DAY 63 - CRUISING THE JAVA SEA EN ROUTE TO SEMERANG

Wonderful Dinner At The Crystal Dining Room Last Evening  ✔   Thoroughly Enjoyed Today's Day At Sea ✔  

We wanted to note that yesterday market the half-way point of our cruising adventure.

Yesterday at around 5:30 PM we stopped by Prego to speak with Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' Antonio Santomero to adjust a reservation we have a few days from now and to also talk this evenings dinner at Prego.


Before dinner last evening we sat with another couple in the Crystal Cove and talked about what each of us had done in Bali as we listened to Pianist John Mentis play a variety of songs.  The couple we spoke with is sailing on three legs of the World Cruise.  We first met that couple in 2008 and then in 2010 when they sailed on one and two legs of the World Cruise respectively.  We often talk about the feeling of familiarity and the family feeling on board the ship and part of that comes from seeing many of the same people, both crew and fellow guests, year after year.


While we know several guests who either sail on the World Cruise year after year or every second or third year, we know others who come on each year for one segment of the World Cruise or more. so we see so many familiar people year after year.  It's funny that sometimes we just meet someone in passing one year and it's not until the next year or even the year after that where we might get the opportunity to talk with them and then from there that is often the start of a new friendship.


Often, it is very hard to put all of this into words about the strong bonds that take place between fellow guests and as well as with the crew.  Some of it does come by seeing many familiar faces year over year and in other cases it comes from sharing  the voyage with crew and guests who are on the entire time.


We continue to be very humbled by all of this and we hope that comes out with our posts.  For us each day is just as exciting if not more exciting than the day before.


This photo was taken right before we sat down with the couple at the Crystal Cove.  

We enjoyed another nice dinner in the Crystal Dining Room last evening.  The theme of the dinner was Mardi Gras.  These are the dinner menus. 

We began dinner last evening with a salad.


Keith had his standing order salad.  While it is essentially the same salad items each night they sometimes change up the presentation as they did last evening.

Anne Marie had a Mixed Greens Salad with dried apricots, cherry tomatoes, green beans and pine nuts.

Since Keith enjoyed the Porcine Dusted Fillet of Cod so much the prior evening (Anne Marie had the salmon that evening ), we arranged with Headwaiter Augusto to have that entree again this evening and it was accompanied with different sided.

At the same time we shared the Butter Poached Fillet of Halibut entree which was on last nights menu.  We thoroughly enjoyed both fish entrees.  Often, Halibut is served on the first Formal Night and since fresh Lobster is on that menu, Lobster always wins out for Anne Marie and usually for Keith so it was nice to have the Halibut as well.

For dessert,  Anne Marie enjoyed the sugar-free Marble Cheesecake and later in the evening Keith had a piece of cake that was left over from the other evening.  Anne Marie enjoyed the cheesecake.

After dinner, we attended a show by Pianist and Humorist Mark Newsome.  He played the Piano, Sang and told a series of jokes.  The show was well attended and he did a nice job performing.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to make it to Colin Salter's 10:30 PM performance in the Avenue Saloon of Elton John songs but we know he will be doing it again later in the cruise and look forward to attending it then.

About an hour after we got back to the room we went out on our verandah to watch the sail away. Some of the locals were on the pier to watch it as well.  It was dark when we left and we left later than the original schedule due to the tide conditions.   As is a tradition with Crystal Cruises, as we began the sail away, the song titled "What A Wonderful World" was sung by Louis Armstrong.  We are reminded about how true this song is.  Despite the many challenges that we fact in today's world there is so much to enjoy and be thankful about.  The world is indeed special with all of its diversity and its sheer beauty.

The good news is that before we went to sleep last evening we set the clock back another hour as we sailed into yet another new time zone.

It seemed like only seconds after we put our heads on the pillow that we fell asleep.  Between the combination of the ship rocking us to sleep, getting up fairly early in the morning, our daily routine of working out, and yes, some wine, we find it so very easy to fall asleep.

This morning, Keith was back up to the Fitness Center for another of his morning workouts.  He worked out on the Elliptical Machine and then lifted some weights.  With the time change about three quarters through his workout it was daylight.  A few other people were working out by the time he finished.

Afterwards, he put up some laundry and had coffee in the Lido Cafe.  He spoke with some of the wonderful Lido Deck Stewards along with the member of the Night Crew whose responsibilities include cleaning the entire Lido Cafe each and every evening.  Speaking of cleaning it is all done very meticulously.  For example, this gentlemen not only cleans each and every table and chair and also cleans the entire floor but he also cleans the ceiling.  Because of the hour of the day that Keith is up he also sees a couple of the members of the night crew cleaning the entire Fitness Center each and everyday and that included the walls, ceiling, carpet, and all of the machines.  At the same time often when Keith is walking up the three flights of stairs to the Fitness Center he sees others from the night crew not only cleaning all of the stairwells but they have the elevators open and are cleaning each of them.  The same goes for all of the other public areas of the ship.  As they say, operating the ship is truly a Seven by Twenty-Four operation.  It's truly amazing.

Anne Marie also walked for an hour in the morning before breakfast.  While Anne Marie was walking she noticed that the Java Sea seemed like a pond as the water seemed so flat.  It was on the hot side but that is all good.  Better to be hot than cold.

Rao brought our breakfast to the room and we chatted with him as we do each morning we enjoyed some good laughs with Rao.  We then enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room as we watched the Daily Morning Show. During the show Cruise Director Rick Spath and World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy talked briefly about the filming on board that the Discovery Chanel is doing and that for most of today on the Crystal Channel that they would be broadcasting examples from two documentaries that have been done on other vessels including the US Nimitz.

We enjoyed another sea day on the ship as we sail to our next port of call in Semerang, Indonesia.

Since this was a sea day there were three lectures given.  There was what we would describe as a double-team series of two lectures which complemented each other .  One was by Dr. Jean-Pierre Isbouts who spoke about Semaring and his talk included the traditions of this area along with its long history.  This was followed by a lecture given by Joseph Snyder who spoke about Indonesia including the fact that it is the largest country in Southeast Asia and also has the largest Muslim population of any country.  The exception is in Bali which has a very small Muslim population.  He spoke about that Indonesia is a democracy and with its many challenges does have a rapidly growing economy.  Certainly it will take many years for more and more of the population to gain from the economic situation but hopefully that will come in time.

During  the Captain's morning talk from the bridge Captain Glenn shared the following thought for the day.

"Who we are never changes.  Who we think we are does."

Keith played in the Men's Doubles Paddle Tennis tournament.  He didn't win a medal but had a lot of fun. We stayed around for a little while afterwards and spoke with several guests and also had a very nice chat with the wife of one of the lecturers.

Fitness Director Rob Whelan giving out the instructions before the Paddle Games began.

In the afternoon, Celebrity Lecturer, Shelby Coffey spoke about Hollywood and that included discussion about Warren Beatty, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sylvester Stallone, Glenn Close and some other actors/actresses.

Today also market the conclusion of the World Game Events.  This included Men's Paddle Tennis, Shuffleboard Ladies Doubles, Table Tennis, Men's Doubles and the Crew Tug o' War & Slippery Pole.  We had a wonderful time participating.  As we have said all along it doesn't matter whether you win or lose but what matters most is how you play the game.  What we like most about the games is the opportunity to get to know ones fellow passengers and over the years we have made friends with fellow guests from participating in the games.  We have met some guests who we many never had met if not for the games. We also have gotten to know several of the Olympians from the World Games medal ceremonies.

We were fortunate to have won four medals and all of them gold with Keith winning three gold medals and Anne Marie winning one gold.

We participated in the last Team Trivia game of this leg of the World Cruise.  As we have noted, on the World Cruise the trivia scores are cumulative relative to other times of the year where a winner is selected on each sea day. While we didn't win the cumulative score for this leg, we guess we won when it really counted which was the World Games Gold Medal.  We did finish in third place for the overall segment of the World Cruise.

We each enjoyed a Chef's salad for lunch.

In the afternoon, Anne Marie walked for an hour and also sat out for awhile.  Keith played more paddle tennis and we watched Crew Tug o' War & Slippery Pole Contest.  Keith also met up with friend Bob.

By the end of the Crew Tug o' War there were two teams left; the Engineering Department and the Dining Room Waiters.  The winner was the Dining Room Waiters.

The Stewardesses

Before dinner this evening we will attend the final medal ceremony of the World Games.

We will also be dining in Prego with a very nice couple and will post about all of this tomorrow.

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

“All we keep saying is give peace a chance.” -  John Lennon

Keith and Anne Marie