We awoke a little earlier this morning as we had a fairly busy day planned for today as we cruise towards Taormina, (Sicily) Italy. We started off with breakfast in the Lido Café and right after breakfast we went to the Fitness Center for our morning workout. We had a row of four of us who are regulars in the center with Keith on the elliptical machine along with Anne Marie and two other passengers just adjacent to Keith on treadmills. We all talked about what we’ve done the last couple of days along with upcoming plans for the next few days.
At 9:15 AM there was a special event for those on the Full World Cruise called “Behind The Scenes” which was a tour of the crew area. Groups were formed of ten passengers per group and we were then escorted down to two crew levels. We visited the crew and officer dining halls, the bistro, both the officers and crew bar areas, the engine control room, the meat and fish preparation rooms, the crew fitness center, the laundry and dry-cleaning facility, a crew cabin, a crew recreational facility, a staging area where all provisions are first loaded onto the ship, the garbage sorting and recycling facility and a variety of other rooms. In many areas, officers were in the rooms doing roles that are definitely not part of their job description. For example, Captain Otto was ironing clothes and the Hotel Director was sewing a button onto a crew shirt, the Matre d of the Main Dining Room was working in the recycling facility and the Hotel and Bar Manager was pealing potatoes. We greatly enjoyed the tour and after hearing about the crew and officer bars for so many years we were glad to finally see them up close. ☺ In fact, at the conclusion of the tour we were offered complimentary drinks at the crew bar.
Following this tour we attended a lecture given by General Nick Halley. In this lecture General Halley spoke about several issues related to the issue of terrorism. He will give us his thoughts on Iraq in his next lecture.
At 11:00 AM we attended a lecture given by Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker who are married to each other called “A Morning with Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker.” Jill Eikenberry is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Ann Kelsey on NBC’s hit series LA Law. Michael Markowitz also is probably best known for his eight-year stint in LA Law. They each have appeared on stage and in a variety of television series. Their presentation was really more of a talk than a lecture and it was about their marriage, their career on stage, movies and in television and one of the major challenges in their marriage when Jill Eikenberry was first diagnosed with breast cancer. It was one of the best talks we have attended during the course of the World Cruise and very moving. At the end of their talk they received a standing ovation from the audience.
Then it was time to go to Team Trivia. While we finished in a tie for second place for today the unofficial results had us moving up from second to a tie for first place for this segment of the World Cruise with one final game to go. After so many second place finishes on other segments of the World Cruise we’ll have to see how this one turns out.
We then had lunch in the Lido Café and another couple joined us midway through lunch so we had a very enjoyable conversation with them.
At the same time there was a lunch in the Main Dining Room which combined the Gala Buffet with the Sunday Brunch. They set up the entire buffet inside the middle of the Main Dining Room rather than in the outside foyer (Crystal Cove) and also served complimentary Champagne and Mimosas and they had live music as well.
After lunch we went to the stateroom open house where it provided the opportunity to view a selection of staterooms representing most of the categories that are offered on this ship.
Later in the afternoon Keith went to play table tennis with several passengers who we have come to know well. He played doubles and had a lot of fun. Anne Marie did some reading and caught up on some other items.
We had a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room
After dinner we went to the show that featured our Cruise Director, Gary Hunter. As part of his extensive career he is also a ventriloquist. The first time we saw him perform his act was on the Crystal Harmony. As many times as we have seen him perform his ventriloquist act we find ourselves in tears from laughter. We think the world of Gary Hunter both on and off stage. We enjoy talking with him from time to time and had the opportunity to talk with him for about fifteen minutes earlier this morning before we attended the behind the scenes tour of the crew and officer areas of the ship. In our opinion, he is by far the best Cruise Director we have had the pleasure of sailing with.
Keith & Anne Marie
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