En Route To Southampton, United Kingdom - Day 108

Some Of The Decorations In The Crystal Cove

For This Evenings 2010 World Cruise Countdown

(Picture Above Is Anne Marie With Silk Road Head Waiter Sigi

Taken During Today's American Classic Buffet Luncheon)

Two Pictures With Waiter Costa From The Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

This will be our last entry for this World Cruise Adventure while on board the ship as we will depart the ship very early tomorrow morning. A few days after we arrive home we plan to post some final comments and thoughts on the cruise.

We enjoyed another wonderful evening on the ship last night.

Before dinner we sat with friends Linda and John at the Crystal Cove where complimentary cocktails and wines were being served. We enjoyed a wonderful conversation with them.

Afterwards, we enjoyed our final meal of this voyage at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant. We were served once again by Costa who has been outstanding throughout this voyage. He is very professional, personable, and so kind and thoughtful. Like Keith he also loves working out on the Elliptical machine. We have enjoyed getting to know him these last few months. We began our meal with the special appetizer from the Chef. We then had what has become our favorite salad. We then enjoyed the wonderful seafood entrée which was one of the two specials for the evening. We each had a fruit plate for our dessert. We were seated at a table for four by the Maitre d’ Antonio and then the Head Waiter Enzo came by our table to remove two of the four place settings. The ambience in Prego was wonderful.

After dinner, we attended the Captain’s Formal Farewell Reception. We have tremendous respect and admiration for Captain Glenn and have enjoyed sailing with him over these past few months. Our first sailing with Captain Glenn was in 2008. We look forward to sailing with him again. John and I spoke with the Captain and we each extended our thanks for all that Captain Glenn has done to make this a glorious cruise. We sat with John and Linda at the reception along with three other guests who we know quite well. We also walked around the room and gave our best to so many people who we have come to know during this adventure. We did not say good-bye to anyone as we hope to see each of him or her on a future cruise. It was an emotional evening as we spoke with many familiar guests and crew who we know from previous cruises and we also spoke with others who we met for the first time on this World Cruise. It was a very special evening.

When we returned to the room there was a nice gift for each of us from Crystal Cruises. We also enjoyed the pastry that we had bought for ourselves in La Rochelle, France.

We slept very well last evening and appreciated that we were able to set the clocks back one hour as we sail to a new time zone.

We awoke early this morning. Originally, Keith was going to take the day off from the Fitness Center but decided to workout.. He was the first person to the center and enjoyed a nice long workout on the Elliptical Machine. Brian and then John shortly followed him in the Center. A little while later Mary stopped by to wish all of us a nice trip home and after Keith finished his workout he spoke with Mary for a few minutes. He stopped by the Lido Café for some coffee. Anne Marie finished packing this morning instead of working out and instead worked out in the afternoon.

We enjoyed our final breakfast in our room and we also enjoyed watching the daily morning show for the last time of this World Cruise. Anne Marie called in and correctly answered one of the final trivia questions.

During Captain Glenn’s morning talk he shared his last Thought Of The Day for this journey which was “Don’t cry because it’s over; simply smile because it happened.”

Afterwards, we attended the final lecture given by Destination Lecturer Ken Rees. The topic of his presentation was “The Royals, the Media and the Curse of Celebrity.” Ken gave a wonderful talk as he always does and it has been a pleasure to attend his lectures and to get to know both Ken and his lovely wife.

We also attended the mandatory British Immigration Inspection. By doing this today rather than tomorrow morning it makes the overall clearance process go a lot faster.

After the inspection we went to the American Classic Buffet where we each had a salad entrée. We spoke with many of members of the crew.

We stopped by the Crystal Cove which is the main lobby area and spoke with some members of the crew to wish they the very best. We look forward to seeing them on our next cruise on the Crystal Serenity.

In the afternoon, Anne Marie worked out and we did more packing, read, wrote and spoke with fellow passengers.

Before dinner we went to a Variety Show that included The Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers, Dancers Curtis Collins and Beverly Durand, Violin Showman Martin Lass and Ireland’s Ambassador of Comedy Adrian Walsh.

This evening we will dine at Silk Road for our last dinner over this voyage. Friends Bob and Glo will join us.

After that we will attend the 2010 World Cruise Countdown, which will include the annual Countdown and Balloon Drop and a “New Orleans-Style” Farwell Jam by the Galaxy Orchestra and Friends.

As this adventure comes to a conclusion we thought that this thought of the day would have great meaning.

TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over again in the quietist chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.”

Keith and Anne Marie