23 Dec: Melk

A slow morning as cruising along the river as the Mozart did not dock until 11 am.

This is where the Penthouse suite does kick in as we decided to stretch out on the long sofa and bed respectively to read and look out at the passing river sights. We brought our reusable Starbucks mugs along so just got tea/coffee from the Pantry along with a pastry - which serves pretty decent coffee. Did not really use the Nespresso machine as much as we thought.

What the river looks like in the winter months.

Had a glance outside and while some folks based themselves in the Bistro and the several lounges around the ship, it never felt very crowded on board - just like on the Symphony and Serenity.

We visited had lunch at Blue at mid-day which was very empty that day. Just three tables occupied by the time we left at 1 pm. Many had lunch in the main dinning room (the Waterside) or in the Bistro.

Split Yellow pea soup

Linguine Vongole

German sausage and pretzel

Left for our tour on Artstetten Castle (the Archduke Ferdinand Museum). MAJOR DISCOVERY - the wifi on the excursions buses are lighting speed compared to the boat. Do bring your devices on excursions for downloads, uploads, etc. This blog has been primarily updated from the buses. Not all busses have the same quality of wifi. See the logistics folder for a review of bus wifi.

The tour was decent. Slight better than what I was expecting mainly because of the size of our group 13. There were two groups (i.e. coaches) coming here. Ours was the smaller group and we chose the coach with the better wifi.

The tomb of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in the crypt of their castle.

A replica of the car that Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in that kicked off World War 1.

Returned to the  Mozart for tea. Discovered Milky Oolong which I loved. The tea with chocolate bits is nowhere near as good as it sounds.

All the loose leaf tea and french press coffee come with a little egg timer so you know how long it needs to be brewed for.

After dinner, there was a piano recital by Filip Wojciechowski, a regular pianist we have seen on the Symphony and Serenity. Suspect this may be a special since Crystal arrange for he and his family to be on-board for the cruise. Not sure if this a regular occurrence.

Neal Fullerton, the entertainment play afterwards. Neal is an excellent addition to the Crystal family having very recently joined entertainment on cruises. He also reveals in the role of Entertainment Host, make time to talk to various guest around the ship all through the day. Yes - his memory for names is as good as Mark Farris. He is great at winging it taking requests from guests if he knows the tune and just hits the keys on the piano. A true piano bar asset on any cruise in terms of making guests feel welcome both on board the cruise as well as in the piano bar. Like Mark, Neal will build a Crystal following if he continues on this line.