En Route To Ashdod, Israel Day 2

Once again, this morning we woke up early and had breakfast in the Lido Café. This was a perfect venue to sit since we entered the Suez Canal at 6:00 AM this morning. We ate breakfast outside so that we could view both sides of the canal.

One of the sides of the canal was mostly desert other than a few military outposts that we would see from time to time. These small outposts would house one or two men from the military who provide security for the canal. On the other side of the canal we mainly saw lush green landscape that had been irrigated along with a variety of buildings from homes, to hotels, to small towns with mosques. At the aft of the ship we could see some large size ships cruising behind us.

There were areas of the canal that were divided by land and had shipping lanes on both sides. At one point you would see a ship coming the other way which appeared to be on the desert as all you could see was sand on both sides of the ship.

After breakfast, we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine. Anne Marie continue to feel better and is just about back to normal. We each worked out for about an hour and fifteen minutes.

After our workout, we went back to the Lido Deck and sat outside with a cup of coffee to take in all of the wonderful scenery all around us. It is hard to believe that only two and one half months ago that we were transiting the Panama Canal and a few weeks later that we were cruising around Antarctica. We have been to so many places in major areas of the world in such a short time. This is one of the marvels of cruising. While we don’t see the type of depth that one would see on a land based vacation, on a cruise of this length we are able to visit so many areas of the world in a short period of time without encountering all of the challenges of flying in an airplane. Unlike traveling by car, train, or plane, a good portion of our traveling occurs in the evening hours when we are asleep other than those days when we spend the entire day at sea. Of course, during the sea days we are able to attend lectures, and participate in a whole diverse set of activities.

After spending additional time taking in the scenery around us, later in the morning we attended a special program that was put on for those passengers who are on multiple segments or the full World Cruise. As has been the case with the other programs, we had a great time and it provided yet another opportunity to socialize with our fellow passengers.

Following the program it was time for Team Trivia. Today, we finished in a tie for second place. After the trivia, we had lunch with the same couple that we had lunch with yesterday. We had a wonderful time with them.

This afternoon we walked on the promenade deck so that we could continue to look at the scenery all around us as we continued to transit the Suez Canal. After we went inside we took care of a few errands and then viewed the canal from our room. At one point it looked like it had become foggy but we realized that it was not fog, but a significant sand storm.

Before dinner, we attended a Catholic Mass. We had a wonderful dinner in the dining room. We had pre-ordered our entire meal and had a Caesar Salad, which was prepared by our headwaiter tableside and then we enjoyed a wonderful entrée along with a special desert of Saint Honeré cake. Thanks to Judith for recommending this very special cake to us.

This evening we will turn the clocks forward one hour as we are once again moving into a new time zone.

We are scheduled to arrive in the port of call of Ashdod, Israel in the morning and we are scheduled on a full shore excursion called Eternal Jerusalem. This will be our first time to Israel and we are looking forward to tomorrows visit.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Ashdod, Israel Day 1

A word about Petra. We posted some pictures on our picture web site from yesterdays tour of Petra.

We woke up early this morning since we knew that we had a busy day today. We had our usual breakfast in the Lido Café and it was not as busy today as it has been for most of this segment of the cruise. With some passengers having done two full days of tours over the past two days we suspect that some wanted to sleep in a little later this morning. We spoke to some of our fellow passenger’s about what a wonderful time we all had in Petra yesterday. We also viewed some of the scenery from the ship including seeing the coast of Saudi Arabia. After a nice breakfast, we went to the Fitness Center to workout. Anne Marie is feeling better and should be back to full strength in a couple of days. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill while Keith worked out for an hour on the elliptical machine. We each worked out for about one hour and fifteen minutes.

This morning we attended a couple of lectures. The first lecture was given by Sportswriter and National Public Radio Commentator Frank Deford. The title of his presentation was “The Old Ball game.” This covered how John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and the New York Giants created modern baseball at the turn of the twentieth century. He spoke at length about these two individuals and other ballplayers and managers of their time. He is such a wonderful speaker and we look forward to his next lecture.

The second lecture was given by Crystal Cruises Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations, Thomas Mazloum and the Director of Crystal Cruises Land Programs, John Stoll. They spoke about the World Cruise of 2008 along with other upcoming Crystal Adventures. They reviewed many of the shore excursions for this summers sailings of the Baltic and the Mediterranean. One area they emphasized is that Crystal is now offering many overland programs where passenger’s can spend one or more nights on land and then meet up with the ship at another port. They say that these have become very popular with those passenger’s who want to take advantage of the fact that they are already close to various tourist sites but need more time on land to see them. There have been many overland programs offered during this years World Cruise with a fair amount of passengers who has signed up for them. For example, in the Middle East, some passenger’s are on a three-day overland tour of Israel while others are on a four night overland tour of Egypt. When we were in Africa a number of passengers went on a Safari and there were many choices available for them to choose from.

We then went to team trivia which will be the first of two consecutive trivia games since tomorrow is also another sea day. Our team finished in a tie for second place today.

Afterwards, we had lunch in the main dining room. We each had a wonderful salad entrée and enjoyed the fine service in the dining room. We ate with another couple who are doing the last three segments of this World Cruise and who we have sailed with on three previous Crystal cruises. It was fun to talk with them and we also play table tennis with them from time to time.

This afternoon we attended a mandatory Israeli Immigration Inspection that was conducted for all passengers. We were given group cards with a pre-determined appointment time to report one of the main lounges. When we entered the lounge we were given our passport and then we met briefly with the immigration officer. He stamped another card, which we will take with us into Israel, and as we left the lounge we returned our passport back to personnel from Crystal. This is all part of the rigid regulations that are enforced for those visiting Israel. For example, the deadline for reserving tours in this port of call was earlier than was we are accustomed to since the cruise lines must provide the Israeli authorities with a manifest listing those passengers who will be visiting Israel along with what tours they will be on or if they will be on their own. All of this is perfectly understandable given the Middle East situation and we are very supportive of this and all related requirements.

This evening we attended Friday night services before we went to dinner. The attire for this evening was formal and this is the third of four formal nights that are planned for this segment of the World Cruise.

Tomorrow morning we will enter the Suez Canal at 6:00 AM and we wil exit the canal at approximately 6:00 PM.

Keith & Anne Marie

Aqaba, Jordan

We woke up early this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café. Unlike yesterday, the Café was not too busy even though a fair number of passengers are on full day tours today. Since those passengers who were on yesterday’s tour of Luxor did not arrive back to the ship until around
8:45 PM last evening, and had to eat a late dinner on the ship, we suspect that some decided to sleep in a little later this morning.

The ship arrived to the port of call of Aqaba, Jordan on schedule at 8:00 AM. Aqaba is the waterway to the Red Sea and is a commercial seaport. Aqaba has sandy beaches and coral reefs, which are considered the most pristine on the Red Sea, and Jordan is hoping to preserve them through careful planning. This seaport has several nice hotels, restaurants, and shops and also caters to a tourist market, particularly attracting visitors from other Middle East and European countries.

From the pier one can see Israel and Egypt just across the water. On the opposite side of the pier Saudi Arabia is just across the nearby mountain range.

As we mentioned in yesterday’s Blog, we decided to take a private excursion in this port of call. This is the first time we have booked a private excursion through Crystal. This excursion included a driver along with an English-speaking guide for our tour of Petra. We thought this would be a nice way to see Petra.

We met out on the pier at 8:30 this morning and we left the area about twenty minutes later. Our drive to Petra took approximately one hour and forty-five minutes including a short stop to take some pictures. First we drove through Aqaba, which as we mentioned is a very beautiful seaport. About a mile outside of town the area became quite mountainous in a desert like setting. While the southern portion of Jordan is very much mountainous with desert throughout, the Northern part of Jordan is very green with large forests along with quite a bit of agriculture. On our way to Petra we passed by several small towns.

Petra is a 2,000 year-old concealed city. Petra represents the legacy of the Nabataeans, an industrious people, who dominated the trade routes of ancient Arabia.

Once we arrived at Petra our exploration began almost immediately. Our tour guide described to us what we would see. We each mounted horses for about a three quarters of a mile ride along a pathway. We then walked with the tour guide as he told us about the history of Petra and pointed out various sites to us along they way. Portions of the pathway contained the original stone. He also pointed out various items on the walls on each side of the pathway. At one point the pathway gets quite narrow and eventually we came to the area where we could see the famous monument, which is the Treasury. The impressive, ornate façade of this temple was carved directly from a sheet of rock. We spent about fifteen minutes walking around the treasury and then we met back up with the guide so he could tell us all about this area along with some of the adjacent areas.

We continued our walk of another couple of miles while passing by an outdoor theatre and various temples and many tombs. Our tour guide is now an archeologist and shared quite a bit of information regarding what they continue to uncover throughout Petra. He was born in this area and he initially lived in a cave with his family. Today, he lives in a nearby village but there are still ten families who live in the caves. There were many local people who work in this area. Some drive horse drawn carriages that take visitors back and forth from the front entranceway through the lost city of Petra. Others take visitors through this enchanted area on horses and camels. Still others sell various arts and crafts. Our guide introduced us to a woman who knew him since he was six years old and also had lived in a cave with her late husband. Recently, she has written a book about being married to a Bedouin and we decided to purchase a copy of this book so that we could learn more about the culture of the Petra Bedouin.

We are truly amazed at what we saw of this ancient city. Later this year the revised list of the Seven Wonders of the World will be released and there is a strong possibility that Petra will make this list. It is truly an amazing place and we will remember this day and what we have seen for the rest of our lives.

Our thanks go out to Nancy who several months ago had highly recommended that we visit this very special place. We highly recommend this tour to anyone who visits this area of the world.

This is the first time that Crystal Cruises has stopped in Jordan in several years. In a few days we will be arriving in the Port of Ashdod, Israel, which will be the first time that Crystal has stopped there in many years as well.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour and the information provided by both the tour guide and the driver. We learned not only about Petra but also a great deal about Jordan, its history, people and culture.

After our tour of Petra ended, we drove back to the port of Aqaba. Throughout the drive back to the ship we asked lots of questions about Jordan and the surrounding countries and truly enjoyed our conversation.

After we arrived back on the ship we freshened up and later in the evening we dined in the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant.

We are so very fortunate to have seen Petra and this ranks as one of the most impressive places we have ever visited.

Keith & Anne Marie

Safaga, Egypt

We arrived at the port of Safaga, Egypt this morning at approximately 8:00 AM. As Anne Marie was still sick we thought it best to stay on the ship for the day. Anne Marie is better than yesterday and hopefully she will be fully recovered in a few days.

The ship offered three excursions today but the main one involved Luxor. For those doing the one day tour through the ship buses transported the passengers on a three hour journey to the ancient city of Luxor. This city dates back to 3500 BC and was the former capital of Egypt and the richest city of the ancient world. Those on the tour visited various tombs, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Luxor along with a few other stops. I addition, some guests left the ship for a four night overland adventure which wil include visiting sites in a variety of locations within Egypt. They will joint the ship in Israel.

We still awoke fairly early this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café which was fairly crowded since many passengers were on the full day excursion to Luxor. After breakfast, Keith did his morning workout in the Fitness Center, which was not very crowded. We figured this would be a good day to get laundry done so Anne Marie went right to the laundry room after breakfast. When she first began the laundry no one else was there so she was able to do several washes at once. About an hour later, other passengers who were staying on the ship today evidently had the same idea so in a blink of an eye there were quite a few people in the laundry room. The good news is that Anne Marie had easily gotten our items taken care of before it got busy in there and did quite a bit of ironing while others were waiting for machines for their use.

We ate lunch in the main dining room and enjoyed a wonderful salad entrée along with some fruit. The dining room was fairly quiet given that many passengers were off the ship

We walked for a little while on the Promenade Deck this afternoon until Anne Marie became tired and then we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

With passenger’s from the major tour not getting back until lateevening, the dining room had an open seating for this evening with revised hours. They opened the dining room for dinner from 6:30 to 10:00 PM and passengers could sit at whatever table was open when they arrived for dinner. In our case, we were able to sit at our regular table for dinner and we enjoyed a nice dinner with our regular senior waiter and waiter.

This evening the ship will sail for Aqaba, Jordan and we are scheduled to dock in this port of call by 8:00 AM. The last time that Crystal had a ship in this port of call was approximately eight years ago. The other day we changed our shore excursion from a group tour to a private tour of Petra. We thought that a private tour would be better so that we could see more of this area during the tour. It is still booked through Crystal’s Shore Excursion Department.

Keith and Anne Marie

En Route To Safaga, Egypt Day 3

We awoke early this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café. It was more crowded than usual. We suspect that since we turned back the clocks one more hour last evening that many passenger’s just woke up one hour earlier. Anne Marie is still not feeling well and has the same symptoms that Keith had last week. She just had a little portion of her breakfast and then Keith took her back to the room so she could try to get some extra rest. Keith then went to the Fitness Center to workout on the elliptical machine. After his workout, Keith met Anne Marie back in the room.

Later in the morning Keith went to the program titled Rap with the Rabbi. The focus of this morning’s session was a continuation of the discussion regarding Passover. It was a very interesting discussion. The Rabbi also confirmed the time for Passover Seder Dinner and said that it would be held on the Lido deck rather than in the Prego specialty restaurant. This is because Prego could only hold up to 100 people and at this point it looks like there will be more than 100 passengers in attendance.

Keith ran a few errands this morning. Afterwards we both went to Team Trivia. Our team finished in a tie for third place today. After Team Trivia we went to lunch in the Lido Café and each had a nice salad entrée for lunch.

This afternoon Keith ran a few more errands while Anne Marie rested in the room. Hopefully, Anne Marie will be back to normal in a few days.

This evening we went to dinner in the main dining room. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with outstanding service.

After dinner, we went to a special presentation by a New York City theatre company called Symphony Space who presented selected short stories which were read by Mia Dillon and Isaiah Sheffer. This is the first time that this has been presented on either of the Crystal Ships. There will be another reading of short stories in a few days by other actors. This might be a program tat is expanded on future sailings depending on feedback received from the passenger’s through the results of the passenger surveys.

Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Safaga, Egypt.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Safaga, Egypt Day 2

After we wrote and posted yesterdays Blog, we attended last nights evening entertainment program. The first act was a show featuring a variety of marionettes and was quite unique and entertaining. There were so many different marionettes that it was hard to believe that there were only two puppeteers involved with the show. The second act of the show featured Comedian Mike Goddard. He has performed for many years and he has toured with the Beatles and Rod Stewart and has appeared with other famous entertainers including Elton John, Johnnie Mathis, and Cliff Richard. His humor was wonderful and he had us along with the rest of the audience in tears with laughter. We look forward to his next performance.

This morning we awoke early and had a nice breakfast in the Lido Café. We spoke with a few of the regular passenger’s who we see in the café on most mornings. We also met a gentleman who posts regularly on the Cruise Critic Boards who had been looking for us since the start of this cruise segment. Coincidentally, he had asked another fellow passenger if he knew us, which he did, so he pointed him our way this morning. He wanted to meet us and to also thank Keith for having answered a number of questions that he has posted from time-to-time on the Cruise Critic Boards.

After breakfast we went to the Fitness Center for our regular workout. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine.

In the last 24 hours Anne Marie started to come down with very similar symptoms that Keith initially had gotten when he got sick. We decided that it would be a good idea for Anne Marie to go ahead and see the Doctor early on to try to avoid some of the symptoms that Keith eventually came down with. So, after our workout Keith went with Anne Marie to see the doctor and he prescribed the same medications that he had prescribed for Keith so hopefully that will help. Keith is now almost 100% back to normal.

Later in the morning, Keith attended a presentation given by lecturer Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler while Anne Marie rested in the room. The title of his lecture was Psychological Profiling, Part II : Solving Famous Unsolved Cases”. Mr. Zandt discussed many famous cases both old and fairly new. His talk was interesting and one of the walk away items was how the various cable television shows have tried to sensationalize some of these cases. Keith realized that he has seen Mr. Zandt on television from time-to-time commenting on some of the mystery cases that he spoke about at this mornings lecture.

After the lecture we went to Team Trivia. Our team correctly answered eleven of fifteen questions and finished in a tie for third place. Hopefully, we’ll do better tomorrow. ☺

Following Team Trivia we went to lunch in the main dining room with another couple who is on the Full World Cruise with us who we sat with at dinner during two of the World Cruise Segments. It was wonderful to catch up with this couple. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch as we always along with a wonderful conversation.

Earlier in the evening we attended a Crystal Society Reception prior to dinner. This was the second of four formals for this segment of the cruise. We had a wonderful time talking with some of our fellow passengers and with some of the crewmembers. As we have mentioned before, as soon as a passenger completes their first Crystal Cruise they become a member of the Crystal Society. There are over 300,000 Crystal Society Members. During the reception, the Crystal Society Hostess recognized a few passengers’ by name who have reached some significant milestones relative to the number of cruises they have sailed on with Crystal and then they called up two passenger’s who had achieved an even higher milestone of completed cruises.

We had a very special dinner this evening as we dined with the Cruise Director, Gary Hunter, the World Cruise Hostess, Krista Pope, and the Crystal Society Hostess, Jamie Brown, in the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. We thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful dinner along with an outstanding conversation and feel so very fortunate to have had the opportunity to dine with these very special people.

Tomorrow, we will have another day at sea before we reach our first port of call in Egypt.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Safaga, Egypt Day 1

We woke fairly early this morning. Since we had set the clocks back one hour last night due to a time zone change we had the benefit of getting one extra hour of sleep. We had a nice breakfast in the Lido Café. After breakfast we did our daily workout in the Fitness Center with Anne Marie working out for an hour on the treadmill and Keith working out for an hour on the elliptical machine. Afterwards, we each lifted weights using the various weight lifting machines. Keith continues to feel better.

After our workout we went to a program called Rap with the Rabbi, which is held from time to time on sea days. It is hosted by the Rabbi who we will have for the Full World Cruise. Today’s topics(s) dealt with Passover and the topics were quite interesting and allowed for lots of discussion, which is the whole point of these sessions. We plan to go to the next one, which will be held on Tuesday. The other day, we also signed up the other day for the Seder Dinner, which will be held on the evening of April 2nd.

Later in the morning we attended a lecture given by Sportswriter and NPR Commentator Frank Deford. The topic of the presentation was “Sports: The Hype and the Hoopla.” Mr Deford is the Senior Writer at Sports Illustrated and he is a commentator on NPR’s Morning Edition and he is also a correspondent on HBO’s RealSports with Bryant Gumbel. We thoroughly enjoyed the lecture and many of the points that Mr Delford made to the audience and we look forward to his next lecture.

Since today is a sea day we also had Team Trivia. We finished in third place for the day, correctly answering eleven of fifteen questions. After Team Trivia we went to the Sunday Brunch which was set up outside the Crystal Dining Room.

In the afternoon, we played table tennis with another couple who we first met on Crystal while sailing from London to New York City in the Fall of 2004 and who we have cruised with two other times since then. They embarked the ship in Dubai and will be on the last three segments of the World Cruise.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Crystal Dining Room. Tonight we each had grouper as our main entrée along with a nice salad and fruit for our desert.

After dinner we went to an event that was held for those doing the Full World Cruise, which was called “Buccaneer’s Bash”. The party was held in the Officer’s Corridor. We had the opportunity to see the various officer cabins including the captains quarters. The officers and other Crystal staff were dress up in Pirate costumes. We've included a picture of Anne Marie with our Cruise Director.

Afterwards we plan to attend a variety show and we’ll tell you more about that on tomorrows blog.

Keith & Anne Marie

Salalah, Oman

We awoke early this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café. The café was fairly crowed as some passenger’s were booked on shore excursions so they were up early in preparation for their excursions. After we had breakfast we went over to the Fitness Center for our morning workout. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine. Keith continues to feel better and is almost back to normal.

The ship docked in Salalah, Oman about 8:00 this morning. We did not book a shore excursion in this port of call. Unlike the other port that the ship visited in Oman before our stop in Dubai, this port of call did not look very interesting to us so we decided to pass on taking an excursion

We did walk off the ship for a few minutes but there was very little to see at the pier. Normally, Crystal will provide a complimentary shuttle to the closest town but due to local transportation regulations they were unable to do so. We suspect that this regulation is in place so that those who want to go into town will have to use the local taxis. Given that the local town is about fifteen miles from port and that we didn’t think there would be much to see, we decided not to go into the town. Instead, we decided to enjoy the ship during this port day recognizing that we have full day excursions coming up later in this segment of the World Cruise in places such as Jordan where we plan to see Petra and in Israel where we will be touring Jerusalem and we will have a partial day tour in one of the Egyptian ports that we will also be visiting. We believe the major reason why the ship stopped in this port is to break up the number of consecutive sea days since it took us two sea days to get here and after we leave this port of call we will be at sea three more days until we reach our first port of call in Egypt.

We took care of some other errands this morning before having lunch in the main dining room. For lunch we enjoyed a wonderfully prepared seafood salad entrée. After lunch we walked around the ship to talk with some fellow passenger’s and to take some pictures of the surrounding area.

This afternoon we saw a movie in the Hollywood Theatre titled Flags of our Fathers. The movie is based on the bestselling book by James Bradley and Ron Powers. This movie tells the stories of the six men who raised the American flag in the famous photo at Iwo Jima. The film deals with the mental and emotional struggle that affected the survivors of this battle, which was a turning point in World War 2. For us the movie contained a number of important lessons and themes and we are glad that we had the opportunity to see the movie.

This evening we dined at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. As has been the case each time we have dined at Silk Road, we enjoyed the outstanding food, service and ambience of this restaurant.

Tomorrow will be the first of three sea days as we sail to Safaga, Egypt.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Salalah, Oman Day 2

Last night after we published our Blog we listened to the Press Conference with John and Elizabeth Edwards. We were so very sorry to learn of the reoccurrence of Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer and our hearts and prayers go out to both of them and to their family. We were impressed with the strength and courage that each of them exhibited in not only talking about this issue but in how they plan to deal with it.

We awoke earlier today as Keith continues to feel better each day. The medication he is taking is helping quite a bit along with the extra rest he’s been getting and he should be back to normal in another couple of days. We enjoyed another nice breakfast in the Lido Café. The Café was not as crowded as it has been since this cruise segment first began. We then worked out in the Fitness Center. The Fitness Center has been more crowded than the previous few segments. We attribute this to a somewhat different mix of passenger’s on this segment with an overall average age that seems to be younger than the other segments. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill for an hour and Keith was able to do likewise on the elliptical machine. He just went at a slightly slower pace than his normal workout.

We attended a fascinating lecture this morning, which was given by book dramatist Barbara Rinella who presented Meet Delightful Dolley Madison. Rather than just giving a review of the book, Ms. Rinella portrayed Dolley Madison and provided a wealth of knowledge about her life from the time she was born until she died at the age of 85. For 26 years Ms. Rinella has been presenting one-woman shows dramatizing current literature. We look forward to her other book dramatizations that she plans to present during the course of this segment of the cruise. Overall, the amount of information that she was able to present about Dolley Madison in her dramatization was incredible. We would think that these types of dramatizations would be a great method to use in order to teach school age children about the history of the United States Presidency or other types of American or World History. As part of her dramatization she not only covered Dolley Madison but also James Madison along with other key figures of the day including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and George Washington.


Since today was a sea day we had team trivia for the second time this segment. While we did not finish in first place as we had done yesterday, we did finish in a respectful tie for third place. After team trivia we had lunch in the main dining room with several members from our trivia team.

In the afternoon we went to a lecture given by Sleep Scholar Dr. Jim Maas whose topic was titled “Everything You Should Know About Sleep but Are Too Tired to Ask.” Dr Maas is a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, Professor and past Chairman of Psychology, and a member of the graduate fields of Education and Communication at Cornell University. He has taught a Cornell University for over forty years. He has appeared frequently on national television shows such as the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, CNN, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, along with several other television shows including Oprah. Today’s lecture focused on the importance of sleep. According to Dr. Maas the ideal amount of sleep for adults is eight hours at night and that statistics show that 75% of people have sleep problems. Further, he presented statistics that show that sleep is key to determining longevity as when one sleeps the brain regulates the immune, hormonal and endocrine functions, which are essential for ones general health. Today’s lecture set the stage for his follow-up lectures which will include recommendations on how to get an optimal amount of sleep each evening. His lecture was very interesting and we look forward to his next lecture.

Before dinner, we enjoyed another play presented as part of Repertory Theatre at Sea. This evening’s play was Blind Date by Horton Foot. The play is about, Delores, the matriarch of the house. Dolores manages to juggle her husband, her children and her larger than life personality all while attempting to set up her teenage niece with a nice young man, Felix Robertson. Southern hospitality is pushed to the test in this heart-warming comedy. Once again, we thoroughly enjoyed this play performed by four wonderful actors from Repertory Theatre At Sea. We’ve included a picture that we had taken this evening with two of the four actors. When not performing on stage, these wonderful actors and actresses have participated in a variety of venues from the cruise games held a couple of segments ago to the renaissance fair to a countless number of other activities. They are wonderful on and off the stage and we are very fortunate to have them on the ship with us for the entire World Cruise.

After the play, it was time for dinner, which we ate, in the main dining room. We had a wonderful dinner as we do each evening. As they do from time to time, the nice quarter of musicians came around to each table in our section of the dining room to play requested songs. We always enjoy their music.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Salalah, Oman Day 1

A word about our photo album. Last evening, we attempted to place pictures on the photo album site from Dubai but after trying several times and thinking that they had posted we could not view them. Earlier today, we removed some of the old photo albums (not all of them but about 20%) and this evening we successfully added the Dubai pictures to the site. The challenge in posting pictures from a cruise ship is that while we are using an Ethernet internet connection the speeds are only a little better than what might experience over a dialup connection.

After we posted last evening the ship set sail from Dubai to Salalah, Oman. We have a couple of days at sea before reaching Salalah.

Keith is feeling better than he did yesterday and hopes to be back to normal in a couple of days. The medicine from the doctor seems to be doing the trick. As we mentioned, we had been taking many pro-active steps to minimize the chance of getting sick from taking plenty of vitamins, to eating lots of fruits and vegetables, to continually washing our hands throughout the day, to not touching the handrails when we walk up and down the stepts, to using the hand wash provided by Crystal multiple times along with our own, to many other items. With that said, we knew the odds were there of getting sick, particularly this time of the year and being in closed confined areas.

We awoke a little later this morning (early for most but late for us) and had a nice breakfast in the Lido Café. The Café was fairly crowded which seems to be the pattern for this new segment of the cruise. Afterwards, we went to the Fitness Center. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill for an hour and Keith skipped his usual one hour workout on the elliptical machine and instead went on the treadmill for thirty minutes. We also walked in the afternoon on the Promenade Deck. The outside temperature was very comfortable and the seas have been relatively calm.

Being a sea day there have been lots of lectures on the ship today. In the morning, Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI Profiler, Hostage Negotiator and Television News Analyst discussed Psychological Profiling.

In the afternoon, Rocket Scientist and Author Tom Logsdon discussed Dubai, Athens, Istanbul and other colorful ports shot from space.

We had team trivia at 12:00 Noon today and this was the start of trivia for this segment of the world cruise. The good news is that our team finished in first place for today by correctly answering thirteen of fifteen questions. We began today as we did the last few games of the last segment with a strong performance. Let’s hope this continues throughout the cruise.

After team trivia, we went to lunch with a very nice couple who has been on several World Cruises over the past years. They were on the team trivia team that finished in first place during the last segment of the cruise. We enjoyed an excellent lunch in the main dining room and thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful conversation with them.

There were many other activities on the ship today from social to duplicate bridge, to paddle tennis to table tennis. There were many fitness classes from stretching, to yoga to walking. There was registration for those who have just joined the cruise from classes on the computer, to language classes, to a memoir writing classe and so forth. Some of the folks that coordinate these activities are full time Crystal employees such as the sports director or the fitness director while others are on just for a few voyages each year or for the world cruise . Just about all of the folks who are not Crystal employees who coordinate these activities are on for the entire world cruise which is a wonderful opportunity for them. We have gotten to know many of them quite well along with those with spouses. This includes some from the clergy to some of the computer instructors, to some of the other instructors. They have all been so very nice to talk with and very friendly and outgoing.

This evening was the first of four formal nights on this segment of the World Cruise. We went to the Captain’s Welcome Reception before dinner and once again sat with a couple of couples including the couple that we were seated with at the World Cruise Gala who we sit with at most of these receptions. We enjoy each of these receptions as they provide a wonderful opportunity to talk with fellow passengers and crew and to hear from Captain Otto.

Afterwards, we enjoyed another wonderful dinner in the main dining room. We are very happy with our table and the wonderful service from our waiter, senior waiter and head waiter.

We look forward to another wonderful day at sea tomorrow.

Keith & Anne Marie

Dubai Day 3

This morning we woke up fairly early and started our day with breakfast in the Lido Café. It was very busy in the café as many passengers, particularly those who had boarded the ship yesterday afternoon, had shore excursions beginning this morning. We spoke with a few passengers to hear about what they had done yesterday. Some went on shore excursions and others did activities similar to what we did yesterday. Still others went to the newer mall, Mall of the Emirates, which also includes a man made skiing slope. In addition, others visited the only hotel in the world with a seven star rating, Burj Al Arab, which is located in Dubai. The only way to walk around on the inside is by having a reservation either for tea, lunch or dinner or of course staying there. The comments were very positive about the interior of the hotel with some remaking that they have never seen anything quite like this in a hotel.

Keith is under the weather (a little more about that in a moment) so Anne Marie worked out in the Fitness Center by herself. She worked out for an hour and then afterwards Keith met her and we walked for about 45 minutes on the Promenade Deck.

While Anne Marie was working out Keith saw the ship doctor. His symptoms were cold related but since we boarded the ship in Miami many passengers have come down with an illness that started off as a cold with some getting bronchitis and still others getting pneumonia. Some passengers have had hacking coughs for a month or two. So, we thought it wise for Keith to see the doctor and the doctor was glad that Keith did as some passengers who were sick did not see him for a long time and then what started off as a basic cold turned far worse. He prescribed antibiotics and some other medications for Keith. Throughout the cruise we have taken many pro-active steps to avoid getting sick but given that we are in such a closed environment the odds say at some point one or both of us would get sick. So, given this we will stay on the ship for the remainder of the day and not venture in Dubai so that Keith can rest on the ship.

We have posted pictures from our first two days in Dubai on the picture web site for you to view.

After having a nice lunch in the main dining room we Keith rested for a couple of hours in our stateroom while Anne Marie took care of a few errands and also read for a while.

We decided to take a walk on the promenade deck for about an hour this afternoon. The weather was quite nice and while we were walking we ran into a very nice couple who is someone we recently dined with in Silk Road. They told us all about their very interesting experience having dinner last night at the only seven star hotel and what they were able to see. It is clearly a very unique and impressive Hotel.

While we were walking we also ran into the Captain who was getting some nice afternoon exercise and we also ran into the Food and Beverage Manager as well.

We had a very nice dinner in the main dining room. We are very pleased with our new two person table which is located in a very quiet section of the dining room by a window. We are very appreciative of the very nice table that we were given by the Restaurant Matre d’. In fact, when he saw us outside the dining room before lunch this afternoon he stopped by to make sure that everything was fine with the table and of course we told him how pleased we were with its location. The headwaiter had given us the dining room menu for tonight last evening and after looking it over we decided to request a special entrée for tonight.

We have been eating at the early seating throughout the cruise and the early seating has begun at 6:00 PM up until this segment where it will be 6:15 PM throughout the rest of the world cruise. This is because the upcoming segments will be more port intensive with some tours not getting back to the ship until very late in the afternoon. Since we are now at a table for two we have been told that we can show up at anytime between 6:15 PM and 7:00 PM as the late seating is not until 8:30 PM. So, this will work nice for us when we are on tours that come back to the ship late. We have found the early seating works well for us on a cruise like this since we are trying to keep closer to the hours that we use at home where we typically wake up fairly early in the morning. Probably the only challenge has been getting ready on Formal Nights when there are receptions before dinner that begin earlier.

We are very pleased with our table which is located at a quiet section of the dining room by a window. The headwaiter had given us this evenings dinner menu to read through yesterday and we decided to order a special entrée of swordfish. We had a wonderful dinner.

This evening we leave Dubai at 9:00 PM. At 8:00 PM they will have a lifeboat drill for those passengers who just embarked in Dubai.

Keith & Anne Marie

Dubai Day 2

We awoke fairly early this morning and we first had breakfast in the Lido Café. As this morning marks the end of another segment of the World Cruise and many passengers were leaving the ship today the Café was open very early. We had a very nice and also extended our good wishes to some passenger’s who we had met who were getting off the ship this morning. After breakfast we went for a very short workout in the Fitness Center, as we knew we wanted to spend the morning in Dubai,

After getting changed we walked off the ship and then took a complimentary bus provided by Crystal from the Cruise Ship Terminal over to one of the Large Downtown Shopping Malls. The drive took about 20 minutes and we had the opportunity to view many of the new buildings that have been erected in Dubai over the past few years. After arriving at the mall we walked around for a little while looking at the various stores and we also walked in to a supermarket. The types of foods and other items carried at the supermarket looked to be very western and, in fact, we would say that the supermarket looked closer to what one would expect see in the USA even relative to Europe. In terms of the locals who we saw during our walk in the mall, many were dressed in western type clothes while others wore traditional clothing.

We then took a taxicab over to the Dubai Old Souk, which is a traditional marketplace. The souks or markets carry a wide range of items and are known for their shopping bargains. It is a place where one is expected to bargain for a competitive price. We estimate that saw close to 100 jewelry stores, which carry a large amount of 18 and 24-carat jewelry along with other jewelry ranging from diamonds, to pearls to other precious stones. And the jewelry was very elaborately designed. We then walked up some side streets where we found the spice souk which was an area containing many small shops and stalls selling a wide variety of spices from cinnamon, to curry, to saffron, to vanilla. We also found another souk that was comprised of many stores and stalls that sold clothing such as dresses and shawls. In addition to the local currency the merchants at most of the souks along with the taxicab drivers took United States currency. Most of them spoke English as well.

After walking around for a couple of hours we returned to the ship for lunch. We had a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. As we left the dining room we ran into a lovely couple who we knew was boarding the ship for the last three segments of this world cruise who we have met on three different Crystal Cruises. We spoke with them for a while and know that we will see them quite a bit during the course of our remaining time on the Crystal Serenity.

We went back to the Fitness Center later in the day to finish up our daily exercise. We were just about the only people in the center so it provided some quiet time for us. After that we took care of a few other items.

We had a very nice dinner in the Main Dining Room. We have now moved to a two=person table and we have been assigned to a window table in a very quite area of the dining room near where we had recently sat at a six person table. We decided to change to a two-person table for a variety of reasons and we are excited about the change. On nights that we want to dine with others, we plan to utilize the specialty restaurants and think this will work out very well for us. The great news is that we were able to secure not only a table in a wonderful location of the main dining room but we also kept the same senior waiter and waiter who we were very pleased with.

A few observations about Dubai from our perspective. Clearly, it is a fast growing city that wants to be known as the resort/vacation destination capital around the world. The growth is quite staggering. The architecture for many of the buildings is very unique and breathtaking. We do wonder if some of the growth is being fueled (again no pun intended) through speculative real estate investment. Time will only tell. The other item is that, as we understand there are two areas of Dubai. There is the big beautiful area that we have gotten to see over the past two days and then there are the poorer areas that we have not seen first hand but have only read about. As we understand, the poorer areas are where most of the construction workers who are involved in the building boom live. These people are primarily from poor countries. So, while we see all of this beauty in some way we find it bothersome. But, clearly Dubai is trying to become the she number one resort/retirement area in the world by boasting wonderful hotels, restaurants and shopping.

Our ship will be in Dubai until tomorrow evening when we will be leaving to begin the next segment of our wonderful world cruise journey.

Keith & Anne Marie

Dubai

This morning we woke up early and began our day as we usually do by having a nice breakfast in the Lido Café. Following breakfast we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. Once again, Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine.

This will be our first time visiting Dubai. Even those who have been here before understand that there continues to be quite a lot of change in this city. Evidently, the philosophy for this city is make Dubai one of the major tourism destinations in the world with the idea that when the oil runs out fifty or so years from now that it will be tourism that fuels (no pun intended) the Dubai economy. As we understand, about 15% of all worldwide cranes are in Dubai with all of the construction that is underway.

We had an early lunch so that we had time to view the port of call as we arrived in Dubai. While we ate, we looked out at the scenery around us. The water was a little choppier than what we would have expected, but overall we’ve been so very fortunate with the seas throughout the cruise.

Our ship arrived at Port Rashid Dubai around 1:00 PM. Our first view of the city from the ship is that it has the look of a Western City. The major difference being that this city has been built on the desert.

A complimentary shuttle is provided from the pier to a city center shopping mall. We plan to utilize this shuttle tomorrow morning.

Our shore excursion for today was quite unique. It is called the Dune Dinner Safari. We began the excursion at 3:00 PM when we boarded a rugged four-wheel-drive vehicle and where we were transported from the pier and then we passed through camel camps and Bedouin settlements while also traveling by sand dunes until we arrived at an exclusive camp in the desert. We shared the vehicle with one other couple who we met early on during the World Cruise and we had an enjoyable afternoon and evening with them. The camp is maintained in traditional Arabic style. The ride to the camp took approximately three hours. We stopped several times and the last time we stopped before reaching the camp was watching the beautiful sunset. We feasted on a barbeque dinner and were entertained by a belly dancer. We even rode on a camel two different times.

On our way to and from the desert we drove past many of the buildings around Dubai. We observed a incredible construction activitiy from roadways to buildings. Many of the completed buildings have very unique shapes and many are very tall. Clearly, it is a 21st Century City.

We really enjoyed todays experience in the desert and it is surely one of those experiences that will last a lifetime.

Keith & Anne Marie

Muscat Oman

We awoke early this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café. It was raining as we arrived in the port. After a nice breakfast, we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. There were very few passengers in the Center as many had shore excursions booked for this morning. About 30 minutes after we began the workout the captain came on to give his daily morning announcement. He said while the weather forecast called for sunny skies that the local authorities had indicated that the weather for today called for rain for most of the day. About fifteen minutes after the Captains announcement, another announcement was made that due to the rainy weather that all shore excursions had been canceled. We felt sorry for those who had excursions booked but clearly Crystal made the correct decision given the rainy conditions.

After we finished our workout, Keith went to the salon for a haircut appointment that he previously made. He had the same hair stylists as the last time who he was very happy with. At 9:30 AM our Cruise Director, Gary Hunter, announced a number of activities that had been added to the schedule in lieu of the shore excursions being added. This ranged from an additional movie, to a golf clinic, to bingo, to several other activities. While Keith was getting his haircut, Anne Marie was in the laundry room figuring that today was a good day to get our wash done. Over the next few days we will be in Dubai and we will be off the ship quite a bit while we are there.

We went to the main Dining Room for lunch today and once again enjoyed another wonderful salad entrée for lunch.

We had hoped to walk around on the Promenade Deck but it was still raining so we just walked around the ship. We stopped by the library to check out a few books. The ship has a very nice library with a good variety of hard cover book and also has a nice assortment of DVD movies and musical cassettes. Usually around this time of the cruise the selection is quite good, as most of those passengers who will be departing the ship in Dubai have returned the majority of the Books, DVD’s and Cassettes. We spoke with some passenger’s and with some of the crew before returning to our stateroom.

This evening we went to the Prego Italian Restaurant for Dinner. This was the second time we have dined there since boarding the ship in Miami. We enjoyed another wonderful meal. We also had a wonderful view as the ship departed Muscat. From our window table we could see the various palaces of the Sultan. Evidently, he has transformed Oman from a country that in the 1970’s had just a couple of miles of roadway to a country that today has a very strong infrastructure. We will visit another port of call in Oman later during the World Cruise and look forward to seeing the port first hand.

Following dinner we went to a reception that was held for the World Cruisers called Bollywood (yes Bollywood not Hollywood) dreams. The theme of the event was an evening of India-inspired entertainment and a light sampling of Indian finger food. As has been the case with these events it was held in the Stardust Club. The entertainment was wonderful. There was singing, dancing and comedy.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to arrive in Dubai by 1:00 PM.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Muscat, Oman Day 3

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

This is the third day at sea as we cruise to Muscat, Oman. We are on-schedule to arrive at this port of call early tomorrow morning. We do not have any shore excursions planned for this port. The seas have been very calm all day today and the weather has been beautiful.

We started off our morning with breakfast at the Lido Café. It was much more crowded today than has been the case throughout most of the segment of the cruise. Since this is the last sea day for those departing the ship at the end of this segment, we suspect that some passenger’s wanted to take full advantage of the ship for their final day at sea. For those who will be departing the ship they will have a full day in Muscat, Oman tomorrow (Sunday) and then a full day in Dubai on Monday and then they will depart thd ship in Dubai on Tuesday morning. We will also be in Dubai for a second overnight on Tuesday evening and the ship will be leaving sometime on Wednesday. So, we will have plenty of time to explore Dubai.

After enjoying breakfast in the Lido Café, we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill while Keith worked out on the elliptical machine and then Keith worked out on many of the weight lifting machines.

We then had a leisurely morning getting some things taken care of in our cabin until it was time for team trivia. Today was the final game of team trivia for this segment of the World Cruise. We entered today, in a tie for second place, and just four points behind the first place team. We did end the day in sole place of second place, but five points behind the first placed team. We now will have a break from trivia as we will be in port over the next few days. We will then begin a new round of trivia during the next segment of the World Cruise.

After team trivia we went to the special luncheon buffet. The theme of today’s buffet was the Sun Buffet, which is a very nice variety of foods representing most of the regions of the Mediterranean. We each had a Mediterranean salad.

This afternoon we went to the lecture given by memory expert Dr. Fred Chernow. Today the topic of Dr. Chernow’s presentation was “Mental Aerobics for Age-Proofing Your Memory”. The presentation included simple techniques to keep ones brain sharp on a daily basis. We have really enjoyed all of the presentations that Dr. Chernow has given. His presentations are given with passion, with lots of humor, and are very simple to understand and the information that he provides is very easy to use on a daily basis. There was time left at the end of today’s lecture so Dr. Chernow concluded by providing a summary from each of the first three lectures and then had a question and answer session with the audience.

This evening was the final formal night of this segment of the cruise. As such, today was also the Captain’s Farewell Reception. We attended the reception as we always do and enjoyed talking with fellow passenger’s and crew, listening and dancing to one of the Crystal’s Bands and listening to the Captain’s farewell speech. After the reception, we dined in the Japanese Specialty Restaurant, Silk Road. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and the outstanding service.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Muscat, Oman Day 2

Today is our second day at sea as we cruise to Muscat, Oman. As of this morning we had cruised 19,706 nautical miles or the equivalent of 22,660 land miles since we first boarded the ship in Miami on January 12. That is an amazing number of miles.

We awoke earlier than usual to have a light breakfast in the Lido Café. After breakfast, we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. Anne Marie did her morning workout on the treadmill while Keith did his workout on the elliptical machine.

At 9:00 AM we attended a special World Cruise event which was Waffles on the Bridge. Half of the World Cruisers received invitations for this morning’s event and the other half have been invited for tomorrow. When we arrived, we spoke with the captain and several other officers. We got a chance to see first hand the navigational equipment and other equipment used to monitor the ship. They served Belgian Waffles and some fruit along with coffee. We had a wonderful time and really appreciated the chance to visit the bridge.

We also had the opportunity to see flying fish for the first time. They are truly amazing. They literally fly short distances.

Later in the morning we attended a presentation given by Dr. Fendon Lindberg whose topic was titled “Heart Healthy, Anti-Aging and Anti-Inflammatory Foods. This was Dr. Fendon’s third lecture of the sailing. He spoke in detail about the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet. And, when he says Mediterranean Diet he is talking about traditional Mediterranean food items. He stressed eating fruits and vegetables that represent the colors of the rainbow. The message was to eat fruits and vegetables that are colorful in appearance. This includes blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, plums, sweet potatoes, beans, avocados, oranges, and fresh spinach along with several other types of vegetables and fruits. He also talked about other important items such as nuts, spices, coco, herbs, cinnamon, garlic, oily fish such as salmon, cranberries, soy beans, green tea and flax seeds just to name a few.

Following Dr. Fendon’s lecture we attended team trivia. Our team tied for second place today as we correctly answered 12 of 15 questions. If only we knew which decade they created the Microwave Oven. Yes, the correct answer is the 1950’s. After team trivia we enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the main dining room with most of the members from our trivia team.

After lunch, we attended a special behind the scenes event that included a Question and Answer session with the Crystal Ensemble Singers and Dancers. At the conclusion of the questions and answers we got a tour of their dressing rooms. We got to see first hand all of the costumes that they wear in the shows. One of the high marks of the Crystal Shows are the elaborate, Broadway like costumes that they wear in their shows. We enjoyed this event and appreciate them taking the time to meet with us.

This evening we went to the Prego Specialty Restaurant for the first time since we had boarded this ship. The cuisine of Prego is Italian and they offer a nice variety of Italian foods. We enjoyed a wonderful salad, along with special seafood of the day entrée along with nice steamed vegetables. We ended the meal with a nice plate of fresh fruit We also enjoyed the wonderful service and the overall ambience of the restaurant.

This evening we will go to a variety show which includes an Irish Comedian and a vocalist from London’s West End.

Tomorrow, we will enjoy another day at sea and along with the various activities that will be held throughout the daytime and evening hours.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Muscat, Oman Day 1

Today is the first of three days as we cruise to Muscat, Oman. We awoke early this morning, as Keith wanted to take care of a few items on the ship before breakfast. Today marked the second time during the course of the voyage that we crossed the equator. This occurred a little after 8:00 this morning.

We had breakfast in the Lido Café and although we were at sea there were more people than usual in the café when we arrived. We enjoyed a nice breakfast and then we went over to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine. We have really found that this entire routine works very well for us. It gives us the rest of the day to enjoy all of the activities on the ship. In addition to the workout, when time permits we will walk on the Promenade Deck as we have mentioned in previous posts. We also just about exclusively use the stairs throughout the day to get from place to place around the ship.

For those who enjoy scheduled fitness classes there are so many to choose from throughout the day. For example today there is a sunrise walk around the ship hosted by the cruise director at 7:30 AM, a stretch class with the fitness instructor at 8:00 AM, a progressive Yoga class with the Yoga instructor at 8:00 AM, a sit to be fit fitness class at 8:30 AM, a total body sculpt fitness class at 8:30 AM, an afternoon walk with the Sports Director at 4:30 PM, and a mat-based Pilates class at 4:30 PM. On top of that there is Shuffleboard open play with the Sports Directors at 10:30 AM, Paddle Tennis open play with the sports directors at 2:30 PM, and Table Tennis Open Play with the sports directors at 4:00 PM.

For those who want to do other activities there are computer university classes for beginners and those with experience, there are beginners, intermediate and advanced bridge classes and hosted duplicate bridge classes. There is a golf clinic given by a PGA Golf Pro, for those interested in golf. For others there are music classes, napkin-folding lessons, spa seminars, dance classes, needlepoint get together, quilting projects, both an afternoon and evening movie, language classes, and a variety of other activities. Then there is team trivia, lectures, a nice library, various restaurant venues, night-time entertainment, the pleasure of the sea, the pools and so forth to look forward to. One can stay as busy as they would like at sea or just sit back and relax or do a combination of both. In addition to outstanding service, food and entertainment, Crystal Cruises has developed an wonderful reputation for the vast number and unique activities that they provide a sea. For example, those on the Full World Cruise can take an accredited computer class and earn College Credit. And, the list goes on.

So, as you can see there are so many nice activities to choose from. Today, we went to see actress Doris Roberts speak in the morning. The session was a Q&A discussion. The Cruise Director did an outstanding job of asking Ms. Roberts a variety of questions that touched on a solid list of topics. Then they opened up the questions from the audience. It was wonderful to get Ms. Roberts’ perspectives on a variety of topics from Hollywood, to television, theater and film, to politics.

After the Q&A session it was off to team trivia. The good news is that our team not only finished in first place for today, but that we answered all fifteen questions correctly. This was the first time that any team answered all fifteen questions correctly since the first segment of the World Cruise when one team accomplished this one time. As they say, practice makes perfect. Or is it never give up?

We then went to lunch and today was the Grand Gala Buffet, which is presented once a cruise. All of the various foods were uniquely presented outside the main dining room in the main foyer by the reception area and after selecting their food items passenger’s are escorted to tables by the wonderful restaurant staff. We enjoyed a wonderful salad entrée that we selected. Afterwards, we spoke with a number of restaurant personnel who were serving the foods at the various food stations.

At 1:30 PM we sent to the lecture given by Memory Expert Dr. Fred Chernow whose presentation was titled “Brain Fod: Eating Smart for Better Retention.” His lecture covered which foods are good for ones memory and which clog it up. He discussed the good foods, which included dark vegetables from sweet potatoes, to spinach, to red onions, to blueberries, to wild salmon, to olive oil, to nuts and so forth. He also covered those foods to avoid. Clearly, there are lots of similarities to the good foods that Dr. Chernow covered with the healthy foods that the other Doctors who we have heard lecture over the course of the World Cruise.

We took care of various items during the remainder of the afternoon. Before dinner we went to a chorus spring concert, which was a trio of songs, which were sung by several of our fellow passenger’s. We enjoyed the concert.

This evening we went to the Silk Road Japanese Restaurant with a very nice couple that we have met during the course of the cruise. The husband teaches the Computer Class that is being taught over the entire World Cruise for College Credit and his wife assists him in the administration of the cruise and is someone who we talk with almost daily as we see her working out in the Fitness Center each morning. We had a wonderful dinner with them and greatly enjoyed the conversation.


Keith & Anne Marie

Seychelles Islands

This morning we arrived at Mahe Quay, Victoria, Seychelles. Seychelles is comprised of 115 beautiful, tropical islands that cover a little over 100 square miles of land. These islands are located in the Indian Ocean about 1,000 miles east of Kenya. French is the native language spoken in this country.

We awoke early this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café. The Café was busier than usual this morning since we were arriving fairly early to this port of call and some passenger’s were scheduled on various port excursions.

After breakfast we went to the Fitness Center and worked out. There were very few passenger’s working out. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill machine, while Keith worked out on the elliptical machine. We stayed for about an hour and ten minutes and then got ready to visit the town.

After the local authorities cleared the shp we went into town. A complimentary shuttle was available to take passengers back and forth to town but we decided to just walk into town. It was only about a twenty minute walk into town. The town sits adjacent to various mountains and has very lush scenery. It has a feel and look like being at one of he Hawaiian Islands. Overall, it is a very clean town. We had hoped that after we walked around town that it would be possible to also walk to a beach at a resort that we had heard about but once in town we learned that it would not be practical to walk to a beach. Instead, we walked all around town. We spoke with a few of the locales and they were very friendly.

After walking around town for about ninety minutes we walked back to the ship and we had lunch in the Main Dining Room. After lunch, we decided to take a walk back into town. When we returned back to the ship we walked for about another thirty minutes on the Promenade Deck. While we walked on the ship, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery all around us. The water is a perfect blue with the lush scenery all around us.

This evening we had a very nice dinner in the Main Dining Room.
After dinner we attended a “Ye Olde Renaissance Fair” that was set up for all Passenger’s by the Trident Pool area on the ship. This location was selected since it was indoors and would not be impacted in the event it was windy or rainy since by that time the ship was back at sea. Many from the Crystal Staff were in attendance in costumes that were used in past years from the various Crystal Cruises Production Shows. There lots of games to play and tickets would be given out that could be used for various prizes. We had a fun time playing each of the games and won many tickets.

Tomorrow is a sea day.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Seychelles Day 2

Today is our second day at sea as we cruise to Victoria, Seychelles. We will arrive in this port of call tomorrow morning.

We awoke early this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café. There were very few passengers at the Café since many were sleeping later than usual due to having moved the clocks forward one hour last evening. After a nice breakfast, we worked out in the Fitness Center. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine for an hour.

Later in the morning we attended the second of three lectures given by Dr. Fendon Lindberg. The title of his presentation was “Fats that Kill and Ftas that Heal.” In his first presentation, he had discussed the Mediterranean diet and today he talked about the good fats and the bad fats along with which foods contained each type of fat. In terms of diet, he recommends having three meals each day and two snacks but making sure the snacks are good foods. He recommends a diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables, having oily fish (eg., salmon, sardines, tuna, etc.) at least three or four times each week. Previously he recommended having three ounces of dark chocolate each day and he also recommends about three ounces of nuts each day. He walked us through those fats that are good and those that are not as good and those that are bad. He did say that he verified that there were no trans-fats (bad fat) in any of the items that are prepared on this ship so that was good news. He also recommends good exercise and not going to bed within three hours of having had ones evening meal.

After this lecture it was time for team trivia and today our team finished in a tie for first place by correctly answering thirteen of fifteen questions. After team trivia we sent to lunch and had a wonderful Cobb Salad.

In the early afternoon, Anne Marie went to a lecture given by Robert Adams who reviewed the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It is a book about Afghanistan, as it endures monarchy, and civil war and then theocracy. This novel was on the New York Times best-seller list for two years. Anne Marie had read the book as part of our neighborhood book club. The lecturer began the discussion with the history of Afghanistan, and then he gave a lively review of the book and its characters. The session was very well attended and Anne Marie was glad that she attended.

This afternoon we took a nice walk on the Promenade Deck. The weather and the seas continue to be quite nice. We spoke with the captain last evening and he mentioned that he expected that we would have relatively calm seas not only when this segment of the World Cruise ends in Dubai but for the remainder of the segment as he said the other seas we would be cruising in should be relatively calm this time of year.

This evening we went to dinner with a wonderful couple who is also on the Full World Cruise who we first met at the World Cruise Gala in Miami as we were seated at the same table with them. We had an excellent dinner and a delightful conversation with them.


Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Seychelles

Today we are on route to Seychelles. We will docked in an area called Victoria and are due to arrive there this Wednesday morning.

This morning we woke up a little later for us, 7:00 AM, and had breakfast in the Lido Café. We wanted to have the opportunity to also select some hot items and that portion of the breakfast is available at 7:30 AM on sea days. With that said, we chose mostly cold items with the exception of oatmeal that Keith had. We spoke with a few of our fellow passenger’s about what we saw in Kenya yesterday. There are so many things that all of us take granted for in our day-to-day lives that the majority of people in countries such as Kenya will never experience. All of this reminds us to be thankful for all that we have, to put some items that we sometime complain about in perspective, and to give back to the less fortunate.

After breakfast this morning, we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill while Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine. Afterwards, we worked out on the weight machines.

Later in the morning we attended a presentation given by Doris Roberts who has starred on stage, screen and television. She has appeared in a variety of television shows from Everybody Loves Raymond, to St. Elsewhere, to Remington Steele, to Full House and to Sunset Gang just to name a few. She has also appeared in numerous on and off Broadway productions and a variety of screen movies. Her topic for today was titled “The Career & Life of Doris Roberts.” She began her presentation by showing us clips from the numerous movies, television shows and plays that she has appeared in along with some pictures of her as a youngster. She also allowed a good amount of time for questions and answers and she will devote another lecture during the cruise solely for a question and answer session.

After her talk we went to Team Trivia and our team had a good day finishing towards the top. We then went to the main dining room for a nice lunch.

After lunch, we attended an excellent talk given by Memory Expert Dr Fred Chernow. The title of his presentation was called “Better Sleep Habits for a Better Memory.” Memory is stored while we sleep. He gave excellent advice for getting a good sound sleep and his presentation was very well attended. We look forward to his next presentation. He is a very interesting lecturer who keeps his audience engaged.

Later in the day we attended the Crystal Society Reception, which is held each segment for those passengers who have previously sailed with Crystal. It provides a wonderful opportunity to see the Captain, to see those passengers who have the most sailings on Crystal being recognized, and also provides a wonderful opportunity to socialize with our fellow passengers.

This evening was the third of four formal nights for this segment of the cruise. We had a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. We have posted a picture of our senior waiter, Meike from Namibia , our Waiter, Anrdew, from Switzerland, and our Sommelier, Igor, from Portugal which was taken last evening. Each of them has been wonderful and made our dining experience delightful.

This evening we forwarded our clocks one hour to account for yet another new time zone. This should be the last time that we need to forward the clock forward during this world cruise.

Tomorrow will be another wonderful day at sea as we continue to cruise towards Victoria

Keith & Anne Marie

Mombasa, Kenya

This morning we arrived in Mombasa, Kenya. The ship arrived at approximately 6:30 in the morning. Our tour was scheduled to meet in one of the lounges of the ship at 7:50 AM so we got up early to have breakfast before we met for the tour.

We went up to the Lido Café for breakfast. There were many more passenger’s up at this hour than normal as several tours were leaving early in the morning. After having a very nice breakfast we got ready for our tour.

Mombasa is Kenya’s second largest city and its chief port. Many visitors arrive in Mombaa because of their interest in Kenya’s interior regions. The tour we selected was the Shimba Hills National Reserve excursion. This National Reserve is located about fifty minutes from where we docked this morning and is often said to be Kenya’s most underrated wildlife refuge. It sits at an altitude of 1,500 feet.

After arriving at the pier we were escorted to safari vehicles that can hold about six passengers. Our vehicle had five passengers and a driver. In total, sixty passengers were on this tour. We drove for about ten minutes through the downtown area. Adjacent to the pier there were many locals selling wooden items. The town itself was fairly rundown and was highly congested. We then reached the ferry that would take us from the Island where the Crystal Serenity is docked over to the mainland. The ferry boats seemed to run about every fifteen minutes and were very old looking. They were loaded with vehicles and then fully packed with locals who stood on each side of the boat. It was out of a movie and we hoped that we would have a safe journey over to the mainland. There were no life vests that were visible.

After arriving on the mainland we continued our drive and the area was quite run-down. There were all sorts of shops along both sides of the road selling a variety of items from fish, to vegetables, to all sorts of hand-made items. There were animals on the sides of the road and as we got further away from the ferry area the clothes that people were wearing seemed to change from those that looked like they were from the western world to clothes that were African looking as well as those that would be worn by Muslims. After another fifteen minutes we were out of the town and we still saw many people on the sides of the road walking or riding bicycles and we saw buildings that people lived in that ranged from huts, to shacks to stoned buildings. There were many animals and it looked like many people farmed the land. We had been warned that the roads would be quite bumpy which they were. We made a stop before we arrived at the park and then once in the park we proceeded on dirt roads the entire time.

We saw some wildlife, which included a giraffe, a baboon, some guinea fowl, and another animal that had the speed and look of a dear, but is a different animal. We did see fresh evidence that Elephants were nearby but we never got to see one in the park. At the conclusion of the tour we were taken to a lodge for a short break and then we made the drive back to the ship. Once again, we went on another ferry which looked even older and more rundown than the first ferry.

We saw many churches and mosques and schools on each leg of the drive but they were all mostly run-down. This part of Africa is clearly third world.

There are places where sometimes people will do independent tours. This is clearly an area where we would not recommend that anyone do tours on their own. The United State Department Web Site clearly warns United States citizens to be on alert in this area and our observations are consistent with this warning.

Over the past few days, many passengers have bought an array of items in Africa. Many of bought various wooden statues, wooden masks and many other wooden items. This was also true in Mombasa where there were vendors all over town and over at the cruise ship terminal selling these and other items. When the passengers bring these items back to the ship they are told to surrender them to the Security Staff or the Front Desk Reception Personnel upon reboarding the ship In turn, Crystal personnel will place these items in their freezers for 48 hours to ensure that all undesirable adult bugs and their eggs are quickly and humanely eliminated. This is something that is critical that the passengers have Crystal take care of because they will not be able to re-enter the countries such as the United States of America if this has not been taken care of.

After we got back to the ship, we had a very nice lunch in the Main Dining Room. We were quite hot from the ride back to the ship as the vehicle did not have any air-conditioning so it was nice to cool down in the comfort of the ship. After lunch, we went to the Fitness Center and each worked out for an hour on the treadmill (Anne Marie) and on the elliptical machine (Keith).

This evening it was just the two of us in the Main Dining Room for dinner. The restaurant personnel reset our table for two and the theme for this evening’s dinner was African Night. Keith tried the Cherry Crusted Loin Of Springbok (Antelope) which was wonderful and Anne Marie tasted it as well and had Scallops for her entrée.

We now have two days at sea and look forward to all of the activities that are scheduled for these two days.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Mombasa, Kenya Day 3

We woke up early and had breakfast in the Lido Café. As has been the case throughout this segment of the cruise there were very few passenger’s in the café when while we ate. We had a nice breakfast and then we went to the Fitness Center to workout. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine. Keith also worked out on the weight machines.

We ran other errands this morning taking advantage of the free time that we had while at sea. Late morning we went to Team Trivia. While the questions were very difficult today we finished better than we have during the segment of the World Cruise.

We weren’t too interesting in the salad entrees that were featured in the Main Dining Room for today’s lunch, so we decided to eat at the Neuvo Latino Luncheon Buffet. This buffet features popular and classic cuisine from various countries including Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. We ended up making up our own salad and enjoyed it, but there were lots of different salads, fruits, appetizers, entrees and deserts to choose from.

After lunch we decided to take another long walk on the Promenade Deck. The outside temperature was quite comfortable and there were just a few passengers walking the deck and we ended up walking for about fifty minutes.

Before dinner we attended another Repertory Theatre at Sea play. This evening they presented a play called The Wild Boor. This play is a high-speed farce based on Anton Chekhov’s classic comedy. It is about a man who goes to collect a debt and ends up challenging a tenacious widow to fight a duel. We really enjoyed this play as we do all of the ones presented by the actors from this acting group. We spoke with the actors following the play to let them know how much we enjoyed the show.

After the play, we had dinner in the Main Dining Room. It was just the two of us a dinner tonight so we had a very nice quiet table. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and it provided time for us to talk with our senior waiter and waiter about their future career plans. We also had a very nice talk with the Main Dining Room Maitre D’ Josef Widmar. We really appreciate everything that Josef does to make our dining room experience enjoyable. After dinner, we took a very nice walk around the ship. We spoke with one of the Lido Stewards whose first name is Clark. We first met him in September of 2005 when we did a back-to-back cruise on this ship. He just boarded the ship the other day in Cape Town and he remembered us by name right away.

Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Mombasa, Kenya. This is our first time visiting this port of call and this country. We have a shore excursion planned for the morning and we will leave the ship at 8:00 AM. We will share with you more about the excursion in tomorrows Blog.

Keith and Anne Marie

En Route To Mombasa, Kenya Day 2

We awoke at 6:30 AM to begin our second of three days at sea as we cruise towards Mombasa, Kenya. Last evening, we moved our clocks forward one additional hour. We had an early breakfast in the Lido Café and given the time change there were very few people eating at that hour. On sea days, the Lido Café offers an early bird coffee from 5:30 to 6:30 AM, an early risers buffet from 6:30 to 7:30 AM and a breakfast Buffet from 7:30 AM to 10:00 AM. There are many other options for breakfast such as The Bistro which offers various breakfast items such as bagels, smoked salmon, fruits, etc. from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM and Tastes which offers a variety of items from omelets to blintzes to pancakes and other specialty items from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM and of course there is also room service. At the hour that we have breakfast in the Lido Café we can get a nice variety of fruit, cold cereals, yogurts, bagels, smoked salmon, pastries and other cold items. At this hour we usually just each have cereal and a variety of fresh fruit and sometimes Keith also has a yogurt. When we go a little later then we can also get hot items and normally Keith will get hot oatmeal and fruit. We like the Lido Café for breakfast as we can get a nice breakfast without it being too time consuming and then go directly over to the Fitness Center to workout. So, after we had breakfast this morning we went over to the Fitness Center.

The Fitness Center was not very crowded this morning. Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill while Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machines. Afterwards, we also lifted some weights.

At 11:00 AM we went to a lecture given by Destination Lecturer, Roman Pryjomko. The topic of the lecture was “Gathering Threats Along the Africa Front. Understanding terrorism through cultural geography and geopolitics”. The lecturer provided a great deal of solid information on this topic.

After the lecture we went to Team Trivia. Once again, we finished towards the middle of the pack.

While we enjoy breakfast in the Lido Café we prefer Lunch in the Main Dining Room as we are interested in getting a nice salad entrée and each day they offer a choice of two very unique salad entrees and what they offer changes each day. In addition, if we do not care for either of the salads, the kitchen will prepare whatever salad we ask for. Most cruise lines do not provide this type of flexibility, but Crystal does. We also like the service that we will receive in the main dining room. With that said, there are lots of other options for lunch. We can have lunch in the Lido Café which offers an extensive variety of hot and cold luncheon items from 12:00 Noon to 1:30 PM. There is Tastes which offers sit-down service in a casual environment near the indoor pool from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. There is also the Trident Grill, which offers hamburgers, wraps, snacks, fruits, and other items from 11:30 AM to 6:00 PM. The Bistro offers light luncheon items and other snacks and wonderful fruit from 11:30 AM to 6:00 PM. You can also order a variety of coffees and teas from The Bistro throughout the day. And, there is also room service.

While we normally eat lunch in the main dining room today we decided to have lunch at the Lido Café. We each had a very nice salad entrée and the weather was very nice so we ate lunch outside.

After lunch, we walked on the Promenade Deck for about 50 minutes. The seas were very calm and there were very few people on the deck. We had a great walk.

This evening is a formal night. We attended a reception at 5:00 PM hosted by our travel consortium, Signature Travel Network. So far, we have had one reception on each of the first four segments of the World Cruise. The reception was held at 5:00 PM given that early seating in the Main Dining Room is at 6:00 PM with the late seating at 8:30 PM. Some of the receptions are either held at this hour or between the two seatings at 7:45 PM. As it turned out this worked better for us since we had dinner plans in the Silk Road Specialty Restaurant with another couple at 6:30 PM. We had a nice time at the reception and it provided yet another nice opportunity to talk with those who are on the Full World Cruise along with others who are on one or more segments of the World Cruise.

After the reception we went to dinner at Silk Road with another couple. We sat at the same table with this couple during the second segment of the World Cruise so it was great to dine with them this evening and to catch up with them. We had a wonderful meal and a couple of items were specialty ordered for us by the staff and we got to meet one of the chefs. He explained to us the process for preparing the wonderful cod that they serve in the restaurant.

Tomorrow, we will have another full day at sea before we arrive in Kenya. We have a nice shore excursion planned the first thing in the morning that we arrive in port and we will share more on that with you tomorrow.

Keith & Anne Marie