DAY 42 - EN ROUTE TO NOUMEA, NEW CALEDONA

Wonderful Time At Dinner Yesterday Evening With Peggy and Elaine  ✔  Lots Of Fun Activities and Enrichment Today  ✔


Bonnie had asked about the clothes that we bring, particularly Anne Marie's outfits.  Bonnie, we do try to bring a lot of clothes and more than we probably need so that we can have a nice variety of clothes to choose from.  You had asked about Anne Marie's clothing and she will repeat clothes from time to time but she has a nice assortment of clothes for both the formal, informal and casual evenings on board the ship so that when she does repeat clothing it's not for awhile.  We do enjoy dressing up in the evenings. For example, while a sports jacket is not required on casual nights on most evenings Keith wears one.  He does so because even when it is a casual night the dining room is still beautiful so he feels that it makes it even more special to dress with a sports coat.  On informal nights ties are not required, only sports jackets, but Keith will wear a tie on these evenings.  Anne Marie also loves to get dressed up on each of the nights.  For us, this is all fun!  


We wanted to mention that last night we adjusted our watches since we had crossed the International Dateline.  For us, we have skipped Tuesday, January 31 and today is Wednesday, February 1.  Over the course of the next couple of weeks we will be setting the clocks back one hour from time to time.  We will get back the lost day when we cross the International Dateline on the return portion of the trip and there will be one day which we will experience two days in a row.  

We had another wonderful time on the ship last evening.

Before dinner we sat in the Crystal Cover for a little while before dinner.  At one point we were talking with Pianist John Mentis and Peggy (whom we dined with a little while later) joined us.  She knows John Mentis from another cruise line that she sailed on many years ago (it is no longer in operation) and John performed for.  As we mentioned, John has performed on each and every Crystal Cruises World Cruise.  He also performed on that other cruise line for voyages including their world cruises so John is a very seasoned member of the crew who has performed on numerous World Cruises.

We dined in the Crystal Dining Room with our two dinner guests Peggy and Elaine.  They are very seasoned travelers and cruisers and have taken many other World Cruises on other lines and this is their first World Cruise with Crystal Cruises.  We had a wonderful dinner with Peggy and Elaine.  We all spoke about many of our previous cruises and places that we have visited over the years.  We dined for over two hours.  After we left the dining room we ran into another fellow World Cruiser, Pinkie, who we know from previous World Cruises and we introduced Pinkie to Elaine and Peggy.  Our conversation continued for awhile and not before long two other couples who Peggy and Elaine know from cruises on another cruise line joined into the conversation and we were introduced to them.  


A few minutes after dinner began Captain Glenn spoke from the bridge and just reminded everyone to be very careful last evening because of the potential for rough seas.  This included reminding guests to hold onto the handrails when walking up and down steps.


Peggy sat to the right of Anne Marie and Elaine sat to the right of Keith

These are the dinner menus.

We did take the liberty to ask Augusto the night before if he could make a Caesar Salad for the four of us which he did and we began our meal with the salads.

For our entree we enjoyed the Broiled Fillet of Cod.  It was moist and very tasty.  The potato crust around it really added a lot of flavor to this entree as well.

For dessert Anne Marie surprised Keith with a cake that she had pre-ordered with the Maitre d' to celebrate the anniversary of Keith's retirement from work.  The cake was delicious.

Before we went to sleep we made sure that all breakable items in our cabin were secured properly.  The stewardess and stewardess in training had already taken care of some items for us and Anne Marie had showed our butler, Rao, what she had done with other items.  Anne Marie had taken wine bottles in a cabinet and places them in these wine bags we have and placed them on the floor.  Likewise, she took items that were on top of our closet from extra supplies to laundry items and placed them securely on the closet floor.  She also places items into a laundry fold-up basket that we brought with us onto the ship and put items around them to cushion it.

We did take Bonine before going to bed as an added precaution.

We have sailed with Captain Glenn many times and we know how much care and emphasis he puts into the well being of the guests and crew and the ship.  One of the items that Captain Glenn has talked about in his morning talks is getting ahead of schedule and having the extra pad if you will in his "pocket".  By doing so if the need arises to alter course or if some other item comes up it may have a far less impact on schedules by having originally been ahead of schedule.  This was a case where having the extra pad was very helpful as he did take a different course to avoid the weather situation.

We did sleep very well last night.  Part of the reason was that we were definitely very tired from being up so late the night before.  The good news is that when Keith woke up in the middle of the night the ship felt relatively calm and when he woke up early to workout at the Fitness Center things continued to be relatively calm.  It was more windy than the norm as noted on the television station which provides information on the ships heading and weather related statistics and Keith could also see that we were heading on a slightly different course.  Keith was able to complete his entire workout just like any other day on the ship.  A little while before Keith finished Brian arrived.

After the workout Keith changed, put up a laundry and proceeded to the Lido Cafe for some coffee.  There were only a couple of guests up there and Keith spoke with each of the Lido Stewards who are assigned to the cafe during this voyage and also used his iPad to read and write some e-mail.

A short while later Anne Marie worked out for one hour.  We each enjoyed morning workouts at the Fitness Center and afterwards we had breakfast in our room as we watched the Daily Program.  They began the morning show by giving away a bottle of wine to the first person who called in.

We often mention that there a so many activities on board the ship during sea days.  We counted them up and today included 48 activities between 7:30 AM and 5:30 PM.  There is so much to choose from and sometimes the challenge is which ones to go to.  For example, we do hope that we can sign up for Pilates that is being offered on the cruise on an upcoming leg of the World Cruise.  All of this makes sea days so very special. Of course, we also look forward to days in port and all of the wonderful ports we will be visiting on this World Cruise.

During Captain Glenn's morning talk from the bridge he mentioned that we had made a deviation to stay further away from the rough seas and bad weather and that we were going more north than south in the morning to stay further away from the windy weather.  The Captain said it might be rougher in the afternoon but that the forecasts for late this evening called for much calmer seas.  To make up for the deviation we were running on five of six engines with a speed of 22 knots per hour.

The Captain's thought for the day was simple but so very true. Here goes.....

"Where you go, there you are."

We wanted to note that there was a crew fire and lifeboat drill held this morning.  Crystal Cruises conducts these drills once a week and takes all of this so very seriously.

Keith had a spin (indoor cycling) class at 10:00 AM and really enjoyed the class.  Everyone worked very hard throughout the class it it was a great workout.

Starting to clip-on the cycle

All set.  Ready to go.

Today we had four people taking the class.  Where are they gents on this ship?

There were two lectures given this morning and a third on in the afternoon.  The topics covered are quite diverse as one was on precious stones, a second one on Russia and Putin and where they are heading, and the third one was on the migration of wildlife from the Arctic to the Antarctic.

There were also lots of classes offered.  During this cruise there is the college computer course we have mentioned and the other day memoir writing began.  Many people have signed up for memoir writing and it doesn't have to represent a story of a full lifetime but people can write about just one or a few major items that they have experienced that have shaped their lives.  It also can act as a document that can be passed down to future generations.  On a future cruise Keith would like to take this course but the challenge will be to manage that with the writing of this blog.  Other classes included a music class, a dance class, gaming lessons, several fitness classes, yoga, duplicate bridge, partner yoga, social bridge, a Spanish class, an art class, a health class, and other computer classes

For those who prefer other activities there was a needle point get-together, bridge, a Catholic Mass, a full length afternoon movie (a second movie is shown in the evening), open paddle tennis, bingo, a chorus get together for an eventual performance that will be given by some of the guests to all of us along with several other activities.

Each night we carefully review the next days to make our selections.

At Noon we attended Team Trivia. Win or lose we have a fun team.  Today, our team correctly answered eleven of fifteen classes.

We also enjoyed another great lunch and each had a nicely prepared and very tasty Salad Entree.  We dined at the Crystal Dining Room with Cruise Director Rick Spath.

Keith passed on Paddle Tennis this afternoon given the sea swells.  He read and wrote and also met with some fellow guests.  Anne Marie went on another one hour walk in the afternoon.

Keith also finished up a book he was reading on his iPad with the Kindle Application.  It's so convenient to read books this way.

This evening we dine at Prego which is the Italian Specialty Restaurant with friends Linda and John.  Before dinner, we are going to the Captain's Quarters with some of our fellow guests for drinks.


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

“A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Keith and Anne Marie