En Route To Barcelona - Day 99

(Dining At The Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant Last Evening)

Monday, April 19, 2010

We enjoyed another nice evening on the ship last evening. We decided yesterday afternoon to have dinner once again in Prego rather than the Main Dining Room. We realized that there was open seating in the Dining Room since many passengers were arriving back to the ship later in the evening from full day tours of Florence. Given the open seating we thought it would be nice to go back and dine at Prego. With so many passengers on the full day tours of Florence or wanting to dine in other venues including Tastes which offers casual dining, Prego was very quiet and we enjoyed a fabulous meal.

The meal was wonderful. We each enjoyed the tasting appetizer provided by the chef, our favorite salad and a wonderfully prepared seafood entrée with a side order of steamed vegetables. We had a nice fruit plate for our dessert.

With very few guests, we had the opportunity to talk quite a bit with the waiter, sommelier, headwaiter and the Maître d’. They also sat us at a four person table which they quickly set for just the two of us and all of this just added to a delightful dinner.

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Afterwards, we went by the photo shop to make decisions on a variety of photos that they have been holding for us. We purchased several photos, which were sent up to our room later in the evening. We were glad to get all of this finalized and we picked out some very nice photos, particularly several from some of the special on board events and in setting with others. All of this will add to the wonderful memories of this adventure.

We enjoyed a very nice sleep as we are sailing to our next port of call in Barcelona. The seas continued to be very calm as they have been for most of this voyage.

Keith was up even earlier than normal and he worked out in the Fitness Center. He enjoyed another very nice workout on the Elliptical Machine. As he does daily, he stopped by the Lido Café for some coffee before returning to the room. A few minutes after he got back to the room Anne Marie went to the Fitness Center for her morning workout. Keith did some laundry and took care of some other items. Shortly after Anne Marie returned from her workout, Alexander came by the room with our breakfast. We chatted with Alexander for a little while and asked him to bring our remaining luggage to the room as we will continue to do packing over the next several days.

As we do on most sea days we watched the Crystal Cruise Morning Show as we enjoyed our breakfast.

After breakfast we met with the representatives from Luggage Concierge who arrived to the ship in Civitavecchia, Italy and will be on the ship until we reach London. We made a decision a few weeks ago that we will ship our luggage home. This will be the first time we have shipped our luggage.

There were several activities held throughout the day.

There was a Meet the Chefs session, which provided a nice opportunity to meet the chefs and complimentary Bloody Marys, and Mimosas were served. We attended this session and we applauded and gave our thanks to the various chefs for all that they do to make the culinary experience so wonderful.

Destination Lecturer Ken Rees is now back on the ship and he gave a presentation on Spain. He spoke about the Spain of today along with its rich history. Once again, he gave a wonderful presentation and it is so nice to have Ken back on the ship. We love his presentations.

We had lunch on the Lido Deck where there was a very nice buffet for all of the guests.

In the afternoon Special Interest Lecturer Rex Zisk gave a presentation titled “A Brief Journey Through Time.” He spoke about the Mediterranean region from the Stone Age, to the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. He also spoke about the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans. It was an amazing presentation.

In addition to all of these activities we did more packing and in the afternoon Anne Marie took another long walk and we both did some reading, writing and we both spoke with some of our fellow passengers.

The weather was nice today and we have been very fortunate to have had wonderful weather almost each and everyday of this adventure. This is a perfect time to visit the Mediterranean since the weather is quite nice and it is far less crowded than the summertime.

This evening is the first of the formal nights on this final leg of the World Cruise. We plan to have a nice dinner in the Main Dining Room. After dinner, we plan to attend the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception.

TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..

“The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.”

Keith and Anne Marie