MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010
Today is Monday, March1.
NOTE: Last evening was a formal night and we have included some pictures taken last night. We also included a few pictures from the churches from today’s tour. We will include some others tomorrow.
We enjoyed a wonderful evening last night. Last night was formal night on the ship, which for us is always a special evening. We enjoy seeing everyone all decked out in his or her formal attire as for us it just adds to the overall ambience on board the ship.
Before dinner we attended the Captain’s Farewell Reception. Throughout the cruise we have been attending the receptions held after we eat but since we were ready relatively early we decided to attend the first reception rather than the second one. We sat with some passenger’s that we know very well and had a wonderful time. One of the nice items that are done each month at one of the receptions is to recognize the employee of the month for the Serenity. The Captain makes the recognition announcement. Last evening they recognized the drummer from the Orchestra who is also the backup bandleader and also was the person who was responsible for coordinating the World Game events. He did an outstanding job and we were thrilled that he received this well deserved recognition.
Afterwards, we dined at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant and enjoyed a very nice dinner. As usual, the service, cuisine and the ambience were outstanding. We began our dinner with a wonderful appetizer that is one that the chef prepared for everyone dining this evening. We followed this with our very favorite salad. We each enjoyed Broiled Fresh Striped Bass Alla Lovornese, which was served with sautéed baby leaf spinach with fresh tomato, black olive, capers, celery, thyme and white wine. It was topped with eggplant puree and yes it tasted as great as it sounds. It was outstanding. We also ordered steamed vegetables. We each had a fruit plate for our dessert and Anne Marie enjoyed a nice cup of decaffeinated coffee while Keith enjoyed green tea. Our Waiter for the evening was Costa who is from Portugal. We usually either have Rossi or Costa who are both exceptional waiters.
We had a lovely table at the window and we enjoyed a full well lit moon. The seas have been very calm as they have been throughout most of this crossing. We have been very fortunate to have such wonderful weather.
Keith awoke very early to enjoy a nice workout to start of the day. He was the first one up to the Fitness Center and was very happy to be back on the Elliptical Machine for the second day in a row. The only other person working out was fellow passengers and friend John. After enjoying a wonderful workout, Keith stopped by the Lido Café to bring back coffee to the room for the two of us. He spoke briefly to Lido Deck Steward Brian and John’s wife Linda.
We ordered an early breakfast, which was brought to our room at 6:30 AM by Alexander. We enjoyed a very nice breakfast and then got ready for our next port of call.
This morning we arrived at Marmagao, India, which is our first visit to this port of call. Some say that the area around this island has the feel of one of the Pacific Ocean Islands and the island itself has a feel as if one is visiting Spain or Portugal.
For our first visit to this Island we took a Crystal Shore Excursion that was called The Churches of Old Goa and Traditional Tea. We departed the pier on a motor coach and we drove about forty five minutes to the old city of Goa. This area boast a wealth of churches and convents, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Our first stop was to the Baslica of Born Jesus which features Jesuit architecture. The church is considered the most elaborate in all of Goa. It was quite impressive.
After visiting this church we took a short walk over to St. Catherine’s Cathedral. It was commissioned to showcase the wealth and power of the Portuguese.
We then walked over to the Church of St. Cajetan. It is modeled after St. Peter’s in Rome and is another magnificent looking church.
After visiting these three churches we boarded the motor coach and traveled to Merces which is a charming little village where we visited the home of Oliviera de Fernandes family. The family has been living here since the family house was first built 250 years ago. The hosts for our visit were the sixth generation to occupy the home.
A local band played music while the guests could enjoy tea if they would like.
Our day was wonderful and our tour extremely well done. It shows you that you cannot judge a book by its cover. If you judged this area based on the pier and the surrounding area you would have a very poor impression of this area. However, once you get about five minutes outside the area you find that this is a beautiful area. Between the time we visited the three churches and the time we went to the Family house we also drove around and saw very beautiful homes, hotels, and other beautiful buildings.
A few other items worth mentioning. Today was a holiday for this area called the Festival Of Colors. It is a Hindu Holiday and people, mostly young of age, paint their faces. One has to be careful that the children do not try to paint them. J The major drivers of the economy are iron ore, and tourism. The unemployment in this area is essentially at zero (0) percent. If someone wants a job, it is available.
We give today’s tour and our overall visit an A+.
Yes, like anywhere in the world there is poverty here and challenges for a portion of the population but there is quite a bit of hope for most people along with a large middle and upper class population. As we would suspect, their economy has been booming for over ten years.
Since we knew we would arrive back to the ship relatively late we ordered salads for each of us with the Butler. We had it arranged that the salads would be ready and stored in the butler pantry so that when we got back to the ship all we had to do was to call and the butler on duty would deliver the salads to our room. As usual, this worked like a charm.
This evening we will dine in the Main Dining Room with a very nice couple who are on for two legs of the World Cruise. Each year they take one or two legs of the World Cruise and we met them in 2008 and when we saw them again when they boarded the current leg we decided it would be nice to dine together. We sat with them the other evening in one of the lounges and then just yesterday we invited them to join us this evening for dinner. There are quite a few guest we know from previous cruises who come on for one, two or more legs of the world cruise and all of this truly adds to the feeling of friendship on this voyage.
After dinner there is a variety show featuring not one, not two, not three, but four performances. The show features singing by The Keating’s which is a Father and Son Show. The show continues with Comedian and Magical Entertainer Bruce Gold. The third act was comedian Jebb Fink and the forth and final performed was vocalist Penny Mathisen.
This evening marks the conclusion of the third leg of the World Cruise. This has been a wonderful leg with many sea days. We have been blessed with wonderful weather, some very interesting ports of call, and much in the way of activities and enrichment programs and time spent with the wonderful crew and so many wonderful passengers.
The next leg of the World Cruise takes us from Mumbai, India to Dubai, of the UAE.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
“My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.”
Keith and Anne Marie
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