Wonderful Time At The Crystal Society Reception ✔ Thoroughly Enjoyed Last Evening's Dinner At Prego ✔ Loved The Performance Of Zero Hour Performed By Jim Brochu ✔
We were asked what type of camera we use to take photos. We use a Nikon D7000 for most of our outdoor photos. Sometimes we use this camera for indoor photos on the ship. However, we mainly use a point and shoot camera for the indoor shots which is made by Lumix.
We began last evening by attending the Crystal Society Reception. The attire for the evening was formal.
As we have mentioned, once a guest completes their first Crystal Cruise they automatically become a member of Crystal Society. As a member, they receive certain amenities based on the number of cruises they have taken. These are known as milestones.
The reception is another way of saying thank you to the guests and it also recognizes some of the guests who are celebrating a major milestone. The Crystal Society Hostess/Host will mention the names of guests celebrating a special milestone usually in increments of five beginning with 25 or so cruises. In addition, a special presentation will be made for a couple of guests who are celebrating a major milestone and this will include being escorted up to the front of the room where they will receive a bouquet of flowers.
One couple and one single man was recognized at our reception.
The single man was recognized for having sailed on seventy voyages.
The couple was recognized for having sailed on 200 Crystal Cruises. They are the first couple to have achieved that milestone with one solo guest being the first person to achieve that level of cruises.
We had a great time at the reception and spoke with several guests and members of the crew as well as some who are part of the enrichment program. If one assumes an average cruise of 15 days in length then this level equates to over eight years of cruising which is amazing. Captain Glenn shared some thoughts about this couple without mentioning their names so that they could be recognized by the Crystal Society Hostess. Captain Glenn's words were very touching and he noted that he had sailed with them for so many years on board the former Crystal Harmony and the Crystal Symphony and the Crystal Serenity.
During the reception we spoke with several guests as well as member of the Crystal staff and several of the people who make up the enrichment program.
This is a photo of Anne Marie with Elaine before the start of the reception.
Although we dined at Prego last evening, these were the dinner menus from the Crystal Dining Room. The theme for the dinner was the French Dinner.
In lieu of a French dinner, we enjoyed an Italian dinner at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant. We invited World Cruise Hostess Elise Ivy and Assistant Cruise Director Scott Mitchel to join us and we had a wonderful time with them. It provided another nice opportunity for each of us to get to know each other even more.
Scott needed to be at the second Crystal Society Reception so he left right after we all finished our entrees at around 7:40 PM and then we ended up spending another hour with Elise.
Our waiter for the evening was Costa who we absolutely adore.
We each began with a salad. Anne Marie and Elise each had a Caesar Salad (photo below)
Scott had a salad that was recently added to the menu.
Keith had his standing order salad.
We each had a small portion of the additional pasta entree for our appetizer which was cheese ravioli. It was absolutely delicious.
We had ordered the additional entree (Swordfish) for our entree but Chef Christian came out and said he had a surprise for us and asked if we would be interested. We said yes and the two of us plus Elise had the surprise item while Scott had the Lasagna.
When the entree came out we learned that it was Turbo and it was a whole fish. It was very good and we really appreciate chef Christian not only making this for us but also thinking of us.
Headwaiter, Bruno served the entree to us by cutting the fish into individual portions and also placing the accompanied items on each plate.
Anne Marie and Elise each had a a half portion of Vanilla Gelato for dessert while Keith had a fruit plate.
By the time we left Prego it was too late for us to attend the earlier show so we went back to the room. Anne Marie continued to get us organized for our upcoming visit to Beijing.
The seas were very calm and we slept very well last evening. Keith woke up early and worked out at the Fitness Center. He saw the weather forecasts for Beijing and they call for very cold weather over the next few days. Someone mentioned to us that there was some snow at the area near the Great Wall.
Keith had coffee at the Lido Cafe and since today was a port day much of the breakfast was set up for those on early tours.
Anne Marie worked out for one hour at the Fitness Center as it was too cold to be outside on the Promenade Deck.
We had breakfast in our room as we got ready to go into town.
The irony is that Dalian is considered to be a small town in China. However, with a population of 1.2 Billion people little in China would be very large in most other places around the world as the population of Dalian approaches nearly 6.2 million residents.
We took the 9:00AM shuttle into town. The town was located about 10 minutes from the pier. It was cold so we dressed warmly. We each wore hats, gloves, our North Face Jackets, a Fleece and Scarves. We will take one additional layer for our overland in Beijing as well as Long Johns for the Great Wall.
We were dropped off at a shopping center and were greeted by a couple of adorable characters.
The area of the city that we walked had a European kind of feel in terms of the architecture of many of the buildings.
Initially, we walked over to a very large traffic circle which had no traffic lights although it had pedestrian crosswalks. We crossed in two different locations and each time we felt as if we were taking our life in our hands. It was very hard to cross and Keith held his arm and hand up to motion to them to stop as a crossing guard or police officer would do. They stopped but very close to us. On our return, we saw this sign and it was an underground walkway.
Near the shuttle drop-off point there was an outdoor market. This man was cooking sweet potatoes and they did smell very nice.
The market had vegetables and fruit as well as other items including clothes. There were also knockoffs or as some say copy items.
It was wall to wall people.
We saw a range of cars driving around town and there was a fair amount of luxury cars. Taxis were also plentiful.
This is an example of someone crossing the street. The car barely stopped for her.
This sign is for the traffic circle that we had headed towards and had to cross.
In the afternoon we spoke with our son Eric, daughter in Law Kara and we also got to see the two dogs; Tobey and Kylie. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone. Eric gave us a tour of the rental home they just recently moved into.
We also enjoyed lunch back on the ship and we each had a Salad Entree.
Keith worked out again in the afternoon and Anne Marie did likewise.
In the afternoon, we got ready for our two night/three day tour of Beijing. We will not post until we return back from Beijing. We are looking forward to our visit.
Before dinner, we attended a special performance by Jim Brochu of the Play Zero Hour. This was an off-broadway show performed by Jim and we have seen it performed twice on Crystal Cruises. It is about stage and film performer Zero Mostel. It was outstanding!
This evening we will be dining with two senior officers.
Since we won't be posting for the next few days while we are in Beijing, we are also including the menus from this evening's dinner at the Crystal Dining Room from this evening.
We will post in a few days about our visit to Beijing.
Keith and Anne Marie
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