DAY 70- WELCOME TO BANGKOK, THAILAND

Excellent Time At Prego Last Evening ✔ Greatly Enjoyed Our Visit To Bangkok  ✔

Although we dined at Prego last evening these are the dinner menus from the Crystal Dinging Room.

We enjoyed a fabulous meal at the Prego Italian Restaurant last evening.  

Our waiter for the evening was Costa who we usually have when we dine in Prego.  We first met Costa in 2008 and we had him as our waiter throughout the 2010 World Cruise.  While on board the Serenity for the 2011 Panama Canal Cruise and the first four legs of the 2011 World Cruise Costa was on a well deserved holiday so we didn't see him.  It's been nice to be with him again.  We not only enjoy his terrific restaurant skills but just enjoy talking with him about a wide range of items including his home town which is located in Portugal.

Last night was to be the busiest night in Prego in two months with around 130 guests with reservations.  Since this leg of the World Cruise is port intensive the specialty restaurants will have significantly guests dining over the rest of this segment.  We arrived at 6:00 PM and by around 7:00 PM it was fairly busy and many more guests were due to arrive at 8:00 and 8:30 PM respectively.

This was the first time we dined at Prego since Headwaiter Bruno came back from Holiday to relieve Mario who now is on Holiday so we chatted with Bruno from time to time during dinner.

We enjoyed a delicious meal at Prego last evening and truly enjoyed the ambience of this beautiful restaurant.

Before we mention the meal, as we have done the last couple of times, we have let Christian the Sommelier select our wine.  He is getting a good grasp as to the wine we enjoy.  He waited until we selected our entree, and then returned back to our table and we discussed the entree and then he said he would come back with a wine that would pair well for the dinner.  The Sommelier's on board the ship do not push high priced wine and often recommend wines that are moderately priced that are excellent values.  He selected a nice Pinot Noir for us that paired extremely well with our meal.  We will continue to let Christian select our wines going forward as it gives us a chance to try wines that we have never had before which in the end expands our overall experience.

We had a nice window table.  Once we were seated, Costa opened the drapes for us so that we could enjoy a nice view of the sea and we watched the sunset.  

We began the meal with salad.  Anne Marie had the Caesar Salad and Keith had a standing order salad.

We then had a second course, which was a small portion of one of the additional entree which was pasta and clams.  This one was good but not as tasty as the ravioli entree that we had as an appetizer the last time we dined at Prego.

For our entrée we ordered one the other additional entree item, which was sea bass that was accompanied by a risotto which was surrounded by a lemon foam.  This entrée was not just delicious but we would put it up there as one of the best seafood entrees we have ever eaten.  It was just superb. The cut of the sea bass was really nice and, in fact, Keith had some of Anne Marie's.  It was so very tasty between the taste of the fish and the risotto along with the lemon foam.  It was also cooked just perfectly so that it was moist.

 When we finished dinner, we spoke with the Prego Executive Chef, Christian, about how much we enjoyed the entrée.  He also told us about another fish that he will be serving this evening and tomorrow evening and we will plan to have it tomorrow evening. 

We truly enjoy these additional entrees as it provides the opportunity for Christian to create his own recipes and they have really been outstanding.

For dessert, Keith had fresh fruit and Anne Marie had a decaffeinated coppuchino.

There was a nice themed night show last evening and the entrance to the Galaxy Lounge was decorated beautifully for the show.  There were also members who looked like stuffed animals.

We slept very well last evening and we have continued to enjoy relatively calm seas.  In fact, it was hard to know that we were moving.

Keith was up very early and back to the Fitness Center and got in a nice workout before it was time for breakfast.  He stopped by the Lido Cafe for some coffee and with very early tours scheduled for this morning, there were some other guests already seated there for the continental breakfast.

Because of our early arrival and tour Anne Marie did not work out.

We had an earlier breakfast than we usually do as we had an early tour.  Rao set up a very nice breakfast as he does each and everyday for us.  As we do at home, we have oatmeal with a banana and on the ship Keith has stewed prunes. It's simple, but filling and healthy.

After breakfast we got ready for our visit to Bangkok.We visited the very unique city of Bangkok in 2008.  Since the port is located at least ninety minutes from Bangkok on our first visit we took one of the two Crystal Cruises tours that includes an overnight at a Hotel in Bangkok.  We stayed at the Manderin Oriental and visited many sites all around the city.  

This time around we selected Bangkok as one of five cities where utilized a private tour from our travel consortium. We were very happy we did.

After the ship was cleared, we made our way to the pier where we where met by our private tour guide/driver for our visit to Bangkok.  Our tour guide went with the name Audi and the driver's name was Manocs.

These photos will give you a sense to some of what makes Bangkok so unique and many of the places we visited.   There are lots of Temples to see to give you a sense of the city and its culture.

After touring around the city, we visited a store that we had first visited in Bangkok in 2008 called Jim Thompson.  They have several locations throughout Bangkok along with a few other cities in Thailand and are also located in Singapore, Malaysia along with one location in China.  They are known for their silk and for a wide range of clothing items for men, women and children that they sell.  We enjoyed the Bangkok store so much that we wanted to go back there again. Later, we visited the Jim Thompson Museum which includes a store and also includes his original house which was moved to its current location.  We will post more about this tomorrow including other sites we drove by on our way out of the city.

We brought some food items with us for lunch so we didn't waste time with eating off the ship. We will have lunch on the remaining three private tours.  Anne Marie made us cheese sandwiches with cheese, bread and tomatoes that she got from the Lido Cafe.  We also brought grapes with us along with ice that Rao had gotten for us.  While it is prohibited to take food off the ship in many ports of call around the world, there are some such as Thailand where it is permitted.  If it was not, then we would not have taken food with us.

Our drive back to the ship took about 90 minutes.  We had each brought iPads with us so we could read when the tour guide was not talking with us.  It helped make the time go faster with the iPads.

This evening we will dine in the Crystal Dining Room.

Keith and Anne Marie

DAY 69- EN ROUTE TO BANGKOK, THAILAND

Thoroughly Enjoyed Last Evenings Captain's Welcome Reception. ✔  Enjoyed Another Wonderful Dinner In The Crystal Dining Room With The Fresh Maine Lobster Being The Highlight Of Dinner✔  Another Fantastic Day At Sea ✔

We just wanted to begin by saying how much fun that Keith had playing Paddle Tennis yesterday afternoon.  With more people on this voyage we actually had both Tennis Courts in use with people playing doubles, yet there was no waiting time to get into the game.  One of the most enjoyable games was when Keith partnered up with one of the senior members of the crew and they beat two guests who won some of the Paddle Tennis medals in the equivalent of overtime.  For Keith it doesn't matter whether you win or lose it's all about fun but one of the guests they beat doesn't like to lose so it was funny and when we both saw the crew member last evening we enjoyed some laughs about the game.  

Before dinner last evening we attended the Captain's Formal Reception.  These receptions are held at 5:15 PM (early seating dining) and 7:45 PM (late seating) respectively.  Complimentary drinks are served including champagne, wine, spirits and of course soft drinks along with Hors doeuver's.  There is live music which is performed by the Crystal Sextet Band as well as dancing.  For those ladies traveling solo who enjoy dancing dance hosts are present at both receptions as they are each and every evening on board the ship.  

The receptions are always very special and the formal attire for last evenings dress code also adds to the overall ambience of the evening.

As we have been doing at most of the receptions this year we sat at the bar.  It's funny because we are not "bar" people if you will.  On land, it is very rare that we would sit at a bar and on previous cruises we have never sat at the bar and instead would seat on chairs around tables ranging in size from around four to eight people.  However, we have enjoyed changing things up on this cruise and its been fun to watch the bartenders at work and the bar waiters doing all that they do including putting the garnishes in certain drinks.

We spoke with several guests, crew members and people who are involved with the enrichment program.  

When we first arrived we enjoyed a very nice conversation with fellow World Cruiser Elaine.  She is terrific and we really enjoy talking with her.

We always toast each and every evening.

During Captain Glenn's talk he noted that there were approximately 660 crew members on board the ship and slightly over 900 guests.  This is a great ratio of crew to guests.  For a brief time there was a thunderstorm and as the Captain says often and he said last night no matter what the weather is like outside the ship it is always sunny inside the ship.  This is so very true.

We enjoyed dinner in the Crystal DIning Room last evening.  The theme of the dinner was the Gala Welcome Dinner and these were the dinner menus.

We each began with salads.  

Keith enjoyed his standing order salad.

Anne Marie had the Captain's Salad.

We each had the Broiled Fresh Maine Lobster.  The lobster is always great but tonight was even more special.  Anne Marie tried it first and just loved it from the moment she tasted it.  It was a very nice size and just had an incredible taste to it and it was cooked to perfection as you could chew it with ease.

Anne Marie enjoyed the sugar-free Mocha Cream Puff for dessert.  Keith had mixed berries, some of the leftover cake and even a petits fours.

The good news is that after we got back to the room we set the clocks back one hour as we sail into another time zone.

As we do each evening we slept very well.  Keith was up very early and enjoyed another great workout at the Fitness Center.  Not too long into his workout fellow guest Brian showed up and about midway through the workout several other guests were working out.  Some guests were up earlier than normal due to setting the clocks back one hour while at the same time some of the guests who just joined the ship in Singapore are still not on the local time and are getting up at all sorts of different hours.

While Keith worked out  watched two of the three lectures that he missed yesterday and then later in the day he watched the third and final one.  Afterwards, he was back at the Lido Cafe for some coffee. Like the Fitness Center, there were more guests there at that time of the morning than usual.

A short while later Anne Marie worked out for one hour and then afterwards we enjoyed breakfast in our room.  As we had breakfast, we watched the daily morning show with Cruise Director Rick Spath and World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy.  They mentioned that last night might have been the last time of the World Cruise that we will be moving the clock moved the clock back one hour.  Even after the ship arrives to Los Angeles at the end of the World Cruise she will then go from Los Angeles to New York City with the following segment cruise from New York City to London.  

We enjoyed another great day at sea today as we make our way to Bangkok.

In yesterday's post we forgot to mention Captain Glenn's thought for the day so we wanted to be sure to do that.  

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched but are felt in the heart".

Today's thought for the day from Captain Glenn is as follows:

"Most of us know not to say nothing but some of us don't know when."

There were two lectures today.  Professor Adrian Kerry spoke about the Khmer Empire which was the story of the rise and fall of Southeast Asia's greatest Empire and its wondrous capital Angkor.  Later in the morning, Ken Walsh spoke about the Obama Presidency and he highlighted the highs and the lows.  We watched Ken Walsh talk when it was repeated on the television.  This is one that we didn't really learn anything more than we already knew but nevertheless he did summarize successes and challenges.

At 10:00 AM, Keith attended indoor Spin and he thoroughly enjoyed the workout.  With so many younger guests on board, once again, the class was full with even a wait list.  Since there was a large wait list they held a second class yesterday afternoon at 4:00 PM for those on the wait list.

Rob taught the class today and it was extremely challenging.  Of course, challenging correlates with an excellent workout and when you don't think you can pedal and further you have truly experienced a solid workout. That was the case today.

Today, was orange day but since Christie was unable to take today's class Keith was actually the only person in orange.

At Noon we were back to Team Trivia. We correctly answered twelve of fifteen questions and we finished in second place.  We are now tied for first place after two games.

Afterwards,we each enjoyed a salad entree in our room. There was also an Asian Cafe Luncheon Buffet but we passed on that one. 

In the afternoon,Keith played Paddle Tennis for almost three hours.  It was quite hot and humid but with today being the last sea day for a few days he wanted to get in a lot of tennis.  He played with several senior members of the crew and fellow guests.  Anne Marie took this photo of Keith right after he returned to the room.

Anne Marie walked for an hour and also sat out by the pool.

This evening we will dine at the Prego Italian Restuaurant.

Tomorrow we have a busy day as we take a private excursion over to Bangkok.  

This evening we will dine at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant.

Keith and Anne Marie

DAY 68 - EN ROUTE TO BANGKOK, THAILAND

Thoroughly Enjoyed Our Time In Singapore ✔ Enjoyed Another Wonderful Dinner In The Crystal Dining Room ✔  Another Fantastic Day At Sea As We Sail To Bangkok, Thailand✔Great Cruise Critic Meet  And Mingle Party ✔ Big Sports Day ✔

We wanted to begin with just a few comments from the past two days.

- We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Singapore.  This was our third time there and it gets better and better.  An item that we are still struck by was the question from our tour guide who asked us if given what we know we would want to live in a place such as Singapore where we would have to give up some of our rights to gain some of the benefits that come along with that. Of course that begs the question would our tour guide want to live in the United States where she might have more opportunities for success but she would face some of the challenges that do come from less control.  This is what makes travel such a good learning experience.

- It was nice very nice to see some of our favorite Lido Stewards return to the ship in Singapore and some we are still running into.  For those of you who are familiar with the Serenity this includes folks such as Ross, Nat, and Clark (aka Clark Kent/Superman)  along with other personnel who work in other areas of the ship such as Bruno who is Headwaiter in Prego and Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' when Antonio is on holiday along with Alberto, waiter in Silk Road.

-While over 400 guests boarded the ship yesterday afternoon things were very orderly.  The Serenity now has a new check-in process which was first used on the sister ship the Symphony in September.  Rather than checking in on the pier the check in is all done on the ship.  The first few times this was implemented on the Serenity it was done outside the Crystal Dining Room and since that area can be very crowded given that on top of check in many people go to lunch in the dining room on embarkation day, yesterday check in was done in the Casino and that seemed to go very well and helped quite a bit with the traffic flow.  The dining room was very orderly last evening in spite of new guests needing to locate their table for the very first time.  In short, the embarkation process seemed very orderly and embarking guests also seemed to settle onto the ship with ease.

  

These are a few more photos from yesterday's visit to Sentosa.

Before dinner last evening we went to the Mandatory Muster Station (lifeboat) Drill.  This drill is now mandatory for all guests regardless of how long one has been on board the ship.  Our observation continues to be that since the catastrophic sinking of the Costa Ship that the vast majority of guests are now taking these drills much more seriously than in the past.  They are showing up on time, with their life vests on and are listening carefully to the instructions.  

There are still some guests (a small minority of them) who do not  attend the drills.  The good news is that they represent just a small percentage of the guests and that yesterday we saw some guests attend who we had not seen before even though they have been on the ship since January.  To those passengers who do not think they need to attend, we hope that, in time, they will realize the seriousness and the importance of these drills.  Our recommendation would be that the group that sets the standards for the cruise industry to follow would put in place regulation on this to penalize those who do not attend.  This would take the pressure off the cruise lines from being the "bad guy" and would allow them to just enforce regulations that have been put into place by the entire industry.

Anne Marie with Christie

Keith and Christie

We departed Singapore at around 6:00 PM last evening around the time we were seated for dinner, and we are now making our way to the next port of call in Bangkok, Thailand.

Last evening we had dinner in the Crystal Dining Room.  The menu theme was the Bon Voyage Dinner.  These are the menus.

Our Senior Waiter for the World Cruise portion of this adventure continues to be Salvatore who we will have for the entire World Cruise.  The same goes for the Waiter, Marina, who assists him.  For the third consecutive voyage while many of the Sommelier's have rotated their section in the dining room, the Sommelier for our section, Raphael, has remained the same.  We really enjoy Raphael not only because of his knowledge of wines but also because of his personality which is upbeat and because of his sense of humor.  He will be leaving us in Hong Kong at the end of this leg of the World Cruise.

Salvatore our Senior Waiter.

We each began our meal with salads. Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie had the Fresh Spinach Salad.

Keith had the Broiled Fillet of Fresh Local Snapper for his entree.  Anne Marie was more creative.  She ordered the Local Snapper but also asked for Sea Scallops which were featured on top of the Salad Entree.  She gave Keith some of the Snapper and one of the scallops.   Both seafood items were prepared extremely well and we found it to be quite tasty. The snapper was also very moist.  When we cook fish at home our challenge is cooking the fish enough but not too much and often our fish comes out of the oven too dry so we really enjoy the fish that Crystal prepares as the chefs really know how to cook and prepare each type of fish.  

 In addition to the steamed vegetables Keith also ordered some grilled vegetables.

For dessert, Anne Marie ordered the sugar-free Rice Dessert and Keith enjoyed a nice bowl of berries.  We are not big on rice desserts so this one was on the average side but that has more to do with our tastes in dessert rather than the way the dessert was prepared.

Keith had mixed berries and also had some of the cake from the night before.

After dinner, we attended the Welcome Aboard Show.  This show featured the Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers, Dancers Curtis and Beverly and the Galaxy Orchestra. It gives those coming on board the ship a nice sense of what some of the in-house entertainment is like.   The show began at 8:00 PM and was approximately 30 minutes in length and it was a nice way to kick-off this leg of the World Cruise.  Each of these performers really showed off their talents.  This included the graceful dancing of Beverly and Curtis who make moves dancing that are out of this world.  The show also included a couple of broadway songs that showed off the talents both in terms of singing and dancing of the Ensemble of Singers and Dancers.  At the same time, the finale showed off the talents of the Galaxy Orchestra as the back curtain was raised so that the audience could not only hear their music but could see them perform.  

Once again,  It was very easy to fall asleep last evening with the gentle rocking of the ship by the relatively calm seas.  We kid you not.  It seems that once our head hits the pillow that in a matter of minutes we are fast asleep.

With a good night sleep it was easy to get up and to start our day off with our daily exercise.  Keith was back in the Fitness Center and worked out on the Elliptical Machine and Anne Marie walked for one hour on the open deck.  In between the two workouts, Keith enjoyed coffee at the Lido Cafe.

We had breakfast in our room while we watched the Daily Morning Show with Cruise Director Rick Spath and World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy.  One of the interesting points that they made was that other than today and tomorrow, we will not have two consecutive days at sea until late March which gives some perspective about the port intensity of this and the next leg of the World Cruise.

Today has been quite a busy day. There were certainly many more activities on the schedule that we could possibly attend so we had to pick and choose what we did.

Keith had a Spin (indoor cycling) Class at 10:00 AM.  The class was taught by Sports Director Juli who just came on board the ship in Singapore.  She was fantastic and had lot of spirit.  All of the Spin Cycles were being used which is always great.  By the way, there are a lot more younger people on board ranging from 30's to 50's so the Fitness Center was quite busy when Keith was Spinning.  Keith gave some pointers to Christie who was taking Spin for the very first time and Christie worked very hard in the class.

Today, must have been blue day as several people had blue on.  Tomorrow, will be orange day.  Well, maybe!

Then there was a Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle Party from 11:00 AM to 11:45 AM.  Keith only had time to change into another sports shirt and shorts.  Normally, he would wear something nicer.  We had a very nice turnout and it included many Cruise Critic members who boarded in Singapore.  The party ran until almost 11:55 AM.

Keith with David and Andrea

Elaine with Crown Allen

From L-R Peggy, Pat and Elaine

At Noon there was Team Trivia. This was the first game of the new leg.  Bob and Glo were not there as they are on a Land Program in Thailand so we had two substitutes.  We came in first place today by answering fourteen of fifteen questions correctly.  Long story we actually had all fifteen correct but someone changed it to another answer.  Ironically, Keith knew one of the questions based on Bob and Glo's flight from last year. Question was which is the longest non-stop flight between X city and Newark, NJ.  First we all said Sydney but then Keith remembered that Bob and Glo took a non-stop flight from Singapore to Newark, New Jersey last year and Singapore was the right answer.

Right after Team Trivia we had lunch and we each had a Salad Entree.  At the same time, the Lido Cafe had a special luncheon buffet which featured not only German Specialties but also included complimentary German Beer.

After that, it was time for Paddle Tennis. Keith played for almost three hours of non-stop tennis.  It was a lot of fun.  He had a nice time playing with both guests and crew.

Anne Marie worked out in the afternoon for one hour and also sat out for a little while.

All of this left no time to even attend the three lectures given today so we will catch all of them on the television as they are repeated for 24 hours or more on three different television stations.

The lectures featured Professor Adrian Kerr who spoke about the rise of Buddhism and how it took over the East.  The second lecture of the morning was Ken Rees who spoke about Thailand and Cambodia.  In the afternoon Dr. John McMichan spoke about the heathy traveler.

This evening we will attend the Captain's Welcome Reception followed by the Captain's Welcome Dinner in the Crystal Dining Room.

Keith and Anne Marie