We were asked how many guests are on this segment of the World Cruise. There are approximately 500 guests on this segment including enrichment/land based entertainment personnel. We do plan to continue to Blog on our future cruises.
We were asked by Larry why we were not going to the port of call in Petropavlovsk. We had blogged about this previously. Please see Day 103 when we mentioned the Captain's Announcement shortly before 10:00 AM that morning when it was announced the we would not be going to Petropavlovsk. This was because the of the extremely poor weather conditions.
We would also like to thank Steve and Meg for your very thoughtful comments.
We received some additional photos from our day at the Great Wall in Beijing that we wanted to post.
One of the locals who walked with us as we climbed The Great Wall who would point out different areas to us along the way.
Keith being photographed as he himself was taking a photo.
Anne Marie closing up the Backpack with friends Glo and Bob in the background.
We would like to begin by sending greetings to those of you observing either Passover or Good Friday from the Crystal Serenity.
NOTE: Today we get to enjoy Friday, April 6 for the second day in a row. No, it's not Groundhog Day. Rather, this is because we have crossed the International Dateline from West to East, and unlike our first crossing earlier in this cruise, rather than lose a complete day, this time we gained the day back.
Since we have experienced two Friday's on the ship, Good Friday on the ship is being observed in two parts. Yesterday, Part 1 of the Good Friday Mass was held on the ship and this morning Part 2 of the Good Friday Mass took place.
Later this evening, the celebration of Passover will take place with a Seder. Those wishing to attend the Seder signed up for it the other day by notifying the front desk of their desire to attend the Passover Seder.
After several days of forwarding the clock one hour on each successive night including last night, we only have two more hours to catch up on before we arrive in Alaska and then we have one hour post Alaska to forward as we sail to Western Canada. This certainly has been challenging, but quite frankly not as bad as we anticipated.
After we posted last evening, before dinner we attended the Production Show Across Golden Pond. This production show was introduced in late 2009 and we first saw the show in January of 2010. It has become one of our favorite of the Production Shows. We enjoy both the music and the dancing and it we are amazed at the energy of the singers and the dancers who are part of this show as their performances are quite challenging to say the least. They are each outstanding. The show includes several songs that were originally written and performed by those young lads from Liverpool; The Beatles.
All other times we have seen this particular show we have usually sat at the first row and last evening we arrived in plenty of time to get a first row seat. However, we decided to sit in the very last row to watch this performance. On the Crystal Serenity we find that the last row can be just as a good a seat as the first row for lectures and certain performances. As it turned out, sitting in the last row gave us a unique perspective as we were able to more easily see all of the graphics and the film clips that are displayed for much of the show on the backdrop of the stage area behind the performers. At the same time, when the show is coming to its close, several tall ladders are brought into the theater and placed in the aisles and some of the ensemble dancers/singers stand towards the top of the ladder and this vantage point gave us a much better view of that. All of this is a reminder that while we can key in on different aspects of a performance just simply based on who is performing it that a change in seat locations can dramatically change our viewpoint of the performance.
After the show we had dinner in the Crystal Dining Room. After three consecutive nights at Prego it was nice to be back in the Crystal Dining Room.
These are the dinner menus.
We each began our dinner with salads. While Keith had a standing order salad Anne Marie had the Heart of Crisp Lettuce which was accompanied by Tomatoes, Zucchini, Olives, and Fried Chick Peas.
For our entree we each ordered the Broiled Barramundi Fillet. We couldn't remember if we ever had this before and the irony is that Head Waiter August not only remembered we had it while in Australia but that we enjoyed it. He was absolutely correct and we did enjoy this entree. We often say that the staff knows more about ourselves than we do, and this was an example of that.
We originally had planned to attend the Around The World Cocktail Party, but maybe due to the motion of the seas Anne Marie was not quite up to it so we passed on this event. The party was for all passengers. Guests were encouraged to wear something that they had purchased during the World Cruise.
When we arrived back to the room there was a nice letter to the "World Cruise Family" from World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy. She did a very nice job of highlighting upcoming events. This included the Passover Seder Dinner that is being held this evening.
Elise also mentioned that there would be a "Back of the House Tour" sometime soon where we will get to see areas of the ship that we normally do not visit. We have done similar tours in the past and find them fascinating so we look forward to this.
Elise covered other items including the fact that on this segment of the World Cruise that all production shows would be performed and that towards the end of this cruise there will be a finale show appropriately titled the Serenity Pops. Each year this is done it is newly written and features not only many of the on board entertainers but also includes some entertainers on land who are also brought on for this event. We look forward to this. Elise mentioned that any guests who can sing or play a musical instrument are welcome to join the entertainment staff on stage.
Once again last night we moved our clocks forward another hour as we sail to our next port of call in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. We got to sleep early and slept very well. When we first went to sleep it was quite windy outside and we could hear the howling of the wind, but in no time we were asleep.
By the time Keith woke up although it was still windy it was far less windy than last evening. Keith was up first and worked out in the Fitness Center. When he arrived Brian was already working out. Keith watched another lecture that he missed while working out and also caught up on the news.
He stopped by the Lido Cafe for some coffee after his workout. Since he got there a bit early, Anthony, the night crew member who took the spot of the other night crew worker who used to get coffee creamer for Keith from time to time, assisted Keith with this today. Keith didn't have to ask for his assistance. Rather, when he saw Keith he checked to see if the creamer was out and seeing that it was not yet out he brought creamer out to Keith. Keith and Anthony chatted for a few minutes. Later on Keith spoke with some of the other Lido Deck Stewards.
Anne Marie did not work out this morning. Keith planned to take the Spin (indoor cycling class) this morning but received a call from Fitness Center Juli noting that due to the weather situation that the class had been cancelled due to safety reasons. Another class is scheduled for tomorrow so hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow.
We watched the Daily Morning Show as we had breakfast in our room. The show included video with highlights from last evenings party and many guests were wearing a range of clothing and other items that they purchased during the course of this trip. We are sorry we missed it.
During Captain Glenn's morning talk from the bridge he noted that the sea/weather conditions were expected to continue. His thought of the day is as follows.
"It's because we are all so different that each and everyone of us is so special."
Today featured two lectures. This included a talk given by Special Interest Lecturer Doug Capra about a small town in Alaska which was nicely done with photographs. Later in the morning Dr. Louis Rene Beres spoke about nuclear strategy and human survival. Dr. Beres cover a variety of items including the Manhattan Project all the way to the current moment. He also covered various conflicts from the past to the current from the Cuban Missile Crisis, to India versus Pakistan to Israel versus Iran.
As the morning progressed the sea became a bit rougher and the ship rocked from side to side. It sort of felt like rock-a-bye-baby. There will be no Paddle Tennis for Keith today.
We also picked up our passports and a customs card at the front desk in preparation for meeting with U.S. Immigrations personnel in Dutch Harbor.
We also heard that the forecast for our visit to Dutch Harbor, Alaska on Sunday calls for a 100% chance for snow flurries. Maybe there will be sufficient snow on the ground to make a snowman and to throw snowballs. We were also told that it might be windy as well.
At Noon we attended Team Trivia. We scored relatively low. To change things up each team submitted one question ahead of time so the questions turned out to be quite traveling. This accounted for ten of the fifteen questions. Win or lose, it's still a lot of fun and we truly enjoy our team.
For lunch we enjoyed another one of those delicious Salad Entrees that we have almost everyday on board the ship.
This evening we will attend the Passover Seder in Prego. We will post more about this tomorrow.
We will also be setting the clocks forward another hour. After tonight, we only have to forward the clock one more time prior to reaching Alaska and one more time prior to the end of this cruise.
We originally had planned to attend the Around The World Cocktail Party, but maybe due to the motion of the seas Anne Marie was not quite up to it so we passed on this event. The party was for all passengers. Guests were encouraged to wear something that they had purchased during the World Cruise.
When we arrived back to the room there was a nice letter to the "World Cruise Family" from World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy. She did a very nice job of highlighting upcoming events. This included the Passover Seder Dinner that is being held this evening.
Elise also mentioned that there would be a "Back of the House Tour" sometime soon where we will get to see areas of the ship that we normally do not visit. We have done similar tours in the past and find them fascinating so we look forward to this.
Elise covered other items including the fact that on this segment of the World Cruise that all production shows would be performed and that towards the end of this cruise there will be a finale show appropriately titled the Serenity Pops. Each year this is done it is newly written and features not only many of the on board entertainers but also includes some entertainers on land who are also brought on for this event. We look forward to this. Elise mentioned that any guests who can sing or play a musical instrument are welcome to join the entertainment staff on stage.
Once again last night we moved our clocks forward another hour as we sail to our next port of call in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. We got to sleep early and slept very well. When we first went to sleep it was quite windy outside and we could hear the howling of the wind, but in no time we were asleep.
By the time Keith woke up although it was still windy it was far less windy than last evening. Keith was up first and worked out in the Fitness Center. When he arrived Brian was already working out. Keith watched another lecture that he missed while working out and also caught up on the news.
He stopped by the Lido Cafe for some coffee after his workout. Since he got there a bit early, Anthony, the night crew member who took the spot of the other night crew worker who used to get coffee creamer for Keith from time to time, assisted Keith with this today. Keith didn't have to ask for his assistance. Rather, when he saw Keith he checked to see if the creamer was out and seeing that it was not yet out he brought creamer out to Keith. Keith and Anthony chatted for a few minutes. Later on Keith spoke with some of the other Lido Deck Stewards.
Anne Marie did not work out this morning. Keith planned to take the Spin (indoor cycling class) this morning but received a call from Fitness Center Juli noting that due to the weather situation that the class had been cancelled due to safety reasons. Another class is scheduled for tomorrow so hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow.
We watched the Daily Morning Show as we had breakfast in our room. The show included video with highlights from last evenings party and many guests were wearing a range of clothing and other items that they purchased during the course of this trip. We are sorry we missed it.
During Captain Glenn's morning talk from the bridge he noted that the sea/weather conditions were expected to continue. His thought of the day is as follows.
"It's because we are all so different that each and everyone of us is so special."
Today featured two lectures. This included a talk given by Special Interest Lecturer Doug Capra about a small town in Alaska which was nicely done with photographs. Later in the morning Dr. Louis Rene Beres spoke about nuclear strategy and human survival. Dr. Beres cover a variety of items including the Manhattan Project all the way to the current moment. He also covered various conflicts from the past to the current from the Cuban Missile Crisis, to India versus Pakistan to Israel versus Iran.
As the morning progressed the sea became a bit rougher and the ship rocked from side to side. It sort of felt like rock-a-bye-baby. There will be no Paddle Tennis for Keith today.
We also picked up our passports and a customs card at the front desk in preparation for meeting with U.S. Immigrations personnel in Dutch Harbor.
We also heard that the forecast for our visit to Dutch Harbor, Alaska on Sunday calls for a 100% chance for snow flurries. Maybe there will be sufficient snow on the ground to make a snowman and to throw snowballs. We were also told that it might be windy as well.
At Noon we attended Team Trivia. We scored relatively low. To change things up each team submitted one question ahead of time so the questions turned out to be quite traveling. This accounted for ten of the fifteen questions. Win or lose, it's still a lot of fun and we truly enjoy our team.
For lunch we enjoyed another one of those delicious Salad Entrees that we have almost everyday on board the ship.
This evening we will attend the Passover Seder in Prego. We will post more about this tomorrow.
We will also be setting the clocks forward another hour. After tonight, we only have to forward the clock one more time prior to reaching Alaska and one more time prior to the end of this cruise.
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Teresa
Keith and Anne Marie
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