenity you will see will sea Clark (also known as superman) with a life boat jacket on. Shortly after we started the competition the crew had their weekly lifeboat drill.

Keith represented us on Team Trivia.

We also had lunch and as usual had a salad entree.

In the afternoon Anne Marie walked and went to Yoga.

Keith played Paddle Tennis  for a couple of hours and also participated in the Purim Event that is open to all guests regardless of religious faith on board the ship.  Traditional songs and readings were part of the event as were the foods that were served afterwards.  We will post some photos tomorrow.

In between all of this we caught one of the two lectures that were given which was the one given by Special Interest Lectures Rick Senat about Warner Brothers and the changes it brought to the screen and some of the famous actors that it had under contract.We will catch up with the other two lectures in the next day since they are all pre-recorded and available for viewing on both the Television and also as part of Lectures on Demand on our iPads.

We will be dining at Silk Road this evening and will post all about this tomorrow.

TODAY'S TOUGHT FOR THE DAY………..

"If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul." - Rabbi Harold Kushner

Keith & Anne Marie