Before dinner last evening the four of us attended the Magic Show. These are held on each voyage and guests sign up for the show they want to attend. They try to limit each show to about 20 guests which gives each guest a nice view of the Magician and often the guests participate in the show. Little did we know that two of the four of us would participate in much of the show.
This was our magician who lives in New York City where he has performed in an off broadway magician show for eighteen consecutive years.
Keith and Kara ended up participating in the show.
From the show we went directly to the Crystal Dining Room and enjoyed a wonderful dinner as we celebrated Eric and Kara's Wedding Anniversary. We pre-ordered some items for this celebration with our Head Waiter Augusto and Eric and Kara pre-ordered something for Anne Marie. More on that in a second.
The dining room was fairly quiet as several people were dining somewhere else that are part of an insurance group that is on board this sailing.
Augusto made us Caesar Salad. Anne Marie prefers hers less spicy so he made hers first and then added more spices to the others. This is a photo of Keith's salad.
We then had Beef Wellington and Lobster Tails. The Beef Wellington was huge but after Augusto cut it for us guests at other nearby tables also tried some so it did not go to waste.
Our waiter also came around after we took this photo with a platter of steamed vegetables such as broccoli, carrots and asparagus and we also had our regular sides of vegetables which include peas, and asparagus, as well as some grilled onions that Keith has.
We ordered a cake for Kara and Eric to celebrate their Wedding Anniversary.
Eric and Kara surprised Anne Marie with a gift for Mother's Day along with a Happy Mother's Day Cake that they had made arrangements for since we will not be together on Mother's Day.
On top of this our Senior Waiter came around with ice cream for anyone who wanted some.
The cakes were similar as they were chocolate but each one had a distinct taste and filling.
Someone at an adjacent table ordered a dessert that looked like this and we asked Augusto about it. It is an Almond Cake which is now featured on the Modern Menu.
After a certain amount of time the foam begins to melt and you can see the ice cream inside.
We had a wonderful time at dinner. Everything was wonderful and the entire wait staff has been a gem throughout this wonderful journey. Maitre d' Leo came by to chat with the four of us as well. Our sommelier was terrific and last night we enjoyed two wines that Keith had sent down for the occasion.
During this journey we have had three different senior waiters and waiters, two sommelier's, two headwaiters and two Maitre d's. We can't say enough about each of them. They have made dining at the Crystal Dining Room a wonderful experience for us.
Afterwards, we stopped by the Photo Studio to select 10 photos from the photo package we had signed up for. We have never seen the photo studio as busy as it was. Once we made our choices and turned in the photos at the desk, Eric and Kara came to our room to chat for awhile.
We slept very well and the seas continued to be relatively smooth.
Keith was up first and read and wrote and then made his way to the Lido Cafe for some coffee. Every two voyages the Lido Deck Stewards typically move as a team to another area of the Lido Deck. For this and the previous voyage, these five Lido Deck Stewards have worked as one outstanding team during the morning at the Lido Cafe.
Reggie
Demi
Nat
Martin
Liebert
From time-to-time we talk about the Night Crew who literally work through the night and into the early morning hours cleaning every inch and nook of the ship. This is a photo of one of the night crew members, Marvin, who for the past couple of months Keith would see each and every morning as one of his responsibilities is to clean the Lido Cafe. Some from the night crew also perform other responsibilities and they are always a pleasure to see and speak with.
Before breakfast we walked for awhile and then we both worked on packing for a few hours.
We will be shipping some luggage back home and then keeping some with us so aside from just packing we have had to make decisions about what gets shipped home and what stays with us but that is all done now.
Today offered many beautiful views of the shoreline as we sailed to Istanbul.
Due to work being done at the pier that we were originally going to dock at we were assigned to another pier but the ship there leaves later so our arrival to Istanbul was delayed by one hour. We were informed about this the other day so this was not a surprise to us. We also learned that it would take longer to get the ship cleared than we expected. Although we had been to Istanbul many times and could have shown Kara and Eric around the city on our own since we knew we only had a few hours Keith originally arranged a private tour for the four of us so that we could maximize what we would see in a relatively show amount of time. Once we learned about the delay Keith got with the private tour company and advised them that we needed to cancel the tour. As they say there is always a next time so a tour for Eric and Kara around Istanbul will have to wait for another time.
Later in the morning we got together with Kara and Eric and all four of us walked together for close to an hour before we had lunch at the Lido Cafe. We made salad entrees. Kara and Eric had Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, french fries for Eric, and sweet potatoes fries for Kara which they got from the Trident Grill and Lido Deck Steward Nat was kind enough to bring them over to the Lido Cafe.
In the afternoon, Anne Marie packed her carry on and Keith finished up his packing and Kara did packing. Keith and Eric played Table Tennis and the played Paddle Tennis.
During the day we spoke with many of the wonderful crew members and we all gave our best to one another. Some from the wonderful crew will also be going home tomorrow.
This evening we will be dining at Tastes for our final dinner on the Serenity.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……...
"A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge." - Thomas Carlyle
Keith & Anne Marie
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