As we reflect on our World Cruise Adventure and all that we have seen and experienced we are reminded how fortunate we are to have been born where we were and to have had the opportunities that we were afforded over the years.
Because of all of this we do our best to focus on all that is good and throughout the cruise we reminded ourselves to focus on the water being half full rather than half empty. We are indeed very fortunate to have the opportunity to sail on such a wonderful World Cruise Adventure with an outstanding cruise line and cruise ship. We are also so very fortunate to be able to visit so many interesting and diverse countries that our own parents could only dream about visiting. As we think through some of the ports of calls that we visited where poverty was rampant such as Mumbai, India and Yangon, Myanmar, we are reminded that many parts of the world live in very poor conditions that differ significantly from where we live.
In some of the poorer countries the focus of its citizens is on basic necessities such as how are they going to put food on the table for themselves and for their families each day of the year, and where will the family sleep that evening. Some of them don’t have what many of us take for granted such as stoves/ovens to cook their food, or a bed to sleep on, or even a roof over their heads. Some might give their right arm for a chance to come on board this wonderful cruise ship just for one day.
While traveling on this very ship during last years World Cruise one of the lecturers who we have come to know so well provided some statistics about the planet Earth that we live on. During a cruise this past Fall we saw similar statistics (we think they are the same ones or at last similar ones) in the daily program that Crystal distributes to all of their guest known as Reflections.
These statistics are a reminder to us as how very lucky and fortunate we are. We thought we would share some of them with you and we hope that you enjoy them as much as we do.
Earth’s Village
“If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following. There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be People of Color
30 would be Caucasian
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth and all would be from the United States.
80 would be in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.
The following is also something to ponder…
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness…you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pans of starvation…you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death…you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep…you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace…you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy.
If your parents are still alive and still married…you are very rare, even in the United States and Canada.
If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing; there are two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.”
Today is the last full day of this World Cruise Adventure. It is hard to believe that after 108 days on board this wonderful ship that it is now time to begin our journey back home tomorrow morning after we arrive in Southampton, England. This has been a wonderful experience that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
There are many highlights for us.
Some of the favorite places that we visited included the various ports of call throughout New Zealand and Australia, along with Singapore, Thailand, and Valencia. Make no mistake about it, there were many other interesting ports of calls that we enjoyed but we wanted to highlight some that were very special for us.
We also thoroughly enjoyed the special events including the two-shore side events held in Sydney and in Rome and all of the other special events held on the ship. On top of this there were many memorable lectures, entertainment and other activities, including the World Games, that we thoroughly enjoyed
We can’t say enough about the outstanding food that we enjoyed throughout the cruise. We realize there are some passengers who enjoy eating in port, but for us we didn’t see how any of these off shore places could exceed the wonderful food that we have enjoyed throughout the cruise. A great deal of thought went into the development of the menus for the World Cruise so those items that previous Crystal cruisers have come to expect were available on the menu, while at the same time menus were varied so that those on several legs or the entire world cruise had the opportunity to try new and varied items. We found the quality of the food and its overall presentation to be better than ever.
Likewise, we can’t say enough about the level of service throughout the ship. When you are on a ship for a long time you really get to know the crew so very well. We received outstanding service on a consistent basis at all levels on the ship. We are so very happy to get to know Captain Glenn and Cruise Director Rick Spath and they have our respect and admiration for all that they do. We appreciate the wonderful job performed by others from the World Cruise Hostess, to the Crystal Society Hostess, to the two Hotel Directors Josef and Herbert, to the Maitre D’s such as Leo, Bruno, and Antonio, to the restaurant and bar staff including the Sommelier’s, to the entertainers, to the Rabbi and the other Clergy, to our stewardess, to our two butlers, to our headwaiter Peter, senior waiter Pablo, waiter Layla, Sasha the concierge, to Walter the Food and Beverage Manager, to the on board booking consultants, to the Lido Deck Stewards, to the reception and shore excursion personnel and so many other members of the crew too numerous to list. We have always said that in the end what distinguish one business from the other is the people and that is just as true in the cruise industry.
Related to the service we really appreciated the fixed seating in the Main Dining Room in the evening. Yes, some passengers prefer open seating where you can sit where you want and with whom you want and we have experienced that on another cruise line and there are pluses to that. At the same time, others prefer fixedseating on those cruise lines where this is an option such as Crystal. We are fine with both approaches. For us though the fixed seating does have many benefits and that includes the fact that when we dined at our table in the evening, our headwaiter, senior waiter and waiter knew our preferences. For example, the head waiter who has responsibility for many tables would look at the menus ahead of time and if we were not in the dining room he would look at the menu for the next day and he was so familiar with what we enjoyed that if he thought that none of the items on the menu would be to our liking he would pre-order us an entrée that he thought we would enjoy. We were never obligated to take that item but he was always right 100% of the time and remembered our preferences from last year’s world cruise. Our senior waiter and waiter knew other preferences we had from the type of water each of us would drink, to the type of rolls we enjoy, to our salad preferences, to the kind and amount of vegetables that we like and so forth that all of this added to our outstanding dining experience. If we wanted to sit with other people we would eat in one of the specialty restaurants or sometimes add people to our existing table in the main dining room. We have a simple view for all of this. As we say, we are also fine with open seating but for us we can make the best of each option but we are glad that not all cruise lines are the same because in the end we all benefit from diversity and we don’t want to see all cruise lines being cookie cutters of one another.
We thoroughly enjoyed the ship. It is a perfect ship for a world cruise. We enjoyed all of the special events on and off the ship, and the wonderful entertainment and all of the lectures. The entertainment was augmented for the world cruise and more entertainers were available on this cruise than any other World Cruise in the history of Crystal.
We can honestly say that this World Cruise has exceeded our expectations and given that this is our second world cruise that says even more about how memorable this adventure has been.
We have also enjoyed getting to know several passengers so very well.
In terms of our last full day, we did wake up early today and worked out in the Fitness Center for the very last time of this World Cruise. Keith worked out on the Elliptical machine and was the first passenger to arrive to the Center. He estimates that the miles he has totaled on the Elliptical Machine during this World Cruise Adventure would be approximately the same mileage as driving from Washington, DC to Denver, Colorado. If you add to this the number of miles that he walks during our time on the ship and in the various ports this would be equivalent to the distance of driving from Tampa, Florida to San Diego, California. Wow! Anne Marie also enjoyed a wonderful workout on the treadmill.
During the workout, Keith enjoyed a nice conversation with Mary.
After our workout, we stopped by the Lido Café for a cup of coffee. We spoke with Linda and John for a few minutes along with one other passenger. Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room.
This morning we watched the Crystal Morning Show and Keith called in for one of the trivia questions and answered the question correctly so we won a prize. The best part of calling was so that Keith could thank World Cruise Hostess Anne Marie Falvey and Cruise Director Rick Spath for all that they have done to make this an outstanding World Cruise for us.
This morning we went to a mandatory British Immigration Inspection and we picked up our passports. This will facilitate the disembarkation process when we arrive at Southampton.
In the morning we attended two lectures. Destination Lecturer Dr. Jay Wolff gave the first one and the title of his presentation was “The Vikings.” Once again, Dr. Wolff gave a wonderful presentation. Dr. Wolff is a wonderful presenter and has shared with us a wealth of information throughout the World Cruise.
Political journalist and author Ken Walsh gave the second presentation. The title of his presentation was “The 2008 Presidential Campaign. An insider’s look at the race for the White House.” This was Mr. Walsh’s third presentation during the course of this last segment and it was interesting to get his perspectives on this years Presidential race.
After this presentation we enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room.
We are posting earlier than we normally do since we will do final packing when we get back to the room later this evening.
This evening we plan to have dinner in the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. We really enjoy this restaurant along with Prego and the Main Dining Room.
At 7:45 PM we plan to attend the variety farewell show. It includes the Acappella Quartet, Full Sail, dancing performed by Crystal’s very own Curtis and Beverly, West End Singing Star Petrina Johnson and Comedian Mike Goddard.
After the show, we plan to attend the 2008 World Cruise Countdown which will include complimentary cocktails and feature Captain Glenn, Cruise Director Rick Spath and World Cruise Hostess Anne Marie Falvey. During this countdown, balloons will be dropped from the ceiling along with confetti to commemorate the conclusion of the World Cruise.
The good news is that this evening we will set the clock back one hour as we sail into a new time zone. We plan to be up early in the morning to depart the ship. It is always hard to say goodbye when a cruise ends and when one is on a World Cruise it is even more difficult given the bond that develops with so many people during the course of this cruise. We realize that there are some people, both crew and passengers, who we may not have the opportunity to sail with again, but there will likely be many others who we will, in fact, see again on our next Crystal Cruise. There will be others who we will keep up with by e-mail and phone. As we have mentioned, during the course of a World Cruise the ship takes on the characteristics and charm of a small town since much of our journey is shared with fellow passengers and crew.
In the end, a World Cruise is like no other cruise given the length of time spent on board the ship, the sheer number and depth of activities available on and off the ship, and the diversity of ports that we have the opportunity to explore during the course of 108 days, To us, the World Cruise is a journey and an adventure and we hope that through this Blog that you feel that you were a part of this journey with us.
We will try to provide an update a few days after we are settled back home.
Keith & Anne Marie
