En Route To Hong Kong

Some passengers seemed to bothered by the seas last evening but we thought that overall they were mild in comparison to other times we have experienced rough seas. Overall, we have been fortunate with the seas and the weather as we continue to sail towards Hong Kong.

We wanted to note how well the charity auction was done yesterday. The passenger’s who attended had a wonderful time whether or not they were bidding on items. Many from Crystal were also in attendance including the Captain. The money raised is going to a very worthwhile charity. There are some items available in one of the stores and with a good percentage from the sales of these items also going to the charity. Kudos to our Cruise Director for the wonderful job he did as the auctioneer and to those from the entertainment staff and other areas of the ship who provided assistance throughout this wonderful event.

We also wanted to note how special our dinner was last evening. Everything about our dinner was wonderful. The meal was perfect. The chefs know how to prepare a wonderful meal and once again they came through superbly. On top of this we enjoyed wonderful service in a beautiful setting.

Once again, Keith started my day with a nice workout. Anne Marie stayed in the room to get some additional rest. Keith was the first one to the Center and eventually two other passengers were working out. There were less passengers up there at that hour since we did not turn the clocks back last evening. After a great workout, Keith stopped by the Lido Café to get coffee to bring back to the room and spent a little while there talking with a fellow passenger who I had not met before. After solving the problems of the world ☺ he brought coffee back to the room.

Anne Marie slept fairly well last evening. While she was coughing quite a bit before last evenings dinner she did not cough too much last evening, which was good for her and for Keith. ☺

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room. After breakfast we walked on the Promenade Deck for about an hour. The seas were calmer and the air temperature very nice. We met one woman during the walk who is from Australia and as it turned out was on the leg of last years World Cruise which began in Sydney. We told her how much we loved Australia during our first time there last year with the Serenity and we look forward to visiting there again.

Once again, many activities were scheduled today. We will mention some of them.

Dr Herb Keyser gave a nice lecture in the morning titled “The Life and Music of Frank Sinatra”. The presentation was very nicely done. During various parts of the presentation, he also sang some of Frank Sinatra’s songs.

Later in the day Astronomer Dr. Norma Caisse gave a fascinating presentation titled “Adventures in Space and Time: To the Edge of the Known Universe”.

As has been the case through out the cruise, three movies were shown in the Hollywood Theatre.

In the morning we had Rap with the Rabbi and of course there was Memoir Writing.

At the same time there were so many other activities including fitness classes, bridge classes, an art sale, a French class, jackpot bingo, a computer class on powerpoint, a golf clinic, an art sale, along with many other activities.

Our Team Trivia Team tied with three other teams for first place. Another team won the tie breaker question by coming closest to the answer without going over the number. The question was how many steps are there in the Empire State Building? We were happy for them as it’s good to see a team win who had not won before. The team that had one the first several games of Team Trivia was not one of the teams to tie for first today.

Before dinner this evening, we attended the Crystal Society Reception. All past passengers of Crystal were invited to this reception. As this is the third of the forth-formal nights, most passengers were dressed in formal attire.

We have enjoyed the band that plays at these receptions and at other times during the day. The members of this particular band are the best that we have experienced with Crystal. They are very adept at playing a very diverse set of songs to appeal to the wide spectrum of passengers on the ship.

After the reception we dined at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. For the first time, we sat at the Sushi Bar where we enjoyed a variety of sushi and sashimi. It was a wonderful experience for us. Afterwards, we had more sushi and sashimi at our table and then enjoyed a salad and an entrée. It was a lovely evening.

This evening we set our clocks back by another hour as we continue to sail into new time zones. We believe this will continue until we reach Hong Kong where we set the clocks back by an hour every other evening

Keith and Anne Marie