We also thought we would post some additional photos of our room.
This is the desk that Keith mainly uses.
This is the vanity/desk that Anne Marie primarily uses.
As we mentioned yesterday, we had dinner with friends in Prego but we thought we would post the Holiday Dinner Menus for the Crystal Main Dining Room.
Last evening was a formal night. While normally on sailings of this length there are two to three formal nights on this voyage there will be four formal nights. This takes into account formal nights for Christmas Day and for New Years Eve.
This was our first visit to Prego which is the Italian Specialty Restaurant on-board the Crystal Serenity since boarding the ship in Miami and we look forward to several more dinners at Prego.
We dined with fellow passengers Dave and Gary.
We each began with a Caesar Salad.
Each night in addition to the regular menu, a couple of additional entrees are offered that are not on the menus. We don't want to refer to them as special items because when you think about it every item on the menu is special. Often, we one of the additional items is a fish entree we will order that item.
We had the Black Halibut and we are not sure if we have ever eaten this fish before last evening. We really enjoyed this entree. It was very tasty and moist and thought it was as good as the presentation.
Keith also had a large plate of steamed vegetables.
For dessert, Keith had a fruit plate and Anne Marie just had a decaffeinated cappuccino.
Earlier in the day we had seen the sommelier we have in the Main DIning Room and asked him for a recommendation for a wine and we were very pleased with the wine that we had. It was reasonably priced and a keeper. We will plan to order that again.
Service was terrific and our waiter was Costa who is from Portugal and the waiter who we had often during the 2010 World Cruise.
What makes a dinner special is those who you dine with and we greatly enjoyed Dave and Gary's company. We never ran out of things to talk about and it just made our Christmas Dinner that more special.
We enjoyed another nice sleep last evening. The ship was still rocking but not as much as earlier in the day.
We began today as we normally do with morning workouts in the Fitness Center and unlike yesterday the sea was quite calm. Afterwards, we enjoyed breakfast in our room.
The focus of today is the Panama Canal. We did a partial transit of the Panama Canal. On our next voyage we will completely transit the Canal. We arrived to the entrance of the Panama Canal very early this morning. Weather was somewhat overcast with comfortable outside temperature. It looked as if it had rained last evening.
This is our fourth time entering the canal and the first time we are doing a partial transit of the canal. Each time you see things that you didn't see the first time around and also the weather can change it up a bit.
A view of the Crystal Outdoor Pool as we were in our holding pattern before time to enter the Canal.
Boat that dropped pilot off to be on the bridge alongside the Captain as we navigate the Canal.
This is a view of the original unfinished canal built by the France.
Getting ready to enter the lock.
These locomotives also known as mules pull the ship on each side to keep us straight as we transit the locks
This photo is to give you some perspective as to how close the ship is to the side of the canal.
The first lock opens.
This photo also gives some perspective to how close we are to the sides of the canal.
Even the ships photographer gets into the act as he is taking photos for the ship and the passengers from the ground level.
This is one of the mules that pulls our ship.
After passing through the Gatun Lock we then cruised the Gatun Lake
This photo was taken from Deck 7 which is the Promenade Deck. We also took the photos posted above this one from Decks 12 and 13. The best approach is to move around the ship to get a wide range of views of the canal. This also includes sitting in the Crystal Dining Room on Deck 5 at a table by the window.
Speaking of food, from 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM in addition to all of the other dining venues Crystal provided a Breakfast Buffet in Palm Court with its panoramic views for guest to enjoy breakfast while viewing the canal. Between 12: 00 Noon and 1:30 PM a soup and sandwich buffet was also set up in this same room.
This is a view of the Canal from an iMac in the Crystal Serenity Computer Room that is broadcast on the Crystal Cruses Web Cam.
A view of Gatun Lake from our verandah.
Initially this morning we transited three consecutive stages that took us 85 feet above sea level and on our return we transited three consecutive stages taking us back to sea level.
We decided to have lunch in the Main Dining Room to see the canal from yet another perspective which is from level 5 of the ship. We enjoyed the views as we each had a chef salad and we shared a bowl of butter lettuce.
After lunch we met with friends Bob and Glo to meet the Head Sommelier in the Vintage Room. In a few nights the four of us plus Bob and Glo's daughter and son-in-law and another couple who live in Bob and Glo's hometown will dine at the Vintage Room which provides a several course meal paired with wines. We worked with the Head Sommelier to go over the food and wines that will be served that evening.
Later in the afternoon Anne Marie walked on the promenade deck and Keith met a few other passengers to enjoy a nice quiet conversation.
This evening we will dine with Marc Ginsberg who is a former USA Ambassador to Morocco and a subject matter expert on the Middle East.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.......
“Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. It's where all the fruit is.” – Shirley MacLaine
Keith and Anne Marie
As I looked at the photos of your room, I was imagining you at your 'desk' & Anne Marie at hers. Then I wondered......can you see & talk to each other through those diamond shaped cutouts in the mirror? Strange question, I know. But I could picture y'all working feverishly on seperate projects & yelling back & forth at each other. ;)
ReplyDeleteBecky, you could look through the little diamond areas to talk back and forth but it's not often that we are both sitting down at the same time.
ReplyDeleteKeith and Anne Marie
I want to know how you developed enough self control to always eat healthy and avoid all of the delicious foods and desserts that are on the menus that you post.
ReplyDeleteBTW....your room is beautiful. I always thought rooms were tiny on cruise ships, but yours is not the case...a nice "home away from home!"
ReplyDeleteBonnie, there are different size rooms on the ship. We are very pleased with this room.
ReplyDeleteExcellent comment about the self control. Many years ago when we cruised for say a 12 day cruise we might gain 5-7 pounds. On a long cruise if we were to gain that much every 12 days or so that would be a lot of weight.
As such, we learned to be more disciplined. We use the ship as a spa and try to eat on more of the healthy side. With that said, from time to time we will enjoy something special or a treat and we will be sure to highlight that throughout this adventure.
Keith
Keith and Anne Marie,
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying reading your blog. Thanks so much for sharing. It's a touchstone for me as I countdown to my next Crystal cruise in March.
Sherry (aka quiet cruiser)