Last evening we dined with friends Peggy and Elaine. We first sailed with the two of them on the 2012 World Cruise and then Elaine again during the 2013 World Cruise. We dined earlier in the voyage at Silk Road and another time at Tastes and this time we dined at Peggy and Elaine's table.
Before dinner, we met for a drink at the Crystal Cove and then we sat down for dinner. Peggy and Elaine dine at the section of the Crystal Dining Room designated as Dining By Reservation. Whereas the majority of the dining room is designed for guests to arrive at either 6:00 PM for main seating or 8:30 PM for late seating, one can make a reservation for times that begin at 6:00 PM and run much later in the evening. Peggy and Elaine normally dine at 7:00 PM and they can do this in the Dining By Reservation section of the dining room.
We began dinner with salads. Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie had a spinach salad. For our entree Keith had Sea Bass and Anne Marie had Grilled Shrimp and for dessert it was Mixed Berries for Keith and a Sugar Free Chocolate Puff for Anne Marie.
We had a wonderful time with Peggy and Elaine.
Afterwards, we went to the Crystal Cove where the Galaxy Orchestra was playing Jazz Music.
When we arrived back to our room, on the table was the Preliminary 2017 World Cruise itinerary for the Crystal Serenity and a Preliminary Grand Voyage 2017 Itinerary for the Crystal Symphony. There was also a letter from Crystal President and COO, Edie Rodriquez about both of these itineraries.
We also received a letter from Hotel Director Josef about the changeover of retail stores from the current ownership to Starboard Cruise Services. A few of the shops will close starting the evening of April 12 until April 17 when they will open under the new ownership.
We slept very well last evening. You could barely feel that the ship was moving.
Once again, Keith was up very early and read and wrote and then did a short workout at the Fitness Center before he went to the Lido Cafe for some coffee. He brought some coffee back to the room for Anne Marie and then we walked for one hour on the Promenade Deck.
We then had breakfast in our room.
We did not go into port in Luanda, Angola. This is a Maiden Port Of Call for Crystal Cruises.
We had priced out doing a Crystal Private Excursion a few months ago and decided against it and decided not to do a group tour. There was no shuttle service recognizing since the infrastructure was not in place to support this and based on all we had read we decided that the best destination for us was to stay on board the Crystal Serenity. Several other guests decided to remain on board while others went with excursions. The Captain gave a talk from the bridge late yesterday morning separate from his daily Noon talk. At that point he discussed how the immigration process would work for today. In short, it would take a couple of hours for the passports to be reviewed by the immigration personnel on the ship. No need for us to any guests to attend. Once the process was over, then those guests getting off the ship could collect their passport at the front desk. For those on tours, the guest would turn their passports over to the tour guide and near the security gate the passports would be turned over to a local representative. For those doing out on their own, after the guest walked down the gangway they would walk about one third of a mile to a building where they would turn over their passports and then they could collect them on their return. We suspect the point of this is to make sure that no one remains in the country.
The Captain also advised that taking photos of the port were prohibited and that photos of we believe the Presidential Palace was also prohibited and in both cases could carry fines up to approximately $2,500.00. He also mentioned that they were advised that it is illegal to purchase uncut diamonds.
This morning the immigration process changed and it became easier for those who were concerned about the Passports. Immigration Authorities ended up stamping all of the Passports on board the ship and no one was required to take their Passport or their Yellow Fever Card with them. For those who wanted to get to the entrance of the pier a shuttle was operated between the Ship and the Entrance as guests were advised that they could not walk the pier themselves.
We noticed that a Spin Class was on the program even though it was not a sea day. When Keith got up to the Fitness Center, Fitness Director Michael said it must have been an error but he said he would be happy to teach the class so Keith ended up taking it with Rosalinda who has also taken most of the classes during the World Cruise as well. She stayed through most of the class but had to leave so for the last twenty minutes or so it was just Keith and Michael. Keith enjoyed the class.
Anne Marie was in the Crystal Plaza the entire time and then Keith met up with her. We spoke with some passengers including friend Elaine and also spoke with Cruise Director Rick and Hotel Director Josef for awhile.
We had lunch at the Lido Cafe and then Keith went off to play Paddle Tennis and Anne Marie walked outside on the Promenade Deck.
We have a nice dinner planned for this evening and will post more about that tomorrow.
We began dinner with salads. Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie had a spinach salad. For our entree Keith had Sea Bass and Anne Marie had Grilled Shrimp and for dessert it was Mixed Berries for Keith and a Sugar Free Chocolate Puff for Anne Marie.
We had a wonderful time with Peggy and Elaine.
Afterwards, we went to the Crystal Cove where the Galaxy Orchestra was playing Jazz Music.
When we arrived back to our room, on the table was the Preliminary 2017 World Cruise itinerary for the Crystal Serenity and a Preliminary Grand Voyage 2017 Itinerary for the Crystal Symphony. There was also a letter from Crystal President and COO, Edie Rodriquez about both of these itineraries.
We also received a letter from Hotel Director Josef about the changeover of retail stores from the current ownership to Starboard Cruise Services. A few of the shops will close starting the evening of April 12 until April 17 when they will open under the new ownership.
We slept very well last evening. You could barely feel that the ship was moving.
Once again, Keith was up very early and read and wrote and then did a short workout at the Fitness Center before he went to the Lido Cafe for some coffee. He brought some coffee back to the room for Anne Marie and then we walked for one hour on the Promenade Deck.
We then had breakfast in our room.
We did not go into port in Luanda, Angola. This is a Maiden Port Of Call for Crystal Cruises.
We had priced out doing a Crystal Private Excursion a few months ago and decided against it and decided not to do a group tour. There was no shuttle service recognizing since the infrastructure was not in place to support this and based on all we had read we decided that the best destination for us was to stay on board the Crystal Serenity. Several other guests decided to remain on board while others went with excursions. The Captain gave a talk from the bridge late yesterday morning separate from his daily Noon talk. At that point he discussed how the immigration process would work for today. In short, it would take a couple of hours for the passports to be reviewed by the immigration personnel on the ship. No need for us to any guests to attend. Once the process was over, then those guests getting off the ship could collect their passport at the front desk. For those on tours, the guest would turn their passports over to the tour guide and near the security gate the passports would be turned over to a local representative. For those doing out on their own, after the guest walked down the gangway they would walk about one third of a mile to a building where they would turn over their passports and then they could collect them on their return. We suspect the point of this is to make sure that no one remains in the country.
The Captain also advised that taking photos of the port were prohibited and that photos of we believe the Presidential Palace was also prohibited and in both cases could carry fines up to approximately $2,500.00. He also mentioned that they were advised that it is illegal to purchase uncut diamonds.
This morning the immigration process changed and it became easier for those who were concerned about the Passports. Immigration Authorities ended up stamping all of the Passports on board the ship and no one was required to take their Passport or their Yellow Fever Card with them. For those who wanted to get to the entrance of the pier a shuttle was operated between the Ship and the Entrance as guests were advised that they could not walk the pier themselves.
We noticed that a Spin Class was on the program even though it was not a sea day. When Keith got up to the Fitness Center, Fitness Director Michael said it must have been an error but he said he would be happy to teach the class so Keith ended up taking it with Rosalinda who has also taken most of the classes during the World Cruise as well. She stayed through most of the class but had to leave so for the last twenty minutes or so it was just Keith and Michael. Keith enjoyed the class.
Anne Marie was in the Crystal Plaza the entire time and then Keith met up with her. We spoke with some passengers including friend Elaine and also spoke with Cruise Director Rick and Hotel Director Josef for awhile.
We had lunch at the Lido Cafe and then Keith went off to play Paddle Tennis and Anne Marie walked outside on the Promenade Deck.
We have a nice dinner planned for this evening and will post more about that tomorrow.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…….
"In three words I can sum up what I've learned about life: It goes on." - Robert Frost
Keith & Anne Marie
Enjoying the blog; thanks for the effort! I'm interested to know if there were two or three tips from Jeremy about photography on a safari that you wished you'd known before your game drives. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteRob