En Route To Punta Arenas Day 2

Last evening the seas were quite choppy until around 2:00 AM. At that point, the waters became calm as the ship reached an inlet and began to cruise the inside passage.

After we woke up and got ready this morning we first went over to the concierge area for some assistance and then spoke with the cruise director, Gary Hunter. We really enjoy him and we first met him on a cruise on this ship in September of 2005. Keith enjoys him as Gary has an affinity for popcorn as a nighttime snack similar to Keith. With that said, while we are on the cruise Keith skips his evening popcorn snack for the duration of the cruise. We really enjoy conversing with Gary and we are glad that he will be on for the duration of the World Cruise.

We then went over to the Lido Café for our regular breakfast and spoke with a few of our fellow passenger’s. After breakfast, we went over to the Fitness Center where we worked out for longer than normal since we had some extra time before the next activity. Keith worked out on the elliptical Machine for about an hour and then worked out on some of the weight lifting machines. Anne Marie worked out the entire time on the treadmill. We continue to enjoy the fitness center and while this segment of the cruise has more passengers on board relative to the first segment, the fitness center seems less crowded.

At 11:00 AM we attended a special event known as the Royal Order of Sea Legs that was held for both the full world cruisers and those passenger’s cruising multiple segments of the world cruise. Crystal provided complimentary drinks but given the hour of the day we only had a non-alcoholic drink for ourselves. Three teams were formed and comprised of some passenger’s who had previously volunteered to been a team and the rest of the passenger’s enjoyed the team competition. Each team also had an officer representing their team including one team, which had the captain. When the game began a question was asked and the teams would have to figure out the answer to the question and as soon as they did each officer would have to eat two crackers and the first officer who made it up to the microphone and could make a whistling noise and then rang a bell could provide the answer to the question. If the answer was correct the team would be awarded a point and then another question would be asked until the competition ended. It was a fun event and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Those in the audience also tried to answer the questions amongst themselves. There was a whole range of questions from how many feet are in a nautical mile to how many lifeboats are on the ship. Members from each team won prizes and several other passenger’s won prizes as raffle tickets were drawn and each winner received a gift. We’re sorry to say that we didn’t win a gift.

Some good news for this Sunday as the plan is still to televise the Super Bowl on one of the channels for the ship. Arrangements have been made to receive the satellite broadcast via one of two satellite methods. Factors such as precise ship location and weather could affect the broadcast but the crew is hopeful that all will be fine with the telecast. We hope that we will be able to receive the telecast but the time here is hours later than eastern standard time so it might be a late night for us.

Following today’s event, we had trivia. Our team didn’t do as well today and finished towards the middle of the pack. There is always next time. After trivia most of those on our team, including ourselves, had lunch in the main dining room. We both had a wonderful seafood salad.

In the afternoon we relaxed rather than going to any organized activities. Keith read his book and walked around the ship and Anne Marie wrote in her journal and watched a movie and also practiced on the piano for her class.

In the evening we had dinner in the Silk Road Asian Specialty Restaurant with Ambassador Edward Peck and his wife Ann. We had a wonderful conversation with them and of course enjoyed the dining at Silk Road. We will dine with them again right before they depart the ship at the end of this segment. We had met this in the fall of 2005 when Ambassador Peck gave some lectures on our Mediterranean Cruise on board the Crystal Serenity and had spoken with them numerous times throughout the cruise. When we learned that they would be on this segment of the world cruise we made arrangements to meet them for dinner this evening. The ambassador will be giving several lectures during the course of the cruise and we will tell you more about his background along with the topics that he presents in a few days.

By around 8:00 this evening the seas became much milder as we moved back to the inside passage. We all hope for good weather tomorrow and look forward to Punta Arenas.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Punta Arenas Day 1

Today we began the first of two sea days as we cruise to Punta Arenas, Chile. In the morning, the Serenity sailed in inside passage so that we had beautiful scenery al around us. The outside temperature was quite nice with nice clouds descending on the hilltops giving the illusion of snowcaps. What breathtaking views all around us. While we love Alaska, we find sailing around South America to be even more breathtaking with far fewer cruise ships and more pristine views of the coastline.

Chile’s coastline from North to South is 2,700 miles, almost the same distance of the United States between Los Angeles and New York City. Given the length of the country, its characteristics and climate vary to a large extent from lush land to the desert. It is a beautiful country as is other countries in South America such as Argentina.

We started off this wonderful day by having breakfast in the Lido Café. We had a very nice conversation with a fellow world cruiser who we have come to know quite well since the voyage began. Following breakfast we went to the Fitness Center for our morning workout and then caught up on other items.

Anne Marie took some time to write in her journal, which she has been doing her best to keep up to date since our journey began and Keith worked on some other related items. We also took the time to view first hand the beauty of the coastline. Keith also had his first haircut on the ship this morning.

So many activities are offered today including many lectures. This included a lectures given by Dr. Bernard Stonehouse on Antarctica, along with a lecture given by Geologist Geoff Renner on Antarctica: “A Continent for Science, Education and Exploration”. We attended both lectures and each presenter shared so much wonderful information with us.

Since today was a sea day we had trivia at 12:00 Noon. Our team finished in forth place today. There were some difficult questions. Do you know when the internet was launched?

For lunch, as they do on each cruise segment, there was an Asia Café Luncheon Buffet around the Neptune Pool. We passed on the buffet, and ate in the Crystal Dining Room with several members from our trivia team. We prefer the table service in the dining room.

After lunch, Anne Marie took her second class on the Piano and is enjoying the experience. Keith enjoyed the surrounding scenery and continued to read his book. He also met up with one of the couples on the cruise from Cruise Critic. Afterwards, we went to the Bistro, which is a venue that is unique on cruise lines offering morning and afternoon breakfast, lunch and snacks along with various types of coffees and teas. We sat with a very nice couple that we met the other day who is doing two segments of the World Cruise.

We had a very nice dinner this evening in the Crystal Dining Room. We dined with one of the couples at our table, as the other couple assigned to our table ate in Silk Road. Tomorrow evening that couple will be in the restaurant by themselves since as it turns out we will be in one of the specialty restaurants and the other couple also has reservations in one of the specialty restaurants. We always let the senior waiter know of our plans so that they set the table accordingly. So, for example, this evening they set the table for the four of us and tomorrow evening they will set the table for two people.

Following dinner, we attended a cocktail party hosted by the travel consortium, Signature Travel Network, which our cruise specialist is affiliated with. Coincidentally, the travel agent for the other couple who ate with us this evening is also affiliated with Signature so they also attended the cocktail party. These parties provide a nice opportunity to meet other people traveling on the cruise either for one segment or multiple segments. There are pretty much three large consortiums. The most well known of the three consortiums is Virtuoso, and the other two include Signature Travel Network and Ensemble. Each of these consortiums provide their clients with some benefits ranging from complimentary cocktail parties from time to time and shipboard credits and either some type complimentary shore excursion or in our case some shipboard credits that we can utilize for shore excursions. At the same time there are many travel agents/cruise specialists who are not associated with these consortiums and provide other benefits for their clients.

As we sail around the beautiful continent of South America we feel so very fortunate to have the opportunity to sail on this World Cruise adventure. Everything about this voyage continues to exceed our expectations.

Keith & Anne Marie

Puerto Montt, Chile

We woke up early this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café. It was more crowded than usual as the majority of passenger’s were booked on one of several shore excursions. Since we visited this port of call only two years ago and had taken a shore excursion, we decided to walk around on our own this time around.. After breakfast, we went over the fitness center, which was not very crowded and we did our regular workout with Anne Marie exercising on the treadmill and Keith working out on the Elliptical Machine.

Afterwards, at around 9:00 AM we took a tender over to the port. On the tender we saw from a distance a couple that we had just recently met in early September during our cruise on the Seabourn Pride Cruise Ship from Copenhagen, Denmark to London, England. We chatted with them for a few minutes. We learned that they along with some of our fellow passenger’s were going on a three night overland package to Chile’s Patagonia region. We look forward to hearing about their adventures when they return back to the ship in a few days.

The skies were overcast so we wore our world cruise blue jackets and long pants. After arriving ashore, we took a complimentary shuttle over to the center of town.

Puerto Montt was founded in 1853 and is located at the head of the Pacific inlet known as Reloncavi Sound. Although representing a minority of the citizens of this town, there are a fair number of German descendents who live here. In 1852, German colonists began settling in this area as it provided them with solid employment opportunities.

We walked around the downtown area for a while and also went into a fairly large department store and a beautiful food store. Many times when we are in port we like to walk through a local supermarket just to get a feel for the kind of items that they carry that might be unique to the area of the world that we are visiting. Naturally, this supermarket carried a nice variety of Chilean Wines, along with an excellent produce area and bakery. The prices were very reasonable.

Rather than take the shuttle, we decide to walk back to the ship. As we arrived back at the dock, we remembered from our last visit that located on the other side of the pier are a variety of outdoor craft shops so we strolled the main street looking at this market. Before boarding the tender we were able to speak with our daughter, Jennifer, on the cell phone. It was great to hear Jennifer’s voice and to catch up with her. We then boarded the tender and arrived back to the ship and went to lunch in the main dining room. Very few passengers were back so we had a very nice and quiet lunch. We each had a Cobb Salad.

Afterwards, we decided that with so many of our fellow passenger’s still ashore that it would be a perfect time to utilize the laundry machines. We know from our past cruises that with some sea days coming up that the laundry room will be quite busy over the coming days. As it turned out when we were about finished with the laundry a fairly large group of passenger’s returned back to the ship and before we knew it all of the machines were in use.

Before dinner, we met a couple from Cruise Critic in the Crystal Cove. We really enjoyed meeting them and talking with them and look forward to our Cruise Critic get together at Silk Road next week.

We had another enjoyable dinner with our fellow tablemates in the main dining room. Tomorrow evening there will be four of us dining together as one of the couples has reservations in one of the specialty restaurants.

We left Puerto Montt about one hour after the planned departure time. This is a first for us but evidently they had difficulty getting the anchor pulled in. They tried several times and finally were able to get the anchor up and securely put away. There will be no impact to our scheduled arrival time at our next port of call.

Following dinner, we went to a show starting Vocalist, Tracey Shield. She presented “An Evening with Celine Dion”. And, sure enough what do you think she sand for the closing song of the evening? Yes, you guessed it “My heart will go on”.

The next two days we will be at sea and look forward to the various lectures, shows and other activities. On Thursday, we will arrive in Punta Arenas, Chile. The weather has turned cooler and we know that the weather will continue to become cooler as we make our way further south.

If you would like to leave comments for us on the blog, we look forward to seeing them.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Puerto Montt, Chile

Sea days on the cruise are always wonderful and today was no exception. Crystal Cruise Lines does a tremendous job in scheduling a nice variety of activities throughout the day and evening hours that will appeal to the diverse interests of the passenger’s that sail on its ships.

This morning we woke up early and had breakfast in the Lido Café. As you can tell by now we enjoy eating breakfast at this venue as it offers us exactly what we want in a reasonable amount of time. Following breakfast we worked out at the Fitness Center. After our workout, our day of activities commenced.

At 10:00 AM we attended a presentation titled “Glaciers – What Are and What They Do.” by Geologist Neil Fahy. Neil has worked as a naturalist in he Yosemite region and as a Ranger – Naturalist at the Sequoia National Park. He has sailed with Crystal often, particularly on the many of the Crystal Harmony cruises to Alaska. He provides some nice background information on glaciers.

At 11:00 AM we attended a lecture given by diplomat Tex Harris titled “Saddam Hussein and the Iraq Problem.” Mr. Harris recently retired after an extensive 35 year career as a diplomat. His focus was on the mistakes that Saddam Hussein had made over the years.

At 12:00 Noon we attended the first trivia game for the second segment of the cruise. There were only six of us today as the new couple who was supposed to join our team did not make it today. With that said we finished in second place.

After trivia, we sent to lunch in the main restaurant. We enjoy having a light lunch in the restaurant and continue to order a salad entrée for lunch. Each day we have a different salad.

At 1:00 Anne Marie went to the first of the series of piano classes that she will take during this segment of the cruise while Keith continued to read one of the books that he is reading on board the ship.

At 3:00 PM we met our fellow Cruise Critic passenger’s in the Palm Court for a get together. These are fellow passenger’s who post from time to time on Cruise Critic and who had indicated that they were either on the full World Cruise or who would be on this segment of the cruise. We will have as second get together later in this cruise segment in the Silk Road Specialty Restaurant.

After our get together it was already time to start to get ready for the evening activities, which began with us attending the Captian’s Formal Welcome Reception. This provided an opportunity for Captain Otto Nergaard to officially welcome all passengers on this voyage and to meet him and other staff. Complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are offered along with some hot appetizers are provided and there is also dancing. It also provided a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow passengers.

After the reception, it was time to walk over to the dining room for our first formal dinner of this segment of the cruise. At a time when there is less formality, it is so nice to see our fellow passenger’s all dressed up. The majority of men wore either a tuxedo, or a white dinner jacket or a dark suit and the majority of women were in evening dresses and gowns. The dinner was wonderful and it included so many of our favorite foods. We enjoyed the conversation with our fellow tablemates.

Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Puerto, Montt, Chili. We do not have a shore excursion planned in Puerto Montt since we last visited this port in January of 2005 and plan to walk around this port of call on our own.

Keith & Anne Marie

Valparaiso, Chile Second Day

Although we went to sleep later than usual due to getting back to the ship fairly late from the World Cruise Event at the vineyard, we got up fairly early this morning. We wanted to make sure that we had the opportunity to give our best to several very nice passenger’s e that we had the pleasure of meeting during the first segment of the World Cruise who were disembarking the ship this morning.

We ate breakfast at the Lido Deck Café. We learned that some of the staff that assist us in the café would be assigned to the swimming pool area of the ship on the next segment of the cruise. This is done to provide them with a change in venue and also because it will provide them with an opportunity to work a somewhat later shift than the one that they work when assigned to the Lido Café. We will miss them in the café, but realize we will see them in other areas of the ship and also know that they will be assigned to the Lido Café during other segments of the World Cruise.

After breakfast we started to visit with those fellow passenger’s who were disembarking the ship today. We did not say goodbye to any of them as we hope that we will see them again on another cruise.

After seeing them off, we then worked out at the Fitness Center. There were not many people in the center this morning so we ended up spending more time in the center than usual. Anne Marie went on the treadmill while Keith went on the Elliptical machine. Afterwards, Keith spent time on several of the weight lifting machines and tried to use the breathing techniques that we learned from the fitness instructor on the first segment of the cruise.

We then went to the library, as this is a perfect time when there are more books and DVD’s to choose from since those departing the ship returned several good ones that they had used during the first segment of the cruise. We then spoke one of the two couples who will be moving to our table for dinner during this second segment of the World Cruise. We met them early on the last segment of the cruise and had asked them if they would like to join us for dinner on this segment of the cruise.

We then walked around the outside of the ship on the top deck. Once again, we are fortunate to have wonderful weather today. This is a very quiet time on the ship as the only passenger’s on the ship are those on the full world cruise or those booked on multiple cruise segments. At noon we went to the dining room for lunch. We started to see new passenger’s who are joining the ship in this port of call for the next segment of the cruise. We were given a complimentary flute of champagne and we toasted this next segment of our upcoming journey.

On this segment of the World Cruise we will travel from Valparaiso, Chile south with two stops in Chile before we go cruise around Cape Horn. From there we stop in one port in Argentina before we begin to cruise near Antarctica where we then proceed to the Falkland Islands. From the Falkland’s we stop in one port in Argentina, one port in Uruguay and then we end this segment in Buenos Aires.

We had a very nice dinner this evening in the main restaurant and enjoyed the company of our new tablemates. We are at the same table that we enjoyed during the first segment so we have the same senior waiter and waiter. Our senior waiter is from Switzerland and our waiter is from Turkey.

AT 8:00 PM a lifeboat drill was conducted and the good news is that our attendance was not required since we had already attended the lifeboat drill on the first segment of the cruise. Normally, the drill is held before the first dinner seating but we suspect the drill was held later in the day as some passenger’s were arriving to the ship later in the day as we are docked about two hours from the Santiago, Chile airport.

We have enjoyed our time in Valparaiso, Chile. We have met many nice people from Chile. In general, the people have a very positive attitude, a great deal of pride regarding their country and are very hard-working people. From what we can observe the overall economy has continued to improve since we last visited this country two years ago.

Tomorrow, we will be at sea and have a get together planned that Keith organized with some passenger’s from Cruise Critic. Most are either doing the full world cruise or we had already met on the first segment. One couple who originally planned to embark the ship in Valparaiso will not be embarking the ship until the next port of call as their flight plans were disrupted due to poor weather conditions in Canada. They will join us at a follow-up get together that we have planned over dinner at the Silk Road Asian Specialty Restaurant.

To date, we have traveled a distance of 4,296 nautical miles, or the equivalent of 4,940 land miles since we left Miami, Florida. We have visited some wonderful ports, of call, met so many wonderful people, enjoyed all aspects of the ship and so far the cruise has exceeded our expectations.

Keith & Anne Marie

Valpairaso, Chile First Day

We arrived in the port of Valparaiso, Chile this morning. We woke up early and had breakfast in the Lido Café where we sat with a wonderful couple who we met earlier in the cruise. They are on the first segment of the World Cruise and will be disembarking tomorrow. We then went over to the Fitness Center where we saw two passengers who, like us, work out on a regular basis. One is the wife of the computer university teacher who will be on for the full world cruise and the other passenger is someone who is on the first segment of the world cruise who we have enjoyed many wonderful conversations with over the course of the cruise.

After our workout we disembarked the ship to visit Valparaiso. We remember from our first time here in January of 2005 that we would first be taken by a short shuttle but over to the main terminal area. This is done for everyone’s safety, as there are many containers throughout the pier. When we arrived at the terminal we had to get on a fairly long line as there were passengers from three other ships, including the Queen Mary 2, at the port. They had us put our bags on the floor (we had a back-pack) and there were dogs that checked for food or other prohibited items. While they warn passenger’s not to take food ashore this was the first port that they actually checked for food and sure enough someone in line had food in their bag. After going through the security checkpoint we boarded the complimentary bus provided by Crystal, which took us to Vina del Mar.

Vina del Mar is located about twenty minutes from Valparaiso and was settled in the 1870s. It is a very nice residential area and is also a resort, which is very busy during the summer months. It has become one of Chile’s premier seaside areas and is often referred to as Chile’s Riviera. The summer home of the President of Chile is located in this town. We took a short walk around the area and walked around some beautiful gardens. We had wonderful weather with temperatures in the 70’s.

After returning to the ship we took care of a few items and then went for lunch in the main dining room restaurant. In the afternoon we did some washes in the laundry room and also took a nice long walk on the promenade deck.

This evening we attended the first of three shore side events that will be held during the course of the cruise for the full World Cruise passenger’s. We were driven by bus to The Matetic Vineyard in Rosario Valley, Chile. On the way we passed many vineyards and it reminded us of Napa Valley.

This vineyard began in 1999 and is known for its Chardonnay and Cabernet wines. When we arrived were greeted by the Crystal Staff dressed in costume and were given wine and various appetizers which included brochettes, shrimp, Chilean pasties, quiche and chef’s ceviche. We were then entertained by a Chinchinero which is an urban street performer who played a large drum while dancing. There was also an organ grinder. Afterwards we were escorted to a large tented area with tables and chairs where we were served dinner. The dinner included grilled chicken, barbecued lamb, salmon, and corvina fish. We also had purple cabbage, potatoes au crème, Chilean salad, and deserts, which included fruit and cheesecake. Following the dinner we were entertained by a variety of male and female dancers along with singers and a band. The evening concluded with a light show and acrobatics.

We also received two beautiful gifts. The women received a "Chal" which is a garment that the ladies have worn in Chile since the times of the colony. The Chal that we received was handmade with sheep wool and was made with four different colors, all made of natural dyes. The men received a Poncho. The ponchos are handmade with a mix of Alpaca and Sheep wool and the color that we received was grey. Poncho's have also been part of Chile's culture dating back to the colony days and remainvery popular in Southern Chile to this day.

It was a wonderful and magical evening and one that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Tomorrow morning will be disembarkation day for those passenger’s whose cruise is ending and in the early afternoon those passenger’s who will be joining the ship for the second segment of the cruise will be embarking the ship.

Keith & Anne Marie

Our First Visit To Coquimbo, Chile

We arrived at our first Chilean port of the cruise which is in Coquimbo, Chile at around 8:00 AM this morning. This is a maiden port of call for Crystal as it is the first time a Crystal ship has visited this port of call. Coquimbo is home to approximately 300,000 residents. A big part of the local economy is the local seafood, particularly large scallops and oysters.

After waking up early and having breakfast in the Lido Café we worked out in the Fitness Center. We departed the ship around 9:00 AM. And took a c complimentary shuttle provided by Crystal into the town of La Serena which is about a twenty minute drive from the pier. This town was founded in 1543 and is one of the top two premier beach towns in all of Chile.

We did not have a tour planned for this location. In fact, we have very few tours planned in South America since we visited several South America ports on another cruise in early 2005. The vast majority of our formal excursions are planned in Africa, the Middle East and in Europe.

We walked around for about an hour and 30 minutes. We went into a local supermarket to get a sense as to the prices and the types of food that local residents buy. The prices were very reasonable and they had some wonderful fresh items. The baked goods looked quite nice, particularly the cakes and the empanadas. We looked at some of the local wine and plan to purchase one or two bottles of wine at the next Chilean port of call.

While strolling around town we saw a variety of churches and also walked around a central square. We also walked through a fairly large outdoor market.

After returning to the ship and having lunch in the main restaurant we walked along a street adjacent to the pier where we came to a very large market where many local items were for sale. We also walked by several places selling fresh fish. And, when we say fresh fish there must have been several hundred fish in each of several markets and many of the fish were Texas sized fish.

We enjoyed walking around both towns and we had wonderful weather with sunny skies and temperatures in the 60’s and the low 70’s.

When we got back to the ship we took a very nice walk on the promenade deck.

Before dinner, we listened to several of our passenger’s who have formed a choir and sang songs from Annie. We enjoyed listening to them and we know some of the passenger’s who are part of the choir.

This evening was a casual night in the restaurant. We were joined at our table by one other couple as the third couple was dining in one of the specialty restaurants.

Tomorrow we will arrive in Valparaiso which we last visited in January of 2005.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Coquimbo, Chile Day 2

Today we enjoyed another full day at sea as we proceed to Coquimbo, Chili.

The first segment of the World Cruise is starting to come to an end. Those passengers sailing on the first segment of the World Cruise will be disembarking the ship on Saturday morning and new passenger’s who are booked on the second segment will be joining the ship in the afternoon.

This morning we, once again, enjoyed breakfast on the Lido deck and right after breakfast we worked out in the Fitness Center. There have been less people in the fitness center with each passing day. With new passenger’s joining us on Saturday, the center will likely become more crowded starting on Sunday for the first few days of the second segment.

At 10:00 AM we saw the third and final presentation given by Alvin Shuster, Senior Consulting Editor of the Los Angeles Times. We enjoyed Alvin’s lecture and will miss him and Miriam. We look forward to seeing both of them again on another Crystal cruise.

At 12:00 Noon we enjoyed another round of Team Trivia which was the final round for this segment of the World Cruise. The questions were easier today, benefiting all of the teams. Counting today’s final score, our team finished in third place.

Following trivia, we went to lunch. Today’s lunch was the Grand Gala Buffet. The buffet was held in the Crystal Plaza, which is set up right outside the Crystal Dining Room. There are so many fine food items to choose from including appetizers, salads, bread and rolls, various entrees and wonderful desserts and everything is displayed so wonderfully. We enjoyed yet another salad. There are so many items that looked too good to eat. We sat with one couple who is on the full world cruise and another couple who is sailing Crystal for the first time and is on the first two segments of the world cruise.

Anne Marie saw a movie this afternoon; “The Lake House” starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock while Keith walked around the ship.

Before dinner we attended the Captain’s Formal Farewell Reception. The good news is that we have six more of these receptions to attend over the course of the World Cruise. We sat with Bob and Jocelyn from our trivia team and Bob and Joan who we first met at the World Cruise Gala.

Following the reception, we had dinner in the main dining room for the final formal dinner of the first segment of the world cruise. One of the three couples chose to dine in the Japanese Specialty Restaurant this evening, so there we dined with one other couple this evening. The table was set for the four of us. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with nice conversation. Overall, the food on the ship has been outstanding along with the service. The personnel on Crystal truly do not know the word "no" and go out of their way to make each passenger feel special.

Tomorrow we look forward to arriving in Coquimbo, Chile. This is the first time that Crystal will have one of its ships in this port of call and while we cruised in South America in early 2005 this will be our first time visiting this port of call. We are due to dock in Coquimbo at 7:00 AM.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Coquimbo, Chile

Last night we had a great dinner in the main dining room. We had fresh grouper and really enjoyed the entrée. We have been getting some wonderful fish almost every night, which is a real treat for us.

Today and tomorrow we will be at sea as we travel to Coquimbo, Chile. This will be the first time that we will visit this port and this is a maiden port of call for Crystal.

This morning we woke up fairly early considering that we had set the clocks forward by one hour last evening. We had a very nice r breakfast in the Lido Café where we sat and had a long conversation with a very nice passenger who we met early on during the cruise. After breakfast we worked out in the fitness center. Once again, Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine. In addition to working out, it gives us the opportunity to get caught up with world-wide and national news as we work out.

Anne Marie got a haircut in the salon. This is the first time that either one of us has gotten a haircut on a cruise ship but given the length of this cruise each of us will be getting a few haircuts on the ship over the course of the cruise. They did a nice job with Anne Marie’s cut.

While Anne Marie was getting her haircut, Keith went to a lecture given by a tax attorney related to estate planning, which focused on the additional documents needed to complete a basic estate plan.

At 12:00 Noon we attended team trivia. We did well today as our team finished in a three-way tie for first place. And after team trivia we had lunch with two other couples from our trivia team. Although all six of us ate in the main restaurant there was an American Classic Buffet Lunch on the Lido Deck. As we’ve mentioned, we enjoy getting a large salad entrée in the main restaurant and we also enjoy the wonderful sit-down service provided by the restaurant staff.

We were gong to take a long walk on the promenade deck in the afternoon but it was too cool so we worked out in the fitness center for about 45 minutes.

We had a very nice dinner (they are all very nice) in the main dining room. So, far, we have not ordered any specially prepared foods ourselves. The head waiter (eg., assistant maitre de ) always offers to arrange for specialty items for us. One evening, our table did have kosher chicken, which was ordered by another couple, and everyone at the table said they would have it. The headwaiter brought out three fully cooked kosher chickens and carved them for us tableside. Last evening, one of the couples asked for steak tartar and for this evening and they seemed to enjoy this entrée tonight. We passed on this entrée as we like our meat cooked ☺. We know during the course of the cruise that we will ask for some specialties from time to time. When we had lunch with Judith and Larry in Miami, they gave us a couple of desert recommendation, which we will request later on during the cruise. And, we have a few other favorites that we will request. The key is to provide the staff with 24 hours notice and with very few exceptions they will prepared anything that you request.

Following dinner, we attended a cocktail party that was provided for the World Cruisers. The theme of the cocktail party was “Country Club”. The party included a variety of entertainment and we all had a very nice time.

This evening we will set the clocks one hour forward for the second night in a row as we prepared to get onto the correct time zone for Chile. Tomorrow we will enjoy another wonderful day at sea which we know will include wonderful lectures along with a diverse set of activities throughout the day.

Keith & Anne Marie

A Special Day In Lima, Peru

We arrived in Lima, Peru at 7:00 AM this morning. This is our first time in this port of call.

Lima is home to approximately eight million of the twenty-four million citizens of Peru.

The major products exported from this area include sugar cane, cotton, minerals (iron, copper, lead and silver), bananas, coffee beans, asparagus and tea. Lima receives 1” of rain annually.

There are clearly issues with the local economy. The present inflation rate is 47%. While unemployment is at approximately 9%, an additional 43% of the people are underemployed. Many people are street vendors or work in manufacturing. We could see quite a bit of poverty as we traveled through Lima. As is the case when Keith visited Venezuela several years ago on business, there are many areas where there are literally shacks along the hilltops surrounding the city.

With that said, we thought that the city streets were clean and there are some very nice areas along with other areas of the city where the middle class live.

Schooling is compulsory through the 11th grade and voting is compulsory as well.

Today we took the complimentary shore excursion provided by Crystal. They are providing one complimentary shore excursion on each of the seven segments of the World Cruise. This excursion is called The Ruins of the Pachacamac Temple & Hacianda Mamacona.

At 9:15 this morning, we were taken by bus through some of Lima’s residential areas and then we proceeded another 20 miles to the Lurin Valley, where we visited the ruins of the Pachamac Temple, which was built in the 8th century. We stopped at three different locations to view the ruins and then we proceeded to Hacienda Mamacona, which is a very beautiful and large ranch.

The ranch included a little local market and we were treated to music and dancing by wonderful musicians and dancers. We also had the opportunity to view a Peruvian Pace Horse show. The horses have a distinctive gait, which makes riding them very smooth. They are truly beautiful horses.

Following the show, we had a very nice lunch, which included a variety of local vegetables, quiche, chicken, gnocchi, and several other food items Desert included dol de leche, rice pudding and a flam along with red and white wine and pisco sour.

We walked around the beautiful grounds for a while and spoke with the two owners’.

We got back to the ship at about 4:15 PM. We were fortunate to have wonderful weather today. While we had expected it to be very humid, we were fortunate that there was very little humidity with the temperature in the low to mid 70’s.

This excursion was truly wonderful experience and kudos to Crystal for providing such a wonderful complimentary excursion. We would highly recommend it for visitors to Lima.

Since we boarded the cruise ship, we have been on Eastern Standard Time. This evening we will change the time to one hour forward.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Lima, Peru

Today, we enjoyed a full day at we sail to Lima, Peru. We are scheduled to dock in Lima tomorrow morning at approximately 5:00 AM.

Each day at sea is even better than the last.

After waking up early, we went to the Fitness Center to work out before breakfast. We did our normal routine with Anne Marie working out on the treadmill and Keith working out on the Elliptical machine. We then had breakfast in the Lido Café. We enjoy the café as it provides a nice diverse selection of food (Anne Marie typically has cereal and an assortment of fruit while Keith has either Cereal or Smoked Salmon and a Bagel with an assortment of Fruit) and we enjoy the wonderful staff mainly from the Philippines who work in the café. Most of them knew our names after a couple of days and some remembered us from our last cruise. Some of the folks from the Lido Café work in the Japanese Specialty Restaurant during the evening hours, while others work in the main restaurant while others work at the other venues near the pool in the afternoon hours and still others work in some of the lounges. These folks work very long hours each day, yet always have smiles on their faces and go out of their way to make each and every passenger feel special.

We were joined for breakfast by Sandra and Bill and had a nice time talking with them. After breakfast, we decided to take a walk on the Promenade Deck. We walked for about 45 minutes and we joined for a portion of the walk by Bob who sat at our table for the World Cruise Gala in Miami. Bob and his wife now live in Hawaii. We enjoyed our conversation with Bob and the weather was perfect for a walk on this deck. There were more people walking than usual which was nice to see.

At 11:00 AM we attended the lecture given by Alvin Shuster from the Los Angeles Times titled “Covering the World: The Bush Agenda, Key Issues Ahead and the Correspondents Reporting It All”. As usual, we enjoyed this lecture as we do all of the other ones given by Mr. Shuster. Before the end of the cruise, we will be getting together with Alvin and his lovely wife Miriam for drinks one evening.

At 12:00 Noon we attended trivia and, once again, there were many challenging questions to answer.

Following Trivia we had lunch with Ernie and Val who are from the United Kingdom who we first met on a Mediterranean Cruise in the fall of 2005. Today, the restaurant staff set up a special lunch called Sunday Jazz Brunch in the main dining room. In addition to a wonderful lunch, complimentary Mimosas wee provided as well. We passed on the drinks and enjoyed the food and the music.

In the afternoon, we also took another walk on the Promenade Deck. We have a long tour for tomorrow so we thought we would exercise a little more today.

In the afternoon and in the evening Crystal utilized the Hollywood Theatre (the ships movie theatre) to show the New Orleans Saints vs. Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots vs. Indianapolis Colts Football games. They provided hot dogs, popcorn and soft drinks.

In the evening, Crystal once again offered the Repertory Theatre at Sea. While we experienced the Repertory on previous sailings on board the Crystal Harmony and the Crystal Symphony, this was not offered on this ship on our Mediterranean sailing in 2005, so it was nice to once again have this as a venue to see. We love the Repertory Theatre at Sea. The actors perform selected abridged scenes from some of the theatrical world’s best-loved plays and playwrights. This evening we saw Cookin’ with Gus. We recognized one of the actors from the last time we saw the Repertory Theatre on the Crystal Symphony.

We ate dinner in the main dining room.. The dress for dinner was informal (semi-formal) and the food was wonderful.

We received invitations for two events for this coming week. One is for a cocktail party with a theme of Country Club and the other is one of three special events that will be held shore side during the course of the world cruise. The first one will be held in Valparaiso, Chile later this week.

As we mentioned, tomorrow morning we arrive in Lima, Peru, which is our first time in this port. We have full day excursion planned.

Keith & Anne Marie

Guayaquil, Ecuador Second Day

Last night, we enjoyed dinner in the Crystal Dining Room. There were four of us at dinner last night and we celebrated the birthday of one of our tablemates. We were joined by several of the staff and the musicians to sing Happy Birthday and a wonderful birthday cake was served to celebrate this occasion

After dinner, we went to see the movie, The Queen. As we mentioned, since the movie has recently been in movie theatres we were surprised that the movie was already being shown on the ship. Movies on the ship are shown in the Crystal Hollywood Theatre and even popcorn is served. We enjoyed the movie and it is hard to believe that Princess Diana’s tragic accident occurred over ten years ago.

This morning Keith got up quite early (probably at the time that some were just going to sleep ☺) to do the wash. Actually, it provided Keith with a good opportunity to read a book that he borrowed from the on-board library. He was even able to go on the elliptical machine for about 40 minutes before Anne Marie got up for breakfast. After breakfast, we walked on the Promenade deck for about 75 minutes. For part of the time we walked with two different passenger’s who we know and enjoyed our conversations with them.

We did not plan to go into town today so that we can enjoy the ship. Following another wonderful lunch in the main dining room we worked out in the fitness center.

Tomorrow is our son Eric’s birthday and we spoke with Eric this morning to wish him a very Happy Birthday just in case we had problems reaching Eric tomorrow while we are at sea. It was wonderful to talk with Eric.

This evening we dined in one of the specialty restaurants no the ship called Silk Road. The menu for Silk Road was developed specifically for Crystal under the guidance of master chef Nobu Matsuhisa and we find the food to be wonderful. The restaurant serves wonderfully prepared Japanese Cuisine. Nobu has restaurants in several cities around the world.

We plan to dine at the Silk Road several time throughout the cruise. This evening we enjoyed sushi, salad, and a wonderful cod entrée along with some dessert.

Tomorrow is another sea day so we know that means a full day of activities before we arrive in Lima Peru on Monday.

Keith & Anne Marie

Guayaquil, Ecuador

We arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador this morning and we will spend two days in this port of call. Some passenger’s are leaving the ship to visit either the Galapagos Islands or Machu Picchu and will meet up with the ship in a few days. We have chosen to stay with the ship.

This morning we disembarked the ship at 9:00 AM to participate on a four-hour shore excursion. The excursion is called “A Walk in the Park: Discovering Guayaquil’s Culture & Wildlife. We thought this would be a nice excursion to begin to explore the surrounding area. We saw a variety of wild-life including monkeys, wild pigs, iguanas, macaws, horses, deer, owls, and eagles. We also saw a variety of plants many beautiful flowers. We visited a church and some historical buildings. A nice snack (we would have said it was morel like a lunch) was provided along with various cold drinks. The tour guide was wonderful.

On our way to the Park, we drove through Guayaguil. This city is home to almost 2 million people. We passed a variety of areas from very poor areas to upper class areas. Unemployment remains quite high at 30%. The major exports of Ecuador include the cocoa bean, bananas, and oil.

We had very nice weather today. It is still considered winter here which is their rainy season and where the overall temperature is warmer than in the summer. The summertime is considered the dry season.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the ship. We had lunch back on board the ship and then we worked out in the fitness center.

This evening after dinner we plan to see the movie “The Queen” which is about the behind the scenes glimpse at the interaction between Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair, following the death of Diana. Before we left home this movie had just premiered in our local movie theatres so we were surprised that it was already being shown on the Crystal Serenity. Crystal always had a nice variety of recent movies.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Ecuador Day Two

Today, we had another full day at sea as we sail to Ecuador. This will be the first time that we visit Ecuador so we are looking forward to seeing the port of call. We have a shore excursion scheduled for tomorrow.

Once again, we woke up early to begin another wonderful day on-board the Crystal Serenity. We had an early breakfast and then worked out in the fitness center. There are less people in the fitness center compared to how full it was the first couple of days of the voyage. This is similar to other cruises we have been on where after a few days less people are working out and most of those are the regulars who are the ones who work out daily. The facilities are very good. In addition to the equipment, Crystal offers several classes in the early morning and the late afternoon hours. Anne Marie continues to workout on the treadmill while Keith works out on the elliptical machine. Each of these machines also has their own individual television monitor so we use it as an opportunity to keep up with national and international news. We also receive a condensed New York Times in our room each day that is the size of a newsletter.

At 10:00 AM we attended a lecture given by Author, Professor, and Television Personality Harm de Blij on “Growing Geopolitical Problems in South America”. His lecture covered a variety of items including the United States relationships with South America and our other neighbors to the south, major economic and political issues and those specific areas within South America where terrorism will likely spread. He also talked about both global warming and global cooling.

As we sailed across the equator we observed the affect from El Nino. Normally this time of the year it would be very sunny, but today it was very cloudy.

Following the presentation, we attended the Equator Crossing Ceremony. The ceremony was performed by the pool area and was a lot of fun.
We can’t share the secrets with you so you’ll have to book a cruse on Crystal to experience first hand the secret initiation. However, we have posted some pictures.

As this was a sea day, we had trivia once again. There are now a total of fifteen teams with eight members on each team. We didn’t do as well today as we tied for third place. If we only knew that Mickey Mouse has four fingers we would have finished in second place and if we knew that Hello Dolly was written for Ethel Merman we would have tied for first place. Oh well, there will be more trivia games coming up.

We had lunch in the main dining room with two of the three other couples from our trivia team. We really enjoy the sit-down service and the wonderful salad entrees that we can order in the restaurant.

We took a nice walk on the promenade deck as we have done each day. As we have mentioned before we really enjoy this deck as this ship has a wonderful wrap-around promenade deck, which is a joy to walk. It is never crowded and there is very little furniture on this deck.

Before dinner, we attended the Crystal Society Cocktail Party. All passengers’ who have previously cruised with Crystal become Crystal Society Members at the end of their first cruise. As a Crystal Society Member you receive discounts on future sailings, are part of the affinity program, which provides certain benefits as milestones are achieved based on the number of sailings that are completed and also includes other benefits such as being invited to one Crystal Society Cocktail Party per voyage. These cocktail parties provide yet another opportunity to socialize with our fellow shipmates. Following the cocktail party we went to dinner. This evening’s attire was formal with most of the men wearing either a tuxedo, white dinner jacket or dark suit and the women wearing a formal outfit. Tonight was French night. We always enjoy the ambience of the formal nights when we sail with Crystal.

We have enjoyed reading the comments that some of you have posted and really appreciated each of them.

Today, we received a booklet containing a list of all Full World Cruise Guests. We have a wonderful diverse group of passenger’s representing states throughout the United States and several different countries including China, Japan, Spain, The United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Antigua & Barbuda, Netherlands, and New Zealand. It is always so interesting conversing with each of the passenger’s that we meet.

We look forward to seeing Ecuador tomorrow.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Ecuador First Sea Day

Today, we enjoyed a sea day as we are traveling to Guayaquil, Ecuador.

We had an early morning Breakfast on the Lido Deck. We enjoy having breakfast in the Lido Café where the food is served buffet style. Anne Marie usually has a bowl of cereal and fresh fruit and Keith either has a bagel with smoke salmon or a bowl of cereal and fresh fruit as well. The staff on the Lido deck is very friendly and very helpful and most know our names. After breakfast, we went to the Fitness Center where once again Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine. We are one of several regulars who are there in the morning. Later in the morning we also took a nice long walk on the Promenade Deck. The weather has continued to be nice and the seas have been very calm.

The first segment of the World Cruise is part of the Crystal Wine and Food Festival so as part of this theme we attended a cooking demonstration at 10:00 AM. Chef Anton Endelmann gave a cooking demonstration. In 2003, Edelmann left the Savoy of London where he served as the longest serving maitre chef des cuisines with responsibility for the Savoy menu to take up the position as Principal Chef of Directors Table in London. This morning with the assistance of Crystal Chef Olliver he prepared two entrees (Black Cod entrée along with a Scallop entrée) that will be featured on tonight’s menu in the main dining room.

Later in the morning we joined our trivia team, Luv 2 Cruise, for our second trivia session. Today, our team finished in a tie for second place. We had very difficult questions to answer, and yes, now we know why they call it trivia.

We had a very nice dinner in the main dining room and Keith ordered the Black Cod and Anne Marie ordered the Scallops. We both enjoyed the entrees. Following dinner we attended a cocktail party that was hosted for the World Cruisers. It provided another opportunity for us to socialize with many of our fellow World Cruisers and to meet the majority of the ships officers.

Tomorrow we have another full day at sea as we make our way to Ecuador. We really enjoy the sea days on the ship as there is so much to do.

Keith & Anne Marie

Transiting The Panama Canal

Today has been an amazing day for us as we transited the Panama Canal.

This morning we got up extra early so that we could work out in the fitness center and have breakfast before we began to transit the Panama Canal.

With all the cruises that we have been on over the years, this is the first time we have been on a ship that has transited the Panama Canal. Clearly, the canal is an engineering wonder particularly when one considers that the canal was designed over one hundred years ago. In an era where technology seems obsolete by the time it is operational, it is a credit to those who were involved in the design, engineering and implementation of this canal that it is still in operation today with so many ships moving through the canal on a daily basis.

While it was windy in the morning, (you can see that the wind made it a bad hair day in some of our pictures), it did clear up later in the day and we were fortunate to have wonderful weather as we viewed the canal from different locations from the ship. For those of you who have not had the opportunity to transit the canal on a cruise ship, we highly recommend it. And, what better way to view the canal, but on a Crystal cruise ship either on board the Crystal Serenity or the Crystal Symphony.

As we entered the series of locks we stood at the forward area of the ship on deck 12 and had a wonderful view of the water rising from the sea level in the Atlantic Ocean to eighty-five feet above sea level in Lake Gatun. As we observed our surroundings we also met a very nice couple that are on the first segment of the World Cruise. They cruise Crystal often and love to travel. Before lunch, we walked several times around the promenade deck to take in the beautiful scenery all around us. While on our walk, Anne Marie conversed with one passenger on the first segment and Keith conversed with a fellow passenger who is on her sixth full World Cruise. We have met so many delightful people on this cruise.

In the early afternoon we had a nice quiet lunch in the main dining room. Our routine for lunch is to order a salad entrée and Crystal serves the most interesting salad entrees of any ship on the high seas that we have had the pleasure of sailing on. Today’s salad included a great assortment of vegetables and seafood.

After lunch we enjoyed the next several hours viewing our surroundings from the Promenade Deck and from the Verandah of our stateroom. We listened closely throughout the day to all of the wonderful narrative information that was provided about the Panama Canal. We feel so very fortunate to be able to see this magnificent canal.

This evening we had dinner in the main dining room and reflected on our wonderful day. Tomorrow we have a full day at sea and look forward to the various activities that are in store for all of us throughout the day.

Keith & Anne Marie

Sailing To The Panama Canal

Today, we have enjoyed another full day at sea as we sail to the Panama Canal. Before we tell you about our day, we wanted to mention last nights entertainment. Anne Marie attended a performance by Jacqui Scott who is a West End vocalist. She has had leading roles in such hits as Miss Saigon, and Evita and she sang a variety of songs from various musicals. The performance was excellent and both of us will plan to attend her next performance before she departs the Serenity on Friday.

We always enjoy the sea days on Crystal as they plan so many great activities for the passenger’s so we thought we would tell you about our day.

After having an early breakfast, we went to the Fitness Center for our workout. Once again, Anne Marie walked on the treadmill while Keith worked out on the Elliptical machine. We also used some of the weight machines.

At 10:00 AM we went to the Bistro to meet some passenger’s from Cruise Critic. Through the Cruise Critic Boards we had learned that some of our fellow Cruise Critic posters would be on this sailing and Keith arranged a time and date to meet them. We met Mike and Lois who are on the first segment of the World Cruise and Shirley who is on the first three segments.

At 11:00 AM we attended the lecture given by Alvin Shuster who is a senior consulting editor of the Los Angeles Times. Alvin Shuster has had a long and distinguished career in journalism, including serving as a Washington reporter and foreign correspondent for the New York Times. Alvin also served as the foreign editor at the Los Angeles Times for a dozen years where he directed the efforts of 35 correspondents. We first met Alvin and his lovely wife Miriam when we sailed on this ship in 2005 and Keith has continued to correspond with them from time to time. Alvin will give several lectures during the first segment of the World Cruise. Today’s presentation was titled “Today’s Media: The God, the Bad and The Truth.” Alvin discussed major issues including credibility, criticism, circulation, and the future of newspapers. We enjoyed Alvin’s talk and we look forward to his other lectures.

At 12:00 Noon we went to play team trivia. The name of our team is Luv 2 Cruise. There are eight of us on the team and today we finished in a tie for third place.

At 12:30 we had lunch with Alvin and Miriam Shuster, along with Sandra and Bill. We had a wonderful discussion about a whole range of subjects. We plan to get together later in the cruise.

We also worked out again this afternoon before it was time to get changed for the evening.

Before dinner this evening we attended a cocktail party that was hosted by the Signature Travel Network for those passenger’s whose travel agent is associated with the Signature. The party provided a wonderful opportunity to socialize with many of our fellow passenger’s.

Tomorrow should be a very special day as we transit the Panama Canal.

Keith & Anne Marie

Welcome To Jamaica

After we updated yesterday’s Blog, Anne Marie returned from last evenings show with rave reviews. The show is called My Favorite Things, A Tribute To Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Musicals. The singers and the dancers were excellent and everyone seemed to enjoy the show. The show included songs from The Sound Of Music, South Pacific, Carousel, The King and I along with many others. There were ten entertainers. The singing, dancing along with the costumes was quite a treat.

The ship arrived in Ocho Rios, Jamaica about an hour later than the scheduled arrival time due to the engine problem that we mentioned yesterday. We enjoyed a leisurely morning on the ship. After breakfast we went to the fitness center to exercise. Once again, Anne Marie went on the treadmill while Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine. Then we spent some time in the laundry room where Keith did the wash and Anne Marie did ironing. It turned out to be quite a social gathering as many of our fellow passenger’s had the same idea. It turned out to be an unusual way to meet many new passengers. I guess it turned out to be a laundry hour rather than a cocktail hour. ☺

Later in the morning we went to the Bistro, which serves regular, and specialty coffees along with food to get some coffee and we ran into Val and Ernie who we first met on this ship in 2005 and who are also on the full World Cruise with us. We have been e-mailing with them since that cruise and it was wonderful to catch up with them.

After lunch, we took a complimentary shuttle bus provided by Crystal into town with the thought that we would take a long walk. However, with on again and off again rain showers and not much to see in the town, we decided to go back to the ship so that we could walk on the promenade deck. The Crystal Serenity has the best promenade deck of any ship we have ever sailed on. A walk of about 3.3 laps around the ship equals one mile and it is a true wrap-around promenade deck.

Later in the afternoon we met with the fitness director for our one-and-one sessions on the weight machines. We’ve been utilizing similar machines back home for about 13 months and we want to continue with this program during the World Cruise. The fitness director did a wonderful job in establishing which equipment we should utilize along with the level of weights that each of us should use. He also had us stretch in between the lifting and do pushups, and pull-ups and lunges. He will give us our plan the next time we work out at the fitness center.

We had a wonderful dinner this evening and afterward we sat with two other couples that we have met this week and had a wonderful talk with them. We look forward to spending more time with them during the course of this voyage.

Tomorrow we will spend a full day at sea before we transit the Panama Canal the following day. We have never sailed through the Panama Canal so we are really looking forward to this.

Keith & Anne Marie

First Day At Sea

We had a great time on our first full day on the ship. Although we went to sleep quite late the night before having gotten everything unpacked and put away, we felt well rested when we woke up today.

There is so much to do on the ship during sea days, so we thought we would share with you what we did today.

After an early breakfast we worked out in the spa/fitness center. Anne Marie went on the treadmill while Keith went on the elliptical machine. After the workout we met with the on board Crystal Consultant to discuss future itineraries. Her name is Nikki Andrew and we had last sailed with her in September of 2005.

We then signed up for some items. We each booked a one on one session with the fitness trainer for Sunday. We also signed up for one of the Creative Learning Institute courses.

We attended two wonderful lectures. The first was given by Richard Morgan on the history of the Panama Canal. Mr. Morgan worked for 25 years at the Panama Canal. We really enjoyed this lecture. The second lecture was given by Harm de Blij. The topic of the lecture was “Terrorism: Iraq, and the Geopolitics of the Middle East. Mr Blij is an author, professor and television personality who was geography editor for Good Morning America. He is a very charismatic speaker and he did a wonderful job of correlating how the world geography can influence worldwide events. We look forward to the additional lectures, which will be provided during the cruise by these two gentlemen.

At the end of the second lecture, a guest lecturer who we met on our last Crystal Cruise came up to see us. We have been corresponding with him from time to time since the last cruise. His name is Alvin Schuster and he worked for several years at the New York Times and now worked for the Los Angles Times. He will give several lectures on the role of the media in covering the Iraq War and previous wars such as the Vietnam War. We plan to have lunch with Mr. Schuster and his lovely wife Miriam right after his first lecture on Monday.

After a wonderful lunch in the main dining room we exercised again in the fitness center. Earlier in the day the Captain had announced that we would arrive late tomorrow morning at our first port of call in Jamaica. Evidently, there was a problem with one of the propulsion systems, which they planned to correct when we arrived in port. This problem has reduced our desired speed from 21 knots to 17 knots. Later in the evening the Captain informed all of us that the engineers were able to correct the problem and that we would arrive in port only about one hour late. That is wonderful news for those who have shore excursions in the morning.

This evening we attended the Captain’s Formal Welcome Reception and following the reception had our first of many Formal Dinners during the course of the cruise. We had a wonderful time at both the cocktail reception and at dinner.

The seas continue to be a bit choppy but we are doing well. For the first time, we are wearing wristbands, which seem to be helping, as the choppy seas are not bothering us. Let’s hope that the wristbands continue to work for the rest of the voyage. ☺

Our first full day on the ship has been wonderful and it already feels like home.

Keith and Anne Marie

Bon Voyage

After checking out of our Hotel room we waited in a Crystal Hospitality Room until it was time to depart to the ship. While there, we watched the video of the 2006 World Cruise. We saw some familiar faces and enjoyed seeing all of the wonderful events that were part of this voyage.

Arrangements were made by Crystal to transport each World Cruise Passenger from the Hotel to the Miami Cruise Ship Term the Hotel at 11:30 AM and we arrived at the Cruise Ship Terminal at 12:00 Noon. The check-in process was very quick as there was no line to wait on. We boarded the ship and proceeded directly to the dining room for lunch. We had a wonderful lunch and then proceeded to our stateroom.

Keith took care of various items such a getting us signed up for the computer plan so that we can utilize the computer from our stateroom, and also checked on our dining room reservations. Anne Marie stayed in the room and started to unpack. The delivery of the luggage took a little longer than normal possibly due to the large quantity of luggage that had to be processed due to the World Cruise and also the extra baggage screening that took place at the terminal.. As of 4:00 PM we had only received one garment bag, but about 30 minutes later all but one piece of luggage arrived. By the time we got back to the stateroom after dinner, our last piece arrived. So, the good news is that we have all of our luggage on-board the ship. ☺

We received some wonderful gifts, which included journals for the World Cruise along with World Cruise backpacks, hats, and jackets.

We met our cabin stewardess, Jasmina, who will be with us the entire World Cruise. She seems very nice and we went over with her any special needs that we have.

We had a wonderful dinner. Our headwaiter is terrific and coincidentally it is the same headwaiter we had during the open lunch seating. We are sitting with two other couples; one who we sat with at last nights gala and one who will be on the first two segments of this world cruise.

We are so very happy to be on the Crystal Serenity and excited to begin our World Cruise Adventure.

Tomorrow, we will enjoy our first day at sea before arriving in Jamaica on Sunday.

Keith and Anne Marie

Word Cruise Gala

Just a reminder that on the right hand side of the Blog if you look under Links to Other Sites and click on World Cruise Pictures it will take you to another site where we have posted pictures from our trip. You can then click at the top on the various headers to see those pictures associated with the respective header.

Also, if you would like to post comments back to us at the end of each respective Blog post if you click on comments you can send us comments. You have to set up a Goggle account but that is very easy to do.

After breakfast, we took a long walk from the Hotel to Coconut Cove. We walked by some nice communities, past a couple of parks, and we also spent some time at the marina. By the time we returned to the hotel, we probably walked about eight or nine miles in total.

Back at the hotel we met a couple that we knew would be on the World Cruise who we first met on board the Crystal Serenity in the fall of 2005. We also met a few other fellow passengers’.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the hotel, packing, and getting ready for the World Cruise Gala.

The gala began at 7:00 PM with a one-hour cocktail reception that was hosted by Crystal Cruises’ President Gregg Michel, various Crystal Serenity Officers including the Captain, along with other executives from Crystal Cruises. It provided an excellent opportunity to socialize with the hosts and with our fellow World Cruise Passenger’s.

At 8:00 PM we proceeded to the Ballroom where we were treated to an elegant sit-down dinner. During dinner, Mr. Michel gave a nice welcome speech, which included an introduction to our exciting World Cruise Adventure. There were a total of 217 World Cruise passenger’s attending the Gala with five another 5 World Cruise passenger’s already on the ship. Approximately half of the World Cruise Passenger's had taken a previous full World Cruise with Crystal and twenty-one of the World Cruise Passenger's had never cruised on Crystal before.

The Gala also included entertainment by a Latin American band and dancers. We enjoyed the music and danced to several songs along with many of our fellow passenger’s.

Tomorrow morning we are scheduled to depart the hotel sometime between 11:30 and 11:45 for a short drive over to the Miami Passenger Cruise Ship Terminal. After hopefully a short check-in period, we will proceed on board the ship.

So, the World Cruise Adventure is about to begin!

Keith and Anne Marie

Miami Pre-Cruise Stay

We are enjoying our time in Miami and January is a wonderful month to be visiting Southern Florida. The Four Seasons Hotel is located near both business and residential areas. Everywhere we’ve gone, we observed a significant amount of construction activity of high-rise buildings that include offices, condominiums and retail space.

We have spent a good amount of time exploring the surrounding area by foot. On Sunday, we visited the Bayside Market, which includes many restaurants and stores. We walked across the bridge that connects this area with the Port of Miami including the Miami Cruise Ship Terminal. As Sunday is a busy day for the cruise lines there were several ships in port from Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Carnival Cruise Lines. We’d say there were easily eight ships or more in port including the fairly new Royal Caribbean Freedom Of The Seas Ship, which is 155K tons with a passenger capacity of over 3,600 passengers’. This is a mammoth ship and to put this in perspective if you add to it the total number of crew its entire population is similar in size to many small towns across the United States. On our way back from the terminal we walked by the American Airlines Arena which is home of the Miami Heat NBA basketball team. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is in town and we saw one of the trainers walking about five elephants from the area right outside of the arena over to an area with various tents set up. So it’s true, we don’t have to go all the way to Africa to see the elephants ☺

We have continued to take other long walks around the area and have been very impressed with the changes that have taken place since we last visited this city many years ago. In general, we found the people to be quite friendly.

During our stay we have had the opportunity to get together with some very special people. We had dinner on Sunday evening with Helene and Stanley who we first met this past year while cruising on the Seabourn Pride from Copenhagen to London. On Tuesday afternoon, we had lunch with Judith and Larry who we first met in September 2004 while sailing on the Crystal Symphony from London to New York City and who we keep in touch with through e-mails and through Cruise Critic. On Wednesday afternoon, we had lunch with Sandra and Bill who are on the full World Cruise voyage with us. We first learned that they would also be on the World Cruise through Cruise Critic and since the March timeframe we have been corresponding with each other on a regular basis via e-mail.

Many guests at our hotel are either sailing with Crystal or with Regent Cruise Lines. Evidently, Regent had three different sailings from Southern Florida this week including their World Cruise Voyage, which departed Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday.

Tomorrow we will continue to enjoy Miami and in the evening we will attend the Crystal Cruises World Cruise Gala, which is the official kickoff of the World Cruise. This will provide a wonderful opportunity to meet many of our fellow cruisers along with the many personnel from Crystal’s Corporate Office who will be in attendance..

We have been very fortunate to have wonderful weather during our time in Miami with highs each day ranging from the low 70’s to the low 80’s along with nice breezes from time-to-time.

This afternoon representatives from Crystal were at the Hotel to assist the World Cruise Passenger’s. We were given information related to tomorrow evenings World Cruise Gala and the process for transfer from the Hotel to the Crystal Serenity on Friday. We were pleased to learn that we have been assigned to the first set of cars, which will be departing the hotel for the ship on Friday morning and we should leave the hotel around 11:30 AM.

Keith and Anne Marie

We're In Miami

We were picked up at our home early this morning in a 10-passenger limousine, which was provided by Crystal. The driver arrived a few minutes ahead of the scheduled pickup time of 6:30 AM, which was perfectly fine with us. The vehicle easily accommodated the two of us along with all of our luggage with even some room to spare. Just think, if we would have known then we could have taken even more luggage with us. Just kidding! :-)

After arriving at the airport and checking in for our flight we went over to the Admiral’s Club until it was time to board the plane. They actually began boarding the plane earlier than normal.

As part of the Word Cruise, Crystal provides first class seats for the domestic flight and business class for our return flight. So, we had a comfortable flight to Miami. We arrived at Miami International Airport a few minutes ahead of schedule.

After departing our plane and walking what seemed forever, we finally reached the baggage claim area where two representatives from Crystal greeted us. They helped us with our luggage and brought us outside where another 10-passenger limousine was waiting for us. Crystal also provided this transportation. We were then taken to the Four Seasons Miami Beach Hotel.

The Hotel is wonderful and is located just a block from the bay. After getting settled we walked around the area including walking near the bay. Tomorrow, we plan to see more of Miami. The weather is terrific and now we understand why those who live in Southern Florida prefer to stay here this time of the year in order to not miss any of these wonderful days.

We are happy to be in Miami, part of the sunshine state, and excited about starting our World Cruise adventure.

Keith and Anne Marie

Ready Or Not - Here We Go

After months of planning, our wonderful journey begins tomorrow morning when we are picked up at home and driven to the airport for check-in for our flight to Miami, Florida.

As you can imagine, a great deal of planning has gone into the preparation for this trip. We made several comprehensive lists ahead of time to help keep us organized. This included listings for each and every item that we needed to take with us to not only ensure that we do not forget anything at home, but to also avoid taking unnecessary items with us. We also had our "things to do lists" to keep track of all items that we needed to take care of prior to this journey. Other items for the trip that needed to be taken care of ahead of time included obtaining visas for those countries where visas cannot be secured on board the ship, to receiving various recommended and required vaccinations (ouch), and selecting shore excursions that we wanted to reserve ahead of time.

There has been so much to pack for the World Cruise given not only the length of the voyage but also the overall itinerary. While primarily sailing in warm weather climates, we will also encounter much cooler weather as we sail south from Valparaiso, Chile and make our way around Cape Horn and Antarctica before heading back north towards Brazil. This has added to the amount and type of clothing that we are taking with us. Hopefully, we've been smart about what we packed.

In the evening, the dress on Crystal varies from casual, to informal (essentially semi-formal), to formal attire. Including the Miami Gala the breakout of evening attire is 58 casual, 27 informal and 25 formal nights. Then add to this all of the clothing needed for daytime activities and as you can imagine it adds up to a "boat load" of luggage.

We packed many of our bags a few weeks ago so that we could get a good sense of precisely how many bags we would take with us on this trip. This information also needed to be provided to Crystal so they could arrange for transportation from our home to the airport and from the Miami airport over to the Hotel where we will be staying prior to the cruise. Since that time we've added some final items to the luggage and now the bags are all packed. We will keep the number of bags we are taking a secret for now, but it's definitely greater than we originally anticipated for this trip. Of course, just think about the amount of toiletries, cosmetics, vitamins, and other related items needed for a trip of this duration and that adds up to almost one full suitcase just by itself. Also, due to limited closet space we are taking enough wire hangers to hang all our clothes since wire hangers take up significantly less space than the wooden hangers that are provided in the stateroom. Thank goodness once on board the ship, Crystal will store our empty luggage that we are unable to fit under the bed. And, we are fortunate that the amount of credit that Crystal will provide us for excess luggage will cover the cost that the airline will be charging us for exceeding the luggage allowance on both the outbound and return flights.

Recently, we received a very nice letter from the Crystal World Cruise Hostess which listed many of the special entertainers and lecturers who will be on board. In addition to the outside entertainers, Crystal has its very own entertainers who provide a wonderful range of evening entertainment including shows with music, singing and dancing. In terms of the lecturers there are many well known names and some less well known, but they cover pretty much the whole gambit of topics from health, to politics, to national and word-wide events, to sports, to theatre, to food and wine, to travel and to the specific destinations that we will visit during the course of the cruise. There are a couple of lecturers early on who we have had the pleasure of meeting several times on our last two Crystal Cruises. We are looking forward to not only attending their formal lectures, but spending time with each of them outside of these sessions. We will provide more details on all of this throughout the course of the cruise.

Before we begin this journey, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks and sincere appreciation to each of you for the wonderful encouragement, and advice that you have given to us about this trip.

We are ready to go, and we hope through this Blog that you will feel that you are on this journey with us.

Keith & Anne Marie