En Route To St. Helena Day 2

Today has been another fun and exciting day on the Crystal Serenity. There have been so many fun activities throughout the day and we have enjoyed each and everyone of them.

We awoke early this morning as we normally do and we went to the Lido Café for Breakfast. The Lido Café serves a variety of breakfast items which works perfect for us. After breakfas,t we worked out in the Fitness Center. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the Elliptical machine. We also each worked out on the weight machines.

Later in the morning, we went to see Dorothy Hamill speak. We arrived early in order to get a seat in the front and had the opportunity to speak with Dorothy for a few minutes. Dorothy Hamill was nineteen years old when she won her Gold Medal at the 1976 Winder Games in Innsbruck, Austria. In many ways, it only seems like yesterday when we were watching the Olympics on Television and seeing her win the Gold Medal. At that time, we would never have dreamed that we would be sailing on a World Cruise and have the opportunity to meet her on board the Crystal Serenity.

We enjoyed her talk, which also included a series of videotapes. She talked about how important ice-skating was in her life starting at the time she was a very young girl through her illustrious career. At the end of her lecture we were able to get another picture with her and also talked with her for a few minutes more. She is a very warm and friendly individual.

At 11:00 AM we went to an event called Sea Legs. This is an event that is held for anyone who is sailing on multiple cruises segments Today’s event, involved a competition amongst the crew and then a second competition that also included some passenger’s. It was a lot of fun and we laughed quite a bit. As part of the competition each team had to make a bed, set a dining room table and fill wine glasses with the high standards that Crystal expects for their respective staff. Our take-away from this event was to really appreciate the level of effort, attention to detail, and special care that goes into each of these activities by the personnel who perform these important tasks.

At 12:15 it was time for Team Trivia. The questions were rather challenging and our team finished in third place.

Keith was entered in the table tennis World Cruise games, which began at 1:30 so this time for lunch we ate in the Lido Café so that we would be finished in time for the table tennis tournament. We each made our on salad entrée, which was nice.

At 1:30 it was time for the men’s table tennis tournament. Other than playing for less than five minutes the other day, Keith had not practiced at all since we have been on this cruise. Keith ended up winning several games and only lost one game which was for a gold or silver metal and he won his final game which was for a bronze medal.

At 3:30 PM Anne Marie played in the Solitaire competition, which was held in the Computer University. They will announce the finalists/winners after all of the games have been played.

At 5:15 PM we attended the World Cruise Game Ceremony called the Thrill of Victory Medals Ceremony where Keith received a Bronze Award from the Table Tennis Tournament. At this event they gave out the metals from those events that occurred over the past two days and just like the Olympics they played the national anthem. Dorothy Hamill and Tracy Evans presented the metals. Keith enjoyed getting kisses from each of them. ☺

We had a very nice dinner in the main dining room with our tablemates. We each had a wonderful salad, an entrée of delicious swordfish and various steamed vegetables and other cooked vegetables and fruit for our desert. We all were discussing how much we have enjoyed the World Cruise. It has clearly exceeded all of our expectations and we are thankful for this wonderful experience.

This evening we will forward our clocks another hour as we pass through another time zone. We expect tomorrow to be another fun-filled day.

Keith & Anne Marie