Friday, April 16, 2010
We had another wonderful time on the ship last evening. The highlight of the evening was attending the special event called “A Gypsy Rhapsody.
We can’t say enough about how truly special this event was.
We arrived to this event at 5:15 PM and enjoyed a cocktail before the start of the Dinner and Show. We sat and spoke with friends John and Linda. Each of us received our table assignments a few hours before the event. A few minutes before 6:00 PM a few tables were called at a time and the host of each table escorted those guests sitting at the table into the area where the Dinner and Show was held. Right before we entered our the venue a group picture of those at the table was taken
In our case, we were first escorted over to the area where our friend Mary who is the wife of the Computer Instructor Stan was holding the event. The host of our table, Greg Michel, President of Crystal Cruises, then greeted us. We were seated at the table with four other couples all of whom we know including friends Linda and John. Anne Marie was seated just to the left of Greg Michel, with Keith to her left and then Linda and John over to our left respectively. Our seats provided a wonderful opportunity to converse with the host of our table and we all enjoyed wonderful conversations throughout the evening.
We greatly appreciate having had the opportunity to be part of the table hosted by Greg Michel. We talked about a wide range of topics and all of this significantly added to making this evening so very special for us.
We had a couple of wonderful senior waiters assigned to our table from Prego including Costa who is normally the waiter we have at Prego and also Rossi who we also enjoy a great deal and who has taken good care of us on this cruise and in 2008. Our waiter from the Main Dining Room, Therese, also was assigned to our table and that also was a very nice touch.
The meal including the cuisine and its presentation was fabulous. The meal included Fresh Smoked Salmon Trout with Potato Latkes, Chive Crème Fraiche for the Appetizer, which was followed by Hungarian Cabbage Soup. The entrée was Roast Beef Tenderloin with Root Vegetable sauce, Asparagus Bundles and Homemade Egg Noodles. The dessert was Topfen Palatschinken with Sauce Anglaise and Marinated Strawberries. Of course there were rolls.
Three wines were served including a Whiete Sauvignon Blanc from Adige, Italy a red wine which was a Chianti Classsico Reserva from Tuscany, Italy and a dessert wine which was from Austria and was delicious.
There was coffee, tea and other beverages available.
The entertainment was truly outstanding. It is incredible that an entire show is developed for the evening featuring skits, dancing, singing, all of the instrumentals and a special performance by a violinist, Nicola Loud, who was brought back to the ship after appearing earlier in the cruise for this event. They then perform these two magnificent shows (one for early and the other for late seating) never to be seen again. It is amazing how professional these entertainers are and the collaboration that goes into pulling this all together.
This was another special evening that we will remember for the rest of our lives. Our thanks go out to all of the personnel who made this event a success.
We slept very well last evening as we cruised to our next port of call. Keith awoke early and was back in the Fitness Center for his morning Elliptical Workout. He was alone for a while and then fellow passenger and friend John arrived and the two of them were the only ones working out. After the workout, Keith stopped by the Lido Café to bring coffee back to the room for both himself and for Anne Marie. Since we had an early tour today Anne Marie skipped the workout and worked out this afternoon. Keith spoke with some of the Lido Deck Stewards including Ruel and Brian. All of the Lido Deck Stewards were up late last night helping to clean up following the second event. As we say the event is a team effort and so many personnel are involved in its success.
We then had an early morning breakfast in our room, which was served by Alexander. We chatted with Alexander about how wonderful last night was and what we would do in port today.
We arrived in Naples this morning. We have been to Naples several times in the past.
The city population of Naples is close to 1 million residents. This city is a gateway to several tourist sites including Herculaneum, Pompeii, The Amalfi Coast and to the town of Sorrento.
We took a shore excursion through Crystal Cruises, which was the Excavations of Herculaneum. The town of Herculaneum was buried in volcanic mud when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, and the mud hardened preserving the site in near perfect condition.
We thoroughly enjoyed the excursion. We only had around 20 guests on the tour and we had a wonderful tour guide. We all wore the earphone sets that were provided to us so we could easily hear the guide without the need to be under foot.
As is the case with Pompeii there is much to see what impressed us the most is the ingenuity and the sophistication that existed back then and how this also translated to the structural integrity of these sites. We saw some homes that in many ways still looked beautiful between the artwork on the walls and the beautiful mosaic tile on the floor.
The weather was nice as it was only around 70 degrees and it was also overcast. We had a few drops of rain just for about 10 minutes. This is a perfect time of the year for these tours since it is far less hot and humid and there are also far less tourists than in the middle of the summer.
After the shore excursion we arrived back to the ship and went to the Lido Café for lunch. As usual, we each made a nice salad entrée for ourselves.
In the afternoon, Anne Marie worked out and we also wrote, read and spoke with some of our fellow passengers.
Anne Marie also went to see an afternoon movie titled It’s Complicated starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin and enjoyed the movie. We didn’t get a chance to go but the other day the movie Avatar was featured.
We also wanted to mention that the Crystal Serenity 2009 Employee Of The Year has been selected and announced. The winner is Ronnie Espina. For those of you who may have sailed with Crystal before and on this ship he is one of the Telephone Operators. He was on the first portion of the World Cruise and he has recently come back from being on vacation. He used to work in the Library Once in a while he has performed in some of the one-time shows. He is a wonderful person who is very friendly and helpful and goes out of his way to make each person feel special. Yes, these are three great traits that are characteristics of the Crystal Crew.
This evening will mark the last evening of this leg of the World Cruise. We will dine in the Main Dining Room and will post more about this evening tomorrow.
TODAY’S THOUGHT OF THE DAY….
“There is never a better measure of what a person is than what he does when he’s absolutely free to choose.”
Keith and Anne Marie
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