At 5:00 PM we attended the Muster Station Drill. Our location was in the same place as usual which is the Casino Area although we are in a different room this year. However, we are still in a mid ship roomas we normally are but on a different deck.
On the Serenity since the lifeboats are tucked away, the meeting locations for the drill are all inside the ship. As part of the drill, at its conclusion they do point out the location of our lifeboat. This is something that is relatively new which we believe began earlier the year. As many times as we have attended these drills we do take them very seriously and we do pay attention to the instructions.
Shortly after the lifeboat drill we went down to the Crystal Cove. We had our usual drinks before dinner drinks of Perrier. We spoke with several crew members and some guests who we know from previous voyages. We also signed up for an exclusive vintage room for the 13th of this month with Head Sommelier Bart, which will feature food prepared by one of the special guest chefs who will be coming on board in Iceland. Yes, Reindeer will be one of the items served. This is offered a couple of times a year.
We departed Southampton Port at close to the scheduled time of 6:00 PM. We were actually in Southampton two other times earlier this year. First was at the conclusion of the World Cruise in April. We then stayed on board for two additional voyages, departing the ship on May 7 in Istanbul. We flew to London Heathrow with our Eric and Kara and the following day they flew home. We stayed one day beyond and then we took the Queen Mary 2 from Southampton to NYC and flew home from there. It was a chance to try the QM2 and we avoided flying home and it did make it very easy to get over the jet lag. There is a lot of history to this port of call and we have been on other Crystal cruises which ended here.
Last evening was like old times. Well, maybe recent times is a better description. We dined at the Prego Specialty Restaurant as guests of Hotel Director Josef Lumetsberger who we have had the pleasure of knowing for many years. Josef has been with Crystal Cruises from almost since its inception having started in 1990 and has served in a variety of positions including Executive Chef, Food & Beverage Manager and for the past several years as Hotel Director. It was wonderful to catch up with Josef since we last saw him on the day the World Cruise ended.
Dining is a very nice experience on board the two Crystal ships and we greatly enjoy dining in the evening. The waitstaff took excellent care of us as they always do.
Since we disembarked Serenity in early May, several new items have been added to to the Prego Specialty Restaurant Menu. There are several new entrees, and some new desserts, and other items. We tried a couple of them.
We each began our meal with a small appetizer which was the pasta addition of the day which can be ordered either as an entree or even as a smaller appetizer. It included clams and spaghetti and the sauce was very tasty. Sorry we can't remember the official name.
The two of us then had a Caesar Salad and then we each had one of the new entrees which was the Pacceri and Swordfish. The Swordfish was served inside the pasta which is quite unique. It was very tasty having been prepared with a nice variety of ingredients which just added to the flavor of this entree.
For those of you who follow us you know that our typical dessert in Prego is fruit. However, it was recommended that we try this new dessert which we did. Hot water is poured through this sieve.
The hot coffee then poured through to the ice cream.
It is called Affogato. It includes coffee ported onto a light mascarpone cheese and homemade vanilla ice cream. It was very tasty. We hope no calories. Keith only had half.
Jiri who we have knows for around five years has moved from the Crystal Dining Room where he was the Sommelier up to Prego. He took good care of us last evening. Last evening, three white wines were on the list including a Chardonnay and a Sovereign Blanc as were three different white wines. Keith started with a glass of the Chardonnay (Anne Marie had Chardonnay too) and then he switched to one of the reds which was La Grola Allegvini 2011. It is a little spicy and Keith really enjoyed this one.
We had a wonderful time with Josef and really appreciate that he took time from his busy schedule to dine with us. The Prego wait staff was excellent and all of the wait staff last evening were on board for all or a portion of the time we were on board. We also caught up with Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' Antonio.
Last evening featured one show since it was embarkation day and the show featured The Crystal Ensemble of Dancers and Singers who performed a selection of songs/dances and they were accompanied by the Galaxy Orchestra.
We had no trouble falling asleep. We attribute that to having woken up relative early and the gentle rocking of the ship. In general, we sleep far better at sea than on land.
We quickly were back to our regular routine at sea that many of you who have followed our Blog(s) know quite well. Keith was up first and after reading and writing, he worked out at the Fitness Center on the Elliptical Machine. He is always an early riser at sea and on land and at sea just finds it a good time to use the Fitness Center. He enjoys a long workout on the Elliptical Machine and with very few people if any at the center he can do that since no one is waiting for a machine. Today, outside of one guest working out for a few minutes, Keith had the Fitness Center to himself.
The first photo shows the group of Elliptical Machines. Keith prefers the one directly on the left and the second photo is the one he worked out on.
Appropriately, Keith watched the Movie The Queen. On most days at least one of the movies shown is appropriate to the area of the world the ship is sailing. While we have both seen this movie before, Keith enjoyed watching it again and it made the workout go by even faster than normal.
Afterwards, he changed and then stopped by the Lido Cafe for Coffee and to read and write. Yesterday we ran into some of the Lido Deck Stewards and then this morning Keith spoke with the team that is assigned to the Lido Cafe on this cruise for Breakfast. This included Nat, Joe and Martin.
Keith at his usual table at the Lido Cafe with two cups of coffee and his iPad.
Early in the morning there is coffee available and then continental breakfast such as donuts and cereal and fruit. Keith just sticks to the coffee.
Afterwards, Keith brought back coffee to the room for Anne Marie and she went on a long walk. We had breakfast in our room and it is a very simple breakfast; Oatmeal with Banana for Keith and Cereal and Banana for Anne Marie. A spin (indoor cycling class) was offered at 8:15 AM and Keith attended that one. It was taught by Fitness Director, Leanne, who Keith first met on the World Cruise when she joined the ship around the mid-way point of the voyage. She did a terrific job teaching the class. Since we arrived to port at around 8:00 AM there were only two guests taking the class.
After Anne Marie stopped by the class to take a couple of photos she finished up here morning walk before we both met up to go into port. She walked on the promenade deck both times in the morning.
Today's voyage began with a stop at St. Peter Port, Guernsey. We have been here before and given that arrival was 8:00 AM and departure was 1:00 PM and it is a tender port we didn't plan any formal tour. Shortly after Keith finished his Spin Class, we took the tender into port. We wore long sleeve tops and long pants and even our jacket but the weather was a delight. Earlier as we were making our way to this port it was foggy and we could hear the ship's fog horn sounding, but by the time we tendered it was sunny and an absolutely delightful day.
We walked around the area known as St Peter Port for a couple of hours and the town is just a delight. It is lined with all sorts of stores and restaurants and other food establishments. We visited a local church and also went in and out of various stores and we also spoke with a local woman who told us about the area.
There were lots of flowers around town and everything was prim and proper.
Wish we could share the wonderful aroma when we entered this shop. The patsy's looked and smelled quite good. A patsy is quite similar to an empanadas. They can be filled with a variety of items. On one of our previous tours we learned that many years ago wives would prepare the patsy for lunch for their husbands and would stuff them with items such as meats, and potatoes and other vegetables and the dough kept it all together.
We visited the Parish Church.
This is the front of a Best Western Hotel.
This town is also home to the Hauteville House which was Victor Hugo's exquisitely ornate home during his exile in Guernsey between 1856 and 1870.
All in all we had a delightful time just strolling up and down many of the streets and just taking in all that was around us.
This afternoon was a fairly typical afternoon for each of us. We had lunch at the Lido Cafe. The Lido Cafe works very well for us for lunch since we each have a salad entree each and everyday. We can just make the salad ourselves which works nicely for us. From time to time we will go to the Crystal Dining Room for lunch and we really enjoy its ambience as well as the outstanding service and food served there but most of our lunches are, in fact, at the Lido Cafe. We each added a small piece of chicken to our salads.
Afterwards, Keith played Paddle Tennis which he really enjoys. Keith is not a Tennis Player on land only having played it say 10 to 15 times other than in high school and it was on a seven day cruise with our son, daughter in law, daughter and son in law that Keith finally tried Paddle Tennis in early January of 2010 and then the rest is history. He played throughout the January 2010 World Cruise and bought his first Paddle Tennis racket on that World Cruise in Buenos Aires and has played ever since then whenever we sail. He enjoys the sport itself. It also provides an opportunity to get fresh air as Keith is not one who sits by the pool and he has met so many people who play some of whom we see quite often when we sail.
He ended up playing for three hours. Was partners with two different guests that he has played with on other cruises and with several other people. He had a lot of fun. Weather was sunny for part of the time and quite warm and then about two hours after he started to play it go just a little cooler.
Anne Marie walked for an hour as she normally does in the afternoon. On the World Cruises her routine is to also attend an afternoon Yoga class which along with morning Yoga is offered on all sea days and on selected port days if the ship arrives to port late morning or is leaving port early afternoon. She also went to needlepoint in the afternoon.
This evening is one of two Black Tie Optional evenings on board the ship and also is the Captain's Reception which we will be attending after we dine at the Crystal Dining Room for dinner. The Production Show for this evening is Across The Pond which features songs from the British Invasion, including some songs originally performed by those four lads from Liverpool, the Beatles.
Keith & Anne Marie
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