NOTE: Below this entry, we have also posted another entry, which has one picture from yesterday which was a picture of our Cruise Critic get-together in the Captain’s Quarters.
We have also updated our pictures on our picture web site. If you click on the link on the right hand side that takes you to our picture web site you will see a new group of pictures called Grand Gala Desserts. These pictures show some of the beautifully decorated cakes that were served at yesterdays Gala. We didn’t eat any of these cakes. ☺ However, we thought they were picture perfect so we took plenty of pictures of them. The chefs on Crystal are amazing. This is clearly an art so kudos to the Pastry Chefs were preparing marvelous cakes.
We have posted four pictures today. The first is a picture of us with Captain Glenn from two evenings ago. The second is a picture of one of the Water Village Homes. The third is a picture of the Chariot that was used when the Sultan went from being a Crown Prince to the Sultan of Brunei. Finally, the last picture is of the Jame’Asr Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque.
Today we arrived in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. This country borders the South Sea and has a long, lovely coast.
The Sultan rules this country. He is the Head of State, Prime Minister, Finance Minister, and Defense Minister. The Sultan’s family has ruled this nation for more than six centuries. Approximately 400,000 people live in this capital city. The Sultan is extremely wealthy.
His personal car collection is valued at $4 Billion dollars and includes over 500 Mercedes, over 350 Ferraris, over 350 Bentleys, almost 200 BMWs, over 175 Jaguars, over 150 Porsches, over 125 Rolls Royce’s and 20 Lamborghinis. Some sources estimate even higher numbers. We don’t quite understand why one individual needs so many cars and think that this amount of money could be much better spent on the people of this nation,
Approximately two-thirds of the residents of this nation are Muslim. Buddhists account for another 15% of the residents and Christianity accounts for the remaining 8% of the population.
Oil is king and oil is what drives this nations economy. There is no income tax but there is a tax on goods that are sold.
One observation. We saw very few locals during our tour. When we were in the mosque, we saw very few people and as we drove through the capital city we saw many motorists but we saw very few people on the sidewalks. Of course, our local guide did mention that since gasoline prices are relatively low that the locals do utilize their cars quite a big and that their means of getting around is almost exclusively the automobile. He also mentioned that the locals prefer not to walk much and that obesity has become a major problem.
Keith awoke very early in the morning and began his workout at 4:30 AM. We have an early tour so Keith wanted to get in an early workout. Anne Marie worked out in the afternoon. Mid-way through Keith’s workout Mary arrived and John arrived a little while after that.
After Keith finished his workout and was walking down the first flight of steps he saw a familiar face from the night crew who is one of the members of the crew who cleans the ship during the nighttime hours. Keith spoke with him for a little while and noted that he had begun his workout earlier than normal at 4:30 AM. At that point the member of the night crew said, yes, you normally begin at 5:00 AM. That is amazing that he remember the time that Keith gets up there in the morning.
We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our room as we have done for the last couple of weeks. Since we had a fairly early shore excursion, we had breakfast delivered at 6:00 AM.
When we disembarked the ship, Brunei Health Officials were positioned at the gangway entrance where they performed random temperature checks of passengers. We were warned that this would occur.
We took a morning shore excursion that was called The Sultanate: City & Water Village Tour.
We began our tour with a brief look inside the Jame’Asr Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque. This mosque is the largest mosque in Brunei. We had to remove our shoes and the women were given black robes (looked similar to graduation robes to put on) and we could only walk on a certain area within the mosque. The outside landscaping of the mosque was impeccable.
We then had a stop across the street from the home of the Sultan. There was a large gates and lots of landscaping in the front. The palace contains over 1,600 rooms.
From there, we continued to the Royal Regalia Center. This center was constructed in 1992. It houses a collection of royal regalia including the royal chariot, gold and silver ceremonial armory and the crown used for the coronation along with a variety of gifts from other nations. We had to remove our shoes before we went inside.
Our final stop before returning to the ship was at Kampont Ayer, an over-water village. At the village we boarded a water taxi for a short ride over to the water village where we visited a traditional Brunei home. On our way to the home, we traveled by lots of homes within the water village and also had views of a couple of mosque s and the Sultan’s Palace. At the home, various desserts and tea were served.
We enjoyed this tour and we really appreciate the amount of information that our tour guide shared with us. We sat in the front of the bus and we asked our tour guide lots of questions.
During our tour we ran into a family (parents and an adult daughter) who we had met on a back to back Crystal cruise in the Mediterranean in 2005. We immediately recognized one another. They are from Canada and very nice people. The mother remembered how Keith had helped her into the tender when we cruised in 2005 and had waited for her to help her out of the tender.
When we arrived back from the ship, we enjoyed lunch in our room. Given the time we knew we were getting back, we had pre-ordered the lunch so that it was ready around the time we returned. The lunch was wonderful as it always is all the food on Crystal.
We both took a nice long on the promenade deck in the afternoon. I was fairly warm but we enjoyed getting fresh air by walking outside.
Before dinner this evening we had cocktails in the Captain’s Quarters. It is amazing that we were invited to the Captain’s Quarters two days in a row. Many of the passengers attending this evening are on the full World Cruise.
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. The food throughout the World Cruise has been wonderful. We are amazed at the quality of the food and its presentation, particularly when one considers the number of passengers being served throughout the day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. During the World Cruise, many varied items are offered throughout the cruise given how long many of the passengers are on the ship.
On the dinner menu, there are typically four or more appetizers to choose from, three different soups, two different salads, a pasta special, a salad entrée, four main fare entrees along with a couple of alternative entrees. Several side orders are available from various potatoes, to pasta, to various vegetables. In addition there are vegetarian selections to choose from and there are lighter side items. Let us not forget about dessert. There are sugar-free desserts, classic desserts along with items from the cheese trolley. On most evenings, the headwaiters also prepare desserts such as Banana Foster, Cherries Jubilee, Crepes Suzettes and so forth. Many items not on the menu can be ordered and you can also make some changes to how a particular item is prepared. Also, if you provide 24 hours notice you can order just about anything in reason as long as the ingredients are available on the ship.
The cuisine served by Crystal is fabulous and we really appreciate the way Crystal accommodates how we enjoy having our meals prepared.
On top of that we greatly appreciate the outstanding, and we do mean the outstanding service, provided in the Main Dining Room and throughout the ship. In addition to the wonderful service, we also greatly appreciate the outstanding knowledge that the wait staff has with respect to food preparation and their recommendation of food items. The Main Dining Room staff includes the waiter who ensures that all of the items ordered are prepared by the kitchen and are picked up from the kitchen in an orderly manner so that all items for a particular course are ready to be brought over to the table at the same time, and also takes care of other items at the table including water, to hot beverages. There is the senior waiter who takes our order, serves most of the items, offers recommendations on items, and follows up to ensure that we are pleased with the meal. There is also a Head Waiter who has the responsibility for a large section of tables in the dining room. The Head Waiter will take care of special items that are ordered ahead of time, will prepare some special desserts, and also take care of other special food items. We have had our Head Waiter on many of our Crystal cruises and he amazes us by remembering many of our favorite food items. He also knows whether or not we will like a particular entrée on the menu as he knows we really likes fish and has an unbelievable memory as to what type of fish we enjoy. On a few evenings where we were not in the dining room the night before he knew we would not like the choices and without us asking he pre-ordered an alternative entrée for us and he was correct each time. Then there is the Maitre D’ of the dining room. We have sailed with him many times and he is wonderful. He takes care of all of the seating assignments, he will also arrange for special tables for passengers who need to eat together on a particular evening and oversees the entire wait staff. He comes around from time to time to check on us.
Our senior waiter, Pablo, and waiter, Layla, are both from Chile and have been wonderful. We appreciate their professionalism and enthusiasm and all that they do to make each of our meals very special and we are so fortunate to have them for the entire cruise. Our headwaiter is Peter and is known by some as tall Peter as he is rather tall. He is very knowledgeable in the area of food and we go with his food recommendations very often. Peter is from Austria. The Maitre D’ for the first half of the World Cruise is Leo and is also from Austria. He is also outstanding in all that he does. Every few segments we have a different Sommelier assigned to our table. Our current Sommelier is Gert and he is also from Austria. He is also very knowledgeable and we will ask him lots of questions about wine. Wines are available by the bottle and a variety of wines are available by the glass.
We love our table location in the dining room. We sit at a table for two but on occasion we have had the table expanded to accommodate another couple. On other evenings when we want to dine with other passengers we make plans to eat in one of the Specialty Restaurants. We were very fortunate to get this table as it is in one, if not the quietest area in the dining room and is by a window. We also know several of passengers who seat in this same area of the dining room.
Given the length of time we are on the cruise we eat very healthy foods in the dining room each evening. For dinner, we really enjoy all of the healthy foods available to choose from including the salad, the wonderfully prepared seafood entrees, the very fresh vegetables, and all of the fruit selections available for dessert. At the same time, there are so many other items to choose from and, on occasion we do order a fun item.
From time to time we’ll try to provide similar details about the other dining venues on the ship.
Keith & Anne Marie
