DAY 39 - EN ROUTE TO NOUMEA, NEW CALEDONA

Wonderful Time At Dinner Last Evening ✔  Another Wonderful Day At Sea ✔  


Judy, thank you for the very nice comments.  Many years ago we lived in Reston, VA.  Judy had asked how we are enjoying the iPads.  As background, Keith already had an iPad and now with the IPad gifts from Crystal Cruises Anne Marie has one as well plus we have a third one. We think they are very good for travel.  We have used them on the ship.  For us we prefer laptop computers for long e-mails and for our blog but for other items we really make good use of the iPad for communications.  On top of that we have lots of photos on Keith's iPad and find it easier to view them and show them to other than using the iPhone for that.  We also have books on the iPad via the Kindle App.  

We wanted to take a few moments to share some thoughts about our travels with each of you.

We often say that when we sail on a World Cruise that there are many similarities to an extended high school, college, and/or family reunion as there are so many familiar faces between the crew and our fellow guests.  This time around is even more sentimental as there is even more familiarity than in the past.  We have not only seen many fellow guests who we have sailed with in recent years, but we have also seen some guests who we sailed with in 2007 and this is their first World Cruise since that time..  It seems that with each passing day we run into someone who we had not yet seen since the start of the World Cruise.  


It is also so very nice to sail with so many crew members who we have known for quite some time as well as those who we met for the first time last year or even sometime since we boarded the ship in December.  All of this truly adds to the sense of family and spirit on board the ship.

At the same time we think about some fellow guests who either have passed away in the last couple of years or who are now too ill to travel.  We also think about Hotel Director, Herbert Doppler, who passed away only a few months ago.  

All of this is a reminder to us to get the most out of each day, to not put off until tomorrow those  items that you can do today, and to focus on all that is good.  Nothing in life is perfect or at least not perfect all of the time.  Take a cruise.  If say out of 100 items that take place over a few day period, if there are a couple, that don't fall into that "perfect" category our approach is to focus on the 98+ items that do, and to ignore those that don't.  In the scheme of things why let one or two items detract from the wonderful time and experience we have each and everyday.  

As our good friends, Bob and Glo, often say, "Life Is Good" and our belief is to appreciate and to get the most out of each and everyday.

This is why we began to take very long cruises starting in 2007.  We consider ourselves fortunate to be able to do this at relatively young ages and since none of us knows what the future will bring we felt the timing was right to not put this off for another ten or more years. We are reminded that life has similarities to a novel containing many chapters and we just don't know when that last chapter will arrive and what is in store for each of us.

Often when we are in port we both talk about how much we have grown from these World Cruises and other long voyages in so many different ways.  While we used to travel for pleasure, and Keith traveled extensively for work, none of our previous travels compare to the magnitude of places we have visited since we took our first World Cruise in 2007.  We enjoy visiting various places for the very first time as we have done in each succeeding year but we also get a great deal of pleasure returning to places we have visited before.    We feel that because of all of this we have grown in not only confidence but also in our views of the world. We have learned so very much from seeing many places around the world through our very own eyes rather than just relying on the views and the observations of others.  We are very humbled by these experiences and we take none of this for granted.  We appreciate each and everyday on the ship, as if it is our first cruise and first day cruising.

These are the dinner menus from the Crystal Dining Room last evening.

We had a great time on the ship last evening.

As many of you know, we normally get to bed on the early side, but we do want to note that was not the case last night.  Later in the evening we went by the Avenue Saloon (this is where at night there is a pianist who also sings), where they were having a special Dixieland Jazz Jam last night in this venue.  It was very crowded and we stayed for awhile enjoying the music along with talking with various people. From there we went to another venue which is the Crystal Cove.  We sat there with a nice group of people and enjoyed a long conversation which went on for close to two hours.  It was a lot of fun.

We ended up getting back to the room at around 12:45 AM (yes that is AM ).  The good news is that we set the clocks back an hour before going to sleep  as we sailed into yet another new time zone so we got to sleep by 12:1 5AM taking into account the adjusted time.

We slept very well last evening as we have almost each night of the cruise.

In spite of our late night out, Keith somehow made it up at his regular time for his daily workout at the Fitness Center.

Anne Marie slept a little later and she worked out after rather than before breakfast.  We enjoyed breakfast in the room as we got ready for another wonderful sea day on the ship.

We watched the Daily Morning Show as we ate our breakfast.  This show is thirty minutes in length.  It features video that has been taken all around the ship the prior day, three or more trivia questions, and lots of information and tidbits are covered by Cruise Director Rick Spath and World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy.  From time to time guests appear on the show from Officers and other Senior Staff and On Board Enrichment and Entertainment personnel to other individuals.  It is a very upbeat show and fun to watch.  Often one of the questions from Team Trivia comes from items covered in the show.  For example, one of the questions from yesterday's Team Trivia was what year Shore Excursion Manager James Coughlin moved from being a chef in the kitchen to the Shore Excursion Department.  In case you are interested, the correct answer is 2004.

We enjoyed another glorious day on the ship today.  Keith attended the lecture given by Robert Adams on the book Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  It was very well presented.  Anne Marie read the book last summer and will watch the lecture on the Television.  Keith also attended the lecture that followed by former Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin who spoke about the Arab awakening and what direction it is going in.  We really enjoyed what Wendy Chamberlin had to say during the panel discussion earlier on during the cruise that was part of Ocean Views.  In today's lecture she spoke about the various countries where the awakening has taken place but there are more unanswered questions than anything.

We play Team Trivia again today.  Our team tied for first place as we correctly answered thirteen of fifteen questions.   This is held on all sea days.  We may have already mentioned this but all the players on our team, with one exception, played together last year on the four legs of the World Cruise we were on.  Win or lose we do have a fun team and in the end "fun" is the key.

We each enjoyed a salad entree for lunch and then we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon on the ship.  Keith played Paddle Tennis and Anne Marie walked for another hour on the Promenade Deck.  Anne Marie sat out for awhile and Keith enjoyed conversations with fellow guests.

We also took care of some paperwork for our upcoming stops in Australia.  Each guest was asked to fill out an Australian Incoming and Outgoing Passenger Card.  A good deal of the information was already filled out by Crystal Cruises such as our names, passport numbers and other relevant information and instructions with examples were provided for those areas of each form that we needed to fill out.  We were asked to turn the cards into the front desk by Monday at 12:00 Noon but we filled them out and turned them in today.  We were also advised that there will be a mandatory inspection for all transit guests on Saturday, February 4 and that the estimated time for our inspection will be at 2:45 PM.

This evening we will go to the Crystal Society Reception which is for all guests who have previously sailed on one or more Crystal Cruises Voyages.  We have dinner planned at Silk Road with friends Lynn and Buddy who we sailed with last year.  Tonight is a formal night on the ship.  We will post all about this tomorrow.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY......

“Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one.” – John Lennon

Keith and Anne Marie