Thursday, April 22, 2010
We had another wonderful time on the ship last evening. At around 6:00 PM we sailed for our next port of call; Gibraltar, United Kingdom. This will be our second visit to Gibraltar. We will arrive there tomorrow.
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Destination Lecturer Ken Rees and his lovely wife Lynne last evening at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant. One of the nice aspects of a Crystal Cruise is the opportunity to spend time and get to know many of the lecturers who lecture or give talks on the ship. Those that are highly rated by the guests return year after year and we find that many of lecturers are very accessible and enjoy spending time with the guests. Ken and Lynne just returned back to the ship the other day after departing the ship in Dubai. They had to be creative to get from the United Kingdom over to Liverno, Italy and it took them two days to arrive with challenges including a railroad strike but the good news is that they made it to the ship and the next day Ken was already giving a lecture. He is a wonderful destination lecturer as he is able to present a fair amount of information and keeps the guest very interested with the anecdotes he provides and his good sense of humor. He also puts together a very good power point presentation, which always includes facts and lots of pictures. His background as a journalist for the BBC serves him well.
This was our third dinner with them during this World Cruise adventure. As was the case with our other two dinners it has been so very nice to get to know them and to share and exchange thoughts on a variety of items and a very wide of subjects. We look forward to sailing with them again.
Our waiter for the evening was Costa who has been our waiter on most evenings we have dined at Prego. Like Aberto of Silk Road, he has been outstanding and it is so nice since he knows how we like many of our favorite items prepared.
We began our meal with a very special appetizer tasting from the chef, which was offered to all guests. We also each had piece of Olive Bread and Keith had the cooked garlic. We then enjoyed the special salad they make for us. We had the seafood special for the evening, which was Red Snapper plus a very large King Prawn. It was delicious. We also enjoyed steamed vegetables and for our dessert a Fruit Plate. Everything was supub.
After dinner we attended a cocktail reception, which included complimentary drinks, which was sponsored by the travel consortium that our travel specialist is associated with. On each leg of the World Cruise, which has totaled seven legs, we have been invited to attend one of these receptions.
Afterwards, we ran into our wonderful butler Alexander and we spoke with him for quite awhile. Yesterday was his birthday so we made sure that as each person passed by that we let him or her know to wish Alexander a very Happy Birthday.
We wanted to mention that while we did not encounter any problems in Barcelona we heard a couple of stories that reinforced its number one ranking in the world for petty crimes. By the way, Rome is number 2 and Rio is up there as well.
One person on board the ship was getting into the train when a couple of people went up to him One stepped on his foot while the other one reached into his pocket to take his Blackberry. The good news is that he prevented them from taking it, and the police arrived and about one hour later the police contacted him and he agreed to go over to the jail and file charges against these people contacted him. We also spoke with someone else who was walking on Las Rambles and saw two men grab off the shoulder of man a very expensive camera. The man who was robbed was not on this ship. The person who told me the story is very knowledgeable about this type of camera equipment and thinks it was a $2,000.00 camera. In fact, he purposely did not walk around with his own expensive equipment. While crime happens every second of the day all over the world, it is too bad that this situation continues to be the way it is in Barcelona. It is such a charming and beautiful city and it would be nice if more effort could be made to clean up this situation. In the meantime, this is a reminder for everyone who travels to be we say street smart. For us, this means being careful what we take off the ship with us, making sure what we do take with us is secure and being aware of all that is around us.
We slept very well last evening and we easily fell asleep with the mild rocking of the ship.
Today marks the one week point before we leave the ship in Southampton, United Kingdom.
Keith was up quite early and back at the Fitness Center. Yes, he was the first person to arrive at the center. By now you all know the routine. He worked out on the Elliptical Machine. Yes, he stopped by the Lido Café for some coffee. Anne Marie also worked out on the Treadmill. For those of you wondering all of these workouts have been great. While we have been on the ship since January 4th, we have not gained one pound.
After our workouts, we enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our room. We spoke with Alexander and we were hapy to know that he was able to celebrate his birthday on the ship last evening. While enjoying breakfast, we watched the Crystal Cruise Daily Morning Show. Keith did call in and correctly answered one of the Trivia questions. This one was a jingle from a commercial from the 1970’s.
During Captain Glenn’s daily morning talk he mentioned that we were on schedule for tomorrows arrival to Gibraltar. The outside temperature was 59 degrees Fahrenheit and we were cruising at a speed of 14.7 knots per hour. Captain Glenn’s thought of the day was another great thought for the day. “You can’t reach the top by sitting on your bottom.”
This morning there were two wonderful lectures. The first one was given by Ken Rees and was titled “Where the Land Ends and the Sea Begins.” It was about Portugal and how they became the word’s first global power.
After Ken’s presentation, the next lecture was given by Pat Conroy whose presentation was titled “MY Lifein Story and Screen or How to Put the Fun Back into Dysfunctional.”
After the presentations we enjoyed a very nice on the Lido Deck. Today was the Asia Café Luncheon Buffet and we each enjoyed a very nice salad entrée.
This afternoon we read, wrote and spoke with fellow passengers. Anne Marie also managed to get in another one-hour walk.
This evening we will have dinner in the Main Dining Room. Before, dinner we plan to go to a show. After diner we will be going to a World Cruise Party.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..
“Keep away from the people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that but the really great ones make you feel that you too, can become great.” - Mark Twain
Keith and Anne Marie
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