We really had a very nice time at last evenings Country Fair. We stayed a couple of hours, as did many of our fellow passengers. There were lots of games to play and it was fun to socialize with both our fellow guests and the crew. Food and beverages were served from hot dogs to popcorn to beer, wine, soft drinks and ice cream. There was a water-dunking contest that featured a couple of officers including the Captain. Keith was one of the passengers who tried to get the captain soaked and while he hit a bulls eye it must have not been hard enough as the water didn’t come down. As we mentioned yesterday, it’s wonderful to see guests of all ages playing and enjoying themselves. This type of event brings out the child in all of us. Speaking of children, there are a few on board for this segment of the cruise and as you can imagine they also had a wonderful time along with the adults.
We awoke early this morning to begin our day on board the Crystal Serenity. Keith enjoyed a wonderful workout in the Fitness Center. He was able to catch the last half of the final four NCAA basketball tournament featuring the first of the two game doubleheader while working out on the Elliptical Machine.
Anne Marie took advantage of the sea day and did the wash in the laundry room and then Keith helped her after he worked out. We then enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room.
After breakfast, Keith played Table Tennis with the same three other people who he has been playing with the past couple of days. This includes two fellow guests and the pianist. They played several games of doubles table tennis for almost two hours and they all had a wonderful time.
This morning there were two great lectures given by two wonderful speakers.
Destination Lecturer Jay Wolff gave the first lecture of the morning. The title of his presentation was “The Tah Majal – A Teardrop in Time.”. He talked about the Mughals weep into India from the North and how they created one of the world’s great empires. He spoke how their emperor Shah Jahan who was rich beyond the dreams of avarice, built a mausoleum for his beloved wife and in doing so he helped to create the most beautiful building in the world. Anne Marie attended this lecture and thought it was wonderful and Keith missed this one because he was playing table tennis. Keith was able to view the presentation later in the day on one of Crystal’s internal television networks.
Dr. Harm de Blij gave the second presentation of the morning and the topic of his presentation was “China and America: Averting a Class of Civilizations.” We both attended this lecture and, once again, it was wonderful. Dr Nlij is a dynamic speaker who is so knowledgeable about so many areas of the world. He will be on part of new years World Cruise and he talked about various areas that will be part of the last couple of segments of next years world cruise.
He covered a variety of topics including our relationship with China today and in the future, how China is conducting its business around the world and how our relations with Japan at times affects our relationship with China. He also talked about changes occurring with the worlds temperatures and how the sea levels are rising and how that will impact several areas in China and he also talked about earthquakes that tend to occur every 70+ years in Tokyo and how they are overdue for their next earthquake and how that fault can potentially result in the worst earthquake relative to any other area in the world.
After Dr. Blij’s presentation, we enjoyed a very nice lunch. Today, was the Grand Gala Buffet which is always a festive time for lunch on each of the Crystal ships.
We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. We had pre-ordered lunch in the dining room. At the same time, today was the Grand Gala Buffet lunch which includes a wonderful array of appetizers, salads, hot and cold entrees, cheeses and rolls, fruit, vegetables and of course, a whole array of cakes, pastries and other dessert goodies.
In the afternoon, we attended another great presentation that was given by author and bo reviewer Robert Adams. He presented The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was written by Oscar Wide. Robert Adams has a very unique style of presenting authors and their works of arts. He is a very passionate lecturer and it is though he is performing in a one-man play.
Before dinner we attended a performance given by Grammy Nominated Stride Pianist Judy Carmichael. She has been playing table tennis with Keith and the two other passengers the past couple of days. Drummer Danny Mullowney and Saxophonist Grant Tharp accompanied her. We enjoyed this show and this is one of several entertainment programs featured this evening. At 8:00 PM there was a thirty-minute performance featuring tunes from the 1950’s and 1960’s performed by the acappella quartet group that has been performing throughout the World Cruise by Full Sail. This was followed by two shows given by comedian Kenny Smiles. This evening included other entertainment such a Thomas Daniels who played piano in the Crystal Cove from 5:15 PM and to 6:00 PM. And from 9:30 PM to 10:30 PM We have enjoyed listening to him playing the piano throughout the World Cruise. In another venue there is another piano player, John Mentis who played piano from 6:45 PM to 7:30 PM and from 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM. John Mentis has played piano throughout the World Cruise and has performed for several consecutive World Cruises. At the same time, two other bands in other venues performed other live music so that passengers could dance to the tunes performed by these two musical groups. For those who wanted to have the opportunity to view the starts, Astronomer Dr. Norman Caisse was available from 10:30 PM to 12:00 Midnight.
This evening we dined at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant with another couple that we first met on last years World Cruise. We greatly enjoy their company so it was so nice to dine with them. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner, with outstanding cuisine, service along with a very nice conversation.
After three plus days at sea, our ship is on schedule to reach Cochin, India tomorrow morning. This will be our first time in India and this is the first of two ports that we will visit in India. The majority of the passengers we have spoken with have not been to India before. There are a variety of tours being offered in Cochin. In addition, there are several overland tours being offered that begin in this port of call. There is a two night journey to the Taj Mahal, another two night journey to the Ajanta & Ellora Caves, a two night journey to Udaipur, a two day journey to Jaipur, and a six night journey to Delhi, Agra, Jaipur & Udaipur. These overland programs are becoming more and more popular to give those on the cruise the ability to see places that are further inland and not reachable by a cruise ship.
Keith & Anne Marie
