As we mentioned in yesterdays Blog, we along with a few other couples hosted a party last evening. The party was for the crew and was our way of saying thank you to the crew for all that they do for us.
All of the crew was invited to this party and the part theme was called the “Spaced Out Crew Party”. It was held in one of the passenger venues on the ship and started at 11:00 PM and ended at around 4:00 AM. We arrived a little before 11:30 PM and stayed for about ninety minutes. Thank goodness that we were in yet another new time zone and got to turn the clocks back one hour before we went to sleep. ☺
When we arrived some of the crew was there and others continued to join the party while we were there. Many of the crew do not get off from work until late in the evening while others get off work early and went to sleep for a few hours and then came to the party later in the evening.
As we have mentioned throughout the cruise what makes sailing on this ship and Crystal Cruises so very special is the wonderful crew. So, when we were asked if we would be interested in being one of the hosts for this party we thought readily joined in as we thought it would be a nice way to say thank you and to show our appreciation to the crew. While we have met so many members of the crew there are many that work behind the scenes that we normally don’t see from the kitchen staff, to those in the laundry area and so forth so we thought that having a party for all of them would be nice way to give our thanks to the crew for all they do.
We spoke with many of the crew who were in attendance last evening and others have come up to us throughout the day to say thank you for the party. On Crystal when we thank the crew for something they will say “my pleasure”. So, it was great that we could say something similar to them when they thanked us for last evenings party (eg, it was our pleasure). We were also pleased that so many of the officers stopped by last evening from the Captain to the Hotel Director and so forth. The interaction between officers and the rest of the crew is outstanding and it shows day in and day out.
As part of the theme last evening, the lights were turned down and all sorts of items glowed in the dark from special drinking glasses to those bendable items that bend into various shapes so you can put them around your neck or arms or legs. There was music, dancing, plenty of drink and lots of food. We are so very glad to have been a part of this event. Unfortunately, the room was so dark it was not possible to take any pictures.
Since we went to sleep fairly late last evening, we slept in a little later this morning relative to what time we normally wake up. With that said, we still managed to be up and about by around 7:00 AM We had breakfast in the Lido Café as we normally do and then went over the Fitness Center for our daily workout.
The ship arrived in Oporto, Portugal this morning around 8:00 AM. This is our first time to Portugal.
We took the first shuttle into the city at around 9:00 AM. The bus ride took about thirty minutes and we drove on a very scenic road with wonderful views of water on one side of the road. The downtown city area has many rolling hills reminding us of San Francisco. The architecture of the various building was very attractive.
We were dropped off by City Hall, which was located in a beautiful building. We walked along several nearby streets with another couple from the World Cruise who we have come to know very well. We walked over to a train station, which was built in 1910. Some very nice mosaic tiles were on a few of the interior walls of the station. We walked into a few stores along with several very nice bakeries.
The outside temperature was cooler than most areas we have visited with the temperature being around 50 degrees. After we walked around for a while and took in all of the nearby sites we decided to board the bus for the ride back to the ship.
We had an early lunch back on the ship and decided to have a nice salad entrée at the Lido Café. During the afternoon we took care of various errands around the ship.
This evening we attended the final World Cruise Event. The theme of this evenings event was “Around The World”. They divided the World Cruisers into two groups for the event and we ended up with the early seating, which worked out great for us. We met for pre-dinner Cocktails at 5:00 PM and then at 5:30 PM we were escorted to our table for dinner. We sat at tables around the indoor pool. They sat passengers at each table along with a host. Our table represented the country of Chile. There was lots of entertainment that represented the various countries around the world and we were served a very nice dinner. The menue consisted of a Trio of King Crab, Cream of White Asparagus, Surf & Turf and Sweet Temptations from Around the World.
Tomorrow we wil enjoy a day at sea as we sail to Bordeaux.
Keith & Anne Marie
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