Anne Marie with the Chief Financial Accountan, Brigitte.
Afterwards, we made our way back to the Crystal Dining Room. These are the menus from dinner.
For a ship that is quite full, the Dining Room was very quiet as many guests were dining at other venues. There were several empty tables near us which was unusual.
These are the dinner menus.
We began our meal with salads and then for our entree we each had the Broiled Sea Bass from the Modern Cuisine Menu. It was cooked to perfection and the sides that accompanied it were very tasty. We also had our usual side orders of several vegetables. Some of the differences with the modern menu are the items that accompany the Sea Bass, the sauce and it presentation. We also had our usual set of sides.
For dessert Anne Marie had the Sugar Free Berry Mousse which made for a fantastic presentation and was very tasty and Keith had mixed berries.
From our perspective the transition to the new menus has been very transparent in terms of service levels in the Dining Room, the way the items are explained by our Senior Waiter and the overall operation of the Dining Room. We realize that like most things that are new that it is probably more challenging in the Galley but for us it is as if this menu was in place for a very long time. As we've mentioned on the previous cruise various new menu items were being served but they were not highlighted on the old menu. This allowed both the staff who works in the Galley as well as the Wait-Staff to prepare for the rollout of these new menus. In addition to the Vice President responsible for food and beverages being on board there is also a consultant who is on board who has been involved in the opening of several five star restaurants on land as well as other restaurant openings. He is involved behind the scenes but also he has come by each of the tables to help to answer questions that guests may have and to also get feedback from the guests about the new items. Likewise, the wait staff has asked for feedback and has checked often with the guests to make sure that everyone is pleased with each course.
There is a little "kid" in all of us no matter what our age is and that was evident last evening.
Like many others, last evening we took a little trip down memory lane as we attended the entertainment show featuring the group that plays Beatles Music. The show is called "From the Cavern to the Roostops". This is the same band that we had during the World Cruise. We just love the music and song of The Beatles and they played so many of their classic hits so very well. They changed outfits once as they moved from the earlier Beatle Hits to some of the later ones. They were joined for a portion of the show by the Galaxy Orchestra and also the String Quartet.
We saw them perform on the World Cruise and it was great to see them perform again. We enjoyed them so much we went to both the 8:45 PM and the 10:30 PM shows. For the 8:45 show they went for over an hour.
We did get there early so we had a front row seat right in the middle of the center aisle. After the first show ended we waited for the second show. A few people stayed for both shows as well. Towards the end of each show we were out of our seats and swaying and dancing to the music. The band does a nice job of getting the audience to participate with some of the songs so there were times that we also sang along.
"John"
"Paul"
"Paul and George"
"Paul and George"
"Ringo"
We always talk about how easy it is to go to sleep. Well, it was easier last night since we were up a lot later than usual. We dreamed about The Beatles and their music. Yes, they are our favorite band of all-time.
Keith still managed to get up fairly early. Yes, the body alarm clock normally gets him up early. He did some reading and writing and a short workout at the Fitness Center before going to the Lido Cafe for coffee. Shortly after bringing some coffee back for Anne Marie we had breakfast in our room about 30 minutes earlier than normal.
This morning we arrived to Lisbon which was the last port of call before we reached Southampton on the World Cruise. The only difference is that we docked at a terminal that was a few minutes further from the downtown area than the pier that we docked at recently. This was because there are a number of passenger's getting off the ship today and where we were docked today was necessary to take care of the luggage and the necessary immigration requirements for those guests. A shuttle was run from the terminal to the downtown area.
The Captain's Forecast from yesterday was spot on. There was rain showers when we first arrived, with the rain stopping by 7:00 AM. The morning began as partly cloudy and then the sun came out. We decided to stay on the ship and have an early lunch and then go off the ship to enjoy the better weather as our plan was just to walk around the city.
Given this, after breakfast Anne Marie walked inside the ship for one hour and listened to one of her audio books. Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine and then walked around the ship. He ran into Carl who plays Paul McCartney and then afterwards he joined our Travel Specialist Gerri, and also her colleague Loretta as well as the President of the Travel Agency Mary Jean for about 30 minutes at Tastes where they were having breakfast. Keith congratulated them on being the number one producer for Crystal Cruises for the fourteenth straight year which is quite an accomplishment.
Afterwards, we both took care of some items in our room and then had lunch and then it was time to walk around Lisbon. We just walked into town rather than taking the complimentary shuttle. We walked a little over eight miles and we walked up several hills and various main and side streets. It is a fun city to just walk and to people watch and to enjoy the architecture of the city.
We ran into two of four women who live on the ship; Tomi and Mama Lee. Tomi is taking an iMovie Class and was looking for places to take photos that she could use for an iMovie that she will be making. Keith suggested a nearby statue as a good photo stop.
During our walk it would go from sunny to partly cloudy and back and forth between being warm and also being moderately cool. All in all it was perfect weather.
As we arrived back to the Terminal Building we ran into Rabbi Morrie and his lovely wife Gerri and we spoke with them for a couple of minutes before we boarded the ship. As we board one of the Security Personnel says three key words; "Welcome Back Home". This is so very true.
We enjoyed the ship the rest of the afternoon.
This evening we will be dining at Prego with two other people and will post all about that tomorrow.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……….
The Beatles will exist without us." - George Harrison
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