En Route To Cochin, India - Day 42

NOTE: We’ve included some pictures from yesterday’s lunch at the Lido Café where a special table was set up featuring fruits from Mombasa, Kenya along with some cookies that looked yummy! We also included a picture from last evening’s dinner at Prego with Mary Ellen and Jack. Finally, some photos from today’s Grand Gala Buffet.

We had a wonderful evening last night. We dined at the Prego Specialty Restaurant featuring Italian Cuisine with our friends Mary Ellen and Jack. We both had a special entrée of the evening, which included Monk Fish and Shrimp and Asparagus and Risotto. We also had a nice salad they make for us and fruit for dessert. Everything was just perfect. We could have spent all evening just talking. It was a lot of fun.

After dinner, we also walked around the ship for quite a long time and even went to the Casino. We didn’t win anything nor did we lose because we did not play but at some point we will do that as well. J

Later in the evening we stayed up for a function so that we could say thank you to the Crystal Crew. We will provide more details later on. Since we did not go to sleep until after 1:30 AM (yes that is 1:30 AM not 1:30 in the afternoon), we slept later this morning so we changed things up.

So, instead of getting up at the crack of dawn Keith was up at 7:15 AM and Anne Marie was up at 7:30 AM.

Before breakfast, Keith stopped by the Lido Café to bring back some coffee for both of us and then afterwards we enjoyed breakfast in the room. Keith spoke with some members of the crew including our Main Dining Room waiter and some of the other crewmembers such as Lido Deck Steward Ross. Keith also spoke for a few minutes with the Hotel Director.

During breakfast we watched the Daily Morning Show with Cruise Director Rick Spath and World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston. We learned that in addition to forwarding the clock one more hour this evening before we reach Mumbai we will forward the clock one other time for thirty minutes. That is really thirty minutes. We also called into the show and Keith correctly answered on of the Trivia questions.

Today is another day at sea as we make our way to our next port of call in Cochin, India.

After breakfast we workout out in the Fitness Center. This was unique for Keith because of just a couple of people working out there were quite a few passengers working out and there was also a fitness class taking place. Actually, he discovered some extra energy.

After the workout Anne Marie participated in the World Games Solitaire Tournament and Keith took care of a few things around the ship.

We attended a lecture given by Destination Lecturer Ken Rees who presented “We All Watch The News – But Can We believe It?” As part of this talk, Ken used rare archive pictures from the past 100 years to explain to all of us how TV news was born and where it is going in today’s fast paced multimedia world. Ken hit another home run with this presentation. We have learned so much from his talks.

After the lecture the featured luncheon for today was the Grand Gala Buffet, which is set up outside of the Main Dining Room in the Crystal Cove area. The buffet is extensive including too many foods and desserts to mention except to say it was a feast to remember. The amount of detail and care that is put into this is truly amazing. There were some new items on the buffet.

We decided to just enjoy a nice salad entrée in the Lido Café. We sat outside and it was very quiet as many of the passengers were at the Gala.

In the afternoon Anne Marie took a nice walk on the Promenade Deck and sat out by the pool. Keith did reading, writing and then spoke with some fellow passengers.

We also attended the crew Tug Of War Event that was held around the outdoor pool. All of the departments were represented and it was a lot of fun.

Before dinner we attended another of the World Game Ceremonies to congratulate those passenger’s who won an award. All of this adds to the spirit on the ship.

The entertainment on the ship continues to be spectacular and there is so much more entertainment that you would find on a regular voyage including the entertainment performed by the Crystal entertainers. For example, the other evening the lead Crystal female vocalist Tara Khaler performed a solo show accompanied by the Crystal Orchestra. Longtime passengers have mainly heard her perform in the Production Shows and were amazed at the diversity of the songs she performed at this performance and everyone we spoke with thought she was outstanding. We can’t say enough about all of the wonderful entertainment along with all of the other activities that is available day in and day out on the ship.

This evening we will be back at the Silk Road Asian Restaurant for dinner with another couple who is traveling on the World Cruise and their traveling companion along with a few other people they have invited to dinner. All three have been on several world cruises. While we have been on two other world cruises with them we have gotten to know them very well on this voyage and enjoy their company. We had invited them to Prego were they dined with us just a few weeks ago and they extended a similar invitation to us. It is so very nice to get to know many of our fellow passengers as well as we do.

As we mentioned earlier, this evening we get to turn forward the clocks another hour as we sail into another time zone. While we would prefer to turn the clocks back rather than turning them forward we realized this would happen on this particular itinerary.

TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..

“To reach our dreams, the crusal step is to realize that you don’t know the meaning of the word, NO!”

Keith and Anne Marie