En Route To Southampton, UK

Today is our last day at sea before we arrive at our final destination, Southampton, United Kingdom. We hope that through this Blog you have enjoyed living through our 109 day World Cruise adventure.

As we have mentioned, the World Cruise has exceeded our expectations in everyway possible. The on-board cruise experience has been outstanding from the food, to the on board activities, such as the lectures, to the outstanding service, to the terrific entertainment, to the World Games and to the various special events that have been held throughout the cruise.

We have visited so many interesting places in such a short period of time. Some of these places we will remember for the rest of our lives. This includes sailing through the Panama Canal and the magical days of sailing around Antarctica and experiencing all of the beauty of this truly unique area of the world. We will remember the magical evening we had at the Tango Show in Buenos Aires and the warmth and friendliness of the people. We will remember the unspoiled character and charm of St. Helena and the priceless expressions on each of the children’s faces when they sang for us on board the ship. We will remember the poverty that we saw in certain nations, including Kenya, which makes us even more appreciative of the opportunities that we have enjoyed over the years. We hope that over time similar opportunities will expand to those in need around the world. We will remember how touched and moved we were when visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel along with the timing of our visit to the Middle East. We will remember visiting important historical sites such as Ephesus and Pompeii in the evening and other sites such as Petra. And, in the end, we will remember how friendly most of the people were whom we had the chance to talk with in the countries we visited. Like us, the majority of the people take great pride in their respective nations.

We will also remember the enormous sense of community that we experienced throughout this adventure between passengers and crew. We can best compare this to living in a small community at home where everyone knows one another. Each day we would talk with certain passengers at breakfast, which would be similar to meeting at a small town coffee shop. On a typical day we would see the Rabbi and his wife and the Minster and his wife and talk with them often, which is something that one might experience in a small community. Each day, we would talk with one or two passengers during our morning workout and we would sit with the same four to six passengers at most of the receptions that occurred throughout the cruise. We would learn about the interests and backgrounds of many of the crew and given many of their ages it was similar to learning about the children of friends that we might know in a small town community. There would be other passengers we would see on a daily basis and we would look forward to our talks with them. And, the good news is that we didn’t depend on television as our source of information or entertainment. Rather much of our enjoyment came from seeing and talking with our fellow passengers and crew throughout each day. In the end, it has been the people that have made this World Cruise so unique and very special to us.

We are posting this earlier than normal today as we have some last minute things to get done this evening. We wanted to share with you what we did on our final day on-board the Crystal Serenity.

We awoke early and had a nice breakfast on the Lido Café. We spoke with one other couple that we had the pleasure of talking with almost every morning at the Lido Café. We went to the Fitness Center for our last workout of the cruise and we chatted with the wife of the Computer University instructor who we have come to know very well and whom we have seen and spoken with each morning of the World Cruise. After our workout, we went to the British Immigration Inspection. We received our passports back and met with the inspectors to have them inspected. The good news is that by getting this out of the way today it will speed up the clearance of the ship tomorrow morning, which will allow us to get off the ship at an early hour and avoid having to deal with this item in the morning.

Later in the morning, we went to the final presentation given by former White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater. The topic of his presentation was “Presidential Election 2008”. He gave an overview of the major candidates in each party who are seeking the Presidency along with his thoughts on their chances. He also provided some additional comments about the upcoming election and then provided an opportunity for questions and answers from the audience.

After this presentation we went to a special showing of the 2007 World Cruise Video. There was hardly a dry eye in the audience. This video clearly captured so many of the magical moments from our World Cruise Adventure and brought back wonderful memories of this trip. Each of us will receive a copy of this DVD as a keepsake from this adventure and we look forward to showing it to friends and family.

Afterwards, we went to the Main Dining Room for lunch and ate with the Computer University Instructor and his lovely wife. We had a wonderful lunch and conversation.

We spend the remainder of the afternoon packing and weighing all of our luggage as we get ready to disembark the ship tomorrow morning.

This evening we will have dinner in the Silk Road Specialty Restaurant.

Keith & Anne Marie

Bordeaux, France

We woke up early this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café. Although there are some tours running this morning, the Café was fairly quiet. We then went over to the Fitness Center and did a portion of our daily workout. We plan to do the rest in the afternoon.

We took the first shuttle into the downtown area of Bordeaux. It was foggy and overcast as we waited for the shuttle to leave the terminal area. The shuttle traveled about twenty minutes from the port over to the area in which it dropped us off. The drive itself was not very scenic until we got to the outskirts of Bordeaux. That is when everything changed and we could quickly see the beauty and charm of this city.

Bordeaux looks like other cities in France with the beautiful architecture of its buildings. It is second to Paris as the country’s most densely populated city. Today, it is best known for it glorious chateaux, wonderful cuisine and all of the wines produced in this region. In fact, there are more than 3,000 wineries located in a relatively short proximity to Bordeaux.

Since today is Sunday all of the stores were closed which we had been told to expect ahead of time. However, this did not take away from the wonderful morning that we had walking around this lovely city.

After we got off the shuttle, we began to walk around town. We visited two churches; Cathedral of St. Andre and Notre Dame. The Cathedra of St. Andre is the largest Church in Bordeaux. The foundations of this church date back 900 years and some of the that we saw dated back to the 13th Century. Both of the churches were beautiful from the very detailed interiors to the exteriors of each building.

We walked on several streets through the middle of the city and went into various cafes and pastry shops. We even bought a couple of pastries to bring back to the ship to have after dinner this evening.

We also walked by the grand Theater, which is another beautiful building. The Grand Theater was built between 1773 and 1780. We visited an outdoor market and passed by other interesting areas of town. Throughout the city there are apartments directly above the lower level portions of the buildings that house stores, cafes and restaurants.

As the morning progressed the sun came out which just added to our joy of visiting this wonderful city. This is clearly a city that we would like to visit again, possibly for a couple of days while on a land vacation.

After we were through walking around Bordeaux we took the shuttle back to the ship where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room.

Following lunch we finished our workout in the Fitness Center. Since the World Cruise began Anne Marie has gone about 450 miles on the treadmill and Keith has gone about 1,000 miles on the elliptical machine. These machines have certainly been put to good use by all of us who have used them throughout this wonderful voyage.

We also took time this afternoon to continue to get our packing done. Most of our fellow World Cruise passengers have been taking time the past few days to pack although there are a few who plan to wait until tomorrow, our last full day on the ship before we disembark the ship in Southampton, England.

This evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant.

Tomorrow we will enjoy our last day at sea.

Keith & Anne Marie

Le Verndon, France

We arrived in Le Verndon, France this morning. The local authorities cleared the ship at 8:00 AM and we took the first shuttle into town at 8:30 AM. The nearby seaside town, which is called Soulac, is located approximately twenty minutes by car/bus.

We awoke about 6:00 AM this morning and had a nice breakfast in the Lido Café. We spoke with some of the regulars who we usually see at breakfast and we also met a couple who lives about fifty miles from our home who boarded the ship in Rome. We then went to the Fitness Center and worked out for about forty-five minutes since we wanted to catch the first shuttle to town. Our plan was to workout again in the afternoon.

We took the first shuttle into town. The town is a very nice quaint seaside town. We walked all around the town. We went into a market, which sold cheeses, seafood, fruits and vegetables, and we also walked into three different bakeries. Each bakery had wonderful looking baked breads of all sizes and shape and a nice variety of French pastries and cookies. We also walked into a few other shops and into a church. As we walked towards the beach area we saw some nice outdoor restaurants and a few small hotels. The residential neighborhood is also located adjacent to the town square and we saw some of the local residents purchasing items such as bread and fish and walking back to their homes either by foot or on bicycles.

We came back to the ship at 10:30 AM as all passenger’s needed to be back on the ship by 11:30 AM as we were scheduled to sail at 12:00 Noon to the commercial port that serves Bordeaux, France. We enjoyed lunch in the Main Dining Room. After lunch, we went back to the Fitness Center to finish our workout from this morning. We continued with our packing since we will be disembarking the ship on May 1.

During the afternoon, the ship cruised towards the port of Bordeaux and from the ship we could see the picturesque French shoreline. Several times we passed little towns and we could see beautiful homes and other buildings.

The ship arrived at the Bordeaux port of call at 5:00 PM and will remain overnight in this port of call. The port is located approximately thirty minutes from Bordeaux. Our ship is too large to dock in downtown Bordeaux. Evidently, the ship tried to dock there as part of another time and it pulled down an electrical cable that was located above the water due to our ships height knocking out power to three small towns. We will plan to go into Bordeaux, tomorrow, although we do realize that most stores will be closed on Sunday. We had considered a shore excursion for either today or tomorrow but we decided that we would just walk around the town on our own.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Silk Road Japanese Restaurant. We tried a few specials in addition to the other wonderful food that they serve there on a regular basis. Our server was someone who has become our regular waiter whenever we dine there. His name is Anthony and we have enjoyed talking with him each time we dine there.

During the course of the World Cruise passengers have signed up for a variety of activities from artwork, to the choir, to memoir writing, to a college level computer course, to piano, to foreign language. One activity involved creating a World Cruise Quilt and we have included a picture of the quilt which has been on display in the main lobby area.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Bordeaux, France

The picture on this Blog is from last evenings World Cruise Dinner.

Today we are at sea and en route to Bordeaux, France. Anne Marie was not feeling very well last night so she took it easy for most of today.

Keith worked out by himself this morning and decided to workout first before having breakfast. He worked out for one hour on the Elliptical Machine. He went to the Lido Café for breakfast and then brought back some toast for Anne Marie to eat.

Keith and Anne Marie both went to the doctor this morning. We thought it would be good for him to see Anne Marie and Keith has had congestion for the past couple of weeks so we thought it would be a good idea for the doctor to see Keith as well. In the end, he ended up giving both of us the same medications; specifically antibiotics for each of us. We both are fortunate that we avoided getting sick the first couple of months of the cruise since a virus which seemed to cause severe coughing (hacking) seemed to go around for much of the time and those who got sick took months before they would get rid of the cough. We took many pro-active steps to minimize getting sick but given that so many people are under on roof so to speak, it is not surprising that it is easy to spread germs from passenger to passenger. Hopefully, we will both be back to normal sooner rather than later.

Later in the morning, Anne Marie rested in the room while Keith went to two lectures.

Former White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater gave the first lecture. Mr. Fitzwater’s presentation was titled “Backstairs at the White House”. He covered some significant events that occurred while he was Press Secretary in both the Reagan and Bush administrations. It was an interesting presentation with touches of humor, seriousness, and sentimentality. Mr. Fitzwater will give one final presentation on the last sea day and will provide lots of time for questions and answers.

The second presentation was given by best selling author and was titled “Making the Best of Your Life”. It was a very positive and uplifting presentation and focused on not only making the best of your life but also provided tips on ways which will hopefully add years to ones life. After his presentation, he along with Coach Don Shula took questions from the audience. The majority of questions were for Coach Don Shula ranging from his views on free agency in Football, to the current quarterback situation on the Miami Dolphins to his opinion as to who of the retired quarterbacks does he consider the best whoever played that position. His pick was Joe Montana given that he won three Super Bowls whereas statistically he talked very highly of Dan Marino but noted that in the end that the mark of a great quarterback came down to Super Bowl wins. Keith enjoyed the presentation.

Following the presentation Keith went to Team Trivia. Our team ended up correctly answering eleven of the fifteen questions and finished in third place in the final round of Team Trivia. We are just happy that we finished in first place during last segments World Cruise.

We both had lunch in the Main Dining Room and then we both spent the remainder of the afternoon in our stateroom. We will be disembarking the ship on May 1 so we are starting to pack and get organized for that.

Before dinner we attended the Captain’s Farewell Reception and this is truly the final reception for us and the others on the Full World Cruise who will be disembarking the ship in Southampton, England. We had a very nice time at the reception.

Afterwards, we had dinner in the Main Dining Room. The dinner was enjoyable and the service outstanding as it has been throughout the World Cruise.
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Keith & Anne Marie

Oporto, Portugal

As we mentioned in yesterdays Blog, we along with a few other couples hosted a party last evening. The party was for the crew and was our way of saying thank you to the crew for all that they do for us.

All of the crew was invited to this party and the part theme was called the “Spaced Out Crew Party”. It was held in one of the passenger venues on the ship and started at 11:00 PM and ended at around 4:00 AM. We arrived a little before 11:30 PM and stayed for about ninety minutes. Thank goodness that we were in yet another new time zone and got to turn the clocks back one hour before we went to sleep. ☺

When we arrived some of the crew was there and others continued to join the party while we were there. Many of the crew do not get off from work until late in the evening while others get off work early and went to sleep for a few hours and then came to the party later in the evening.

As we have mentioned throughout the cruise what makes sailing on this ship and Crystal Cruises so very special is the wonderful crew. So, when we were asked if we would be interested in being one of the hosts for this party we thought readily joined in as we thought it would be a nice way to say thank you and to show our appreciation to the crew. While we have met so many members of the crew there are many that work behind the scenes that we normally don’t see from the kitchen staff, to those in the laundry area and so forth so we thought that having a party for all of them would be nice way to give our thanks to the crew for all they do.

We spoke with many of the crew who were in attendance last evening and others have come up to us throughout the day to say thank you for the party. On Crystal when we thank the crew for something they will say “my pleasure”. So, it was great that we could say something similar to them when they thanked us for last evenings party (eg, it was our pleasure). We were also pleased that so many of the officers stopped by last evening from the Captain to the Hotel Director and so forth. The interaction between officers and the rest of the crew is outstanding and it shows day in and day out.


As part of the theme last evening, the lights were turned down and all sorts of items glowed in the dark from special drinking glasses to those bendable items that bend into various shapes so you can put them around your neck or arms or legs. There was music, dancing, plenty of drink and lots of food. We are so very glad to have been a part of this event. Unfortunately, the room was so dark it was not possible to take any pictures.

Since we went to sleep fairly late last evening, we slept in a little later this morning relative to what time we normally wake up. With that said, we still managed to be up and about by around 7:00 AM We had breakfast in the Lido Café as we normally do and then went over the Fitness Center for our daily workout.

The ship arrived in Oporto, Portugal this morning around 8:00 AM. This is our first time to Portugal.

We took the first shuttle into the city at around 9:00 AM. The bus ride took about thirty minutes and we drove on a very scenic road with wonderful views of water on one side of the road. The downtown city area has many rolling hills reminding us of San Francisco. The architecture of the various building was very attractive.

We were dropped off by City Hall, which was located in a beautiful building. We walked along several nearby streets with another couple from the World Cruise who we have come to know very well. We walked over to a train station, which was built in 1910. Some very nice mosaic tiles were on a few of the interior walls of the station. We walked into a few stores along with several very nice bakeries.

The outside temperature was cooler than most areas we have visited with the temperature being around 50 degrees. After we walked around for a while and took in all of the nearby sites we decided to board the bus for the ride back to the ship.

We had an early lunch back on the ship and decided to have a nice salad entrée at the Lido Café. During the afternoon we took care of various errands around the ship.

This evening we attended the final World Cruise Event. The theme of this evenings event was “Around The World”. They divided the World Cruisers into two groups for the event and we ended up with the early seating, which worked out great for us. We met for pre-dinner Cocktails at 5:00 PM and then at 5:30 PM we were escorted to our table for dinner. We sat at tables around the indoor pool. They sat passengers at each table along with a host. Our table represented the country of Chile. There was lots of entertainment that represented the various countries around the world and we were served a very nice dinner. The menue consisted of a Trio of King Crab, Cream of White Asparagus, Surf & Turf and Sweet Temptations from Around the World.

Tomorrow we wil enjoy a day at sea as we sail to Bordeaux.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Oprotu, Portugal

Today has been a very fun day as we cruise towards Oporto, Portugal.

We woke up early and enjoyed breakfast at the Lido Café. We spoke with a few of the regulars while we ate. After breakfast, we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. We worked out for about 90 minutes and spoke to two of our fellow passengers during most of the workout.

Later in the moring we attended our final session of Wrap With The Rabbi. There were about thirty passengers in attendance, making this one of the larger turnouts. We had a wonderful discussion and have really enjoyed the sessions that we have attended. The Rabbi and his wife are wonderful people and the Rabbi does an outstanding job of picking topics for these sessions that are meaningful and allow for nice participation by those in attendance.

We then went to a cooking demonstration given by guest Chef Christophe Eme After the cooking demonstration we attended a joint lecture given by former NFL Coach Don Shula and Author Ken Blanchard. Mr. Shula was a haed coach in the NFL from 1963 to 1995. As head coached, he coached the Baltimore Coats from 1963-1969 and the Miami Dolphins from 1970-1995. Ken Blanchard is an author, speaker and business consultant who has written several books including one that he co-authored with Spencer Johnson titled The One Minute Manager, which has sold more than ten million copies. Their joint presentation was very enjoyable and the topics they covered can be applied to a variety of areas from sports, to business to family life. They will be doing another presentation later in the cruise.

Before the presentation, Keith was able to talk with former White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater for about ten minutes. One of the nice things about most of the lecturers on Crystal is that they make themselves available for discussions throughout the cruise.

We then went to Team Trivia. We ended up finishing in third place with a score of thirteen out of fifteen. We then had a nice lunch in the Lido Café and after lunch we went to a lecture given by award winning television journalist and registered dietician Carolyn O’Neill. The topic of her presentation was titled “The More You Know, The More You Eat. From Weight Control to Disease Prevention; A World of Healthy Flavors.” Her presentation covered many of the good food items to eat and she stressed moderation. Many of the food items she talked and tips that she provided were consistent to the other lecturers who we have heard from throughout the cruise. She stressed the benefits of eating fish on a regular basis and having lots of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis along with the importance of other key foods in the diet.

We then ran a few errands and also spoke with some of our fellow passengers this afternoon.

Before dinner, we went to the last of the Crystal Society receptions for the World Cruise. We had a wonderful time at this event as we have at all of the other events. We always enjoy the talks from Captain Otto and seeing some of our fellow passengers being recognized for having sailed with Crystal Cruises on numerous occasions. Several passengers were recognized at this event who we have had the pleasure of meeting during the course of the World Cruise.

After the reception, we went to dinner at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. Originally, we were supposed to go with another couple, but unfortunately they couldn’t make it as one of them was a little under the weather. We had a wonderful meal with outstanding service.

Later this evening we will be attending a party that we will be hosting with a secen other couples. We will provide you with additional details in tomorrows Blog.

Keith & Anne Marie

Cadiz, Spain

We arrived in Cadiz, Spain around 7:30 AM this morning and the ship was cleared by the local authorities at 8:00 AM. This port of call was added in lieu of Casablanca. Cadiz is considered to be the oldest inhabited city of the Western World and is estimated to be 3,000 years old. Cadiz has a long history of having been ruled by various forces. The Phoenicians ruled this area in 1100 BC and by 500 BC the Carthaginians became the rulers of this area until the Romans captured this city two hundred years later. Ultimately, this city became part of Spain. Many years later Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World from Cadiz.

We began today as we normally do by waking up early and having breakfast in the Lido Café. We spoke with another couple who we always see in the morning and we each talked about what we had done in port the day before. After breakfast, we worked out in the Fitness Center for about ninety minutes and as we worked out we spoke with two of our fellow passengers who also workout at the same time we do each day. While working out we had a beautiful view of the harbor as we arrived in Caldiz. At around the time our ship docked, we saw one of the Windstar ships arrive in port as well.

After our workout, we got ready to go ashore. The nice thing about this port is that we did not need to take a shuttle to reach the town. As soon as we walked off the ship we headed for the old town area. We arrived at around 9:00 AM and at that point there were very few tourists or locals in the streets so we walked all around the old town. We visited a church that dates back to the 17th Century and then later on in the morning we visited the Cathedral de Cadiz. This baroque cathedral was built in the 18th century and is capped by a golden dome.

We continued to walk up and down many streets. The streets were not wide and each street was lined on each side with a variety of shops, and cafes.. The architecture was quite beautiful.

We kept wandering around the town and ultimately found a market which contained various stands selling fruit, vegetables, meat and cheese. We then worked our way all through the market until we came to an enormous area that contained all sorts of fresh fish. When we first arrived to the fish portion of the market there were lots of men bidding on seafood. We suspect that they were making purchases for their respective restaurants.

We then walked into a couple of grocery stores and also into some local clothing and jewelry stores. We walked by several shops that had beautiful wedding dresses and other clothes for wedding parties in their windows. The dresses and other attire were very impressive.

Later in the morning the streets became more crowded with both tourists and locals. We began to run into more and more people from the ship. We ran into the ship Rabbi and his lovely wife so we took them around the town and showed them a jewelry store that we had seen earlier in the day that was selling a variety of menorahs and other Jewish items. Later on we took them and another couple from the ship over to the fresh seafood, meat and produce market that we had walked around earlier in the morning.

We had a wonderful time walking around the town. The local people who we spoke with in the stores were very friendly and very helpful to us. While most of them spoke very little English, we were able to get assistance from most of them between the Spanish that Anne Marie knows coupled with their limited understanding of English.

On our way back to the ship we walked through a very nice park. We arrived back to the ship at around 1:00 PM and had lunch in the Lido Café. We then spent the afternoon taking care of some errands.

This evening we dined at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant. We had a nice conversation with the Headwaiter Bruno. We have posted a picture of us in Prego with Bruno. He always gives us wonderful recommendations on seafood entrees.

This evening all guests were invited to the Palm Court for a themed party called Space Station Crystal to enjoy music, dancing and complimentary cocktails.

Tomorrow we will enjoy a day at sea as we cruise towards Oporto, Potugal.

We hope that you have been enjoying the Blog and as always please feel free to post comments.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Cadiz, Spain

Once again, we woke early this morning and started off our day with breakfast in the Lido Café. The café was quite busy since many passengers were going on shore excursions. We ended up sitting with one of our fellow passengers during breakfast. Afterwards, we went over to the Fitness Center for our daily workout.

This ship arrived in Malaga, Spain at approximately 8:00 AM this morning. We did not sign up for any of the shore excursions as we planned just to walk around the town.

Malaga lies along the beautiful Costa del Sol, and is located approximately seventy miles inside the Strait of Gibraltar. It has a wealth of historical sites, including a 16th century cathedral and the Morrish Alcazaba Fortress.

We ended up walking around town with the art auction director Stu and his lovely wife. We remember them from a cruise that we took several years ago in the Mediterranean on another cruise line and they have been on our World Cruise voyage since Dubai. Stu is a former NBA Basketball Player so Keith and Stu had a nice time talking sports along with many other topics while Anne Marie and Stu’s wife talked about other items as we all walked around town. We walked by several interesting buildings and in and out of various stores.

Originally, we had planned to visit a few different sites in the town, but unfortunately most of these sites were closed today. We still had a great time just walking around the town. The weather was wonderful and there were not many tourists in town. We were the only cruise ship visiting this port of call today.

When we got back to the ship we went to the Lido Café for lunch and then we took care of some errands this afternoon.

Before dinner we attended another play that was performed as part of the Repertory Theatre at Sea. This evening’s performance was titled “Later Life” by A.R. Gurney. The play was about a man who gets an unexpected chance to change his life when a woman from his past appears at a cocktail party full of colorful characters. We greatly enjoyed this performance. We were fortunate to be sitting in the front row and at the end of the performance we stood up to ensure that all four actors received a standing ovation from the audience. We have greatly enjoyed these four actors. They not only have performed in the various plays, but have been very involved in so many other activities from the World Games to other functions throughout the World Cruise.

Afterwards, we enjoyed an excellent dinner in the Main Dining Room.

Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Cadiz, Spain.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Malaga, Spain

We awoke early this morning and had a very nice breakfast in the Lido Café. After breakfast we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. About half-way through our workout, we noticed that the Fitness Center had become fairly full reminding us of the first segment of the World Cruise. Before we knew it, all of the treadmills were in use along with all of the elliptical machines. We finished our workout and then went back to our room to change.

Since today is a sea day there were many activities on the schedule. Keith got a haircut and later on Anne Marie went to the Lido Café area to pick up a needlepoint kit.

At 11:00 AM we went to a lecture given by former White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater. The topic of his presentation was “The People and Politics of Washington.” Mr. Fitzwater was press secretary to two Presidents; President Reagan and the first President Bush. He is the only Press Secretary in history to have been appointed by two Presidents. He did a nice job of remaining as neutral as possible in his presentation. He made fun of both political parties and what has occurred to certain politicians over the past couple of years and he also made some predictions for the 2008 Presidential Elections. He also took a wide range of questions from the audience.

Following the lecture, we went to Team Trivia. There will only be three Team Trivia games on this segment given all of the days in port. Today, we finished in a tie for third place.

After Team Trivia we went to lunch in the main dining room and then we both signed up for the Free Slot Machine Tournament for later in the afternoon. Keith ended up finishing in third place in the tournament, and won a shirt.

Before dinner this evening we attended a reception in the Captain’s Quarters. This is the third reception that we have attended on this World Cruise. We spoke with the Captain during the reception along with a couple of crew members and some of our fellow passengers.

After the reception, we had dinner in the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant. This was only the third time we have eaten Prego since boarding the ship. We had not eaten there in quite some time and we decided to dine there this evening. This is because the head waiter who we had in the Main Dining Room (Bruno) earlier in the cruise just came back from vacation and we knew he would be the head waiter in Prego. He works four months at a time and two months are in the Main Dining Rom with the other two months in Prego. We think very highly of him and we greatly appreciate his enthusiasm and his very pleasant disposition. We had a very enjoyable dinner with wonderful food and service.

Later in the evening we attended a show featuring Maureen McGovern. Ms. McGovern has been on stage, in film and has recorded more than twenty-five albums. One of her hit songs was “the Morning After” from the Poseidon Adventure. She also recorded “We May Never Love Like This Again” from the Towering Inferno and “Can You Read My Mind?” from Superman. This evening she sang several songs dating back to the 1940s and the 1950s. We had a wonderful time at this evenings show.

Tomorrow morning we are scheduled to arrive in Malaga Spain. This will be our first time in this port of call.

Keith & Anne Marie

Marseille, France

We awoke early this morning and first went over to the Lido Café for breakfast. We enjoyed a very nice breakfast and spoke with some of our fellow passengers. We saw Don Shula, former NFL coach of the Baltimore Colts and the Miami Dolphins, for the first time since this segment of the World Cruise began. He will be one of the guest lecturers on this segment of the World Cruise.

After breakfast, we worked out in the Fitness Center for about an hour. We did our usual workout with Anne Marie working out on the treadmill and Keith working out on the elliptical machine. Once again, we saw Don Shula and his wife as they came up to the Fitness Center to workout as well.

We arrived in Marseille, France at 7:30 AM this morning. Marseille is Frances’s oldest city and is considered to be on of the Mediterranean’s premier ports. This old port is very quaint and is also known for having a vast number of fishing boats in its harbor.

We took the first complimentary shuttle provided by Crystal into town in the morning. When we first arrived it was not crowded at all but by the time we left to return to the ship the downtown area was bristling with tourists. We walked for about two hours. We could see an enormous number of boats in the harbor. The majority of boats were fishing boats. As we walked along the harbor there were many stands set up that were selling fresh fish. The fish were likely caught earlier in the day and several of the fish were still alive. That’s what we call fresh fish. ☺. Many of the locals were buying the fish. We also walked by an area with lots of stands selling all types of fresh flowers. The flowers were beautiful and were reasonably priced.

We walked along both sides of the harbor to an area that was a walled city. We walked by two forts. One of the forts is called Fort St. Jean and the other fort is called Fort St. Nicolas. We also walked by a vast number of outdoor cafes and restaurants. It was a beautiful day in the morning and we really enjoyed our walk around this area of town.

As we started to return back to the ship the weather actually became a bit cooler and the fog started to roll in. Later in the day, the fog dissipated and it began to warm up again.

We arrived back toe ship at around 12:00 Noon and we decided to have lunch at the Lido Café. We each had a very nice salad entrée.

In the afternoon Keith did a wash while Anne Marie did some packing. Given that we will be disembarking the ship at the end of this segment, we thought it best to get those items that we no longer need for the rest of the voyage packed away.

We are around day 100 on the ship which in many ways is hard to believe. We have seen so many areas of the world in such as short period of time. From time to time we have talked about the crew. While we have always been treated very well by the crew on each of our cruises on-board Crystal Cruises, there is no question that with so many day on this ship the crew and passengers become very close. We have really gotten to know so many of the crew and almost all of them know us by name, except for a few members who came back from their vacations over the past month or so. We have enjoyed learning about each persons background, including the country they come from, their families, their educational background, their work experiences and their future goals. The crew is a big part of what makes sailing on Crystal such a unique experience.

This evening we had a very nice dinner in the Main Dining Room. We had pre-ordered Caesar salad, which was made right near our table, and we had also pre-ordered Swordfish. We also sent down to the dining room a bottle of wine that we had purchased on our tour of one of the vineyards in South Africa.

Tomorrow we will be at sea all day as we sail to the next port of call; Malaga, Spain.

Keith & Anne Marie

Genoa, Italy

We thoroughly enjoyed yesterdays Private Tour of the Vatican Museum. Our tour got started at 3:00 PM with a bus ride from the port of call into Rome, Italy. There were only seventeen people on the tour. On our way to Rome, the tour guide provided a good deal of historical information about Rome, the Vatican and what we were about to see. We arrived near the Vatican at around 4:30 PM and we began our tour of the Vatican at 5:00 PM.

What makes this tour so unique is that the Vatican Museum is closed to the public beginning at 4:30 PM so other than the few employees who were there the seventeen of us were the only visitors in the Vatican. We had last visited the Vatican in September 2005 and we remember very well the tens of thousands of people who visit the Vatican on a daily basis. Therefore, we greatly appreciated the opportunity to look all around us without encountering the mobs of people that are commonplace throughout the daytime hours.

One of the highlights of the tour was to spend a good deal of time in the Sistne Chapel. Normally, you can only spend a short time there and the tour guides are not aloud to speak while inside the chapel. In our case, we spent about thirty minutes or more there and the tour guide could talk to us throughout our time in the chapel. We learned so much from him about the history of the Sistine Chapel and the evolution of the Michelangelo paintings. We are so very glad that we signed up for this very unique tour and highly recommend it to others who might at some point of a similar opportunity..

We arrived back to the ship by 8:30 PM and enjoyed the drive from Rome back to the Port. The ship set sail at 9:00 PM. Since we knew that we would be getting back to the ship fairly late we had made reservations to dine at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant at 9:00 PM. As usual, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner there and we were seated at a very nice table with our favorite Silk Road waiter.

This morning we woke early and had a nice breakfast in the Lido Café. Afterwards, we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. Even thought Keith was not feeling too well as he has gotten a cold, he was able to get through the workout.

We arrived in Genoa, Italy at around 8:00 AM. The harbor area is truly amazing as there are several harbors with so many different size vessels from cruise ship, to ferry’s, to small ships, to fishing boarts.

This morning Crystal Cruises offered a complimentary excursion to two nearby towns; Portofino and Santa Margarita. As we had already visited these towns in September of 2005 and had not ever been to Genoa, Italy we decided we would explore Genoa on our own. We took the complimentary shuttle provided by Crystal, which dropped us off at the city square. We then began to walk around the city. Genoa is a beautiful city, with wonderful architecture everywhere you look. We felt very safe and unlike many of the other cities we have visited in Italy in the past, the traffic flowed in an orderly manner, motorists stopped at all of the red traffic lights and pedestrians only crossed the streets either when the traffic light turned green or in areas without traffic lights but with pedestrian crossways. In short, Genoa is a very civilized city that we would rank up there towards the top of the list of cities.

We walked along one of the main streets and at one point stumbled upon an enormous food market. The market had several different areas of beautiful looking produce from fruits to vegetables. There were several meat markets and other markets selling fresh fish and other seafood. Then there were several areas within the market with pastries and breads. And, let’s not forget the cheese. We saw and smelled the most delectable looking cheese. Oh, how we wish we had a market like this at near our home. It’s the kind of place that one might shop every couple of days to purchase very fresh food items.

We continued our walk and at one point walked down a side street that took us onto small streets that reminded us of being in Venice. We then walked towards the aquarium.

Later in the morning, we visited the inside of the home that Christopher Columbus live in from the age of four (4) until he turned twenty-seven. The house contained the bell from the Santa Maria. We then walked around some adjacent areas before it was time to take the shuttle back to the ship. All in all we had a wondrous day in Genoa.

When we got back to the ship, we had lunch in the Lido Café. We enjoyed the views of this beautiful city from the café. After lunch, we ran a bunch of errands.

This evening we attended the Captain’s Welcome Reception for this final leg of the World Cruise. We sat with all of our fellow passengers who are on our Team Trivia Team.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a very nice dinner in the Main Dining Room.

Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Marseille, France.

Keith & Anne Marie

Rome, Italy

We arrived a Civitavecchia early this morning. This port of call is used as the gateway for Rome. It is about a ninety minute drive to Rome from here and there is also a train that runs frequently to and from Rome. The arrival to this port of call marks the end of the sixth segment of the World Cruise. It also marks the seventh and final segment of the World Cruise.

Those passengers who disembarked the ship in this port of call began the disembarkation process at 7;00 AM for those trying to catch early airline flights. Passengers who are joining the ship begin the boarding process at around 12:00 Nooon. The ship will depart this port of call later this evening.

We awoke early this morning and had a very nice breakfast in the Lido Café. The café was quite busy with many passengers departing the ship today and other passengers who remain on the ship scheduled for various shore excursions. We sat with one of the passengers who we have come to know very well who is the spouse of the instructor who is teaching the college accredited computer course.

After a wonderful breakfast we went to the Fitness Center. There were very few people there and only one person by the time we finished our workout.

Today, we are scheduled on a shore excursion through Crystal Cruises which is called the “Private Visit to the Vatican Museum”. We will board a bus at 3:00 PM and arrive at the Vatican Museum after it is closed to the general public. We last visited the Vatican Museum in the Fall of 2005 as we spent a few days in Rome before boarding this very cruise ship. We thought this would be a wonderful tour as we will not encounter any of the daytime crowds since the only visitors will be from our tour. As we will not be getting back until later this evening we will post more about this tour tomorrow.

During the rest of the morning, we took care of some errands on the ship including doing some wash and ironing. We thought this would be a perfect morning to get these items taken care of with so few passengers on the ship. We were correct.

We had a wonderful lunch in the main dining room today. Since we won’t be getting back to the ship until around 8:30 PM this evening we have reservations at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant for 9:00 PM this evening.

This evening we will set sail for Genoa, Italy.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Rome, Italy

Last evening we attended the final World Cruise Shore Side Event. This event was held at the excavations at Pompeii. As we understand, this was the first time that this venue has ever allowed this site to be used for a private event in the evening. We were taken on buses from Naples over to Pompeii. During our 45-minute drive, the tour guide provided lots of historical information regarding the areas along the route. Upon our arrival, we walked on a path approximately fifteen minutes to where the event was held. We were the only ones at the site as it was closed to the general public during the evening. When we arrived to the site there was an assortment of beverages including champagne, white and red wine along with various juices. Waiters walked around with various trays of canapés. Following the welcome cocktails along with a welcome speech, we were asked to take our seats for dinner. We sat with three other couples.

The first course was pasta with European lobster stuffed with mushrooms. This was followed with a fish course and vegetables, which included Frustrum Bream Au Gratin and Sarcinulae of Asparagus. We then were served a meat course along with vegetables which was called Pulpa in Paff-Paste with Mushrooms along with small Broiled Potatoes. We were served a pastry for dessert along with coffee. We had a choice of red and white wine throughout dinner. During the course of the dinner various actors dressed in ancient attire stopped by each of the tables.

After dinner, we moved to another area where seats were set up around what was once an enormously large outdoor pool. You could see the foundation and one could easily see the shallow and deep ends of the pool areas. Actors who were dressed in ancient gladiator attire entertained us. At the conclusion of the event, there was a fairly large fireworks display. To be taken to such an ancient historical site for an evening in ancient Pompeii was very special. We appreciate all of the planning that has gone into each of these events.

We were then transported back to the ship and when we arrived back on-board we were greeted with waiters who had champagne for us along with hot towels. We stayed for a few minutes and then went back to our stateroom.

This morning we awoke early and had breakfast in the Lido Café. We spoke with a few of our fellow passengers who were at last night event. After breakfast, we worked out in the Fitness Center with Anne Marie on the treadmill and Keith on the elliptical machine. We spoke with a couple of our fellow passengers while working out to hear what they did during the day yesterday.

Later in the morning Keith went to see the lecture given by General Nick Halley. His topic was “Terrorism, Part 2. Our World Since the 9/11 attacks.” General Halley gave his views on the war, and his prediction as to what would occur over the next several years and then he took several questions from the audience.

After the lecture, it was time for Team Trivia. This was the last game for this segment of the World Cruise. Going into today’s final round our team was tied for first place with one other team. The good news is that our team had the most correct answers for today’s game and ended up winning the contest by two points. Finally, after six segments our team finished in first place after several second place finishes. ☺

We went to lunch in the Main Dining Room with two of the three other couples from our trivia team to celebrate our victory. We each enjoyed a wonderful seafood entrée salad.

This afternoon we ran a few errands on board and Keith played table tennis for about an hour.

We had a very nice dinner in the dining room and had time to talk with both the headwaiter and our senior waiter about various ports of calls

Earlier today, we learned that due to the recent events in Casablanca that we will not be stopping at this port of call on the last segment of the World Cruise as originally planned. Based on the articles we have read, this was not a surprise to us and we had already decided that if we would have stopped at this port of call that we would stay on the ship. So, we are happy with this change in plans. In lieu of our visit to Casablanca, we will now visit the port of Cadiz in Spain. This will be our first time visiting Cadiz.

Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Civitavecchia, Italy, which is located approximately ninety minutes from Rome. This will mark the end of the sixth segment of the World Cruise. Various passengers will be disembarking the ship in the morning while new passengers will be embarking the ship in the afternoon. We have a tour planned for tomorrow afternoon so we will either publish a brief Blog sometime tomorrow before our tour or we will just wait until the next day.

Keith & Anne Marie

Naples, Italy

Last evening, after we published the Blog we first learned about the tragedy that took place at Virginia Tech. This morning we learned more details about this terrible event. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and to the families of those that suffered losses and our prayers also go out to all of those who suffered injuries and we hope for their speedy recovery.

Today we are in Naples, Italy. We arrived in Naples a little before 8:00 AM and were cleared by local authorities fairly quickly. We will be in Naples until midnight this evening.

Before we talk about today, we wanted to briefly tell you about last night’s entertainment. We attended a special one time show. It included most of the musicians who play throughout the ship along with various singers. We enjoyed all of the songs and especially the song, which was sung by, Krista Pope, our World Cruise Hostess.

Last evening, Anne Marie surprised Keith by having a cake served for dinner which she had made arrangements for with the Head Waiter a few days earlier so we’ve included of picture of our Senior Waiter, Anne Marie and the wonderful cake.

We awoke very early this morning and had breakfast at the Lido Café and then worked out in the fitness center. Both of these venues were quite quiet. We do not have a tour planned for today since this evening there is a special World Cruise shore side event planned in Pompeii. We will tell you more about this event in tomorrows Blog.

We were last in Naples in 1997. Naples is considered to be the capital of Southern Italy. There are so many areas to visit from this port of call. There is the famous Amalfii Coastal Drive which is approximately 40 miles in length. Another area is the Isle of Capri. From Naples one can take a hydrofoil for a forty-five minute journey over to Capri. Then there is Pompeii. This was a vibrant city which was instantly buried in up to thirty feet of volcanic ash in 79 AD. Finally, there is Herculaneum which was named after Hercules and was also buried in 76 AD. In its time, Herculaneum was a seaside resort town.

Since we have the event for thie evening, we decided to just talk a nice long walk around the area. We walked for close to three hours and walked on a combination of main streets and some side streets. We walked through a building called the Gallery and the architecture of this building was exquisite. We’ve included a picture with the Blog of a small portion of the interior but the pictures does not do justice to the beauty of this buildings interior.

We also walked on some of the streets where those local from the area shop and walked little markets that sole baked goods, vegetables and fruit, meat, delicatessen items and pastries. The aroma from one of the pastry shops that we looked at was out of this world and each pastry looked wonderful. It reminded us of the types of baked goods that we would see (and eat ☺) as youngsters. After all, we are in Italy!! The only challenge that we had on our walk was getting across some of the streets. Finally, we mastered the technique of crossing the streets as Keith would walk on the outside and hold his hand out and up as if to tell the drivers to stop and that seemed to do the trick. The weather was very nice and we had a wonderful time walking all around the area.

When we returned back to the ship we enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. We then took care of a few errands on the ship.

Tomorrow we will enjoy a day at sea and as we mentioned we will let you all know about this evening shore side event when we write tomorrows Blog.

Keith & Anne Marie

Taormina, Sicily, Italy

Since we were arriving in Taormina, Sicily, Italy this morning, we awoke early this morning. We had breakfast in the Lido Café and then we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. After our workout we got ready to visit this port of call.

At about 8:00 AM the local authorities cleared the ship and Captain Otto announced that we could go ashore. Given the limited docking facilities at this port of call we needed to take the ships tender from the ship over to the docking area. From the ship we could see just what a beautiful island this is. It is very picturesque with lush landscape along with a variety of mountains and hills of varying shapes and sizes. From the ship we could see Mt. Etna, which was covered with snow.

We boarded the tender and it took us to Giardini Naxos, which is a little gateway port for the town of Taormina. We then boarded a complimentary shuttle provided by Crystal for the thirty-minute drive to the town of Taormina. This town is situated at a relatively high elevation. We went through several tunnels as we drove towards the town and we could see beautiful scenery all around us. We saw lots of lemon trees filled with plenty of lemons. Similar to our visit to Sorrento, Italy in the fall of 2005, the lemons were of an enormous size. We also saw other fruit trees.

Our bus dropped us right outside town. We have to say that this town is one of the nicest towns that we have ever visited. While we have been to Sorrento, Santa Margarita and Portofino, Italy, and of course so many other towns in our travels, this town has a warm feel with lots of character. As we mentioned, the other day, traveling to these ports of call in the April/May or September/October time frame is a perfect time to visit as the temperature is wonderful and you don’t encounter the crowds that you find during the height of the summer season.

We walked all along the town including walking up and down the main street and then along many of the side streets which intersected the main street. We stopped in various pastry shops and admired all of the delectable deserts and the aroma was wonderful. We did stop to have some gelato and we sat outside the store to enjoy this treat.

We also passed by many hotels, restaurants, and stores and above many of the shops and restaurants and adjacent to these buildings were homes along with many apartments above these buildings. We had an outstanding time walking the town and looking at all of the marvelous scenery all around us from the beautiful architecture of the town, to the shoreline with many beautiful beaches to the lush vegetation all around us. Again, we would say that this is one of the nicest towns that we have ever visited and we will add this town to our list of locations to eventually visit again on a land based vacation.

We return to the ship a little after 1:00 PM and had a nice lunch in the Lido Café. From the café, we had a marvelous view of this picturesque island.

We ran a few errands this afternoon. In the early evening we attended the captain’s formal farewell reception. This is the sixth farewell reception we have attended, as this current segment of the World Cruise will be coming to an end in just a few days. We sat with three other couples from our trivia team along with one other solo traveler who is one of the passengers who has played doubles table tennis with Keith.

After the reception, we went to dinner in the Main Dining Room. We had ordered a special entrée in advance and enjoyed a wonderful meal. Anne Marie ordered a special cake from the dining room ahead of time for Keith knowing that it was one of Keith’s favorite deserts. It was wonderful.

This evening we are cruising to the next port of call, Naples, which we should reach by early Morning.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Taormina, Italy

We awoke a little earlier this morning as we had a fairly busy day planned for today as we cruise towards Taormina, (Sicily) Italy. We started off with breakfast in the Lido Café and right after breakfast we went to the Fitness Center for our morning workout. We had a row of four of us who are regulars in the center with Keith on the elliptical machine along with Anne Marie and two other passengers just adjacent to Keith on treadmills. We all talked about what we’ve done the last couple of days along with upcoming plans for the next few days.

At 9:15 AM there was a special event for those on the Full World Cruise called “Behind The Scenes” which was a tour of the crew area. Groups were formed of ten passengers per group and we were then escorted down to two crew levels. We visited the crew and officer dining halls, the bistro, both the officers and crew bar areas, the engine control room, the meat and fish preparation rooms, the crew fitness center, the laundry and dry-cleaning facility, a crew cabin, a crew recreational facility, a staging area where all provisions are first loaded onto the ship, the garbage sorting and recycling facility and a variety of other rooms. In many areas, officers were in the rooms doing roles that are definitely not part of their job description. For example, Captain Otto was ironing clothes and the Hotel Director was sewing a button onto a crew shirt, the Matre d of the Main Dining Room was working in the recycling facility and the Hotel and Bar Manager was pealing potatoes. We greatly enjoyed the tour and after hearing about the crew and officer bars for so many years we were glad to finally see them up close. ☺ In fact, at the conclusion of the tour we were offered complimentary drinks at the crew bar.

Following this tour we attended a lecture given by General Nick Halley. In this lecture General Halley spoke about several issues related to the issue of terrorism. He will give us his thoughts on Iraq in his next lecture.

At 11:00 AM we attended a lecture given by Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker who are married to each other called “A Morning with Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker.” Jill Eikenberry is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Ann Kelsey on NBC’s hit series LA Law. Michael Markowitz also is probably best known for his eight-year stint in LA Law. They each have appeared on stage and in a variety of television series. Their presentation was really more of a talk than a lecture and it was about their marriage, their career on stage, movies and in television and one of the major challenges in their marriage when Jill Eikenberry was first diagnosed with breast cancer. It was one of the best talks we have attended during the course of the World Cruise and very moving. At the end of their talk they received a standing ovation from the audience.

Then it was time to go to Team Trivia. While we finished in a tie for second place for today the unofficial results had us moving up from second to a tie for first place for this segment of the World Cruise with one final game to go. After so many second place finishes on other segments of the World Cruise we’ll have to see how this one turns out.

We then had lunch in the Lido Café and another couple joined us midway through lunch so we had a very enjoyable conversation with them.

At the same time there was a lunch in the Main Dining Room which combined the Gala Buffet with the Sunday Brunch. They set up the entire buffet inside the middle of the Main Dining Room rather than in the outside foyer (Crystal Cove) and also served complimentary Champagne and Mimosas and they had live music as well.

After lunch we went to the stateroom open house where it provided the opportunity to view a selection of staterooms representing most of the categories that are offered on this ship.

Later in the afternoon Keith went to play table tennis with several passengers who we have come to know well. He played doubles and had a lot of fun. Anne Marie did some reading and caught up on some other items.

We had a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room

After dinner we went to the show that featured our Cruise Director, Gary Hunter. As part of his extensive career he is also a ventriloquist. The first time we saw him perform his act was on the Crystal Harmony. As many times as we have seen him perform his ventriloquist act we find ourselves in tears from laughter. We think the world of Gary Hunter both on and off stage. We enjoy talking with him from time to time and had the opportunity to talk with him for about fifteen minutes earlier this morning before we attended the behind the scenes tour of the crew and officer areas of the ship. In our opinion, he is by far the best Cruise Director we have had the pleasure of sailing with.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Sicily, Italy

Last evening we continued to encounter fairly rough seas throughout the early part of the evening but we were told that this is pretty much the norm when traveling in the direction from Greece to Gabes, Tunisia. In time, the seas became more calm.

We awoke early this morning as all guests had to attend a mandatory Tunisian Immigration Inspection upon arrival to this port of call. We first ate breakfast at the Lido Café which was busier than in recent days as many passengers were already up in preparation for the inspection. The good news is that since we were going to a new time zone we set the clocks back one hour last evening. After breakfast we went for our inspection. We had to present our passport along with a card that we were given yesterday morning and they stamped our passport and kept one half of the card. We will turn in the other half of the card later today and will also return our passports to the reception desk.

The ship actually arrived in Gabes, Tunisia around 8:00 AM this morning. Originally, this cruise was going to be the maiden voyage for this port of call as this, the 2007 World Cruise Itinerary, was set before the 2006 World Cruise began. However, since the ship was unable to sail to another port of call last year that was originally on the 2006 World Cruise Itinerary this port was substituted in its place. We remember hearing from a couple of people who were on that voyage last year that they didn’t care for this port of call and we heard similar comments from other passenger’s who we have met during the course of this cruise. And, then we received similar feedback from other crew-members so we made a decision not to even bother to visit the local town or to sign up for a shore excursions.

For those traveling into town, a complimentary shuttle was provided for the twenty-minute drive into town. The Tunisians are quite conservative people and, as such, we were asked to be respectful of their privacy and their religion. Passenger’s going ashore were asked to wear modest dress. For example, women were asked to wear loose, long garments, ensuring that their shoulders and knees were covered. Men were asked to wear long trousers and tops with sleeves.

Since we were not going ashore after we met with the immigration officials we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. There were several passengers in the Fitness Center who, like us, decided to stay on the ship for the day. After Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machines, we each lifted weights on the various weight lifting machines.

We ran a few errands on the ship this morning including getting our wash done, as this was a good day to get items such as the wash done.

We enjoyed a very nice lunch in the Lido Café. We then took care of some other errands in the afternoon. We had a some fruit and coffee in the Bistro later in the afternoon and then spent some time talking with one of our fellow passengers.

Late in the afternoon, we attended a group photo shot as they were taking a group picture of all of the Full World Cruisers. Early on the cruise we were each given yellow World Cruise Shirts so the recommended dress for this photo shot was either that shirt or some type of solid shirt.

At 7:30 PM we attended a reception for those on the Full World Cruise. This is done once a segment and includes drinks and a small show. It provides a nice venue to talk with many of our fellow passengers.

Although we normally dine early given the group photo session and the evening reception we thought it made more sense to dine later this evening. so we made reservations to dine at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant at 8:30 PM. We dined with a solo traveler who we had met fairly early during the course of the World Cruise. He is one of just twenty-one passengers who are on the Full World Cruise, but who had never sailed with Crystal Cruises before taking this voyage. Like us he has sailed on a variety of cruise lines on both medium and small ships. He is enjoying this cruise a great deal.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal at Silk Road. We had a variety of Sushi as an appetizer and then we had a delicious salad and entrée and a fruit plate for desert. As usual the food, service, conversation and overall ambience were all wonderful.

It is hard to believe that we are getting close to the last segment of this World Cruise. For us it has been a wonderful adventure in so many ways. We have seen such a diverse set of countries in several different continents in a relatively short amount of time without having to constantly pack and unpack. We always tell people that in addition to the overall cruising experience that one of the benefits of cruising is that it provides the opportunity to get a high level feel for so many places around the world. At the same time if there are certain places that one finds very enjoyable they can go back another time on a land vacation to see more of the city along with other areas that are not possible to see during a one day or even an overnight stop in a particular port of call. We have gotten to see so many interesting places during this adventure and have already identified some locations that we hope to visit at some point in the future on a land package. At the same time, we have experienced so many wonderful events during the course of this World Cruise and have gotten to get to know so many people very well from fellow passengers, to the crew, to outside lecturers and entertainers. It is amazing how many passengers we have met who have come back year after year either to sail on the Full World Cruise or to sail on one or more World Cruise Segments with Crystal. This is indicative of all of the enjoyment that takes place for the majority of passengers on the World Cruise. The good news is that we still have several more days to continue to enjoy this wondrous adventure.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Gabes, Tunisia

After waking up this morning we went over to the Lido Café for breakfast. There was one other couple in the café (one of the regulars) so we spoke with them as we had our breakfast. We talked about how much we each enjoyed yesterdays port of call.

For those of you who have some flexibility in your vacation schedules, we would highly recommend visiting the Mediterranean around this time of the year. While the temperatures are a little cooler and you might wear either a light jacket or a light sweater in port the benefits are tremendous. Simply put, the ports are not very crowded and you don’t have the hot humid temperature that you encounter during the heat of the summer months. Another nice time to visit this areas is in the late Fall time frame as we did in the Fall of 2005.

After breakfast, we went up to the fitness center for our daily workout. We spoke with a couple of our fellow passengers who we have come to know quite well during our time on the ship as we worked out on the machines.

After we worked out, Anne Marie started to do some packing. We don’t want everything to wait until the last segment of the cruise and given all of the clothes that we brought with us for this trip it is easy to start putting some away. Add to this the fact that some items that we took with us were either for the very cold climates (Antarctica) and the very warm climates (Africa) there were a number of items that we could easily pack as they will definitely not be needed for the remainder of our journey.

While Anne Marie packed, Keith ran some errands. This included picking up our passports as they will be required tomorrow morning when we dock in Tunisia. Tomorrow morning there is a mandatory Tunisian immigration inspection upon our arrival at Gabes. As part of this inspection each passenger will be asked to meet with the local representatives and will need their passport in hand for this inspection. This is only the second port of call where we needed to go through this type of inspection.

Speaking of ports of call, we wanted to share other examples of how helpful the Crystal Cruises staff has been to us. The other day we mentioned to the on-board cruise sales consultant how little we knew about Navplion, Greece. While he had not been there before either, he mentioned he had done a good deal of research on the internet and he would be happy to give us a copy of some information he printed off. Well, sure enough, when we arrived back at our stateroom later in the evening we received a nice packet of information.

Later in the morning we went to a special event that was held for those booked on either multiple segments of the World Cruise or the full World Cruise. These events are called Sea Legs and today’s event was called Salamat! As part of the event, there was a show put on by several of the Philippine crewmembers. The show was wonderful and we thought this was the best of the Sea Legs events we have attended. At the end they also included a slideshow that showed many of the crewmembers from the Philippines along with their family members. It was all very touching.

After this event, it was time for Team Trivia. Today we correctly answered ten of fifteen questions. We then went to lunch with another couple in the main dining room

Anne Marie signed up at the last minute for the free slot tournament in the Casino. She came in third place and won a gift. She also picked up a needlepoint kit that is given out during the course of each cruise.

At the same time, Keith met with the Shore Excursion manager to learn more about various ports of calls that are on other itineraries that we are considering for future cruising. The shore excursion manager is very well traveled and readily shared a good deal of knowledge about the places we are considering visiting in the future.

Later in the afternoon Keith met up with some of our fellow passengers to play doubles table tennis. Keith has played with all of these passengers on various segments of the cruise and two of the passengers Keith has played with on past cruises. It was very enjoyable and the sports director also joined us a little bit later.

Before dinner, we went to the Friday night services which are held in the Hollywood Theatre.

After the services, it was time for dinner in the Main Dining Room. This evening’s attire was formal so everyone was all dressed up. Most men were in their tuxedos or dark suits and the women were in formal dresses or other formal attire. Last night we had asked the headwaiter if they could prepare for us a special order of swordfish so we enjoyed that this evening as our entrée.

Because this is a fairly lightly loaded segment, there was on Crystal Society reception rather than two. Usually, there is one for the early seating at 5:30 PM and one for the late seating at 7:45 PM. This evenings reception was held at 7:45 PM so passenger’s from both the early and late seating could attend. After the reception ended, we sat with two other couples and chatted for another hour.

Believe it or not starting around 2:00 PM this afternoon the seas were a little bit choppier than they have been and by later in the evening they had become fairy rough. In general we have really had calm seas except for the first evening out of Miami, and the first evening out of Cape Town, South Africa so we feel very fortunate to have sailed in relatively calm seas.

Keith & Anne Marie

Navplion, Greece

Once again, we awok early this morning and went to the Lido Café for breakfast. After we selected our breakfast items and sat down we were treated to a breathtaking sunrise. Throughout this voyage we have had the opportunity to witness some unbelievable sunrises and sunsets and today was no exception. It was a great way to begin our day.

After enjoying a wonderful breakfast we went to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. There were very few passengers in the center. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine. We worked out for a little over one hour. We find that it is easy to keep to this routine of working out each and every day as long as we go over to the Fitness Center right after breakfast in the morning. There are some that we know who do their workout right before breakfast. In either case, it works well to get this behind us before we do other things during the course of the day.

After our workout we got changed so that we could go into port. Today we are in Nafplion, Greece. This was our first time in this port of call. As we understand, when Crystal last visited this port of call they received very positive comments about this city. We share the view of those who enjoyed this port as we had a greatly enjoyed this port of call and highly recommend it.

Nafpilon served as Greece’s first capital after the Greek War. While it has its share of history including two Venetian fortresses and many neoclassical buildings, today it appeals to many tourists from Greece and other countries as it offers a very nice atmosphere with its leafy parks, small museums, picturesque streets and lively outdoor cafes.

We took the tender from the ship over to this delightful port of call. For those of you who are not familiar with a tender we have included a picture on the Blog of one of the Crystal Cruise tenders. The tender ride took about twenty minutes.

On our way over to the port in the tender we spoke with the person who has been running the art auctions for the past couple of segments who many years ago played for the New York Knicks for five seasons. We told him that we remember him from when we sailed on the Grand Princess in the Mediterranean in 1999. We also reminisced about the days when professional athletes played the game mainly because of the enjoyment and satisfaction of playing team sports knowing that with the salary that they were making they would need to continue working after they retired. This contrasts a great deal with the current athletes who view what they do as a business.

Once we got to the town we spent all of our time over there walking around this very lovely and quaint town. For those of you who have been to little towns in Italy such as Portofino or St. Margarita it reminded us of the old warm charm of these towns,

There were many shops, hotels, parks cafes, bakeries, schools, and a couple of museums. The town was very clean and very safe. We walked for several hours and we walked by the pier where we had beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and we also climbed about 600 of the 800 or so steps that lead to the Palamidi Fortress, which was built by the Venetians between 1711 and 1714 to protect the settlement from invasion. The fortress sits atop a 799-foot hill above the town. We would have finished our climb had it not been so windy and we were concerned that our glasses might blow off not to mention the dust that was getting into our eyes. With that said, it was a beautiful day which added to the ambience of walking around this charming town. The temperature was in the low to mid 60s and it was nice being here at the very beginning of the tourist season as there were very so few tourists here at this time of year. We suspect that during the summer months that the sidewalks and streets would be quite crowded, not to mention that it would be quite hot and humid.

We went into a museum and we also walked into a bakery and a supermarket as we always enjoy getting a sense of the variety of foods that are favorites of the local residents. Of course, we primarily look at the various foods rather than purchasing any of them for consumption.. ☺ The baked goods looked wonderful from all of the breads and rolls to the delectable pastries. The supermarket also looked quite clean and it was nice to see none of the already prepared meals that we not only see in the United States but in so many of the places that we have visited on this world cruise. We also saw delicious looking fruits and vegetables. All in all we spent a wonderful morning in this special port of call.

We arrived back to this ship at around 12:30 PM and had a nice lunch in the main dining room. We had the Lamb Chop salad entrée but without the Lamb Chop. Instead, we asked for Salmon. This is one of the nice things about sailing with Crystal Cruises. They are very accommodating in all manners such as letting you order an items(s) that are not on the menu. Many times, if we don’t like the two salad entrée choices that changed each day, we can easily ask for another type of salad entrée. The same holds true of most other items.

All of the medical lecturers that we have listened to during the course of this world cruise would be happy that we substituted the salmon for the lamb chops since each of them wholeheartedly recommended eating salmon several times each week.

This evening we attended a special reception that we were invited to before dinner. The reception was in honor of one of the couples on this cruise having completed 100 cruises with Crystal Cruises. There was a very nice mix of passenger’s in attendance from some on the full world cruise, others on multiple segments and others on one segment. In addition, many of the entertainers were there as well. We had a nice time chatting with so many of our fellow passengers.

Afterwards we enjoyed a wonderful meal in the main dining room. We had ordered a special entrée of Kosher Chicken for dinner this evening and it was wonderful. As is the case on all Crystal Cruises the quartet of musicians came to our table and played a special request. We have included a picture from this evening.

Tomorrow we will enjoy at day at sea.

Keith & Anne Marie

Rhodes, Greece

We arrived in Rhodes, Greece this morning. This is our first time in this port of call.

Before we went to bed last evening we reflected on what an outstanding time we had at last evenings Classical Concert at Ephesus. The music was wonderful and to listen to this music at such an historic site and having the backdrop of Ephesus directly behind the musicians and the beautiful stars in the sky was truly amazing. This is one of these special events that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

We awoke early this morning and went to the Lido Café for breakfast. There were only a few passengers up there including the regulars who have eaten up there very early as we do since the start of the world cruise. As usual, we received wonderful service from the Lido Deck Stewards. We’ve included a pictures of Anne Marie with the just some of the Lido Deck Stewards and from left to right there is Raymond, Benjamin, Ross, Anne Marie and Nat (pronounced as Nate). They are so very helpful to us each and every morning. By the way, Benjamin was selected as employee of the year for 2006, which was announced at the Captain’s Farewell Reception on the preceding segment.

After breakfast it was time for our daily morning workout with Anne Marie working out on the treadmill and Keith working out on the elliptical machine. It is so very nice to be able to walk up one flight of steps from the Lido Café to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. There were just a few people working out.

After our workout we decided to get a couple of loads of wash done in the laundry room so that we could then have the rest of the morning to explore the port city of Rhodes. As we knew we could walk around this lovely city we decided to walk around on our own rather than taking a shore excursion. There are some similarities to this walled city and the walled city of Dubrovnik. However, within this walled city there is store upon store.

We enjoyed walking around the old town of Rhodes. Several attractions are contained in this old town area including the Medieval Town, the Grandmasters Palace and the Chora Old Town. Today, there are about 6,000 people who work and live in the same buildings in which the Knights of St. John lived six centuries ago.

We walked around for quite awhile and on our way back to the ship we found the Kahal Shalom Synagogue. This is the oldest Jewish Synagogue in Greece, and the sole remaining synagogue in Rhodes, Greece which used to have six synagogues. It was built in the year 1577. During the height in the 1930’s the Rhodes Jewish population totaled 4,000 people. About 45 days before the end of World War II, 1,673 members of the Jewish community were arrested and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp and unfortunately there was only 151 survivors. Today, there are only a handful of Jews living in Rhodes.

We spoke with a man who has just started helping out at the synagogue and his sister is working fulltime in its restoration. It is a beautiful synagogue and they have established an area for a museum and are just now starting to collect artifacts from the museum. We look forward to visiting this city down the road and hope to see all of the progress made at this synagogue.

We walked around the old town a little bit longer before we decided to return to the ship for lunch. We ate in the main dining room. After lunch, we decided to go back to the old town area to walk for another couple of hours. The weather was quite nice and it has been nice to just walk around the last few days in port. On a side-note yesterday a sister ship of the ship that sank off one of the Greek islands the other day was in port with us yesterday in Kusadasi and was in port with us again today. The way the lifeboats are hung are quite different than what we are used to seeing and one can tell that it would be quite a challenge to lower them into the water.

At 5:00 PM there was a sail away party. Complimentary beverages were also served. We did not attend as we had been invited to attend a reception
reception in the captain’s quarters that he hosted for some of the passengers. Since the reception started at 5:30 PM and the attire for this evening was semi-formal we did not attend the sail away party.

We enjoyed talking with the captain and some of our fellow passengers at his reception The captain has done an outstanding job ensuring the safety of the vessel and its passengers and he has been a wonderful sport in participating in so many different activities. We greatly appreciate all that he does for all of us on board the Crystal Serenity. We have chatted with Captain Otto from time to time as we have seen him at a variety of venues during our time on the Crystal Serenity.

After the reception we dined at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. We can’t say enough about the quality of the food served in this restaurant and the wonderful tasting dishes. We also enjoy the wonderful staff we have come to know quite well during the course of this voyage. They are all such very nice people and we can’t say enough about what outstanding individuals they are. We have learned so much about many of them and their loved ones back home. Several of the staff came by our table during dinner and the waiter who we normally have brought us a special from the chef before our regular courses arrived.

After dinner, we went to see the Repertory Theater At Sea Play which was called Sylvia. Playwright and novelist A. R. Gurney who in 2006 was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters wrote Sylvia. We enjoyed the play as we do all of the other plays that we have seen on the ship.

Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Nafplion, Greece.

Keith & Anne Marie

Kusadasi, Turkey

We arrived in Kusadasi, Turkey early this morning at around 7:30 AM. Local authorities cleared the ship by 8:00 AM so that passengers could go ashore.

Kusadasi is a beautiful seaside resort. Many tourists from nearby places travel here during the Summer months to relax here. It is well known for its beautiful waters, its sandy beaches and its large marina. There are many local shops in town that sell a variety of leather goods from purses to jackets, along with many other jewelry shops and shops that sells rugs.

This port of call is all the gateway to a couple of historical sites. The major site is Ephesus, which at one time supported of a population estimated at 250,000 people. The ruins from this city are truly amazing from the marble streets to the Hadrian Temple, to the houses to the amphitheatre. Another site that many visitors travel to is the House of Mary. This locations is supposed to be the last-known location of Mary at the time of her death. There is still controversy about whether her burial occurred in this locaton or in Jerusalem.

We awoke early this morning and went up to the Lido Café for breakfast. We enjoyed a quiet breakfast with a few of the regulars who also come up for breakfast at this early hour. After breakfast we went to the Fitness Center to workout. The Fitness Center was very quiet as many passengers were going on shore excursions. Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machines and also lifted some weights.

After our workout we went ashore to walk around the various shops that are in walking distance of the pier. We looked at a variety of places and purchased a few items. We found the people to be very pleasant. Yes, their livelihood does depend on selling goods but on the most party they were friendly and not too aggressive.

We went back to the ship and had lunch in the main dining room. We enjoyed wonderful salad entrees. Anne Marie had a chicken Caesar salad while Keith enjoyed a wonderful Nicoise salad.

We decided to go back on shore after lunch so that we could do more walking. We ran into many of our fellow passengers who were enjoying the opportunity to walk around the area and do some shopping. We did not do anymore shopping but just took in the beautiful weather. The skies were pictures perfect clear, with very comfortable temperature for walking. Yes, several times we were asked if we wanted to buy a rug but this is something that we did not want to do and we knew if we walked into a rug store we could be there for hours.

Last evening our Cruise Director, Gary Hunter, teased us all about the shopping. He said that since the time we left Istanbul that lots of trucks were on the highway taking all of the goods that we did not purchase during our stay in Istanbul to Kusadasi so that we could have another chance to purchase these items. Maybe Gary was right after all. ☺

This evening there was open seating in the dining room since many passengers, including ourselves, were going on a shore excursion this evening. We needed to arrive to the dining room when it opened a little earlier than normal at 6:00 PM as we needed to be read for our shore excursion by 7:15 PM. We had made arrangements with the headwaiter to have our table reserved as we thought it would be a lot easier to order from our regular senior waiter. We each enjoyed a nice salad for dinner along with swordfish for our entrée and fruit for our desert and we were able to finish dinner in plenty of time for the shore excursion.

Our shore excursion began at 7:15 PM. As we mentioned the last time we were in this port of call we went to Ephesus during the daytime. This time we booked the evening concert at Ephesus. This was an exclusive concert just for Crystal Cruises passengers. We rode in buses approximately thirty minutes over to the entrance of Ephesus. Upon our arrival, waiters dressed in Tuxedos who offered us food and beverages greeted us. We were then led to an areas just outside the Grand Theatre.

We then enjoyed cocktails and other refreshments while we listened to a string quintet played famous music from the past. For about an hour we continued to listen to wonderful classical music while we took in all of the beauty of Ephesus around us.

Ephesus is a very beautiful site. It is estimated that they have only uncovered about ten to fifteen percent of what remains from the city of Ephesus. We could see a big difference from when we were her last as they have uncovered the stadium.

This was a very special event and we are so very glad that we had the opportunity to attend this wonderful concert at such an historic site. This was the first concert of the season.

As we mentioned, this is our second time to this wonderful port of call and we highly recommend this port along with Istanbul for those of you who have not yet visited Turkey.

Later this evening we leave for Rhodes, Italy and we will arrive there in the morning.

Keith Anne Marie