until about 7:20 and started my walk at 7:40. Early in the walk I
caught a touch of drizzle but things cleared and about a quarter way
through my walk I noticed a bright round reflection in the glass as
while walking aft on the ship and caught a timely view of an almost
perfect sunrise. I normally complete my walk before the smokers start
camping out at the Mast Bar. I missed that time frame today but there
was a strong blustery wind and the smokers huddled briefly in the lee of
the ship superstructure and left quickly. I completed my walk about
9:15 and just made it to Blu before their 9:30 closure.
This is something of a transition day. Our itinerary is essentially in
2 parts, an 8-day sea crossing and a 6-day cruise with 4 ports. The
theme for the last day of the crossing seemed to be "get acquainted with
the ship. It started in the Solstice Theater at 10 as Staff Captain
Panos kicked things off with "Secrets to Ship's Navigation", covering
the many factors required to move from port to port and hemisphere to
hemisphere. A lot of people are required to handle all the issues from
port times to resupply to finding alternate ports when storms arise.
At 11 a large panel of Senior Officers appeared in the Sky Lounge for a
Q&A session. The panel included Captain Berdos, Staff-Captain Panos,
Hotel Director, F&B Manager, Human Relations Manager, Environmental
officer, Chief Engineer, and perhaps 1 or 2 others. A lively discussion
continued for about 45 minutes. In his noon update Captain Berdos
reported we had 402 nautical miles to Tenerife, still not quite our
nearest point of land.
I opted for Sunday lunch in the Grand Epernay restaurant, a large table
with a diverse group of cruisers.
In the afternoon several Stars of Celebrity appeared in Celebrity
Central for a Q&A. They have typically 7-months contracts and generally
love both performing and being at sea. One made the surprising
admission (especially considering today's parting shot) that when he
auditioned he was "afraid of the water".
Karen Granger performed a 3PM matinee show.
After a dinner of Pinot Noir Risotto in Blu it was time for a variety
show which was also a farewell appearance by some of the guest artists
leaving us in Tenerife. Flamenco Guitarist (not leaving) Gary Meyers
started things off, followed by more humor by Comedian Rondell
Sheridan. As promised, Davie Howes adapted some shipboard items (shower
head and hose, one of the band member's folding chairs, and finally a
vacuum cleaner. As he played "When the Saints Go Marching In" on the
vacuum cleaner he was first joined in on the piece by the band's brass
section and finished the piece with them using his own trumpet. Howes
closed out the show playing his arrangements of Rhapsody in Blue and one
of my sentimental favorites, What a Wonderful World.
I was back in my room in time to watch the sun set from my verandah.
As I implied earlier, today's parting shot has it's origins in the cast
Q&A session. I asked my question basically knowing the answer but
wanted to see how this cast would respond. When I was on the Crystal
Serenity 18 months ago at the opening show I recognized one of the
singer-dancers as the person at my muster station who was our link to
the crew and organized us for potential evacuation. Four months later I
was assigned to the same muster station the same singer-dancer took on
the same role, and today I asked the cast what duties they have in an
emergency. They have varying duties from stairway monitors to lead
personnel in the muster stations. We often think of these people
strictly as entertainers but they regularly practice and work on "roles"
I doubt that many had in mind when they auditioned, and they do it
consistently well and professionally. THANK YOU!
Roy
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