NOTE: We included a picture of the new addition to our room, which is a Crystal Serenity Bear. If you look carefully you will see that the shirt is a 20-year anniversary shirt for Crystal Cruises. By the way if you click on any of the pictures you will be able to view them in a larger format. When we arrived back to the room last evening we discovered that when the stewardess turned down the bed that she tucked in those stowaways. Remember no matter what our physical age is, we are all young at heart.
We included a picture from last evening’s dinner at Silk Road and pictures from our visit to St. Lucia. We also included pictures from our time in St. Lucia including one of Anne Marie on the tender back to the ship in which we were the only passengers on the tender and two other pictures of St. Lucia
Last night we had a fantastic time at dinner with friends Mary and Stan. We first met Mary and Stan on the 2007 World Cruise and this adventure marks our third World Cruise sailing with them. They are remarkable individuals and it is so nice to sail with them again this year. The four of us enjoyed an amazing dinner at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant with outstanding food, ambience, service and conversation.
We had requested a specific waiter for the evening when we made the reservation and he knows of a favorite sushi item that Keith enjoys so without us even asking he had pre-ordered it for us.
We enjoyed all of the food. We began our meal with a variety of sushi and sashimi. Anne Marie prefers the rolls and other cooked sushi while Keith is the more adventurous one. We each had a noodle soup entrée that we have come to enjoy and we asked for scallops instead of the item that normally accompanies the soup. We concluded our meal with a fruit plate and Keith enjoyed some hot green tea. We look forward to other meals with Mary and Stan during the course of this adventure.
The entertainment last evening included Mark Haslam who is an outstanding Magician.
This morning Keith woke up very early and began the day with a nice long workout on the Elliptical Machine. He ended up being the only person in the Fitness Center.
When he arrived back to the room, he also took care of doing a couple of loads of wash in the laundry room. Anne Marie slept later than Keith and then she did her workout on the treadmill.
After Anne Marie arrived back to the room we enjoyed a nice breakfast.
As this was a port day there were no yoga classes so we got ready to enjoy the port of St. Lucia.
The ship arrived at St. Lucia by around 7:00 AM and tender service commenced at 8:00 AM. This was our first time to this island.
During Captain Glenn’s morning announcement he noted that the weather can change very quickly at this port of call and there was a chance of rain showers. The Captain’s thought of the day was:
“You have not failed. You have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
We thought we would share some information about St. Lucia.
Over the years, this island has been inhabited by many cultures. The first known inhabitants were the Arawak Indians. Eventually, they were driven away by the Carib Indians. The British first attempt to occupy this island was unsuccessful and the French occupied the island in 1660. Over the next 150 years the ruler of this island continually changed hands between the British and the French. The island was given to the British as part of the 1814 Treaty of Paris. By 1979 this island became an Independent Member of the British Commonwealth.
St. Lucia is one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean and is well known for both tourism and for its fine resorts, which are located in the northwestern portion of the island. It is now establishing itself as one of the premier tourism spots in all of the Caribbean and is attracting many newlyweds who spend time here on their honeymoon.
St. Lucia is well known for it twin volcanic peaks; Petit Piton and Gros Piton. We could see these peaks from the ship.
The island has a little less than 200,000 inhabitants and is 243 square miles.
Visitors to this island enjoy the beaches and the scenic views of the bays. There are many small towns to visit and there is a volcano that tourists can visit.
Some of the Island’s major attractions include the National Rainforest, The Pitons which are the twin peaks that we mentioned, and the Morne Fortune, also known as the Hill of Good Luck. The Fortune was a key battleground during the period of skirmishes over colonial possession of St. Lucia.
After we arrived to the town by Tender we walked around for a couple of hours. There were three other ships in port including a Princess and Celebrity ship, which were docked at two different piers, and a Costa Ship, which was also providing tender service. The area by the cruise ship dock is very typical of what you find in the Caribbean. There were lots of taxis and other tours available along with many different stores. While we will be taking many shore excursions over the course of this World Cruise we chose not to book anything for either this port of call or tomorrow in Barbados.
When we returned back to the ship we took another long walk but this time on the wrap around deck. There are very passenger cruise ships that have a true promenade deck like the two Crystal Ships. The promenade deck is great for a nice walk, a run or just standing on deck looking at all that is around the ship during arrivals, departures or other times.
For a portion of our walk we walked with a passenger who we met for the very first time at the start of this voyage. Afterwards, we had lunch at the Lido Café where we each had a very nice salad entrée. We ate outside so that we could enjoy the views from the ship and the lovely weather. We felt like we were on a private yacht as we were the only passengers dining outside.
We spent a very nice afternoon on the ship.
This evening we will dine at Silk Road, once again.
At the Captain’s Reception we sat with friends Bob and Glo along with actress Rita Moreno and her husband Leonard. As the reception was concluding Rita Moreno asked the four of us if we would like to join her and her husband for dinner at Silk Road on Friday evening. We all gladly accepted the invitation. Before dinner the plan is for the six of us to meet for a pre-dinner drink at the Avenue Saloon We will share more about the evening tomorrow.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY….
“If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. Of course, no one would have remembered him either.”
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