This morning we began our day with our daily workout in the Fitness Center. The Center was not very busy as we figure that many of our fellow guests took advantage of the time to sleep a little later. Keith was the first passenger to arrive and a little while later another person who we have known since the beginning of the voyage arrived. A little while later Mary and John arrived along with Anne Marie. Keith spoke with Mary while he worked out on the Elliptical Machine and Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill.
We enjoyed breakfast back in our room and got ready for today’s activities. Today is the first of three glorious sea days as we travel from Oman to Safaga, Egypt.
Anne Marie attended the Progressive Yoga class, which she enjoyed a great deal. It is a one-hour class. Keith took care of a few errands on the ship.
During the Captain’s morning announcement, Captain Glenn noted that we were cruising at a speed of 21.5 knots per hour and at that point in time we were 165 miles of the coast of Somalia. We will continue to travel at this speed and with five of six engines in use in order to arrive on schedule in Safaga, Egypt. He noted that the sister ship, Crystal Symphony, was in Hong Kong. The Captain’s thought of the day was “If you don’t know where you are going you will end up someplace.”
We attended Rap With The Rabbi, which continues to be a wonderful opportunity to exchange thoughts on a variety of items. As we have mentioned, this year’s session has been well attended and has included many of our fellow guests who are from a variety of faiths, which has positively added to the discussion. The Rabbi is outstanding and we are so very fortunate to be sailing with the Rabbi and his lovely wife. There will be another Rap in a couple of days and then a few days from now there will be a Jewish Seder Dinner.
Destination Lecturer Jay Wolff who presented “The Suez Canal – The Ditch in the Desert”, gave the first lecture that we attended in the morning. He covered the building of the Suez Canal along with the Israel/Egyptian Wars.
Diplomat Tex Harris gave the second lecture and the topic of his presentation was “Iraq’s Future – Iraqi Perspectives – The Critical Factor.” He touched on a variety of items ranging from the history of Iraq, to the Religious Sects within Iraq to the issues of Oil in the Middle East. In his next set of lectures he will move from Iraq to discussions of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. At the same time, there was an Asia Luncheon Buffet featuring the various flavors of Asia.
In the afternoon we attended a presentation given by Sports Psychology Expert Stanley Teitelbaum, Ph.D. which was titled “Sports’ Bad Boys: The Scandalous Rise of Steroids.” It was an interesting presentation that covered the issues related to Baseball and steroids starting in the 1990’s a few years after the player strike occurred and when the home run record was broken for home runs in a major league season.
The other day we received an invitation for cocktails at the Captain’s Quarter, which we attended before dinner this evening along with some of our fellow guests. It is always nice to talk with Captain Glenn and to chat with other officers and gusts and we are appreciative of these invitations.
Afterwards, we enjoyed dinner at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant where we dined with a very nice couple who we first sailed with for one leg on last years World Cruise. They are on this segment of the World Cruise having boarded the ship in Mumbai, India. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner
Keith & Anne Marie
