Wednesday, January 31, 2007

En Route To Punta Arenas Day 2




Last evening the seas were quite choppy until around 2:00 AM. At that point, the waters became calm as the ship reached an inlet and began to cruise the inside passage.

After we woke up and got ready this morning we first went over to the concierge area for some assistance and then spoke with the cruise director, Gary Hunter. We really enjoy him and we first met him on a cruise on this ship in September of 2005. Keith enjoys him as Gary has an affinity for popcorn as a nighttime snack similar to Keith. With that said, while we are on the cruise Keith skips his evening popcorn snack for the duration of the cruise. We really enjoy conversing with Gary and we are glad that he will be on for the duration of the World Cruise.

We then went over to the Lido CafĂ© for our regular breakfast and spoke with a few of our fellow passenger’s. After breakfast, we went over to the Fitness Center where we worked out for longer than normal since we had some extra time before the next activity. Keith worked out on the elliptical Machine for about an hour and then worked out on some of the weight lifting machines. Anne Marie worked out the entire time on the treadmill. We continue to enjoy the fitness center and while this segment of the cruise has more passengers on board relative to the first segment, the fitness center seems less crowded.

At 11:00 AM we attended a special event known as the Royal Order of Sea Legs that was held for both the full world cruisers and those passenger’s cruising multiple segments of the world cruise. Crystal provided complimentary drinks but given the hour of the day we only had a non-alcoholic drink for ourselves. Three teams were formed and comprised of some passenger’s who had previously volunteered to been a team and the rest of the passenger’s enjoyed the team competition. Each team also had an officer representing their team including one team, which had the captain. When the game began a question was asked and the teams would have to figure out the answer to the question and as soon as they did each officer would have to eat two crackers and the first officer who made it up to the microphone and could make a whistling noise and then rang a bell could provide the answer to the question. If the answer was correct the team would be awarded a point and then another question would be asked until the competition ended. It was a fun event and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Those in the audience also tried to answer the questions amongst themselves. There was a whole range of questions from how many feet are in a nautical mile to how many lifeboats are on the ship. Members from each team won prizes and several other passenger’s won prizes as raffle tickets were drawn and each winner received a gift. We’re sorry to say that we didn’t win a gift.

Some good news for this Sunday as the plan is still to televise the Super Bowl on one of the channels for the ship. Arrangements have been made to receive the satellite broadcast via one of two satellite methods. Factors such as precise ship location and weather could affect the broadcast but the crew is hopeful that all will be fine with the telecast. We hope that we will be able to receive the telecast but the time here is hours later than eastern standard time so it might be a late night for us.

Following today’s event, we had trivia. Our team didn’t do as well today and finished towards the middle of the pack. There is always next time. After trivia most of those on our team, including ourselves, had lunch in the main dining room. We both had a wonderful seafood salad.

In the afternoon we relaxed rather than going to any organized activities. Keith read his book and walked around the ship and Anne Marie wrote in her journal and watched a movie and also practiced on the piano for her class.

In the evening we had dinner in the Silk Road Asian Specialty Restaurant with Ambassador Edward Peck and his wife Ann. We had a wonderful conversation with them and of course enjoyed the dining at Silk Road. We will dine with them again right before they depart the ship at the end of this segment. We had met this in the fall of 2005 when Ambassador Peck gave some lectures on our Mediterranean Cruise on board the Crystal Serenity and had spoken with them numerous times throughout the cruise. When we learned that they would be on this segment of the world cruise we made arrangements to meet them for dinner this evening. The ambassador will be giving several lectures during the course of the cruise and we will tell you more about his background along with the topics that he presents in a few days.

By around 8:00 this evening the seas became much milder as we moved back to the inside passage. We all hope for good weather tomorrow and look forward to Punta Arenas.

Keith & Anne Marie

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