The World Games

Today has been another great day on board the Crystal Serenity as we cruise to our next port of call in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.

We enjoyed a great night sleep, as the seas were relatively calm last evening. We awoke early this morning. Keith arrived to the Fitness Center by around 5:00 AM but was not the first passenger to arrive to the center this time around. The woman who we had dinner with last evening was already there. She and her husband normally eat at the late seating for dinner in the Main Dining Room starting at 8:30 PM vs. a start time for 6:00 PM for the main seating, which we attend. However, since we ate together at 7:00 PM yesterday evening in the Specialty Restaurant and finished earlier than they normally do she ended up going to sleep relatively early. Anyway, to make a long story short, someone finally beat Keith to the Fitness Center. ☺

Anne Marie arrived to the Fitness Center about twenty minutes after Keith arrived and we both enjoyed a wonderful workout. Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine and Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill. We both continue to rack up those miles on this equipment.

Mary and John also worked out while we were there and Keith enjoyed another wonderful conversation with Mary. During our workout, we saw one of the lecturers who were on during the last segment of the World Cruise on the television monitor talking on one of the national network cable stations about the stock market. It is amazing to see people on television that we first met on a Crystal Cruise. There are quite a few lecturers who over the years we have seen on one of the Crystal ship and then at a later point in time on television..

After our workout we enjoyed a great breakfast in our room.

During this mornings report from the bridge, Captain Glenn noted that we were in the Indian Ocean traveling at 21 Knots per hour with four engines in use. Captain Glenn’s thought of the day was “Buy some good stocks, keep them till they go up and sell them. If they don’t go up, don’t buy them.” Now all we need is a crystal ball. ☺

We began the morning activities by attending Rap with the Rabbi. These sessions continue to be nicely attended. We find that the topics are quite interesting and it provides a very nice opportunity to share and to listen to a variety of points of view. There were lots of passengers in attendance today and today’s discussion could have gone well beyond the allotted time. There were many passengers in attendance who had not previously sat in this session.

After the Rap, Keith played in the Men’s Doubles Table Tennis Tournament. The teams are chosen randomly. The sports director collects each passenger’s identification card and then chooses two at a time to form the teams. Keith and his partner won all of their games and each game they won 21-19. In the final game they were losing 11-5 and ended up winning the game, which gave them the Gold Medal for the tournament. We had a lot of fun and also enjoyed the opportunity to socialize with our fellow passengers.

Before Team Trivia we attended a presentation given by Deana Martin. The topic of her presentation was “Growing Up With the Rat Pack.” Deana Martin discussed her recollections of the Pat Rack and provided lots of interesting information about her father, Dean Martin, along with Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior. Deana Martin shared some video clips of video that had never been shown to the public.

Before lunch, we attended Team Trivia. Today our team had a port showing as we only answered eight of fifteen questions correctly. ☹ Better luck next time. -☺

After Team Trivia we enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room.

This afternoon Keith played table tennis with some of his fellow passengers. He was going to enter the Dart Tournament but he thought he wouldn’t have time to finish the game and get ready for the evening activities. Anne Marie read outside on the verandah. We cruise past Bali today and the views from outside were gorgeous.

Before this evening’s dinner we attended the World Cruise Award Ceremony. This ceremony recognized the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners from the World Cruise Competition held the past couple of days. For each competition the respective winners are announced and are called up to the platform, one by one, where they receive their award and are photographed by the ship photographer. The Cruise Director was also on hand and many passengers show up to recognize their fellow passengers. This evening Keith was called up for two events from earlier in the week. He received a Silver medal from the men’s Basketball competition and he received a Gold medal for the mixed doubles walking relay. Our friend John received the Gold for Basketball and we were thrilled for him. Also, on hand were Olympians Cathy Rigby and Mitch Gaylord.

Cathy Rigby is a two-time Olympic gymnast and was the first American woman to win a medal in the World Gymnastics Competition. She earned a Tony nomination for her performance in Peter Pan and has performed in several plays including, The Cat-in-The-Hat, Annie Get Your Gun, Meet Me in St. Louis, South Pacific, Paint Your Wagon, and the Unsinkable Molly Brown. She was also a gymnastic commentator for eighteen years on ACB TV’s Wide World of Sports.

Mitch Gaylord let the United States Olympic gymnastics team to its Gold Medal victory in 1984. He was the first American Gymnast in history to score a perfect 10. He also went on to capture a Silver medal for Vaulting and two Bronze medals for Rings and Parallel Bars. He also made his acting debut in 1986 appearing in Columbia Pictures’ American Anthem and also appeared in several commercials.

Following the award ceremony, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room.

We don’t always mention all of the entertainment but we wanted to note that on this years world cruise Crystal has brought on about sixteen or twenty more acts over last year. Some of the regular production shows that one sees on one voyage have been shown as an afternoon matinee allowing additional acts to be feature in the evening. There have been plenty of great performances throughout this cruise.

We are having trouble publishing pictures today. Will try to publish some pictures tomorrow related to the World Games.


Keith & Anne Marie