Enjoyed Another Wonderful Dinner At Prego Last Evening To Celebrate Valentine's Day ✔ Won A Gold Medal In Men's Basketball ✔
While we dined in Prego last evening these are the menus from the Crystal Dining Room and have the hearts on top for Valentine's Day.
Before dinner, we posed for a photo in the Crystal Cove. As we mentioned yesterday the decorations were better than ever making for a very festive Valentine's Day on-board the Crystal Serenity. We also wanted to know that the mixer that was held at around 11:30 AM in the Cove had to have been one if not the best attended mixer we have ever seen. The cove was very upbeat with lots of people and lots of people dancing. Dance Hosts were also there to dance with the solo women. It was a fun time.
We had a late night party to attend so we dined at Prego at 7:30 PM last evening. We selected Prego over the Crystal Dining Room since we didn't want to dine as early as we normally do and we thought that the venue would be a perfect way to celebrate Valentine's Day on the ship. We were right.
We had Costa as our waiter as we normally do when we dine at Prego. His wonderful skills added to our overall enjoyment of the evening. Costa is from Portugal and is a favorite of ours. He adds to the overall Prego experience.
We enjoyed a very nice Pinot Noir with our meal which we had purchased in Melbourne. We went to a wine store where we had gone the year before and they recommended this wine as it is produced at a vineyard which makes a limited amount of wine and also because this is one that is not exported to counties outside of Australia such as our very own country. It was a very nice wine and it paired very well with our meal. We also had the Senior Sommelier of Prego taste the wine to get his opinion and he provided a lot of good information. The good news is that we had made the right choice to the food we selected to pair this wine. Maybe, after all of these years we are finally learning more about wine. At the same time, there is much more that we don't know about wine than we know but that is the fun part of all of this.
We began our meal with salads. Anne Marie had the Caesar Salad and Keith had a standing order salad. We then had a small portion of the Pasta addition to the menu which was a Fettuccine Pasta with a Saffron Sauce with Lobster. It was absolutely delicious and we were sorry that we didn't get a photo of it. The portion we had was a perfect size as it is likely very rich so having a small portion gave us a good taste.
For our entree we had the seafood addition which was Australian Seabream which was accompanied with a potato squash puree surrounded by a lemon foam with tomatoes and asparagus on top. This was also a very tasty fish entree. Keith enjoyed it so much he ordered one more piece without any of the sauce as he had enough left over sauce from the original order. Keith also enjoyed a large bowl of steamed vegetables cooked the Mediterranean way.
We each had a regular cappuccino to stay awake and Anne Marie had ordered Keith a special Valentine's Cake. It is a mini-version of the cake that we enjoyed with Peggy and Elaine in the Crystal Dining Room a couple of weeks ago.
We chatted with some people in Prego who were at tables adjacent to us. One couple we had met at the Cruise Critic Party before Anne Marie had to leave the party early. The other couple included a man who was brought onto the ship to supplement the training that was initially provided to those needing to learn how to use their new iPads. Lots of courses have been offered which is great. We learned of one World Cruiser in his mid-80's who has never used a computer or even e-mail who is taking the classes. As they say, you are never too old to learn something new and that is so true. At the end of dinner, Anne Marie was presented with a long stem red rose as all other women were throughout the evening in the various dining venues.
When we arrived back to the room there was a hand written note from our Butler Rao, and the three Stewardesses Sneha, Cindy, and Victoria along with two cute stuffed animals. They were a Koala and a Panda. We thank this wonderful team who takes such good care of us for the adorable Valentine's Day gifts. We have quite a collection in the room and we will be sure to get a photo of them soon. On top of this we have a few stuffed animals that we have acquired during this adventure for Grand Baby Andre.
Without going into a lot of detail we just want to mention that later in the evening we hosted a party for the crew. The date was selected with a Valentine's Day theme in mind, and the added benefit of being able to set the clocks back one hour and also having a sea day the following day. This was our way to say thank you to not only the members of the crew that are in visible positions throughout the ship, but to also say thank you to those members of the crew who work in so many areas behind the scenes for all that they do to make our cruising experience the best it can be.
From L-R Stewardess Victoria; our Stewardess, Sneha; Keith; Anne Marie; Crew Officer Nina; and our Butler Rao.
We stayed for a portion of the party and then afterwards returned back to our room.
We slept very well and Keith didn't plan to get up early and didn't set the alarm. As it turned out he got up about 45 minutes later than usual given that we had turned the clocks back on hour on each of two successive nights and he worked out about half his normal time as he plans to participate in the fast walk relay later today so he didn't want to overdue it. Anne Marie slept later this morning and then worked out later in the morning.
Today was another busy day at sea as we sail to Perth, Australia.
We want to note that we are sailing the same route that the Crystal Serenity sailed on the 2009 World Cruise which we were not on that sailed down to Southern Australia and then West to Perth. This body of water can be quite rough and it was in 2009 that a rogue wave smacked into the Serenity at around 6:00 PM in the evening. We are very fortunate that this time around that the seas have been relatively calm as we make our way around to the Western side of Australia and we hope that this weather continues.
There were three lectures on the schedule including Olympian Peter Vidmar who soike about the Perfect 10 which includes risk, originality and virtuosity. Later in the morning, Joseph Snyder spoke about the diverse cultures of Southeast Asia. Later in the afternoon, Shelby Coffey presented crimes in passion fro the girl in the red velvet swing to O.J ( yes O.J as in O.J. Simpson)
The World Cruise Games continued with Solitaire, Men's Basketball and Ladies Basketball in the morning. In the afternoon there was Golf Putting and the Walking Relay, Mixed Doubles games. Because of Team Trivia and the timing of other events and activities Anne Marie passed on the Ladies Basketball and Keith passed on the Golf Putting (Putt Putt as he called it) as he also wanted to get in some time playing Paddle Tennis.
Anne Marie won a medal in Ladies Basketball a few years ago and while Keith is not a golfer he won a Medal in Golf Putting in 2010.
We enjoyed breakfast in our room at the same time that we have breakfast each morning. We chatted with Rao for a few minutes and as we normally do we laughed quite a bit. We watched the Daily Morning Show this morning while we had breakfast. We wanted to mention that the gift that we won for answering the Olympic question correctly was a CD (we had a choice of several different ones) featuring Pianist John Mentis who we enjoy listening to in the Crystal Cove before dinner on most evenings. John has played the Piano on every Crystal World Cruise and before that played the Piano on several World Cruises for former cruise line Royal Viking. John is very talented and in addition to being an outstanding pianist he also will tune the various pianos around the ship during the time he is on the Serenity. Today Keith answered correctly another trivia question related to the history of the Super Bowl and won a sports book.
During Captain Glenn's morning talk from the bridge he noted that the weather forecast and the overall sea conditions are quite good as we make our way to Fremantle/Perth. We are traveling at 14 knots and this speed will allow for our on-time arrival tomorrow morning. The Captain also noted that our location for our arrival to Bali in a few days has been changed which will allow us to dock rather than tender and that the facilities would be quite good. We remember that last year the location where we tendered was not very pleasant so this change should be good.
Captain Glenn also shared his thought for the day which goes as follows.
"Even though you are on the right track you will be run over if you just sit there."
We spent part of the day participating in the World Games with Keith participating in Mens Basketball and the Walking Relay and Anne Marie participating in Solitaire.
Anne Marie had a great time playing Solitaire but she didn't win one of the Medals.
Keith was next up playing Men's Basketball. In order to advance from the first round to the second round you just need to hit one of five foul shots. Keith made his first and advanced to the second round where you needed to hit two foul shots which Keith did. In the third round you needed to make three foul shots but they had you take all five shots. In this round Keith had the most hitting four of five foul shots while the second highest was three of five. Two other men made two foul shots and the remaining men made one or less. Some thought Keith had won the gold but he knew better as all you needed was three to advance to round four. The other two men with two foul shots competed for the Bronze and Brian won the bronze. Next round decided who got Gold or Silver. Keith went first making two foul shots and barely missing two others. The other gent made one foul shot so Keith won the Gold and the other man won the Silver.
From L-R Brian who won the Bronze and Keith won the Gold and the Gent to Keith's right won the Silver.
In between we enjoyed some of the enrichment activities and Anne Marie worked out as well.
As we normally do we enjoyed another Salad Entree for lunch.
We then went to Team Trivia.
Later today Keith will compete in the Mixed Fast Walk and we'll post about that tomorrow.
This evening we will dine at Silk Road where we were invited to join Celeste and Bill for dinner along with Becky. We will post more about that tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning we will arrive to Fremantle which also is the gateway port for Perth. This is our first time there. We originally had a shore excursion for the first day booked but decided to see these areas on our own.
While we dined in Prego last evening these are the menus from the Crystal Dining Room and have the hearts on top for Valentine's Day.
Before dinner, we posed for a photo in the Crystal Cove. As we mentioned yesterday the decorations were better than ever making for a very festive Valentine's Day on-board the Crystal Serenity. We also wanted to know that the mixer that was held at around 11:30 AM in the Cove had to have been one if not the best attended mixer we have ever seen. The cove was very upbeat with lots of people and lots of people dancing. Dance Hosts were also there to dance with the solo women. It was a fun time.
We had a late night party to attend so we dined at Prego at 7:30 PM last evening. We selected Prego over the Crystal Dining Room since we didn't want to dine as early as we normally do and we thought that the venue would be a perfect way to celebrate Valentine's Day on the ship. We were right.
We had Costa as our waiter as we normally do when we dine at Prego. His wonderful skills added to our overall enjoyment of the evening. Costa is from Portugal and is a favorite of ours. He adds to the overall Prego experience.
We enjoyed a very nice Pinot Noir with our meal which we had purchased in Melbourne. We went to a wine store where we had gone the year before and they recommended this wine as it is produced at a vineyard which makes a limited amount of wine and also because this is one that is not exported to counties outside of Australia such as our very own country. It was a very nice wine and it paired very well with our meal. We also had the Senior Sommelier of Prego taste the wine to get his opinion and he provided a lot of good information. The good news is that we had made the right choice to the food we selected to pair this wine. Maybe, after all of these years we are finally learning more about wine. At the same time, there is much more that we don't know about wine than we know but that is the fun part of all of this.
We began our meal with salads. Anne Marie had the Caesar Salad and Keith had a standing order salad. We then had a small portion of the Pasta addition to the menu which was a Fettuccine Pasta with a Saffron Sauce with Lobster. It was absolutely delicious and we were sorry that we didn't get a photo of it. The portion we had was a perfect size as it is likely very rich so having a small portion gave us a good taste.
For our entree we had the seafood addition which was Australian Seabream which was accompanied with a potato squash puree surrounded by a lemon foam with tomatoes and asparagus on top. This was also a very tasty fish entree. Keith enjoyed it so much he ordered one more piece without any of the sauce as he had enough left over sauce from the original order. Keith also enjoyed a large bowl of steamed vegetables cooked the Mediterranean way.
We each had a regular cappuccino to stay awake and Anne Marie had ordered Keith a special Valentine's Cake. It is a mini-version of the cake that we enjoyed with Peggy and Elaine in the Crystal Dining Room a couple of weeks ago.
We chatted with some people in Prego who were at tables adjacent to us. One couple we had met at the Cruise Critic Party before Anne Marie had to leave the party early. The other couple included a man who was brought onto the ship to supplement the training that was initially provided to those needing to learn how to use their new iPads. Lots of courses have been offered which is great. We learned of one World Cruiser in his mid-80's who has never used a computer or even e-mail who is taking the classes. As they say, you are never too old to learn something new and that is so true. At the end of dinner, Anne Marie was presented with a long stem red rose as all other women were throughout the evening in the various dining venues.
When we arrived back to the room there was a hand written note from our Butler Rao, and the three Stewardesses Sneha, Cindy, and Victoria along with two cute stuffed animals. They were a Koala and a Panda. We thank this wonderful team who takes such good care of us for the adorable Valentine's Day gifts. We have quite a collection in the room and we will be sure to get a photo of them soon. On top of this we have a few stuffed animals that we have acquired during this adventure for Grand Baby Andre.
Without going into a lot of detail we just want to mention that later in the evening we hosted a party for the crew. The date was selected with a Valentine's Day theme in mind, and the added benefit of being able to set the clocks back one hour and also having a sea day the following day. This was our way to say thank you to not only the members of the crew that are in visible positions throughout the ship, but to also say thank you to those members of the crew who work in so many areas behind the scenes for all that they do to make our cruising experience the best it can be.
From L-R Stewardess Victoria; our Stewardess, Sneha; Keith; Anne Marie; Crew Officer Nina; and our Butler Rao.
We stayed for a portion of the party and then afterwards returned back to our room.
We slept very well and Keith didn't plan to get up early and didn't set the alarm. As it turned out he got up about 45 minutes later than usual given that we had turned the clocks back on hour on each of two successive nights and he worked out about half his normal time as he plans to participate in the fast walk relay later today so he didn't want to overdue it. Anne Marie slept later this morning and then worked out later in the morning.
Today was another busy day at sea as we sail to Perth, Australia.
We want to note that we are sailing the same route that the Crystal Serenity sailed on the 2009 World Cruise which we were not on that sailed down to Southern Australia and then West to Perth. This body of water can be quite rough and it was in 2009 that a rogue wave smacked into the Serenity at around 6:00 PM in the evening. We are very fortunate that this time around that the seas have been relatively calm as we make our way around to the Western side of Australia and we hope that this weather continues.
There were three lectures on the schedule including Olympian Peter Vidmar who soike about the Perfect 10 which includes risk, originality and virtuosity. Later in the morning, Joseph Snyder spoke about the diverse cultures of Southeast Asia. Later in the afternoon, Shelby Coffey presented crimes in passion fro the girl in the red velvet swing to O.J ( yes O.J as in O.J. Simpson)
The World Cruise Games continued with Solitaire, Men's Basketball and Ladies Basketball in the morning. In the afternoon there was Golf Putting and the Walking Relay, Mixed Doubles games. Because of Team Trivia and the timing of other events and activities Anne Marie passed on the Ladies Basketball and Keith passed on the Golf Putting (Putt Putt as he called it) as he also wanted to get in some time playing Paddle Tennis.
Anne Marie won a medal in Ladies Basketball a few years ago and while Keith is not a golfer he won a Medal in Golf Putting in 2010.
We enjoyed breakfast in our room at the same time that we have breakfast each morning. We chatted with Rao for a few minutes and as we normally do we laughed quite a bit. We watched the Daily Morning Show this morning while we had breakfast. We wanted to mention that the gift that we won for answering the Olympic question correctly was a CD (we had a choice of several different ones) featuring Pianist John Mentis who we enjoy listening to in the Crystal Cove before dinner on most evenings. John has played the Piano on every Crystal World Cruise and before that played the Piano on several World Cruises for former cruise line Royal Viking. John is very talented and in addition to being an outstanding pianist he also will tune the various pianos around the ship during the time he is on the Serenity. Today Keith answered correctly another trivia question related to the history of the Super Bowl and won a sports book.
During Captain Glenn's morning talk from the bridge he noted that the weather forecast and the overall sea conditions are quite good as we make our way to Fremantle/Perth. We are traveling at 14 knots and this speed will allow for our on-time arrival tomorrow morning. The Captain also noted that our location for our arrival to Bali in a few days has been changed which will allow us to dock rather than tender and that the facilities would be quite good. We remember that last year the location where we tendered was not very pleasant so this change should be good.
Captain Glenn also shared his thought for the day which goes as follows.
"Even though you are on the right track you will be run over if you just sit there."
We spent part of the day participating in the World Games with Keith participating in Mens Basketball and the Walking Relay and Anne Marie participating in Solitaire.
Anne Marie had a great time playing Solitaire but she didn't win one of the Medals.
Keith was next up playing Men's Basketball. In order to advance from the first round to the second round you just need to hit one of five foul shots. Keith made his first and advanced to the second round where you needed to hit two foul shots which Keith did. In the third round you needed to make three foul shots but they had you take all five shots. In this round Keith had the most hitting four of five foul shots while the second highest was three of five. Two other men made two foul shots and the remaining men made one or less. Some thought Keith had won the gold but he knew better as all you needed was three to advance to round four. The other two men with two foul shots competed for the Bronze and Brian won the bronze. Next round decided who got Gold or Silver. Keith went first making two foul shots and barely missing two others. The other gent made one foul shot so Keith won the Gold and the other man won the Silver.
From L-R Brian who won the Bronze and Keith won the Gold and the Gent to Keith's right won the Silver.
In between we enjoyed some of the enrichment activities and Anne Marie worked out as well.
As we normally do we enjoyed another Salad Entree for lunch.
We then went to Team Trivia.
Later today Keith will compete in the Mixed Fast Walk and we'll post about that tomorrow.
This evening we will dine at Silk Road where we were invited to join Celeste and Bill for dinner along with Becky. We will post more about that tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning we will arrive to Fremantle which also is the gateway port for Perth. This is our first time there. We originally had a shore excursion for the first day booked but decided to see these areas on our own.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.....
“We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes. “ - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Keith and Anne Marie
Keith, you've got a killer follow through. Congrats on winning the gold!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the Gold :)
ReplyDeleteHow nice of you to sponsor a party for the crew. They do work hard and there are so many unsung heroes who make cruising such a wonderful experience. Keith congrats on the Gold. What fun.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the answer to which country has won a medal in every Summer Olympics since 1904?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to echo what Mary said - how kind to treat the crew to a Valentine party! I haven't posted much lately but want you to know that I read and enjoy everyday! I don't know how you both pack so much into a single day - I'd be exhausted! Regards ~ Nancy
ReplyDeleteKeith and Anne Marie--we loved the write-ups of Valentine's Day! What a special couple days is was and the two of you are just the perfect "valentine's! Indeed, we are enjoying each day with you. Keith, you must need very little sleep to function, plus have very fast fingers on the computer. We don't know how you keep up writing here everyday!!! But, what fun we are enjoying your cruise with you, vicariously. Sending our best...remain well, so to keep enjoying such a wonderful experience. Rosemary and Lee
ReplyDelete