Sunday, April 4, 2010
Happy Easter from the Crystal Serenity.
Last night we enjoyed another nice evening on the ship.
We had dinner in the Main Dining Room. Last evenings dinner was appropriately called the Bon Voyage Dinner as we began the sixth leg of the World Cruise.
We each had a nice salad, and for our entrée we selected the Broiled Fillet of Fresh Local Dourade. It came on olive oil crushed potatoes, grilled vegetables and roasted tomato beurre blanc. As we always do we also enjoyed a side order of steamed vegetables and for desert we enjoyed berries.
We slept well as we are now cruising to our next port of call in Odessa. The next few ports of call will be all new for us as we have not sailed here before. We look forward to these new experiences.
Keith awoke early and walked right up to The Fitness Center where he enjoyed a nice workout on the Elliptical Machine. He began his workout at around 5:00 AM. He watched the second half of the second NCAA Men’s Basketball Game between West Virginia and Duke. After his workout he stopped by the Lido Deck to get some coffee where he was assisted by the new team of Lido Deck Stewards who have rotated over to this area of the ship. Typically, the Lido Deck Stewards rotate every two voyages although sometimes this can vary. It gives them the opportunity to work in other areas of the Lido Deck and to have somewhat different work scheduled. They work in teams. As we say often, these folks are the Heart of the Ship.
Anne Marie began her workout a few minutes after Keith got back to the room on the Treadmill for an hour. Like Keith, she stopped by the Lido Café for some coffee after her workout was over.
As we usually do, we enjoyed a nice breakfast in our When Alexander arrived to our room with the breakfast he also had an Easter Basket for us. This was a highlight of Anne Marie’s morning. J We spoke with Alexander about what we observed in Athens with respect to Easter. He noted that the Greek Orthodox do not go for the commercialized aspect of Easter with the candy bunnies and baskets. We showed him the picture that we had taken of the Easter Bread with the red colored egg and he said that is very typical of what one will see in the Greek Orthodox communities. Alexander explained to us the other day that every four years the calendars match up so that Good Friday and Easter Sunday are celebrated on the same days as others celebrate the holiday. Christmas is celebrated January 6 and 7 (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day)
While we were enjoying our breakfast we watched the Crystal Cruises Daily Morning Show featuring Cruise Director Rick Spath and World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston. Keith called in and correctly answered one of the Trivia questions.
This leg of the cruise will be more port intensive with far less sea days. While we are at sea today we will then have several consecutive port days beginning tomorrow.
To celebrate Easter there was a special Easter Sunrise Service on the ship which was conducted at 6:30 AM by Msgr Wilbur David and Reverent Ed Voosen. At 8:05 and 9:05 each of the members of the Clergy were on the program. There was an Easter Catholic Mass, an Easter Protestant Workshop Service and a Rap With The Rabbi.
We went to the Rap with the Rabbi and enjoyed another nice discussion.
During Captain Glenn’s morning talk he shared his thought of the day which is “Most of us know how to say nothing, but very few of us know when.”
This morning there were a couple of lectures. The first lecture was given by Celebrity Lecturer Major General Perry Smith whose presentation was titled “Learning from Heroes – Stories of recipients of the Medal of Honor and the Carnegie Medal.
Afterwards, Special Interest Lecturer Robert Freedman gave a presentation titled “Understanding Putin’s Russia. He spoke about Putin’s recentralization of power, the challenge Russia poses to the United States and the state of Russian-Ukrainian relations today. He provided us with a lot of useful information.
All of the lectures on board the ship are video taped so if someone cannot attend one of the lectures they can easily view it from the comfort of their stateroom or from the Fitness Center when it is shown sometime during the day.
While we did no eat at the lunch there was an Easter Brunch in the Main Dining Room. Instead we went to the Lido Café and each had a nice salad entrée. We stopped by the Easter Brunch just to take a few pictures and to say hello to some of the staff.
In the afternoon, Anne Marie took a nice long walk on the Promenade Deck while Keith played paddle tennis read, wrote and spoke with a few of our fellow passengers.
We also enjoyed great views of Istanbul (Asia and Europe) sides as we sailed the Strait of Bosporus.
This evening we are once again dining in the Main Dining Room. Tonight is the first of the formal nights on this leg of the cruise. After dinner, we will go to the Captain’s Welcome Reception.
TODAY’S THOUGHT OF THE DAY………
“Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”
Keith and Anne Marie
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