We wanted to begin with just a few comments from the past two days.
- We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Singapore. This was our third time there and it gets better and better. An item that we are still struck by was the question from our tour guide who asked us if given what we know we would want to live in a place such as Singapore where we would have to give up some of our rights to gain some of the benefits that come along with that. Of course that begs the question would our tour guide want to live in the United States where she might have more opportunities for success but she would face some of the challenges that do come from less control. This is what makes travel such a good learning experience.
- It was nice very nice to see some of our favorite Lido Stewards return to the ship in Singapore and some we are still running into. For those of you who are familiar with the Serenity this includes folks such as Ross, Nat, and Clark (aka Clark Kent/Superman) along with other personnel who work in other areas of the ship such as Bruno who is Headwaiter in Prego and Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' when Antonio is on holiday along with Alberto, waiter in Silk Road.
-While over 400 guests boarded the ship yesterday afternoon things were very orderly. The Serenity now has a new check-in process which was first used on the sister ship the Symphony in September. Rather than checking in on the pier the check in is all done on the ship. The first few times this was implemented on the Serenity it was done outside the Crystal Dining Room and since that area can be very crowded given that on top of check in many people go to lunch in the dining room on embarkation day, yesterday check in was done in the Casino and that seemed to go very well and helped quite a bit with the traffic flow. The dining room was very orderly last evening in spite of new guests needing to locate their table for the very first time. In short, the embarkation process seemed very orderly and embarking guests also seemed to settle onto the ship with ease.
These are a few more photos from yesterday's visit to Sentosa.
Before dinner last evening we went to the Mandatory Muster Station (lifeboat) Drill. This drill is now mandatory for all guests regardless of how long one has been on board the ship. Our observation continues to be that since the catastrophic sinking of the Costa Ship that the vast majority of guests are now taking these drills much more seriously than in the past. They are showing up on time, with their life vests on and are listening carefully to the instructions.
There are still some guests (a small minority of them) who do not attend the drills. The good news is that they represent just a small percentage of the guests and that yesterday we saw some guests attend who we had not seen before even though they have been on the ship since January. To those passengers who do not think they need to attend, we hope that, in time, they will realize the seriousness and the importance of these drills. Our recommendation would be that the group that sets the standards for the cruise industry to follow would put in place regulation on this to penalize those who do not attend. This would take the pressure off the cruise lines from being the "bad guy" and would allow them to just enforce regulations that have been put into place by the entire industry.
Anne Marie with Christie
Keith and Christie
We departed Singapore at around 6:00 PM last evening around the time we were seated for dinner, and we are now making our way to the next port of call in Bangkok, Thailand.
Last evening we had dinner in the Crystal Dining Room. The menu theme was the Bon Voyage Dinner. These are the menus.
Our Senior Waiter for the World Cruise portion of this adventure continues to be Salvatore who we will have for the entire World Cruise. The same goes for the Waiter, Marina, who assists him. For the third consecutive voyage while many of the Sommelier's have rotated their section in the dining room, the Sommelier for our section, Raphael, has remained the same. We really enjoy Raphael not only because of his knowledge of wines but also because of his personality which is upbeat and because of his sense of humor. He will be leaving us in Hong Kong at the end of this leg of the World Cruise.
Salvatore our Senior Waiter.
We each began our meal with salads. Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie had the Fresh Spinach Salad.
Keith had the Broiled Fillet of Fresh Local Snapper for his entree. Anne Marie was more creative. She ordered the Local Snapper but also asked for Sea Scallops which were featured on top of the Salad Entree. She gave Keith some of the Snapper and one of the scallops. Both seafood items were prepared extremely well and we found it to be quite tasty. The snapper was also very moist. When we cook fish at home our challenge is cooking the fish enough but not too much and often our fish comes out of the oven too dry so we really enjoy the fish that Crystal prepares as the chefs really know how to cook and prepare each type of fish.
In addition to the steamed vegetables Keith also ordered some grilled vegetables.
For dessert, Anne Marie ordered the sugar-free Rice Dessert and Keith enjoyed a nice bowl of berries. We are not big on rice desserts so this one was on the average side but that has more to do with our tastes in dessert rather than the way the dessert was prepared.
Keith had mixed berries and also had some of the cake from the night before.
After dinner, we attended the Welcome Aboard Show. This show featured the Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers, Dancers Curtis and Beverly and the Galaxy Orchestra. It gives those coming on board the ship a nice sense of what some of the in-house entertainment is like. The show began at 8:00 PM and was approximately 30 minutes in length and it was a nice way to kick-off this leg of the World Cruise. Each of these performers really showed off their talents. This included the graceful dancing of Beverly and Curtis who make moves dancing that are out of this world. The show also included a couple of broadway songs that showed off the talents both in terms of singing and dancing of the Ensemble of Singers and Dancers. At the same time, the finale showed off the talents of the Galaxy Orchestra as the back curtain was raised so that the audience could not only hear their music but could see them perform.
Once again, It was very easy to fall asleep last evening with the gentle rocking of the ship by the relatively calm seas. We kid you not. It seems that once our head hits the pillow that in a matter of minutes we are fast asleep.
With a good night sleep it was easy to get up and to start our day off with our daily exercise. Keith was back in the Fitness Center and worked out on the Elliptical Machine and Anne Marie walked for one hour on the open deck. In between the two workouts, Keith enjoyed coffee at the Lido Cafe.
We had breakfast in our room while we watched the Daily Morning Show with Cruise Director Rick Spath and World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy. One of the interesting points that they made was that other than today and tomorrow, we will not have two consecutive days at sea until late March which gives some perspective about the port intensity of this and the next leg of the World Cruise.
Today has been quite a busy day. There were certainly many more activities on the schedule that we could possibly attend so we had to pick and choose what we did.
Keith had a Spin (indoor cycling) Class at 10:00 AM. The class was taught by Sports Director Juli who just came on board the ship in Singapore. She was fantastic and had lot of spirit. All of the Spin Cycles were being used which is always great. By the way, there are a lot more younger people on board ranging from 30's to 50's so the Fitness Center was quite busy when Keith was Spinning. Keith gave some pointers to Christie who was taking Spin for the very first time and Christie worked very hard in the class.
Today, must have been blue day as several people had blue on. Tomorrow, will be orange day. Well, maybe!
Then there was a Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle Party from 11:00 AM to 11:45 AM. Keith only had time to change into another sports shirt and shorts. Normally, he would wear something nicer. We had a very nice turnout and it included many Cruise Critic members who boarded in Singapore. The party ran until almost 11:55 AM.
Keith with David and Andrea
From L-R Andrea, David, Becky and Christie
Elaine with Crown Allen
From L-R Peggy, Pat and Elaine
At Noon there was Team Trivia. This was the first game of the new leg. Bob and Glo were not there as they are on an overland in Thailand so we had two substitutes. We came in first place today by answering fourteen of fifteen questions correctly. Long story short but we actually had all fifteen answers correct but someone changed it to another answer. Ironically, Keith knew one of the questions based on Bob and Glo's flight from last year. Question was which city has the longest non-stop flight to Newark, NJ. First we all said Sydney but then Keith remembered that Bob and Glo took a non-stop flight from Singapore to Newark, New Jersey last year so we changed the answer to Singapore which turned out to be the correct answer.
Right after Team Trivia we had lunch and we each had a Salad Entree. At the same time, the Lido Cafe had a special luncheon buffet which featured not only German Specialties but also included complimentary German Beer.
After that, it was time for Paddle Tennis. Keith played for almost three hours of non-stop tennis. It was a lot of fun. He had a nice time playing with both guests and crew.
Anne Marie worked out in the afternoon for one hour and also sat out for a little while.
All of this left no time to even attend the three lectures given today so we will catch all of them on the television as they are repeated for 24 hours or more on three different television stations.
The lectures featured Professor Adrian Kerr who spoke about the rise of Buddhism and how it took over the East. The second lecture of the morning was Ken Rees who spoke about Thailand and Cambodia. In the afternoon Dr. John McMichan spoke about the heathy traveler.
This evening we will attend the Captain's Welcome Reception followed by the Captain's Welcome Dinner in the Crystal Dining Room.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.....
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney
Keith and Anne Marie
What kind of shoes does Keith wear in his spin class????
ReplyDeleteDear Keith and Anne Marie - its lovely to hear that things continue to go well for you as you embark on the third sector of this wonderful voyage. We have enjoyed your reports and look forward to a very interesting leg of the world cruise. We hope that you enjoy your time in Bangkok as I know we had discussed this with you when we were last with you. Continue to travel safe.
ReplyDeleteOur best to you both - Ashley and Kelly.