Saturday, April 24, 2010
We enjoyed another special evening no the ship last evening.
In the late afternoon, we took the behind the scenes tour of the Crystal Serenity. The tour was wonderful. We walked in groups of ten guests and our escort was Beverly Durand who is the Dance Instructor and we were taken onto the crew decks. We visited several areas including the crew and officer’s bar, the crew and the officer’s mess, the laundry area where laundry and dry cleaning are done, the engine room, the butcher shop where meat is cut, several areas where supplies are kept including fruits and vegetables, and several other areas of the crew decks. It was a marvelous tour. We had last done this in 2007 and with smaller groups we got to see quite a bit more. We also got to see the dressing areas that the entertainers utilize and we also spoke with several of the entertainers. We talked about what their preparation is like and how they keep fit during the course of the cruise. They are all so amazing.
After this tour, we dined in the Crystal Main Dining Room and last nights menu was a French Dinner. One of the senior officers joined us for dinner. We enjoyed a nice salad and for our entrée we each enjoyed a Dourade seafood entrée, which was accompanied by Jerusalem Artichoke Puree, Thyme Roasted Tomatoes, Braised Leek and Parsley Jus. It was delicious. We also had extra vegetables and for our dessert we each had a bowl of berries.
We enjoyed speaking with the wonderful staff in the dining room. We spoke for a while with Bojan who is our headwaiter. We have had him as the headwaiter for the past few weeks since Agusto went on vacation. We find him to be upbeat each time we see him and have enjoyed talking with him these past few weeks. We also spoke with our senior waiter Pedja and our waiter Therese. They are always very pleasant to talk with and we have really enjoyed their outstanding service. Throughout much of this voyage they have also worked lunches up at the Lido Café so we have also enjoyed seeing them there as well. Like many of our fellow guests, we really appreciate dining at the same table each time we dine in the Main Dining Room and having the same wait staff. Both Therese and Pedja quickly learned our preferences including the type of water we drink, the type of roll we enjoy and our preference for healthy food. They have been very professional while at the same time being very kind and we will miss them when it is time to depart the ship in a few days. Likewise, we have adored the sommelier Jiri. In previous years, the sommeliers would rotate every two or three legs so during the course of the world cruise one might have three sommeliers. It’s been very nice that this time around that the sommeliers have not rotated and we have enjoyed talking with Jiri about wine and so many other items. The wonderful personnel who work in the dining room all add to a dining experience that in our humble opinion is second to none on the high seas.
After dinner we attended the Crystal Society Reception, which recognizes many of the Crystal Cruisers who have sailed on a significant number of voyages. We sat with a very nice couple. We also spoke with others at the event including the Rabbi and his wife, Destination Lecturer Ken Rees and his wife, along with several other people. At the conclusion of the event, they recognized the woman who has completed the most voyages of any passenger and including this final leg of the World Cruise she has completed approximately 275 cruises with Crystal. She will be one of the few guests who will remain on board the ship after we disembark on April 29 in Southampton.
We slept very well last evening. The good news is that we set the clocks back one hour before we went to sleep. J The bad news is that this evening we will set the clocks back one hour. One must be flexible when they travel. J
Keith awoke earlier than normal and actually worked out on the elliptical machine for the longest workout he has had since we came on board the ship. He was alone for a portion of the workout and then about midway through the workout fellow guest and friend John worked out. There were a few other guests working out when Keith finished the workout. Since we were in port today, Anne Marie skipped the morning workout. Keith stopped by the Lido Café to bring coffee back to the room for both of us.
Afterwards, we enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our stateroom. We spoke with Alexander for a few minutes about our plans for the day.
We arrived in Lisbon this morning at around 7:00 AM. This is our second time to Lisbon as we were here in 2008. It is a beautiful city with lots of nice scenery to see. Since we have been here before we decided to walk around the city on our own rather than to take a shore excursion.
Lisbon is the Captial of Portugal and was also the site for the 1998 European Expo. It sits on the banks of the Tagus River. It has many famous attractions includng a 12th century cathedral.
Lisbon has a population of close to 600,000 residents. The language spoken is Portuguese.
Rather than taking the shuttle from the Pier to the drop off point at 9:00 AM, after the ship was cleared at around 8:00 AM we walked from the pier to the downtown area. We entered the city at the city center which is Rua Do Comercio and then we walked all around. We walked up a variety of hills which took us to some very quaint areas where people live and in these areas we passed small markets where the locals do their shopping. The weather was perfect and was in the high 70’s. We walked for over three hours and then we walked back to the ship rather than take the shuttle.
After we returned to the ship from our morning visit to Lisbon we enjoyed a very nice lunch in the Lido Café and we had our usual lunch of a salad entrée.
In the afternoon we read, wrote, spoke with fellow guests and crew and Anne Marie took a nice long walk on the Promenade Deck.
This evening we will be dining with the World Cruise Hostess, and some other people and we will post about this tomorrow.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twent or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
Keith and Anne Marie
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