A Wonderful Day At Sea

Anne Marie With Head Concierge Franz At Cruise Crtiic Get Together



Dinner With Ambassador Ed Peck and His Wife Ann At Silk Road



Success or so we thought!

Yes, the alarm went off correctly this morning. Well, sort of. We’ll provide more details on that in a moment. As such, Keith began his day with a very nice workout in the Fitness Center, arriving there by 5:15 AM or so he thought. ☺ Anne Marie stayed in the room to get some additional rest until she is feeling better.

Keith was the only person in the Fitness Center for his entire workout and enjoyed a very nice workout on the Elliptical Machine. While working out he watched the news to keep up to date with what is going on around the world.

When he got back to the room Keith put up a wash as we knew that no one would be in the laundry room at that hour. -☺ Hhe was right. We have learned over the years that early in the morning are a perfect time to do the wash. But this turned out to be even earlier than Keith had expected.

OK. We will share with you another funny moment and Keith will take full responsibility for this. We were supposed to put our clocks back one hour last evening. Well, we (Keith) thought he did but we (Keith) forgot. We discovered this because we had asked for breakfast in our room at 7:15 AM and it did not arrive. Well, when we called at what we thought was 7:30 AM to see if breakfast would be coming anytime soon we learned it was really 6:30 AM. So, Keith actually began his workout at 4:15 AM. So, you would think this was our first cruise with these little mishaps. ☺ In all our years of travel and in all of Keith’s business travels he has never set the clock or the alarm clock wrong. So, we are now 0 for 2 and as Keith knows if this was baseball he would have one strike to go. ☺

We wanted to mention that we thoroughly enjoyed the talk given by the Captain last evening. We always recognize that the number one priority of a captain is their competency in guiding the ship as we cruise throughout the world and in the safety and well being of the entire ship, its passengers and its crew. Clearly, this captain is quite impressive with his vast experience. At the same time, we found his talk to be quite nice and he seems very personable. From the crew that we have spoken with so far we can see that he has already earned the respect and admiration from his crew. He noted last evening that there are slightly more crew than passengers on board the ship.

We also wanted to note that each time that when we think it can’t get any better than the service on board the ship exceeds our every expectation. We both thoroughly love our Dining Room Senior Waiter and Waiter. They already know many of our preferences and they have taken quite good care of Anne Marie, bringing her tea and other items to help her get better. Likewise, we are extremely pleased with our Headwaiter who has been with Crystal for thirteen years and we are extremely pleased with our room stewardess, assistant stewardess and butler. The stewardess is likely the best we have ever had.

We have always thought that in the end it is the people who make the difference in any product and that goes for cruising. You can take a nice ship but if you have the wrong people staffing it you will have a so-so experience. With Crystal they combine the right ingredients including a superb crew with luxurious ships to make the cruising experience second to none.

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room this morning and it was worth waiting for. ☺

Later in the morning we saw the Rabbi and his wife and we sat with them while they had breakfast in the dining room. It was nice to catch up with the two of them. Later Anne Marie went back to the medical center for a treatment and she went back again later in the day. While she was at the center Keith spoke with several people including the Food and Beverage Manager, The Hotel Director and a few other personnel from Crystal.

There were many activities throughout the day on board the ship.

As the theme for this cruise is Film and Theatre there was a lecture given by Theatre Critic and Author David Kaufman. Another nice event in the morning was the celebration of Purim. The Rabbi did a wonderful job leading the ceremony as he always does. It was very well attended.

Yes, then there was team trivia at 12:00 Noon. Our team did not win but we still had a fun time playing. There is always tomorrow.

At 5:00 PM we hosted a Cruise Critic get together. Some of you know Cruise Critic very well while others do not. Cruise Critic provides an internet forum where people from around the world can post about their experiences on many of the cruise ships and cruise lines along with others who post questions. Over the years, we have met many wonderful passengers through Cruise Critic. The reception was wonderful. It was very well attended. In attendance were several passengers from Cruise Critic who we know quite well from previous sailings along with several that we met for the very first time. We look forward to seeing everyone over the coming days on board the ship and on future cruises. Our thanks go to Crystal for making this an outstanding reception.

Shortly after the conclusion of the reception we dined with Ambassador Peck and his wife, Ann, at Silk Road. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and an equally wonderful conversation.

Keith & Anne Marie