En Route To Myanmar

We just wanted to mention how wonderful the evening was last night with Thomas Mazloum and our fellow guests. A special dinner menu was prepared for us which included an appetizer of three items, including lobster and a meatball, minestrone soup, a choice of two different entrees (grilled shrimp and pasta or filet mignon) concluding with a desert sampler and two very nice wines. What made the evening very special was the conversation throughout the evening. We really appreciate Mr. Mazloum taking the time to dine with us and our fellow guests and clearly he sets a wonderful example that is followed on both the Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony.

We awoke early this morning to begin another wonderful day on the Crystal Serenity. We are sailing en route to Yangon, Myanmar. We wanted to note that the seas continue to be very calm and sometimes it’s easy to forget that we are cruising in the water. ☺

Keith was the first passenger to the Fitness Center and Anne Marie arrive about thirty minutes later. John also worked out and eventually a few other passengers were there as well. Mary who Keith talks with often is escorting a four night overland tour that is visiting various sites in Myanmar. She and the passengers on the tour will arrive back to the ship on our last day in Myanmar. Keith watched some of the news shows including two United States based shows and also the BBC to try to keep up with world events.

After our workout we stopped by the Lido Café to pick up a cup of coffee and then about thirty minutes later we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room.


Captain Glenn’s thought of the day was “There may be time where you cannot find help but there is no time when you cannot give help.”

Keith had his haircut this morning at the salon that is on the ship. While Keith was getting his haircut, Anne Marie attended the Rap with the Rabbi session which was great as it always is.

Later in the morning we attended an enrichment program featuring author and book reviewer Robert Adams who presented his lecture on Jack Maggs, by Peter Carey. We first saw this speaker on last years World Cruise and he continues to be excellent. He is a dynamic speaker.

Following this talk, we attended a special presentation, which was followed by a question and answer session by Crystal Cruises’ President, Gregg Michel and Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations, Thomas Mazloum.

Mr. Michel talked about some new items. He mentioned that the new Silk Road Restaurant recently opened up on the Crystal Symphony and highlighted the new décor of very rich looking colors. He showed us pictures of the new interior and it looks beautiful.

He then discussed changes that have been made on this ship the Crystal Serenity such as the new Captain’s Choice store, the new Trunk Store featuring jewelry, the new gym equipment. He also noted that at the end of the World Cruise that the remaining new Fitness Equipment will be coming on board such as new stationary bikes and other related equipment. He also noted that Spin Bikes would be added to the center as well.

He also touched on other changes such as the new Fine Art Program on both ships, the new no smoking policy on the Verandahs starting in May, the new lightweight Kimonos in all staterooms, the availability for purchase of daily newspapers with over 700 different newspapers to choose from, and the new 2008 share the experience program. He also noted that in 2009 the benefits for Crystal Society will remain the same as they are in 2008.

He talked about cruising in the Mediterranean in 2008 and how it provides a great value to passengers and that there are various promotions in place and that on some cruises that the pricing was rolled back to 2006 pricing.

Mr. Michel also talked about the President’s cruise and some unique events that will occur on it from a special optional tour to a very special evening in the Vintage Room. It has just recently been announced that Frankie Avalon will be on this cruise.

Finally, he gave us a preview of the plans when the Crystal Serenity is in for dry-dock in November of this year. About $10M+ in enhancements are planned. Major changes include:

The Casino will be redone with new lighting and new machines.

The Crystal Coe and Plaza will be redone including putting a circular bar in the Crystal Cove to open up the area.

A new décor will be added to the Upper and Lower Atrium areas.

Deck 5 and Deck 6 corridors will be enhanced.

Some changes are planned for the Gift Shops to give them the look of what has been done on the Crystal Symphony.

Some changes will be made to the Seahorse Neptune Pool particularly in the way of more color and improved lighting to give it more of a residential feel.

Twelve additional Penthouse (PH Category) Rooms will be added by converting eighteen AA rooms to PH rooms. In addition, better wall units will be added to the Penthouse Suites that do not scratch as easy as the existing units.

Keep in mind that these are the highlighted changes. I believe there will be some other changes such as replacing carpeting in certain areas of the ship.

Afterwards Mr. Michel and Mr. Mazloum took several questions from the audience and did a wonderful job answering them. Many passengers complemented them on the enhancements that have been made in the entertainment, and lecture programs.

They were asked about a third ship and Mr. Michel explained that while they would like to add a third ship to the fleet the timing is not right at this point in time to purchase a new ship given the devaluation of the USA dollar to the Euro recognizing that all passengers cruise ships are constructed in Europe. Adding to this are the components for the ship such as engines which are constructed in Asia which are currently in high demand because of world-wide demand in the shipping industry. They do recognize that passengers would like to sail to places such as Alaska again and that a third ship would be needed for this. Timing is the key here.

All in all it was a wonderful session and we applaud Mr. Michel and Mr. Mazloum taking the time to talk with the Passengers and to field a variety of questions each year on the World Cruise as is also done during each of the President Cruises. They also stayed after the session to speak off-line with those passengers who had questions or feedback that was less general and more personal to them. Again, we thought this was done very well.

We also applaud Crystal for making the changes that they continue to make. All effective companies must continue to change and we think it is great that Crystal is looking to continue to enhance its product at a time when many around the industry are cutting back on what they offer or just providing the same product.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. We ate lunch with the World Cruise Hostess and the Assistant Cruise Director who are both wonderful people and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch and a wonderful conversation.

Before dinner, we went to a reception sponsored by the Travel Consortium that our Travel Specialist belongs to and enjoyed the vent.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the dining room. We had pre-ordered a very special dinner and everything was outstanding.

After dinner we attended a performance given by Kenny Smiles who was a wonderful entertainer.

This evening we will set our clocks back thirty minutes (yes, thirty minutes) as we sail into yet another time zone.

Keith & Anne Marie

Phuket, Thailand

This morning we arrived in our third Thailand Port of Call; Phuket, Thailand. Phuket is pronounced puukett. Many people around the world remember this Island due to the devastation that occurred in this area of the world from the Tsunami in December of 2004. Today, it is hard to tell that such a catastrophic event occurred just a little more than three years ago. There are some areas near the beach where new buildings are being built to replace those devastated by the Tsunami, but most of the construction looks to be complete. This is a vibrant Island with lots of activity mainly driven by tourism.

Phuket is a tourist destination for many who live in this region and for those who live in other areas around the world. It boasts some of the most beautiful beaches in the world along with wonderful seafood and other cuisine, along with great entertainment, and fairly nice weather.

Phuket is Thailand’s largest Island and is similar in size to Singapore. In addition to many resorts, this island contains lots of rubber plantations and coconut groves.

Since we set the clocks back one hour before going to sleep last evening, we woke up earlier this morning than normal. Keith was up at the Fitness Center around 4:15 AM and Anne Marie arrived around 5:45 AM. There were a fair amount of guests working out as well. After our workout we enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room and got ready to explore this island.

We arrived to Phuket a little ahead of schedule and we docked at the Phuket Deep Sea Port, Makham Bay around 7:15 AM. The dock is located approximately nine miles from the city center. Due to local restrictions, Crystal was unable to provide a complimentary shuttle.

During Captain Glenn’s morning announcement he mentioned that it was already 84 degrees Fahrenheit. The forecast was for the low 90’s, Captain Glenn’s thought of the day was “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rising whenever we fall.”

We took the complimentary shore excursion that was offered on this segment of the World Cruise. We were taken in a motor coach where we were driven by various city sights and also saw the nice tropical vegetation and pristine beaches. We were taken to a village to watch a cultural show that included folk dance. Our tour also included a visit to Wat Chalong Monastery, which is considered to be Phuket’s largest and most impressive temple. It is well known for its gold leaf encrusted statues of three former monks and abbots. The abbots were known for their strong efforts in resisting the Chinese invasion in the late 1800s.

The highlights of the excursion for us were the Folk Dancing Show and the visit to the Wat Chalong Monastery. The dancing and music were outstanding and the detailed work of the various temples of the Monastery was quite impressive.

We found many of those who live on the island who we came into contact to be very polite. As we had done in Bangkok, we would put our hands together and bow and they would do likewise.

The nightlife by the beach area is supposed to be on the wild side. While there are very nice people here there is also the other side at night in certain areas such as bars, and other clubs and in certain areas on the street which is something that we would want to avoid if we came back here on a land vacation.

We arrived back to the ship later in the afternoon and enjoyed a very nice lunch that we had pre-ordered.

This evening we had the pleasure of dining with Thomas Mazloum, Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations of Crystal Cruise Lines along with a few other guests at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant. He along with the President of Crystal Cruises and a few other executives from the Corporate Los Angeles office are on-board the ship for a few days for several meetings. We had the pleasure of dining with Mr. Mazloum and his lovely wife one evening on last years World Cruise so it was wonderful to have dinner with him again this year. We included pictures of both Anne Marie and Keith with Thomas Mazloum that we took at the end of dinner this evening.

Tomorrow we will be at sea and in the morning we will attend a Question and Answer Session for all guests that will include Greg Michel, President of Crystal Cruises along with a few other Crystal Executives. This session provides a nice opportunity to hear from the executives of Crystal.

Our next port of call is Myanmar where we will have two overnights. To think that our journey began in Los Angeles, California and now we are sailing this part of the World.

Our World Cruise continues to be an amazing adventure as we are visiting so many ports of call around the world that we have never been to before. Everything about the cruise has continued to exceed our expectations.


Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Phuket, Thailand

We enjoyed another wonderful sleep last night as we are cruising towards Phuket, which is our third and final stop in Thailand.

Today we posted two pictures; one from this evenings formal night and the other is a picture of the sun setting that we took during dinner this evening. It is amazing to watch the sun as it sets.

We are traveling the Strait of Malacca. The Strait of Malacca connects the Andaman Sea of the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea of the Pacific Ocean. It provides the shortest sea route between India, China and Indonesia, which are the greatest populations of all worldwide countries. This is a very busy sea route with over 500,000 vessels passing through this Strait annually. To put this into perspective, 50% of the oil shipped around the world passes through this Strait and in just one single day eleven million barrels of oil are transported along this waterway. Overall, it is estimated that approximately 20-25% of all world sea trade passes through this strait. Clearly, this is a very strategic waterway. More on this later.

Since today, is a sea day so there are lots of activities taking place throughout the morning, afternoon, and evening hours.

Yes, we did begin our day with our morning workout. During the first portion of our workout it was still dark outside and we could see the lights of vessels as we traveled along the Strait. While Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine he spoke with Mary and another fellow passenger who had boarded the ship in Singapore. We enjoyed a great conversation. Anne Marie enjoyed her workout. We saw Captain Otto working out in the Center as well. Some of the guests who arrived in Singapore are still trying to get over their jet lag. The good news for those passengers is that we do turn the clocks back one hour this evening.

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast after our workout and then we got ready for today’s activities.

During Captain Glenn’s morning report from the bridge he noted that we are traveling at speeds between 10.7 and 12.3 knots per hour and we are on schedule to be in port on time tomorrow. The temperature in the morning was 86 degrees Fahrenheit. The Captain did not have a thought of the day today.

We attended the Rap With The Rabbi session. There was lots of good discussion in today’s session and it was very well attended.

Afterwards, we attended two lectures.

Dr. Jay Wolff gave the first lecture and the topic of his presentation was “Anna and the King of Siam – The True Story.” His presentation was the true story of an intriguing woman and a remarkable king. As usual, the presentation was quite enlightening.

Dr. Harm de Blij gave the second presentation which was “Eurasia of the Four Corners: Geopolitical Dilemmas for the United States.” He is certainly a dynamic speaker and today was no exception.

He touched on the problems occurring on the border of Malaysia and Thailand where Buddhism meets Muslim and the fact that about 3,000 civilians have been killed in the past year.

He also talked about other key areas known as the four corners and the changes taking place in India, China, Thailand, and Laos. For example, the population of Mumbai, India alone is expected to grow to 50 million people within the next twenty-five years. Further, by next year its population will be larger than that of Australia. Within ten years the population of India is projected to be the largest in the entire world; even larger than the population of China.

He also mentioned that China is spending $2 billion dollars for the construction of a pipeline through Myanmar which will bring oil directly from the Middle East to China in order to avid the Srait of Malacca and the strategic importance that Myanmar plays in this effort.

In between the presentations Anne Marie picked up her Needlepoint hand-out which is given out one day on each segment of the cruise.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. We each pre-ordered our lunch. Keith enjoyed a Salad Entrée of deliciously prepared Ginger-Crusted Salmon served with a variety of salad items and Anne Marie enjoyed a wonderfully prepared Chefs Salad.

Before dinner this evening we attended the Captain’s Welcome Reception for this segment of the World Cruise. This evening was the first of the three formal nights on this segment and as usual it was nice to see everyone dressed in formal attire.

After the reception, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. We each has a wonderful salad, followed by Broiled Fresh Main Lobster for Anne Marie served with Asparagus and Truffle Risotto and Broiled Fresh Halibut served with sautéed spinach, and potato balls served with champagne beurre blanc for Keith. We each had a nice bowl of fruit for dessert.

Formal nights feature a variety of items. We thought we’d highlight several of them for you.

Appetizers. There were four choices; Caviar, Pate de Foie Gras, Freshly Opened Oysters or Exotic Fruits presented in a Papaya Boat.

Soup and Salad. There were four choices; Mousseline of Potato Soup, Clear Oxtail Soup or Captain’s Salad

There was also a Pasta Special featuring Homemade Artichoke and Mascarpone Ravioli as well as a Salad Entrée featuring Surf & Turf Salad.

There were four main fare entrees; Broiled Fresh Main Lobster, Broiled Fresh Halibut “Viennese”, Chateaubriand, or Stuffed Marinate Baked Qual.

In addition, two other entrees were available in addition to the four from the main fares; Grilled New York Sirloin Steak or Plain Grilled Salmon Fillet.

Lots of other side orders are available from vegetables to pasta.

There are also Vegetarian Selections as well as items on the lighter side to choose from.

Are you still hungry? If the answer is yet then there is the Sweet Finale.

There were sugar-free desserts such as Mocha Cream Puff or a Low-Carb Rice Pudding.

Then there were several other dessert items. Two were selected for this evening by the Executive Pastry Chef which were Sugar Mill which is Butterscotch Pudding with Orange Shortbread as well as Delice Aux Chocolate which is White Chocolate Truffle Cake, Chocolate Hazelnut Napoleon, and Raspberry Cocktail.

Still there were several other Classic Desserts available. They were Tahitian Vanilla Crème Brulee with Fresh Fruit, Chocolate Ooze Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream, Apple Crumble Tartlet with Almond Praline Ice Cream, Various Ice Cream including Vanilla, Pistachio and Chocolate Chip, Freshly Frozen Nonfat Banana or Strawberry Yogurt, Refreshing Passion Fruit Champagne Sherbet or Petits Fours & Truffles or Seasonal Fruit.

Of course, there is another alternative which is the Cheese Trolley which featured Double Brie, Tasmanian True Blue, Crottin de Chevre, Robiola, St. Aubin or Manchego cheese. This is served with crackers, biscuits, walnut baguette, Finn bread and condiments.

If there is something else you want you can normally have it and if you provide twenty-four hours notice you can get just about anything prepared within reason.

Today was another very memorable day as we sail to our next port of call. It is amazing to think of the places that we have already visited during our journey and there are many more places to see over the coming weeks.

Keith & Anne Marie

Port Kelang, Malaysia

We woke early this morning and enjoyed another nice workout in the Fitness Center. When Keith arrived to the center one man was finishing his workout and likely was up early with jetlag. A little while later other regulars such as Mary and John arrived and Anne Marie arrived a short while later. During our workout, we saw the other Crystal Serenity Captain (Captain Otto) who was our captain during last years World Cruise. He is here to participate in the meetings with the other executives from Crystal who are also on board the ship.

The Fitness Center was fairly busy today as it usually is the first full day of a new segment.

We docked in Port Kelang, Malaysia a little before 8:00 AM. This is our first visit to Malaysia.. We did not take a formal tour today. since we have recently taken a fair number of tours and have several others coming up throughout this segment. In addition, most of the tours were about eight hours in length, involving a round trip bus ride of over 3 hours just to get to the places that most of the tours were visiting and given the length of these tours all but one included lunch. If we were only on for this segment of the World Cruise we likely would have selected a tour but we try to pace ourselves given the length of the cruise. It is just not realistic to take long tours in each port of call so we try to balance our selection of tours.

This port of call is the gateway to Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia. The city was established in 1857 and began as a mining town. As the city developed, many colonial style buildings were erected. Many of these buildings exist today along with a variety of other buildings from traditional style buildings to very modern buildings. Some of the main attractions include;

The Central Market, which was built in 1936. While it was originally built as a wet market, today it is used to sell various items from antiques to crafts.

The Jame Mosque, which was built in 1909 and is styled in the tradition of an Indian Muslim design.

The Railway station, which was built in 1910, and it known for its Moorish architecture.

Chinatown, which also includes a variety of shopping involving lots of bargaining.

The Petronas twin towers, which total 88 stories. These towers were completed in 1998 and at the time of their completion became the tallest buildings in the world. While there are now taller buildings, the towers remain the tallest twin buildings in the world.

This city combines Western, Asian, along with traditional and modern architecture all in one place.

After our workout at the Fitness Center we enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room. We walked around the dock area for a little while and decided we would take the complimentary shuttle to the downtown area of Port Kelang where the shuttle dropped passengers near the Bukit Tinggi Shopping Mall. We were told that the ride would take approximately 45 minutes each way but the good news is that the drive was only 20 minutes each way. The mall was just opened six months ago and therefore was sparkling clean. It was very Western in its appearance and in the merchandise and food items that was sold there. For example, there was a section of restaurants/cafes that included McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Kenny Rogers Chicken and the Manhattan Seafood Company along with several other eateries. Some stores played music and the songs were Western. There was a large food store and again the brand names and the layout of the store was very Western. With the temperature quite hot outside, we walked the multi-level Mall several times to see what was there and to also exercise.

For those buyers who like to bargain, better prices and be negotiated in most of the stores. Unlike many countries we have visited of late, USA currency is not accepted in most stores within Malaysia.

We did speak with several employees who we found to be very friendly and they all spoke English well. On the drive to and from the ship we passed mostly apartment buildings and the cars and trucks on the road were rather plain looking.

Back on board the ship we enjoyed a nice Salad Entrée in the Main Dining Room. We were served by our nighttime Senior Waiter, Pablo. On our way out of the dining room, we spoke with the Restaurant Maitre D for a few minutes.

This evening we attended Friday Night Services before dinner. During the service we said prayers for two couples that we know from cruising.

After the services, we enjoyed a very nice dinner in the main dining room. The food and service were wonderful.

After dinner we stopped by the Crystal Cove to say hello to some fellow passengers and we saw Captain Otto. It was wonderful to talk with him.

Tomorrow, we have a sea day as we sail to yet another port in Thailand.

Keith & Anne Marie

Singapore Day 2

Last evening we stopped by to talk with our Travel Specialist, Lynn, and her husband, Alan, in the Main Dining Room to give them our best wishes as they were disembarking the ship this today. It was wonderful sailing with them and we had two memorable dinners with them during the course of the cruise. We hope that we have the opportunity to sail with them again. Thank you so very much for the beautiful flowers.

This morning ends the fifth segment of the World Cruise. We sailed from Hong Kong, China to Singapore and sailed a total distance of 2,685 Nautical Miles or the equivalent of 3,087 Land Mile. We thoroughly enjoyed the itinerary sailed which included Chan May/Da Nang, Vietnam; Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam; Bangkok, Thailand, Ko Samui, Thailand; and Singapore.

With the end of this segment many passengers will be disembarking the ship this morning. There are many early and late flights out of Singapore. Many guests left the ship as early as 3:30 AM this morning. With so many early flights, the Lido Café was opened up extra early at 3:00 AM and Continental Breakfast was served. At 6:00 AM a Breakfast Buffet was served and at 7:00 AM breakfast was served in the Main Dining Room.

Today also marks the start of the sixth segment of the World Cruise. During this segment we will sail from Singapore to Mumbai, India. This segment will include stops in Kuala Lumpui/Port Kelang, Malaysia; Phuket, Thailand; Yangon, Myanmar, Cochin, India and Mumbai, India. Those passengers who are beginning their cruise in Singapore began boarding the ship at 12:00 Noon.

This segment also includes six sea days, two overnights in Myanmar for a total of fourteen days.

There will be three formal evenings, eight casual evenings and three informal (semi-formal evenings). In the main dining room at night there will be two formal Captain’s Gala Dinners, a French Dinner, a Neptune Dinner, a Chef’s Dinner and a Royal Thai Dinner in addition to other regular dinners. In addition to the Main Dining Room, and the two specialty restaurants, during eight of the fourteen evenings, guests can also eat at a venue known as Tastes which offers casual dining near the Neptune Pool. Many guests enjoy this venue as they can dine in casual attire and no reservations are required.

We awoke early this morning as we always do. Keith was the first passenger to the Fitness Center and enjoyed a wonderful workout on the Elliptical Machine. Anne Marie did our wash and Keith helped her after his workout. We find that this is a great hour of the day to get our wash done.

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room.

Rather than taking the complimentary shuttle into town, we decided to take the MRT, which is the subway system in Singapore. There was a nearby subway station right adjacent to the Cruise Ship Terminal. After purchasing our fare card we only waited a couple of minutes and within ten minutes we were in downtown Singapore. The subway system was very efficient and as one would imagine very clean. Another example of the logical approach that we have seen in Singapore is the actual fare cards. Rather than using cards that you have to discard, the card is plastic and after you use the card for either a one way to two way trip you return the card and get 1 Singapore Dollar back. This way the cards are reused which makes perfect sense to us. On our return trip, we only had to wait a couple of minutes and then we were back where we started within ten minutes. The subway system has three major lines and stops in lots of places that one would want to visit such as Chinatown and Little India.

After taking the subway downtown we walked to a variety of places. We visited the St. Andrew’s Cathedral, the City Hall, the Supreme Court, the Parliament House, the Singapore Cricket Club, the National Museum of Singapore, the War Memorial Park, the Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Center and the Singapore Art Museum. We also stopped by the Riz Carlton and the Raffles Hotel. The Raffles Hotel was originally built in 1887 and is one of the World’s last great 19th century hotels. We also walked along several different streets in the city. This city is so very easy to tour on your own since everything is in English and the transportation system is wonderful. This is a city in which one could spend several days as there is so much to see and it is a very safe environment. The people are very polite and friendly.

We returned back to the ship in the afternoon and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. Several executives from the Crystal Los Angeles office are boarding the ship in Singapore.

We had a wonderful time in Singapore and look forward to returning sometime in the future.

This evening we ate in the Main Dining Room and enjoyed a nice dinner.

Keith & Anne Marie

Singapore

We arrived at Singapore this morning and docked at about 7:30 AM

Singapore declared itself a self-governing state in 1954. During the 1960s Singapore briefly joined its neighbors Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah in the Federation of Malaysia. Today, Singapore is an independent nation and is known for its high literacy rate, its fine medical care, its transportation system, and its array of international businesses. It is also a place that attracts many tourists.

Singapore is located within ninety miles (one degree) of the Equator. It is not very large and measures only 250 square miles in total. The Singaporean people are mainly Chinese. Others who live in Singapore include Malays, Indians, Eurasians and Europeans. Approximately, 4.4 million people including foreign workers live in Singapore. There are four official languages in Singapore.

Singapore boasts a Chinatown, Little India, a Colonial District and an Arab District. You will find many temples, mosques and churches in this country, representing the different religions/nationalities that have migrated to this area of the world.

Some of the places to visit in this area include the Asian Civilization Museum, the Fort Canning Park, Sentosa Island, the Zoological Gardens and the Raffles Hotel, which is famous for its Singapore Sling.

We awoke early this morning and enjoyed a very nice workout in the Fitness Center. Keith was the first to arrive and was up there before 5:00 AM and worked out on the Elliptical machine for ninety minutes. Anne Marie arrived a little while later and enjoyed a workout on the Treadmill. Although it was initially dark when we arrived we could see lots of lights from the shore. Other regulars were working out such as Mary and John and Keith enjoyed another nice talk with Mary during their workout.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room and as we ate we watched as the ship maneuvered its way into the port.

We took the complimentary shore excursion that Crystal provided to all guest on this segment of the World Cruise. During the World Cruise Crystal provides one complimentary shore excursion on each segment of the World Cruise. The name of today’s excursion was called Spirit of Singapore City Orientation. Since this is our first time to Singapore we thought this would provide a very nice overview to this city, which it did.

By far, this was one of the best highlight tours we have taken and we were very glad that Crystal provided this tour. We had an outstanding tour guide who provided lots of information, in an easy to understand manner, and also had a nice sense of humor.

We boarded our buses and during the course of the tour we drove by several traditional buildings such as the Parliament House and the Singapore Supreme Court and the City Hall.

We had the opportunity to visit Chinatown, where we visited the oldest Chinese temple in this city, which is dedicated to the Goddess of the Sea. It was a very impressive temple with very detailed woodwork.

We also had the chance to visit the world renowned Raffles Hotel where we were served a Singapore Sling. The Raffles Hotel was named after the British founder of modern-day Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles. The Hotel and its property is quite impressive and very traditional.

Our tour also included a drive up to Mt. Faber, which is located 300 feed above sea level. This provided us with the opportunity to view the city from above and we also could see the Crystal Serenity from there.

The highlight of our tour was our visit to the National Orchid Gardens. The orchids that we saw were breathtaking and this has to rank as one of the top gardens we have visited in all our years of travel. We included a picture of Anne Marie in front of an orchid that is named after an Anne Marie. The gardens are located on 110 acres and offer the largest display of orchids in the entire world.

We learned that the first rubber trees were planted in this region at this specific area after they were smuggled from Brazil in the 19th Century.

The major driver of Singapore’s economy is oil related. Singapore has what is considered the busiest port in the World and one of the drivers are the oil refineries. Many goods are shipped to and from this port where it serves as a transit port.

Singapore has its traditional areas but is also a very modern city. Unlike the last couple of ports of calls that we visited in Thailand, Singapore is a very clean city. As a visitor, it has to rank as one of the nicest cities that we have visited. We think the phrases that applies best is that Singapore is a very nice place to visit but we would not want to live here.

As a tourist, it offers a very safe and clean environment. It has lots of beautiful locations to visit and lots of other amenities from very nice hotels to wonderful restaurants. All of the road signage and most of the signage was in English making it very easy to navigate ourselves around this lovely city. Many of the buildings are beautiful; both modern and traditional buildings. There is lots of greenery throughout this city. The road system is quite good and there are no traffic problems (more on this later on)

It certainly has advantages for those that live there because of the safe and clean environment and some of the other benefits. For example, there are 4.4 million people who are in Singapore of which; approximately 3.4 million are citizens of Singapore. All the citizens have their own home, which is a plus. However, keep in mind that 90% of the citizens live in apartments. The own the apartments because the government believes that with ownership they will keep them in good shape but they are high density units and we could see the wash hanging from the balconies. The lucky 10% live in homes. The other benefit is that they have a compulsory savings program where both the employees and the employers contribute to them. It is similar to Social Security in the United States but the percentage of contributions is quite a bit higher.

With that said, the government does have very tight rules and regulations so it limits certain freedoms that Americans take for granted such as “Freedom of Speech”. It has by far some of the most stringent laws in the world.

It is no exaggeration to say that if one chews gum and should not dispose of the gum properly that they will be fined.

We mentioned that traffic congestion did not seem to be a problem in Singapore. This is because most people do not own a car. Cars are no longer manufactured in Singapore and if you import a car you pay a 110% (yes 110%) tax rate on the car. You also pay a rather large fee to register the car.

The cruise ship terminal is one of the most impressive terminals that we have seen around the world. The security is quite strict. We had to carry our passport with us. After we departed the ship we walked a long way to the terminal and we had to go through security and also through passport control. When we returned to the ship we had to show our passport two times, including one time through passport control and we also went through security. There is are stores and restaurants in the terminal and also attached to the terminal is a very large shopping mall.

When we retuned back to the ship we enjoyed a wonderful lunch.

After lunch, we took the complimentary shuttle provided by Crystal into town and we walked to Orchard Rd. which has an enormous number of stores, shopping malls, hotels and other venues.

We enjoyed another wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. It has been a few days since we last dined in this restaurant and enjoyed the cuisine, the wait staff, and being back at our favorite table.

We had a lovely day in Singapore and look forward to another day in this city since we ship will remain docked in this port until we leave tomorrow at 5:00 PM.

Keith & Anne Marie


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En Route To Singapore

We enjoyed a good night sleep and woke up early this morning. Since we had set the clocks forward by one hour before we went to sleep last evening we were a little more tired than usual when we awoke this morning.

We had a wonderful dinner last evening with our Travel Specialist Lynn and her wonderful husband Alan and it has been so wonderful to sail with them on this segment of the World Cruise. We will miss them dearly when this segment of the World Cruise comes to a conclusion in a couple of days.

We began our day with our daily workout in the Fitness Center. Keith was the first passenger to arrive to the Center and worked out on the Elliptical Machine the entire time while Anne Marie was the second passenger to arrive and worked out on the Treadmill. Keith spoke with Mary for much of his workout. John was also working out. By the time we finished up there were far fewer passengers working out than we have gotten accustomed to during this particular segment of the World Cruise. We suspect that many of our fellow passengers were sleeping a little later given the time zone change coupled with the fact that many had been on overland tours the past few days and likely were catching up on their rest and sleep.

During the Captain’s morning announcement, Captain Glenn noted that winds were 30 miles per hour and the temperature was 84 degrees Fahrenheit. Captain Glenn’s thought for today was “It is important to learn from others mistakes and from your own as you don’t live long enough to make them all on your own.”

Today is a sea day as we sailed to Singapore and this is the last sea day of this segment of the cruise. There are lots of activities planned throughout the day and evening hours. Our experience is that many first time cruisers are concerned with how to keep busy while at sea and we find that the sea days go by very quickly given all of the activities that are scheduled throughout the day. Today is a perfect example of the extensive activities offered throughout the morning, afternoon and evening hours. For example:

Four lectures are scheduled today.

There are a variety of fitness classes including a morning walk, stretching, progressive yoga, a class on sit to be fit, beginners yoga, paddle tennis, table tennis, shuffleboard, fitball, and another stretching class,

Other activities include a piano class, beginners bridge, intermediate bridge, advanced bridge classes in the morning followed in the afternoon by actual bridge games, a beginners and Spanish class, a scarf tying class, team trivia, gaming lessons (casino games), dance class, memoir writing seminar, computer class, an afternoon and evening movie, a tour of the ships Galley, an afternoon tea, several different venues either for listing to live music or dancing to live music, a production show, karaoke, and the list goes on and on and on. There is pretty much something for everyone. For those who just want to relax there is a very nice library where one can either stay and read or take out a book to read or a movie to watch. There are the two swimming pools along with a couple of spas. Let us not forget the Fitness Center and there is also a very extensive on-board spa. There is the Promenade Deck that can be used for taking a nice walk, or jogging. Finally, there are lots of places to go for a meal, a snack, a drink and many other public rooms where one can sit alone or sit with others.

This is how we spent our day on board the Crystal Serenity.

After our workout we enjoyed a nice breakfast in our cabin. Afterwards, Anne Marie got ready for her hair appointment in the hair salon while Keith took care of some items.

While Anne Marie was having her hair done, Keith started off the morning activities by attending the Rap With The Rabbi. We had a very active discussion today with lots of participation by many who attended this session. The session was very well attended and is held usually every other sea day.

Afterwards, we attended two very interesting lectures.

Destination Lecturer, Dr. Jay Wolff gave the first presentation of the day. The topic of his presentation was “The Hanoi Hilton.” Dr. Wolff continues to amaze us with his knowledge of so many topics and places around the world and his ability to give such detailed presentations with absolutely no notes.

Author, Professor and Television Personality Harm de Blij gave the second talk of the day. The topic of his presentation was “Seven More Months of This? The Political Geography of the 2008 Presidential Election Campaign.” One of his major points is that the Presidential Cycle has become too long with the elections becoming almost two years in length and that this detracts the electorate and our political officials from focusing on major worldwide issues that can have major long-term consequences for our country and for the world we live in. Another major point is that we need to realize that many of our elected officials are not perfect when it comes to flaws in character but that doesn’t mean that these flaws make them poor leaders. Whether or not one agrees or disagrees with all of points is not important but the key is that his lectures are very thought compelling which is always good.

Last year, this lecturer spoke on a few segments of the World Cruise and we greatly enjoyed his talks. He has appeared on several programs from ABC’s Good Morning America to the PBS series The Power of Place to being the Geography Analyst for NBC News. He has written over thirty books. Harm de Blij will be giving lectures throughout the next segment of the World Cruise as well. Later in the year he will be lecturing on the London to New York City Cruise on board the Crystal Symphony and on the Lisbon to Miami, Florida sailing on board the Crystal Serenity. These two transoceanic cruises have plenty of sea days and provide a wonderful opportunity for those passengers who are interested in hearing from a variety of lecturers during the course of their cruise.

During lunchtime, there was a Jazz Brunch Buffet held outside the Main Dining Room. This brunch featured a wonderful array of brunch items and complimentary Mimosas and Champagne were also served. The Crystal Orchestra played jazz Music.

The afternoon continued with many different activities including two additional lectures. There was a lecture given by Dr. James Mass whose lectures focus on the importance of sleep. We first mess Dr. Mass on last years World Cruise. The topic for his lecture today was "Wake-Up! Power Sleep and Peak Performance for the Rest of Your Life.” At the conclusion of his lecture photojournalist and publisher Mason Florence gave another lecture. His presentation was titled “Singapore: The Lion City”.

Since today is the last full sea day of the cruise, this evening was a formal night on the ship. Before dinner, we attended the Captain’s Farewell for this segment of the World Cruise. Speaking of the Captain, last evening we had the pleasure of meeting his lovely wife and two daughters. They all live in Norway and since the schools in Norway are closed for Easter Break his family came on board for this segment of the World Cruise.

We enjoyed the Captain’s Farewell Reception. As usual, it was nice to see everyone dressed in their formal attire.

Following the reception, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner from the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. We’ve included a picture of Anne Marie with our wonderful butler Alexander.

We are scheduled to arrive in Singapore tomorrow morning at approximately 8:00 AM. The ship has an overnight in Singapore as the following morning this segment of the World Cruise ends. Many passengers will disembark the ship while that afternoon new passengers will join the ship. We will have almost two full days to enjoy Singapore.

Keith & Anne Marie

Ko Samui, Thailand

NOTE: We added on additional picture to yesterdays posting which you will see if you scroll to the end of today’s post. Also, we have updated our picture site so if you go view our pictures you will see a new section from Southeast Asia.

We arrived in Kho Samui, Thailand this morning. The ship provided tender service to/from the pier, which is located adjacent to the small town of Nathon. Because the water near the island is fairly shallow the tender between the ship and port took about twenty minutes each way.

This island lies off the southeast coast of Thailand. It is known for its beautiful beaches and for its attractive bays. Kho Samui is the third largest island of Thailand. It measures only 13 miles long and is nine miles wide along the widest point of the island. It is a pristine island and, as such, attracts travelers from around the world who recognize the beauty of the island. Many tourists arrive to this Island either by ferry or by private yacht while others arrive by cruise ship.

Tourism is the main influence on the local economy of this island. The island also has an abundance of coconuts, which also have an impact on the local economy but far less than tourism. Approximately 20 million coconuts are harvested each month. That’s a lot of coconuts.

We woke up earlier than normal this morning to workout since we needed to get ready for an early tour this morning. Keith was the first one to the Fitness Center arriving at around 4:30 AM and Anne Marie followed about fifteen minutes later. During our workout we saw John and Mary and Keith and Mary spoke about their respective tours overnight trips to Bangkok. Mary escorted the other overnight land based tour in Bangkok, which included meal, and organized tours as well as a one night stay at the Peninsula Hotel.

After our enjoyable workout we had breakfast in our room. We then got ready for our tour.

Captain Glenn’s thought of the day was “Every artist was first an amateur.” This is a reminder to each of us where that we don’t start at the top in our profession but rather most of developed in our respective professions.

The name of our tour was The Ultimate Adventure. We thoroughly enjoyed this tour.

We were taken from the pier on a four-wheel drive vehicle. Six of us road in each vehicle. We were first taken into the jungle. We drove across some rivers and by hidden valleys until we reached the famous waterfall named Na Muang Waterfall. We spent about thirty minutes at the waterfall.

During the course of the tour we also visited a rubber plantation and learned from the locals how rubber latex is produced. We also went to another location where we viewed a Thai cooking demonstration and we also boarded a farmer’s ox-cart for a journey thought the village of towering coconut palms.

One of the highlights of the tour included a thirty-minute elephant trek and we also had the opportunity to view other elephants along with several monkeys in two respective tours. The elephants are not as large as those in Africa but nevertheless were quite impressive and we enjoyed our first ride on the elephant. Each of us also had the opportunity to hold hands with a monkey. That is another first for us.

We enjoyed the drive around a good portion of the Island. We went through a variety of towns and also drove by some very fancy resorts with beautiful beaches and a wonderful view of the water. The locals who we met during the course of the tour were very nice and we found our guide to be quite informative.

When we returned back to the ship we enjoyed a very nice lunch that we had pre-ordered in the morning.

Before dinner this evening we attended a cocktail party for all passengers on the ship, which was called Psychedelic Samui. The party included a d-jay who placed music primarily from the 1970’s and complimentary drinks were served.

After the party, we had dinner with our travel specialist and her husband at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and we enjoyed hearing about their overland adventure, which included stays in Cambodia and in Bangkok, and we told them about our stay in Bangkok as well.

Tomorrow we will enjoy a day at sea as we sail to Singapore. This evening was a rarity as we actually set our clocks forward one hour so we will lose on hour this evening ☹. However, during the course of the next several weeks we will be setting our time back one hour or more on various occasions, which we enjoy. ☺

Keith & Anne Marie

Bangkok, Thailand

Blog March 23, 2008

We have had a very enjoyable time during our stay in Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok is a very unique city and it did take us a little while to get used to it. The destination lecture that we viewed prior t our visit to this city prepared us well for our stay in Bangkok.

Bangkok combines both the new world of very modern buildings with the old charm into one grand city. It has some very clean areas and some areas not so clean. It has some of the kindest and friendliest people that you will ever meet along with some people to watch out for. The good news is that the vast majority of the people fall into the category of nice people.

We booked an overnight stay in Bangkok through Crystal Cruises.
After departing the ship, we were transported by bus to Bangkok. The drive took around two hours and during our trip the guide provided us with lots of useful information about this city and about Thailand. We were taken to The Oriental Hotel. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by the warm hospitality of the staff and we were each given a flower and complimentary drinks were available. Our rooms were ready right away and we quickly settled into our room. Interestingly enough we did not have to provide a credit card for our incidentals.

We had brought sandwiches from the ship with us so that we would not waste valuable time eating lunch so after we ate our sandwiches we proceeded to see the city.

During the course of the first day in Bangkok, we took the sky train a couple of times to visit some sites within Bangkok. The sky train was very efficient and easy to use. We also spent a some time discovering the city by river which is one of the unique features of Bangkok. We went to a shopping mall; Siam Peragon which was highly recommended. And yes, we did go to Jim Thompson who has several stores where we saw many beautiful items mainly of silk. We also had time to walk around Bangkok before it was time for dinner

Bangkok was quite hot which we expected. While some areas are pristine, other areas were dirty. We were warned to be careful of some men who while dressed in very nice attire are out to swindle tourists. During the course of our first afternoon in Bangkok three different men approached us. At the same time we did meet some of the nicest locals and we appreciate all of the friendliness they showed to us throughout our stay.

Before dinner we relaxed for a little while at the hotel. The Oriental Hotel is stunning and is clearly an old world hotel. The lobby area and other public rooms are stunning and the service was impeccable. Each of the floors has someone from the staff available to assist the guests.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the hotel. We sat outside and we were very fortunate to be seated at a table with no other tables in front of us providing us with a beautiful view of the river. We enjoyed traditional Thai food that was simply outstanding. The service was equally outstanding as we had numerous servers throughout the meal. Lots of time was provided throughout the evening so that we could enjoy the overall ambience of this setting and we kid you not, we were there for almost three hours. It was wonderful and we were in no rush and we just enjoyed being in a special part of the world with a beautiful setting to view. As the sunset we could enjoy the beauty of the river in the evening as the boats were lit up along with the shoreline. From our view we could also see the Peninsula Hotel directly across the waterway. The setting, the service, the food, and our own conversation made this evening delightful and one that we cherish for the rest of our lives.

We awoke early the next morning (today) and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast outside by the river as we did last evening. In addition to cereal, we enjoyed a plate containing fruits that we have never had before. We also enjoyed a very nice muffin and wonderful coffee. Again, the service was outstanding.

After breakfast, we then walked to Chinatown and from there we visited three different Temples. At one Temple we viewed the Reclining Buddha. At another Temple we saw the Golden Buddha. We were fortunate that we arrived very early in the morning so that these sites were not very crowded.

We also went to a large market and we were the only non-locals there. It was very interesting and sold lots of fruits, vegetable along with lots of other food items.

We did not have enough time to go to the Grand Palace. Unfortunately, it was closed the day we arrived as they were converting times with the change in season. We will plan to visit the Palace the next time our travels take us to Bangkok.

After arriving back to the Hotel we showered and changed and we enjoyed a light lunch at one of the Hotel Restaurants. We enjoyed a very large bowl of soup. We left the Hotel at 2:30 PM for our trip back to the ship and we made excellent time and arrived back at around 4:10. Again, the tour guide provided a wealth of information.

When we arrived back to the room there was an Easter Basket of candy in our room and also two large plates of sandwiches and desserts with a card from Crystal Cruises that read “Welcome Home From Bangkok”.

A highlight of the trip was the people that we met from Thailand. We can characterize them as being friendly, warm and very polite people. Many would show their warmth by placing their hands together, smiling and bowing graciously and we would show our thanks and appreciation by doing the same thing.

This evening we dined at the Silk Road Japanese Restaurant. We dined with the World Cruise Hostess and the Assistant Cruise Director. We had a wonderful time as we enjoyed an outstanding meal, with outstanding service and an equally enjoyable conversation.

Tomorrow, we visit Ko Samui, Thailand.

Keith and Anne Marie.

En Route To Bangkok, Thailand

Before we talk about today’s activities we wanted to mention a little more about the World Cruise Show last evening. We thought that it was an outstanding show. It was very entertaining and we greatly appreciate all of the time and effort that goes into producing such a show. The dancing by Curtis and Beverly was superb along with the singing by the lead vocalists Colleen and Dennis. The acting by World Cruise Hostess Anne Marie Falvey was equally superb. Many other entertainers performed including the acappella quartet, Full Sail. The Cruise Director, Rick Spath, was also in the show. It was wonderful show.

We also wanted to note that last evening we enjoyed a very quiet dinner in the main dining room. We sit in an area of the dining room that is normally fairly quiet. In our section of the dining room there are about ten tables of various sizes from two up to eight person tables and last evening we were the only two people dining. Some passengers were dining in the alternative dining venues, we suspect that some who just arrived back from the Beijing overland tour were enjoying a casual dinner in their room, while many other passengers were on overland tours to Hanoi and to Cambodia. While this segment of the world cruise has been sold out, it has been relatively quiet given all of the overland tours.

We slept very well last evening and awoke early. Keith was the first to arrive at the Fitness Center and Anne Marie arrived about 30 minutes later. Keith worked out on his favorite Elliptical Machine and enjoyed a nice talk with Mary, while Anne Marie enjoyed her workout on the Treadmill.

After our workout we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room. As we enjoyed breakfast we took in the beautiful views of the sea.

Today is a sea day as we sail to our next Port of Call, Bangkok, Thailand.

We attended a wonderful talk given by actress, singer, veteran entertainer and acclaimed documentary filmmaker Luci Arnaz. Luci Arnaz is the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. She hosted a screening of her Emmy Award winning film, Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie. This movie was made fifteen years ago. This was followed by a wonderful question and answer session with Luci Arnaz and her husband. Laurence Luckinbill. The film was delightful and the Q&A session was very enlightening. The movie along with the Q&A were both very moving.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. Our Senior Waiter who serves us in the evening, Pablo, was our Senior Waiter for lunch. We continue to request him for lunch, wherever possible.

In the afternoon we took a nice long walk on the Promenade Deck. The weather was fairly mild and mid-way through our walk it rained for about fifteen minutes but we could walk under an area that protected us from the rain showers.

Before dinner this evening we attended the Crystal Society Reception, which is held for all passenger’s who have previously sailed with Crystal. Several passengers were recognized at the session who have sailed on a significant number of Crystal Cruises. Since this evenings attire was Formal, passenger were mainly dressed in formal attire. Most men wore tuxedos or dinner jackets and most women were dressed in gowns or other formal outfits. It’s wonderful to see everyone dressed so nicely.

After the reception, we had dinner at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant. We dined with a fellow World Cruise Passenger who we first met on last years World Cruise. She is a delightful person.

We will not be able to post the next couple of days, as we will be spending one evening in Bangkok. The driving distance between the Cruise Ship Terminal and Bangkok is approximately two hours each way so we thought it made more sense to stay overnight in Bangkok. We made our arrangements through Crystal’s Shore Excursion Program.

We will arrive in the port city of Laem Chabang, which is the gateway to Bangkok. Bangkok is known as the “City of Angles”. It is well known for its oriental charm along with its ornate temples and shrines, crisscrossing canals and its towering golden spires. Some of the well known sites include the Grand Palace & Wat Pra Keo built in 1872, Wat Po which is known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, National Museum which houses an extensive collection of Buddhist and Thai art, Vimarnmek Palace which is the largest teak structure in the world.

Crystal provides a complimentary shuttle to the resort town of Pattaya, which is located approximately forty minutes from the port of call. Pattaya is Thailand’s oldest international beach resort. This town is very well known for its shopping and beach areas.

We listened to the talk that was given on board the ship by Photojournalist and Publisher Mason Florence about Bangkok. He provided lots of valuable information about Bangkok including sites to visit, the layout of the city, shopping, restaurants, various means of transportation and the overall culture. It was very informative. According to the lecturer, since we are arriving on Saturday morning that we should encounter less traffic than on a weekday.

We are looking forward to our first visit to Bangkok, Thailand and spending the next two days exploring this city.

Keith & Anne Marie

Good-Bye Vietnam

NOTE: We updated yesterdays post with one additional picture, which is the first one on yesterday post. It is a picture of the Post Office and Eiffel designed this building.

We posted a few pictures from today. One pictures shows the two of us in our Purim costumes with the Rabbis lovely wife.

Another picture features the Rabbi and the final picture features the Crystal Band playing at the Purim Event.

We awoke early this morning to start our day. Keith went directly to the Fitness Center and was the second person to arrive as Mary was already in the Center. Mary was on an early tour today so she wanted to get a portion of her workout done before the tour began. Keith enjoyed a wonderful workout on the Elliptical Machine. At the same time Anne Marie was doing the laundry and Keith met her in the laundry room with coffee in hand for her and to help her finish the laundry.

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room. We continue to have the same type of breakfast each morning with Keith having cereal and fruit and Anne Marie having either cereal or on occasion oatmeal and some fruit as well.

This morning some of our fellow passengers went on tours. These tours included a Journey to the Mekong Delta, Countryside Drive with the highlight being a visit to the famous Cu Chi Tunnels, The Highlights of Ho Chi Minh City, which we took yesterday, and a Vietnamese Cooking Demonstration.

At the same time, some passengers are leaving the ship to depart on one of two Crystal Overland Tours, One tour was an overland to Hanoi to provide time to see this city and the other tour was the very popular tour called The Wonders of Angkor Wat, which is located in Cambodia. We know that the latter tour has been sold-out for month. As a result, we know some passengers who have made private arrangements to visit Angkor Wat through a private tour company. These passengers will also leave the ship at various times today for their flight over to Cambodia. Most of these passengers will meet up wi the ship in a few days as we have an overnight in Bangkok, Thailand.

Speaking of Bangkok, Crystal offers a couple of excursions, which involve an overnight in Bangkok. One of the excursions is very structured with a lot of touring and the other one provides transportation from the ship into Bangkok which can take up to two hours due to traffic and also includes one night hotel accommodations and a breakfast the next morning before returning to the ship later that afternoon. We chose the latter program based on advice we received from Crystals Shore Excursion Team given our particular interests. We thought it made sense for us to stay downtown to avoid a four-hour drive for each of two days since the ship has an overnight in this area of Thailand. We will not be able to post while we are at the Hotel.

We are glad that we have had the opportunity to visit two areas of Vietnam on our World Cruise Adventure. Some people have asked us about our impressions of Vietnam. Overall, our impression is that for the majority of the people the way of live here is a big challenge. The first priority for most of the citizens is to earn enough money for necessities such as food, housing and clothing so that they can survive. Life is certainly not easy here because in the large cities such as Ho Chi Minh City there are stores upon stores that sell the same items, the city is extremely overcrowded, and sufficient infrastructure is not yet in place to support the vast number of people who live and visit this city. At the same time, life in the more rural countryside areas is very difficult and the standard of living in those areas is well below the average standard of living in more densely populated areas. With that said, many of the people seem full of hope with the majority believing that things will get better in-time and that is our sense as well. If we compare this area of the world with say Africa (with the exception of South Africa) there truly is hope in this Country and we believe that overtime that Vietnamese people will succeed and that progress will be made in each succeeding decade. We also realize that as tourists that we only see things from a certain perspective as our interaction with the locals comes primarily from those associated with the tour and those that we meet during the course of the tour.

We also want to point out that our tour guide on each of our two tours in Vietnam were wonderful. The tour guide we had yesterday was outstanding. He had an excellent command of the English language, provided lots of wonderful information throughout the tour, was very thorough in answering each and every question and also had a wonderful sense of humor. ☺

Another observation from yesterday is the fact that luckily many of the historical buildings in Ho Chi Minh City were not destroyed at the end of the war or as part of the Communist takeover of this part of Vietnam. These historical buildings with their various influences from the French and from other nearby areas in Southeast Asia add to the overall charm of this city.

We stayed on the ship today as we decided not to go into town. We enjoyed a wonderful day on the ship. We took a nice long walk on the promenade deck in the morning and took advantage of the extra time to get ourselves organized for our upcoming overnight stay in Bangkok. Keep in mind that the port that we were docked at is one of two ports serving this city and this one is a more remote port from the downtown city center and that travel to and from the downtown area can take anywhere from thirty to sixty minutes depending on traffic.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the dining room. We each had a salad entrée and we sat at a table that our Senior Waiter in the evening is assigned to for lunch.

Our ship set sail at 3:00 PM for Bangkok, Thailand.

This afternoon at 4:30 PM there was a celebration for Purim. Purim is one of the most joyous holidays of the Jewish year. It commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination, as told in the Biblical Book of Esther. Some of the passenger’s wore various types of costumes to celebrate the holiday. We each wore a festive outfit as well.

As usual, the Rabbi and his wonderful wife did a terrific job hosting this event. It was well attended by passengers of many faiths and the entertainment, and food were wonderful

We ate dinner in the Main Dining Room. The food and the service was outstanding.

After dinner we attended an event for those on the Full World Cruise. The event was called Thai One On. The show featured lots of dancing and singing and was wonderful.

Keith & Anne Marie

Ho Chi Minh City

It is hard to believe that over years thirty have passed since the last of the American forces left the shores of Vietnam. So much has changed and taken place throughout the world in this timeframe, from worldwide events, to technological advancements, to worldwide travel and tourism, to music to everyday living and to how we see the world today. To put this into perspective, almost 70% of the people living in Vietnam were not even born at the time of the war. There were no personal computers, microwave ovens, cell phones during this timeframe. We were listening to music using eight track tapes and/or LP Record Albums. The Beatles had only broken up a few years earlier, the Rolling Stones were in their heyday, and disco fever had not yet hit the airwaves. We saw the world on television just through the national news, as there were no twenty-four hour news networks. The majority of cars bought and sold in the United States were domestic cars. All of this makes us wonder what changes will take place thirty years from now as change occurs more rapidly in each succeeding decade.

Ho Chi Minh City is a very exciting city with an atmosphere of electrifying energy. It offers tourists quite a few places to see throughout the city and in other nearby areas. Approximately 8 million people live in this city. As one drives through the city it is highly congested with more motorbikes than we have ever seen before. Everyone you look, there are lots of motorbikes.

Living in this city requires more income than say in the last port of call we visited. In order to survive in this city one needs to have a monthly income of $300.00 per month in US dollars. In order to have an average lifestyle, an income of around $500.00 in US dollars would be required each month.

Some of these places include the Cathedral of our Lady, which was opened to the public in 1880. There is the Historical Museum, which has been opened since 1929 and is house many historical artifacts. There is the Independence Palace, which was completed in 1966 and was the home of the former Prresident of South Vietnam, Nguyen Van Thieu, until the fall of Saigon in 1975. There is the Ben Thanh Market, which is located in the center of the city. Just about forty miles Northwest of Ho Chi Minh City are the Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels lie at the end of the Ho Chi Minh trail and were utilized as the base from which Ho Chi Minh gorillas attacked Saigon.

As usual, we slept very well last evening and we awoke early this morning to begin another wonder day on our World Cruise Adventure.

We began our day with our daily workout in the Fitness Center. Keith was the first one to arrive and he worked out the entire time on the Elliptical Machine. Anne Marie arrived about twenty minutes later and other regulars such Mary and John also worked out while we were there. By the time we left, the center was quite busy and all of the Elliptical Machines were in use. As we’ve mentioned, the center has been a good deal busier during this segment of the World Cruise as we have had a relatively younger group of passengers on board the ship for this segment.

We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our room. Afterwards, we ran a few errands including taking care of some items at the Shore Excursion desk and with the Concierge.

During the Captain’s morning announcement he noted that we would arrive in port by 11:00 AM and that the ship would be making some sharp turns as we navigated a river leading to Ho Chi Minh City. Captain Glenn’s thought of the day was “Wrinkles should only indicate where smiles have been.”

Afterwards, we took a nice long walk on the Promenade Deck so that we could view the land on both sides of the ship as we made our way up the river. This is the Vietnam that we expected to see as we viewed jungles full of trees everywhere we looked as well as swamps running through certain areas off the shoreline. Frequently, we would see small fishing boats and we could also see some shacks along the shoreline.


We wanted to mention that we have spoken with a few men who served in Vietnam during the 1960’s and early 1970’s. This is the first time they have been back here since the war. They come here with many mixed emotions. A man we spoke with last evening did two tours over here in the 1960’s and early 1970’s and he said that he was unable to leave the ship in our first port of call as it brought back to many bad memories for him. He did feel comfortable visiting Ho Chi Minh City and actually planned to rent a car for himself and for his wife to see this area on his own.

Our ship docked at Lotus Port, which is located about five miles from downtown Ho Chi Minh City. We arrived around thirty minutes after schedule because we had to wait for another ship to leave the port area. This is an industrial looking port. The locals did set up some stalls on the dock where they sold a variety of items.

The drive into the city takes about thirty minutes given the traffic situation. Crystal provided a complimentary shuttle, which operated between the pier and the Rex Hotel in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. Our ship stays overnight in port and our ship is scheduled to depart the port tomorrow at 3:00 PM local time.

Since our tour began at 1:15 PM we had lunch on the ship before beginning our tour. We decided to eat before the dining room was open so we enjoyed a nice salad entrée in our room.

This area of Vietnam is much warmer and humid than where we were the other day. By the afternoon, the temperature seemed to be around 85 degrees Fahrenheit but what made it seem quite warmer was the humidity

Before we began our tour, we walked around the pier to look at items that the locals were selling. These locals were not as pushy as we expected. The prices were quite cheap reflecting the low cost for labor to make the various goods. The prices that we have observed in Vietnam are the lowest prices we have seen from any port of call that we have visited in the last few years. Clearly, the dollar still has value in Vietnam. ☺

The tour that we booked for this afternoon consisted of the highlights of Ho Chi Minh City, which we thought would be a good way to get a nice overview of this city. Overall, we thought that the tour was excellent and we really enjoyed our tour guide. We quickly learned from our tour guide that wherever we drove that we would arrive in five minutes and that any item we wanted to buy was $1.00. ☺

Our tour included a visit to the former Presidential Palace, which is now known as the Reunification Hall. We also visited the National History Museum. We saw the colonial-style Central Post Office. Eiffel designed the post office. Our tour also included a visit to the city’s Chinatown; Cholon, which dates back to the 18th century, and we had the opportunity to see the busy Binh Tay market. Our tour included a view of the 18th century Thien Hau Temple, which was dedicated to the goddess protector of sailors. We also went to a lacquer workshop where we saw first hand skilled artisans practicing their craft. We also had the opportunity to be taken on a cyclos which was a one person seat in a metal basket with a man pedaling on a bicycle in the front. It was quite an interesting experience.

We returned back to the ship at around 6:30 PM and we quickly changed for dinner. We enjoyed a very nice dinner in the main dining room.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Ho Chi Minh City

NOTE: We added a couple of pictures to our journal from yesterday so if you scroll to the end of today’s post you will see them.

Today, we are at sea as we sail to our next port of call in Ho Chi Minh City, (formally Saigon) Vietnam.

Some thoughts about yesterday:

What we observed yesterday is very similar to what we had been told by others that we know from previous cruises who first shared their thoughts to us about the people of Vietnam based on their own travel experiences.

The people who we had the opportunity to meet yesterday during our visit to Vietnam were very nice and appeared to us to be extremely hardworking. In spite of the fact that they do not earn much money and that there is high unemployment in their nation, the people seem to persevere. They are willing to do a variety of jobs for whatever money they can earn. For example, on our tour yesterday there were three people from the tour company on the bus rather than the normal number of two. In addition to the bus driver and the tour guide there was a third person. The third persons job was primarily to run off the bus as we got near a tollbooth to purchase the ticket for the toll and then a few minutes later to run over to yet another booth with the ticket. This reduced the time the bus had to wait to pay for the toll. Likely, he receives very little in the way of salary but some income is obviously better than no income.

We believe that because of the dedication and perseverance of these people, that they will end up making a better life for themselves overtime.


We enjoyed a good night sleep and woke up early this morning to begin our day. When Keith arrived to the Fitness Center, two passengers were already there including John. Anne Marie arrived about twenty minutes later. About three-quarters into our workout Mary arrived. Now, is this a community or what? We enjoyed a great workout as Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine and Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill. Keith watched some of the shows on CNN, FOX and CNBC to keep up to date on the United States economic related issues. We are also keeping up with them vis-à-vis the internet and the papers that we receive on board the ship. Keith and Mary spoke about how wonderful the tours were in Vietnam yesterday.

After our workout we stopped by the Lido Café for some coffee before breakfast was delivered to our room. At around 7:00 AM we had breakfast and then started to get ready for today’s activities.

During the morning announcement from the bridge, Captain Glenn shared his thought of the day, which is “Even to climb the highest mountain start with one single step.” For us this means to take one step at a time.

We attended Rap with the Rabbi. The discussions continue to be excellent and have covered a nice set of topics. Each segment of the World Cruise has been unique because in addition to seeing some people who are doing the entire World Cruise each segment also provides the opportunity to meet new people and to hear what they have to say on a variety of topics. The Rabbi noted in today session that we will be celebrating Purim on board the ship this Thursday afternoon.

We attended yet another outstanding lecture given by Destination Lecturer Jay Wolff. The topic of his presentation was “Tet.” As part of this lecture, Dr. Wolff talked about the impact that this offensive had on the eventual outcome of the Vietnam war.

The next presentation was given by veteran actor and acclaimed writer-producer Laurance Luckinbill who presented “World Matter.” As part of this presentation, Mr Luckinbil shared excerpts from some of his award winning one-man shows based on the lives of Lyndon Johnson, and Teddy Roosevelt. He is also known for playing other roles such as Clarence Darrow, and Ernest Hemingway. His wife is Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Lucie Arnaz will also be speaking during the course of this voyage.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room.

Later in the afternoon we attended on of Crystal’s Production Shows called Gotta Dance. This one is the newest of the production shows offered on the ship. We enjoyed the show.

After the show, we attended a cocktail reception sponsored by the travel consortium that our Travel Specialist belongs to. On each of the eight segments of the World Cruise this travel consortium sponsors a reception for those passengers either on the entire World Cruise or on one or more segments of the World Cruise. Coincidentally, our Travel Specialist is on this segment of the World Cruise so she and her husband hosted today’s reception. These receptions provide yet another nice opportunity to get to know our fellow passengers.

After this reception, we had dinner in Silk Road with our Travel Specialist and her husband. We have a wonderful dinner and an outstanding conversations with them.

Speaking of this wonderful restaurant, the former Asian Restaurant on Crystal’s other Ship the Crystal Symphony has now been converted to Silk Road as well which we think is wonderful. While the conversion took place the former restaurant served food in the Lido Café and now that the new restaurant has opened up towards the end of the current voyage, so that as many passengers on that sailing can experience the wonderful food of Silk Road they are open for both lunch and dinner. Again, this is just for the last few days of that cruise.

And speaking of food and fine service, we wanted to share some thoughts on what we have experienced during this world cruise. In terms of the food selection, on this World Cruise on each segment of the cruise the main dining room has offered food items that are different on each segment in order to provide more diversity for those who are on the entire World Cruise or on several segments. At the same time, they have provided some of the traditional and mainstay food items that seasoned cruisers who might be on one segment of the cruise are accustomed to. In this manner, Crystal has done an outstanding job in our opinion in accommodating the desires of all of its passengers and we highly commend Crystal’s Corporate Chefs and other executives for taking this approach.

At the same time, Crystal’s dining room personnel continue to do an outstanding job of being able to prepare food items for passengers that are not on the menu. Some items can just be ordered at the time of the meal. For example, we can easily ask for an item on the menu to be prepared differently such as asking that a particular fish be grilled rather than be fried or we can ask for other side dishes rather than those that are shown on the menu. At the same time, we can order certain entrees not on the menu at the time we place our order. With 24 hours notification, we can order just about any item within reason. The same applies to breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The food served on board the ship is of the highest quality, and it is also presented beautifully. If one didn’t know, they would think that the kitchen is only preparing food for a handful of patrons rather than an entire ship. Each meal is carefully crafted and our hats go off to Crystal for not only consistently offering the finest cuisine but for their efforts to continue to improve upon the menu.

We have also noticed that in the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant that on each segment of the World Cruise that some changes have been made to the menu in order to offer a few different items. At the same time, the signature dishes are always available.

On top of the outstanding food is the outstanding service. The level of service provided throughout the ship continues to be top notch. The crew is superb at all levels throughout the ship and in all departments. In our opinion, the level of service is truly amazing.

We are pleased to say that this World Cruise has exceeded all of our expectations. As we have said from the very start, this is a journey. So, let the journey continue with our visit to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which we reach late tomorrow morning. We will have an overnight in this city.

Keith & Anne Marie