En Route To Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

NOTE: Last evening, we were unable to post pictures from yesterday. We were able to post the pictures earlier today so if you scroll down to the end of this posting you will see another posting with pictures from the most recent World Games and World Games Awards Ceremony.

We were not able to post pictures from this evening but will attempt to do this in the morning, our time.

Speaking of pictures, we’ve updated our picture web site with a new section titled Crystal Cuisine. Towards the right hand side of this site, you will see a link which you can click on for our World Cruise pictures which will take you to our web site with pictures. We posted a few pictures of the Crystal Cuisine. We hope you enjoy them. Remember you do not gain any calories from looking at them. ☺

Once again, we enjoyed very calm seas and slept very well. We woke up early and Keith arrived to the Fitness Center a little before 5:00 AM. Today, he was the first one in the Center and a little while later Anne Marie made it to the Center. During our workout John also arrived. Keith enjoyed his favorite Elliptical Machine and Anne Marie enjoyed a nice workout on the Treadmill.

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room. During the Captain’s daily morning talk he noted that we are traveling at 21 knots per hour. The weather was a comfortable 82 degree Fahrenheit. Captain Glenn’s thought of the day was “The only tme you can’t affort to fail is the very last time you try.”

Today was another full day at sea as we cruise to Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. There were lots of activities throughout the morning, afternoon, and evening hours.

Destination Lecturer Dr. Jay Wolff gave the first lecture of the day. The topic of Dr. Wolff’s presentation was “Piracy is Alive and Well.” It was a quite interesting presentation and reminds us to be aware of our surroundings.

Former FBI Profiler Clint Van Zandt gave the next presentation. His presentation was titled “Reading a Crime Scene Like a Book – The Real CSI.” His presentation covered the history of modern day crime scene investigations and how today’s criminal investigators read a crime scent to develop a profile of the criminal. During his presentation, Clint Van Zandt provided real-life examples to illustrate his points such as the Washington, DC sniper case from a couple of years ago. It was an outstanding presentation and we learned a great deal from Clint Van Zandt as we always do from each of his lectures.

We then went to Team Trivia. While we correctly answered only nine of fifteen questions, we still finished in a tie for second place. The questions were very difficult.

After Team Trivia we went to the Main Dining Room for Lunch. We each enjoyed a wonderful salad entrée. The senior waiter who we request each time we have lunch in the Main Dining Room, Dragan (yes his name is spelled Dragan) will be going on holiday at the end of this segment. He is wonderful and we will miss him.

After lunch, Keith participated in the Golf Putting Tournament. For many passengers this was considered golf putting put to Keith who is not a golfer he viewed this as miniature golf or putt-putt. Keith ended with a respectable score but not good enough for any of the medals.

Before the golf tournament, we ran into Mary who gave us a few pictures from yesterday when Keith received his medals. She also put a picture of Keith and the other two Olympians on a Total cereal box for us. She had tried to locate a Wheaties cereal box. So, Keith joins the other athletes on boxes of cereal. ☺ Thanks to Mary and to Stan for the wonderful pictures and the nice memento to remember the games and the award ceremony.

Before dinner, we attended the Crystal Society Reception. This reception is for those passenger’s who have completed at least one cruise with Crystal. Everyone was dress up as the attire for this evening is Formal. Most men wear tuxedos with a few others in dark suits. Women wear a variety of formal attire from long gowns to formal cocktail address to formal tops and pants suits. It is so nice to see everyone dressed up in his or her formal attire. At this reception passengers who have completed a large number of Crystal Cruises are recognized. We want to note that one of the World Cruise passengers has now completed their 200th individual cruise with Crystal which is a truly an amazing feat. This speaks so very highly of Crystal.

We continue to enjoy our World Cruise and just like last year it has exceeded our expectations. As we mentioned in one of the first posts, a World Cruise is not like any other cruise as it is an adventure rather than just a cruise. After just a very short time the ship becomes a community rather than just passengers on a sailing. For us, it was even more unique since we have come back for our second consecutive World Cruise. It was so nice to see those people that became our friends last year this time around and also realizing that we would also make friends with many new passengers who were not on last years cruise. At the same time the bond that takes place between passengers and staff is also quite unique. We are fortunate that our senior waiter, waiter and stewardess will be on the entire sailing with us and others such as our Butler and Headwaiter will be on most of the cruise with us.

This evening we ate dinner in the Japanese Silk Road Restaurant. As usual, the food and the service were just outstanding. We enjoyed a variety of Sushi to begin the meal. It was wonderful and we’ve included a picture of the Sushi platter. Yes, all of that exercising allows us to order quite a bit of Sushi. Keith eats a good portion of it. Since we now order more Sushi, our next course was the entrée. Rather than getting a large entrée we get a tasting by ordering the Nobu box which contains small tastings of three entrees. Anne Marie enjoyed the lobster, black cod and scallops and Keith enjoyed the lobster, black cod and eggplant along with a little taste of Anne Marie’s scallops. For dessert Keith enjoyed the fruit plate (without the sherbet). Anne Marie has fruit each day of the cruise except for one day on each segment when she will have a real desert for dinner. Tonight was desert night for Anne Marie so she had the chocolate soufflé cake (served warm) with a sesame ice cream. Some would argue it is the best part of the meal. ☺ Anne Marie finishes the meal with a decaffeinated coffee (they make a marvelous cup of coffee) and Keith concludes his meal with green tea. There are so many other food items to select from that we don’t normally have. They serve several outstanding soups including an excellent tasting hot spicy soup. There are some excellent salads to choose from including one that we have enjoyed in the past, which is salad, topped with cooked mushrooms that are served hot. Likewise, there are lots of entrees to choose from. You can get large portions of the tastings that we had or you can select other items from seafood, to chicken, to wonderfully tasting beef. There is also a great sushi bar where you can enjoy sushi while watching the talented chefs prepare them in front of you. One time we will experience this.

Tomorrow, we will be at sea again. A noteworthy item about tomorrow which is the day in which we cross the equator for the second time since we boarded the ship in January.

We will set the clocks back one hour as we sail into another new time zone.