Dubai Day 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith & Anne Marie

Dubai Day 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith & Anne Marie

Dubai

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith & Anne Marie

Muscat Oman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Muscat, Oman Day 3

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Muscat, Oman Day 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Muscat, Oman Day 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Keith & Anne Marie