En Route To St. Helena Day 1

We just wanted to start off by commenting about last nights festivities. Many of the passenger’s who are participating in the World Cruise Games participated in last evenings opening ceremony. Each of us marched with a crewmember who was holding a flag of a country. We enjoyed doing this and participating in the ceremony. The ceremony was held on open deck. It included singing and dancing by the Crystal entertainers along with brief speeches given by the Captain and the Cruise Director. The two Olympians who are on board were also introduced. They are: Tracy Evans and Dorothy Hamill. Tracy Evans is a three=time Olympian in the sport of Freestyle/Skiing/Aerials. Dorothy Hamill won the Gold Medal in 1976. A highlight for us last evening was getting the opportunity to speak with Dorothy Hamill for a few minutes after the close of the opening ceremony since we had followed her quite closely during the 1976 Olympics. Also, for most of our marriage Anne Marie wore a hairstyle similar to that of Dorothy Hamill’s. We also got the opportunity to briefly talk with Dr Art Ulene and told him how much we enjoyed his lecture from the other day.

Last night directly after dinner we attended a cocktail party associated with the Travel Consortium that our travel specialist is affiliated with. There were less passenger’s there than at the previous two cocktail parties but we had a nice time talking with a few of the passenger’s and talking with the person from the travel consortium headquarters. In addition, the Hotel Manager was in attendance, Josef Matt, and we talked with him for quite a while. From time to time we have seen him in the Fitness Center when we have gone back an extra time in the afternoon and he remembered us from the center. We enjoyed our conversation with him. We also spoke with guest lecturer Nigel West for a long time and enjoyed that conversation a great deal as well. He is a renowned military historian, specializing in intelligence, counterintelligence and security issues.

This morning we woke up fairly early as we have a number of activities that we plan to attend today. When we arrived at the Lido Café there were only two other passenger’s there and one other passenger arrived when we were mid-way through breakfast. As usual, we received outstanding service from the Lido Staff. They are wonderful and go out of their way to make breakfast so very enjoyable for us. When we arrived at the Fitness Center, it was a little busier than usual but we had no problem using the equipment. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill for one hour while Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine for the same amount of time.

Later in the morning Keith participated in the first of the games he signed up for; Shuffleboard. Keith has not played Shuffleboard in several years. His game ended in a tie and then Keith lost in overtime but had a great time playing and chatting with several of the other players.

Keith also went to a lecture given by Bob Goodwin titled “The White House, Camp David and Air Force One.” He is a former United States Ambassador to New Zealand and has worked in several different Presidential Administrations.

At 12:00 Noon we went to Team Trivia. The questions were quite challenging today. We ended up finishing in a tie for third place. Following Team Trivia we went to lunch with several members of our Trivia Team to the main dining room.

This afternoon Anne Marie participated in the Table Tennis Competition for women. Anne Marie played well since she hasn’t played in Table Tennis for some quite time but lost her game. \

Before dinner this evening we attended a Crystal Society Cocktail Party. This party is for those passenger’s who have previously cruised with Crystal. Once a passenger completes their first cruise with Crystal they automatically become a Crystal Society Member. As a member of the Crystal Society one can realize various discounts for future cruises along with other milestone benefits based on the number of cruises completed to date. As usually, the reception provided a wonderful opportunity to talk with several of our fellow passenger’s.

This evening’s attire was Formal and, once again, we enjoyed seeing everyone dressed up for the evening.

Tomorrow, there will be many activities as we enjoy our second of five consecutive days at sea as we cruise towards St. Helena.

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Keith & Anne Marie