Seychelles Islands

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tomorrow is a sea day.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Seychelles Day 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Seychelles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith & Anne Marie

Mombasa, Kenya

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Mombasa, Kenya Day 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith and Anne Marie

En Route To Mombasa, Kenya Day 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Mombasa, Kenya Day 1

Today is the first of three days at sea as we cruise to our next port of call destination; Mombasa, Kenya.

We enjoyed seeing the movie Bobby last evening. We had seen it when it came out last year and we were glad to have had the opportunity to see it again. We were very moved by the movie.

Last night the seas were a bit choppy for about an hour but other than that the seas were quite nice.

We woke early this morning and had a nice breakfast in the Lido Café. We spoke with one couple who we talk with regularly in the morning and they told us all about their overland Safari in South Africa. They had a wonderful time and got to see a nice variety of animals during the Safari. Once, again, there were not too many passengers up at this hour so the Café was nice and quiet.

After breakfast we went to the Fitness Center, which was also not very crowded. We think that many passengers are catching up on their sleep. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine.

At 10:00 we went to a lecture given by Dr Fendon Lindberg who was born and raised in Greece. He is a specialist in internal medicine and endocrine disorders after years of clinical work in Norway and San Diego, California. The title of his lecture was “The Modern Mediterranean Diet and Balanced Blood Sugar – Key to Good Health.” He provided a wealth of information and recommendations concerning several different food items to eat on a daily and weekly basis to ensure a proper diet. His recommendations included having 4 ounces of fish four times a week, consuming 1.5 pounds of vegetables and fruit each day, having a glass of wine daily, having 2 ounces of almonds daily, eating (maybe enjoying is a better word) three ounces of dark chocolate each day, having 2.8 grams of garlic daily. He recommends having one-third of a teaspoon of cinnamon each day as it is good for reducing blood sugar, and consuming foods high in Omega 3, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D. He will be giving two other lectures during this segment of the cruise and we will plan to attend these sessions as well. There were many items that Dr. Lindberg talked about that had a good deal in common with the lectures given by Dr. Art Ulene on the last segment of the cruise.

Directly after the lecture we went to Sea Legs, which is an event that is sponsored for those passengers on the full World Cruise and those passengers who are on two or more segments. We really enjoyed this event and it was very well attended.

Right after the Sea Legs event we had Team Trivia. Our team ended up in the middle of the pack. We ended up answering nine of fifteen questions correctly. Hopefully, we’ll have better success tomorrow.

After Team Trivia we went to lunch in the main dining room. We each had salad entrees and they were delicious.

After lunch we took care of some items such as doing a couple of loads of wash. It turned out to be a good day to do the laundry as there were very few passengers doing laundry. Each floor has a laundry room consisting of fife washing machines and five dryers and a couple of ironing boards.

Before dinner, we went to the Palm Court which is located towards the bow (forward area) of the ship on the top interior deck of the ship to listen to music and to dance. We then had dinner in the Main Dining Room. We had a wonderful dinner.

One of the Crystal crewmembers that we wanted to mention is our stewardess, Jasmina. She is wonderful and takes excellent care of us. We took this picture (posted on today’s Blog) of Jasmina and Anne Marie last evening.

This evening we move the clocks forward another hour as we cruise into yet another new time zone.

Keith & Anne Marie