En Route To Melbourne, Australia

We just wanted to mention one more time how delightful we found Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to be. On yesterday’s tour, there were six vehicles and drivers and each driver had an expertise in certain areas, which added to the tour. When we were all together as a group, one of the tour guides would take the lead in sharing their expertise regarding the area we would visit. It really added to our overall enjoyment. Our driver/tour guide was outstanding. We found all of the locals who we met yesterday to be quite warm and witty. They were very open in their discussions and we were able to learn so much from them about the history, culture, landscape, economics, traditions, values and even the political views of Australia.

Last night the seas were relatively calm so we enjoyed a good nights sleep. We woke up early and began our day in the Fitness Center. Keith and Mary were the first two to arrive at the Fitness Center. Anne Marie was the third person to arrive about twenty minutes after Keith got up there and John arrived a little while afterwards. Mary represented Crystal on the tour yesterday and Keith and Mary talked about what a fabulous tour we all had. Crystal is one of the few cruise lines that will have a representative on each tour to look after the passengers and to ensure that the tour meets the Crystal standards and is consistent with the description of the tour. Mary does an outstanding job and we wish that we could have Mary or her wonderful husband Stan on each tour we are signed up for as they are each terrific in this role.

We enjoyed a very nice workout. As usual, Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine and Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill. By the time we left, it became a little more crowded, but there were still many available machines to choose from.

We decided to enjoy breakfast in our room since today is a sea day and we thought it would be nice to have a quiet and relaxing breakfast. We have one day at sea today before we reach our next port of call tomorrow, which is Melbourne, Australia. We will have an overnight in Melbourne, which should provide additional time to visit this city.

Many activities were planned for today along with a Grand Gala Luncheon Buffet and a Captain’s Farewell Reception. There are still a few more days to go before this segment of the World Cruise is over.

This morning the during the Captain’s announcement Captain Glenn mentioned that the seas could be rougher later in the day which they have been. It has been quite windy, but overall the ship has done very well. The Captain’s thought of the day, which he shared at the end of his talk, is “The world is a book and those who stay home only read one page.” We thought this was another wonderful thought that we wanted to share with everyone. For us, cruising certainly has added many pages and chapters to our lives. We have so much from our cruising experiences. One observation is that everywhere we go is the pride and enthusiasm that each person we meet has about his or her respective homeland.

We enjoyed a busy morning. First on our schedule was to attend the Rap with the Rabbi. One of the couples did a short presentation for everyone and afterwards this led to a very solid discussion. The participation continues to be quite high and it is a pleasure to share and to listen to thoughts on a variety of items.

We then attended a lecture given by Destination Lecturer, Dr. Jay Wolff. The topic of his presentation was “Crossing the Outback – Death in the Desert.” The presentation covered the adventurers who met death trying to cross Australia’s great emptiness. He discussed how many starved as a result of arrogance, ignorance, and insolence and how some became national heroes. Dr. Wolff has a wonderful presentation style, as he is able to share a wealth of information by through one or more stories. His lectures continue to be very well attended and enjoyed by all.

Investment Lecturer, Dr. Bob Froehlich, who presented, gave the last program we attended in the morning titled “Where in the World is Dr. Bob Investing, Part III. The other day he had covered most of his top ten recommendations for investing in 2008 but had left out the number one and number 2 recommendations. He also shared his thoughts on some individual stocks to invest in along with views on asset allocation. He is a very animated speaker.

We attended the Grand Gala Buffet. We enjoy looking at all of the wonderful displays of food and have posted a few pictures from the buffet. We ate in the dining room, but ordered a nice salad entrée.

We took care of some errands in the afternoon and Anne Marie also attended a needlepoint get together.

Before dinner, we attended the Captain’s Farewell Reception. Once again, we had a wonderful time talking with some of our fellow passengers and several members from the crew and we enjoyed the Captain’s talk. This is the last reception for those on the ship who will be departing the ship in a few days in Sydney. We also enjoyed the music and danced to some of the music. The seas were quite rough so the second reception was moved to the Stardust Club.

This evening was formal night so it was great to see everyone dressed up. It really adds to the overall ambience of the ship and we are so very glad that formal attire is part of the cruising experience found on Crystal Cruises.

This evening we dined at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with lots of sushi, along with some very nice entrée items.

Tomorrow morning, we are scheduled to arrive at Melbourne, Australia at approximately 8:00 AM, Sunday morning, local time.

Keith & Anne Marie

Hobart, Australia

We enjoyed another great nights sleep. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have had relatively calm seas for another evening since we were sailing in the Tasman Sea, better known for its rough seas.

We had a fairly early tour this morning so Keith woke up even earlier than normal and worked out for a little over an hour in the Fitness Center. He was the first in the center but not before long Mary was also in the center and John arrived a little while later. Anne Marie took a well-deserved break from the Fitness Center today.

Since we have an early tour we had breakfast delivered to our room this morning. Actually, when Keith came back from the Fitness Center the breakfast was being delivered to the room so that was perfect timing.

We wanted to mention that last evening before we went to sleep we could see another cruise ship heading in the same direction as our ship. It looked like a Princess Ship and this morning as we were making our way towards land we could see the same ship. We learned that there would be three ships in port today including our ship. When we arrived we did see the other two ships; the Sapphire Princess and the Celebrity Mercury. We sailed on the Mercury over ten years ago on a cruise of Alaska.

We saw a beautiful (and we do mean beautiful) sunrise from our room, as we were finishing up our breakfast. The temperature early in the morning was just about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. We also wanted to mention that last night when we were eating dinner we saw several porpoises (at least that is what we think they were) from our dining room table. We’ve learned that you can see quite a bit if you just pay close attention to the ocean.

After five days at sea, we arrived at our first port of call in Australia, which is known as Hobart, Australia. Hobart is part of the island-state of Tasmania. It is located between Mt. Wellington and the Derwent River. It is Australia’s second oldest capital. Its population is about 130,000 people.

The city is rich in its history and it has approximately 90 buildings with National Trust classification. Like Sydney, Hobart is also known for its nice Harbor and is recognized as having one of the most beautiful harbor cities in the world.

We enjoyed an outstanding day and tour in Hobart. Hobart and the portion of Tasmania that we saw during our daylong tour is beautiful beyond description. The countryside was amazing as we drove along winding roads and by hills and mountains with beautiful greenery all around us.

We took a shore excursion that we signed up with through Crystal called the Tassi Trek Adventure. This was a full day excursion lasting over eight hours. Normally, we sign up for excursions that are shorter in duration, but this excursion was very appealing to us.

As part of this tour, we were taken in a four-wheel drive vehicle to the interior of Tasmania. This was a full day tour, which included plenty of sightseeing as well as a nice lunch. This tour has been sold out for quite a while and only 25 people were on the tour. We thought it would provide us with a nice opportunity to see first hand several of the animals that are unique to Australia and to also see more of the inland. We were also happy that Mary was on the tour as the Crystal Representative.

We visited Bonorong Wildlife Park, which is home to Australian residents such as koalas, Tasmanian devils, wombats, kangaroos, and wallabies. Park rangers were on hand to hold and freed these very cute animals. We were able to feed some of the animals ourselves.

We also visited Mt. Field National Park, which is a World Heritage Site. It is a beautiful park offering breathtaking views for all to see. Our visit included a walk in the rainforest were we viewed the Russell Falls. During the course of our walk we saw hundreds upon hundreds of hardwood trees many of which were three to four hundred years old. We also saw various Ferns, many of which were a couple of hundred years old. . We visited the park two times once in the morning for a snack which included scones with whipped cream and jelly (yummy) and coffee/tea and then in the afternoon for our long walk in the park.


We also visited glacial Lake Dobson and Mt Tim Shea in the Florentine Valley. The views were spectacular.

Our tour included a wonderful lunch in the forestry community of Maydena Township. We enjoyed a variety of nice foods including Salmon for our entrée.

On our way back to the ship, our guide also took us around Hobart and provided us with a good deal of information about this wonderful location. Our guide was outstanding and shared lots of information with us concerning the history of Tasmania and its people and also explained to us all that we were to see and answered the numerous questions we had in great detail. We also appreciated all of his enthusiasm.

For those passengers who were not signed up for any of the tours, the ship was docked within walking distance from downtown Hobart making it very easy for those passengers to spend time in this very nice area.

Tomorrow we will cruise the Bass Strait on our way to our next port of call, Melbourne, Australia.

All in all today was an outstanding day.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Hobart, Australia

Last evening we had very calms seas so we enjoyed a great nights sleep. We were also very fortunate to have set the clocks back an additional hour. This all made it very easy to wake up early this morning.

It is hard to believe that today is our fifth consecutive day at sea since we were unable to stop at our last port of call the other day due to the weather.

Keith was the first one up to the Fitness Center this morning and Anne Marie arrived just about twenty miles later. We each enjoyed a wonderful workout. Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine and Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill. Several of the regulars were working out including John and Mary. Keith spoke with Mary during most of the workout and was happy to learn that Mary will be an escort on the tour we are book on for tomorrow in Hobart Australia.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast in the Lido café. It was not too busy in the Café as many passengers decided to sleep in a little later this morning. Midway through our breakfast, another fellow passenger joined us. We had a very nice conversation with him.

During the Captain’s Daily Announcement he said the weather would not be as good today as he hoped, but overall the seas have ranged from being calm to just a little rough. Overall, the seas in this area of the world have been a lot better than we expected. Let’s hope this continues until we reach tomorrow’s port of call. Captain Glenn’s thought for the day is “In order to be successful, it is not enough to do things right, you have to do the right things.” This is another nice thought, which makes perfect sense to us.

There were lots of activities scheduled for today from various lessons including music lessons, basic, intermediate and advanced bridge lessons, a Japanese writing class, a Spanish class, memoir writing, dance classes, two classes on computers, and a golf clinic just to name a few. There were two movies; one in the afternoon and one in the evening. There were lots of lectures, a special Asian Buffet Luncheon, numerous opportunities to dance and to listen to live music, team trivia, various physical fitness activities, a paddle tennis doubles tournament, various bridge games, a fashion show, bingo, afternoon tea, along with a list of other activities too numerous to list.

There were also two shows, which has been the case a few times during the world cruise. One of the production shows which normally is held in the evening was held in the late afternoon and then in the evening there was a show featuring vocalist Kaitlyn Carr and Jazz with Doug Cameron.

During the day we attended three lectures. The first lecture was given by Olympic champion medal winner and network television and radio sports broadcaster John Naber who taught us how to maximize our creative thinking and to draw on this to solve day-to-day problems. He gave several examples of Olympians who took unique approaches, which resulted in them achieving new records. He is a wonderful motivational speaker. Thoughts he shared with us included; trust you instincts, allow for blue sky time (take time each day to think), hang in there , back to the drawing board, borrow from outside the box, turn lemons into lemonade, be quick off the block, think on your feet and stay hungry.

Barbara Rinella who dramatized Nora Ephron’s best selling memoir, “I feel bad about my neck”, gave the second lecture we attended. She performed to a standing room only crowd. She is truly gifted and had the audience in stitches. We had the opportunity to attend her sessions during one segment of last years World Cruise and she is a truly amazing woman. We also had the opportunity to share a 4x4 with Barbara and her husband on a tour the other day and enjoyed talking with them. The woman author she portrayed also wrote the screenplay for Sleepless In Seattle and for When Harry Met Sally.

The third lecture we attended was given by Diplomat, Professor of International Relations, and CEO, Rob Warne who gave a presentation titled “Australia Builds a Nation” which discussed the 220 years of rapid political economic development and how it led to a confident, prosperous nation.

During the course of the day we also enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room and an equally impressive Dinner in the Main Dining Room.

Quite a few passengers are still sick. Some have colds, while others have other illnesses with a fair amount of coughing. Over the course of the cruise, many from the crew have also experienced this as well. Keith has been sick two times and should be 100% back to normal in the next day or two. Anne Marie has some initial symptoms so she might be getting sick as well. We have taken lots of steps to minimize this from washing our hands constantly, to thoroughly cleaning the fitness center equipment before we use it in the morning, to not touching our eyes, nose or mouth, to using an anti-bacterial hand wash, which Anne Marie carries in her purse, to trying to keep our distance from those who we believe are sick, etc., but given that we are in a relatively small area it is almost impossible not to pick up what is going around since so many passengers have been sick. Evidently, this started on the voyage right before the World Cruise that went from Miami, Florida to Los Angeles, California. Hopefully, everyone will get better soon. The good news is that Keith has fought through this and other than one morning when he rested in our room he has not let this affect him.

Tomorrow, we will arrive to our first port of call in Australia; Hobart. This is our first time to Australia and we are looking forward to it. Speaking of Australia, last evening we received a little bit of information concerning the first of two World Cruise Events, which will be held off the ship. The first one will be held on the evening that we are in Sydney, Australia and the second one will be held later in the cruise in Rome, Italy.

We may not post information from tomorrow’s port of call until a day or so later than we normally do since we will be on a full day tour.

We are having a wonderful time on our World Cruise Adventure and everyday we are making memories that will last a lifetime.

One of the pictures we posted is of Anne Marie and Benjamin. Benjamin is one of the Lido Deck Stewards who in 2007 was chosen as the Crystal Serenity Employee Of The Year.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Hobart, Australia

We updated yesterday’s blog with a couple of additional pictures from our yesterday’s very special day.

We enjoyed getting another hour of sleep last evening as we sailed into another new time zone on our way to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. The seas were calmer than what we expected so we were pleased with that. ☺

Today we enjoyed another full day at sea. We also had much calmer seas than we had expected.

We awoke early and began our day in the Fitness Center. Keith worked out on the elliptical machine and spoke with Mary during most of his workout and Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill. Keith also spoke with John for a little while. It was a little more crowded than it has been given the time zone change but there were still plenty of available machines for everyone. Keith is feeling much better today and felt great during the entire workout.

After our workout, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room. We decided it would be good to eat in our room again to get some quiet time and because we wanted to get the laundry done in the early morning. It’s a good thing we started the laundry as early as we did as many other passengers had the same idea so we got ours all done before all of the machines were in use.

In the morning we attended yet another lecture given by Dr. Jay Wolff whose presentation was titled “Convicts and Gold Bugs. “Britain saves money by shipping her convicts across the Atlantic, and when the American Revolution takes away here dumping ground, she finds a new one halfway around the world. Later, the discovery of gold changes a penal colony into a colonial Dominion.” Dr. Wolff’s lectures have been wonderful. Most of his lectures are told in a story-like format. They are both interesting and extremely informative. We are fortunate to have someone as interesting and as knowledgeable as Dr. Wolff as a destination lecturer for the entire cruise.

Keith then attended a lecture given by Investment Lecturer Dr. Bob Froehlich whose presentation was titled “Where in the World is Dr. Bob Investing? Part II: second Stop: Europe.” Dr. Bob Froehlich was a lecturer on last years World Cruise and today he did a top ten on recommended investments. However, he is saving his number 1 and 2 recommendations until his next lecture during the cruise. As Dr. Froehlich noted, even the experts do not get all of this right and for every ten ideas they come up with four or five do not turn out very good. We would agree with his thought. We have yet to meet the person with that magical crystal ball. ☺

At the same time as Dr. Froehlich’s lecture was a talk given by Resident Astronomer Dr Norman Caisse titled “Navigating the Skies: Aurora Australis”. Anne Marie attended this lecture and enjoyed this talk a great deal.

It is wonderful that there are so many lectures during the sea days along with all of the activities offered during the daytime and evening hours.

We then enjoyed another wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room with another couple who we know quite well from last years World Cruise. They are lots of fun to talk with. We look forward to dining with them again.

We also went to the mandatory Australian Immigration Inspection for all guests at our appointed time. This inspection was handled in a very orderly manner so it did not take very long.

This evening is a formal night so as part of the evening we attended a reception for all Crystal Society Members. As usual, we had a wonderful time at the reception and it provided a nice opportunity to hear from the Captain and to talk with some of our fellow passengers.

We enjoyed a very nice dinner in the Silk Road Specialty Restaurant. We dined with the person who is teaching the Memoir Writing Course on the cruise, Joe, and his lovely wife, Maria, and their very nice son, Paul. We met Joe and Maria on last years World Cruise and spoke with them from time to time. Last year their daughter jointed them on the cruise and this year their son shares the same opportunity. They are a charming family. This is the first time we dined with them and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and an outstanding conversation. They are very a very nice family and we look forward to seeing them throughout the remainder of the World Cruise.

This evening we will set the clock back another hour before we go to sleep. We really have come to appreciate setting the clock backwards from time to time. ☺

Tomorrow, we will enjoy another day at sea.

Keith & Anne Marie

Milford Sound: New Zealand's Majestic Fjord

Today has been truly spectacular. We have had glorious weather, beautiful beyond description scenery and have sailed a very pristine area of the world.

We slept great last night, as the seas were quite a bit calmer than they have been the last two evenings and we were quite tired. Keith is doing much better and should be back to normal in the next couple of days. All of the fresh fruit and steamed vegetables with all of those vitamins probably has been helpful too. ☺

As we have done each and every day today we woke early and began our day in the Fitness Center. The Fitness Center was not too crowded. Keith worked out on the elliptical machine and Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill machine and Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room today. This was only the second time we have eaten in our room but thought it would be a nice thing to do since we are cruising the Milford Sound today. As we enjoyed our breakfast we had beautiful views of the scenery.

We caught part of the daily show, which is a 30-minute program shown each morning when we are at sea and they showed videos of our rendezvous with the Asuka II. It was truly amazing between the Serenity and the Asuka II along wit the helicopter overhead taking videos and pictures of this special event. It was magical. It was as if the two ships were dancing with one another and at the end as if they gave a kiss to one another. Our thanks go out to Crystal for making this a day we will never forget. We are glad that we had this opportunity to see the Asuka II the former Crystal Harmony and one of two sister ships of the Crystal Serenity.

As we mentioned, yesterday’s weather was beautiful and the scenery was pristine. We along with many of our fellow passengers were recounting memories of our first sailing with the Harmony and there were smiles on everyone’s faces. Several of us remarked how quickly time goes by as it seems like just yesterday that we had our first sailing on the Crystal Harmony and we were enamored with the outstanding service, food, entertainment, of this very special luxury cruise line. We all have our favorite stories and memories from our very first Crystal cruise.

The Milford Sound is very unique and very beautiful. It’s description is beyond words. It boasts beautiful mountaintops, silver cliffs and the majestically beauty of the seas below them. In order for the passenger’s to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the Milford Sound today’s activities including lectures were limited. In addition, recognizing that many passenger’s would be spending a good deal of time on the open deck on Deck 12 Crystal offered a soup and sandwich buffet in the Palm Court and Lido Café which was a very nice touch.

After breakfast, Anne Marie had her hair done in the beauty salon. At the same time Keith took care of some errands.

In a letter we received last evening from the World Cruise Hostess, we were asked to come out onto Deck 13 towards the bow of the ship at a pre-determined time. Crystal had arranged to have a helicopter fly around the ship as we made our way towards the waterfalls. The sun came out and the skies were clear and, once again, we had picture perfect weather. We got within just a few feet of the shoreline. We were so close that some members of the crew placed a glass under the falls to get some of the water. It was amazing and from the Helicopter pictures and video were taken of all of us. While Anne Marie had been getting her haircut, Keith waited with one other World Cruise passenger so we had perfect spots to get a beautiful view of all that was around us. It was like sitting behind home plate at a baseball game but without the backstop net in front of you. We could also see snowcapped mountains. The beauty of the deep valley and gorges coupled with the beautiful waterfall was a site to behold. We will remember this for the rest of our lives.

In the afternoon we enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. Keith attended a lecture given by Bob Hales titled “Identifying the Four Major Problems on the Legal Planning Road.” Later in the afternoon we took a very nice walk on the Promenade Deck. We walked with another nice couple. Anne Marie had met the woman for the very first time in the Salon and they are sailing on the first three segments of the World Cruise. Anne Marie walked with the woman while Keith walked with her husband. We look forward to talk with them again. The scenery that we saw was breathtaking. We have seen scenery today that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Before dinner this evening we attended a reception for all guests. As we’ve mentioned, on this years World Cruise Crystal has planned at least one additional special activity beyond all of the other regularly scheduled activities for all passengers on the ship, which we think, is a very nice idea. This evening all guests were invited to a pre-dinner cocktail party where they could experience the best barn dance this side of the dateline.

At one point during the reception we saw very large school of dolphins on the port side of the ship. By large school, we mean approximately 200 dolphin. We have never seen that many dolphins all at once. Then later during dinner we saw about ten dolphin from our dining room table.

After this reception we enjoyed a very nice dinner in the Main Dining Room. We had pre-ordered a dinner with the headwaiter for this evening, which include a very nice salad, kosher chicken and a very nice assortment of vegetables. The food was delicious.

We were truly blessed with wonderful weather today. We spoke to some passengers who have sailed this area of the world before and sometime it can be quite cloudy and rainy.

We have been warned that the next couple of days at sea could be rough. We will hope for calm seas.

Keith & Anne Marie

Cruising Dusky and Doubtful Sounds

Today is the first of four consecutive days at sea as we cruise to Australia. We cruise the Dusky and Doubtful Sounds today. Tomorrow, we cruise the Milford Sound. On February 20 & 21 we cruise the Tasman Sea. We are scheduled to arrive at Hobart, Australia on Friday morning, February 22.

Once again, last night the seas were fairly rough and seemed choppier than the evening before. This morning the seas were also rough and at one point some items in both the Main Dining Room and the Lido Café tumbled down.

Many of the passengers and the crew have been sick throughout the cruise with either cold like symptoms or other viral related symptoms and Keith has now come down with a cold. With that said, we were still able to wake up early and we did work out in the Fitness Center. After our workout, we enjoyed a nice breakfast in the Lido Café.

During the Captain’s daily talk he told us about what was in store for us today. His thought for the day was “If you don’t know where you are going you will end up somewhere else”.

Since today is a sea day there were lots of activities during the daytime and evening hours. A couple of the lectures in the morning included’

Investment Lecturer Dr. Bob Froelich gave a presentation titled “Where in the World is Dr. Bob Investing? First Stop: The Americas.”. Dr. Bob Froehlich lectured during one segment of last years World Cruise. He is one of the regulars on CNBC’s program, Squawk Box.

Later in the morning Olympic champion medal winner and network television and radio sports broadcaster, John Naber, gave a presentation titled “Pursuing Vicotry with Honor.” John Naber won five Olympic medals in swimming during the Montreal Olympics including four gold and one silver medal.

There were a number of highlights for today and the first was when we cruised the Dusky Sound and the Doubtful Sound today. The scenery was breathtaking. We had wonderful weather with sunny skies.

The second highlight was in the afternoon when there was a rendezvous with the Asuaka II which is the Former Crystal Harmony; the first Crystal Cruise Ship. This rendezvous took place in the late afternoon and hot chocolate and rum was served on the Lido and Sun Decks, which are on deck 12 and 13 respectively. The ships circled around one another and at one point their bows from each of the ships was almost touching one another. There was a helicopter flying overhead taking pictures and someone was also taking pictures of both ships from a small ship from the Serenity. The weather was perfect and it was an event that we will never forget.

Before this rendezvous we had a get together from those passengers on board the ship who post to the Cruise Critic Web Site. We organized this get together during the afternoon tea, starting at 3:30 PM. Today’s tea was English Colonial Tea Time. We see many of our fellow passengers from Cruise Critic each and every day and it was nice to get many of them together in the afternoon. We have included a picture from our get together but several people who were there are not in the picture including Keith who took the picture.

Before dinner, we attended a reception hosted by our travel consortium.

This evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the main dining room. We each enjoyed wonderfully prepared swordfish, along with various vegetables and a wonderful salad.

Congratulations go out to our children. Our son completed a major milestone for the year with his successful dinner series at the university that he is attending. He and his fellow student partner did an outstanding job in coordinating, preparing and executing a dinner earlier this week that was attended by over 75 patrons at the restaurant that is run by the university. And, today, our daughter ran and successfully finished her first 26 mile marathon. This run involved a great deal of training, preparation and determination. We are very happy and proud of these two major accomplishments of our son and daughter and look forward to seeing them very soon.

Today was another very special day.

Keith & Anne Marie

New Zealand

Last evening we had fairly rough seas throughout the evening and into the morning hours. We were definitely rocking and rolling but the ship did wonderful and overall it did not bother us very much. Before we went to sleep we put various items on the floor just in case the seas were rough enough to cause items from the shelves to fall to the floor.

Because of the strong headwinds which were as high as 50 knots with waves as high as twenty feet, instead of picking up the pilot at 9:30 AM and arriving at 11:00 AM the revised plan was to pick up the pilot at 2:00 PM and arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand at 3:00 PM this afternoon. Unfortunately, we learned in the afternoon that there would be additional delays, as we had to wait until a cargo ship left the harbor until we could dock in the harbor. Later in the afternoon, we learned from the Captain that we would not be able stop at this port of call. This is due to the fact that it was quite windy in the harbor and the Captain was concerned about safety issues coupled with the fact that we would have very limited time in this port of call.

The Captain also noted that it would be quite windy throughout the evening and to expect rough seas similar to what we experienced last evening. The good news is that he advised that the weather should be nice starting tomorrow. ☺

This is the last of the port of call that the ship was to stop at in New Zealand during this portion of our World Cruise adventure. Dunedin is the fourth largest city in New Zealand and has a total population of approximately 120,000 residents. It is the second largest city in the South Island. It has one of the best-preserved Victorian and Edwardian cities in all of the Southern Hemisphere.

We have greatly enjoyed New Zealand. In particular, we have enjoyed the beauty of this country along with the friendliness and kindness of its residents. For those of you who have not had the opportunity to visit New Zealand we highly recommend it and we look forward to coming here again in the future.

We have posted some pictures from New Zealand to our picture web site.

As we do each day, we awoke early to begin our day in the Fitness Center. We really find that this is a good way to begin our day. It’s nice to get our exercise out of the way early in the day and also when there are very few people in the center. Given the length of our voyage, in many ways the ship becomes our home so we find getting into a regular routine is quite helpful. Keith continued to workout on the elliptical machines. For Keith it provides him with the benefits of running, without all of the pounding on the knees. While working out Keith either talks with Mary and/or catches up on the news on the television monitor. On occasion, he’ll watch a lecture or part of a movie and typically he has been working out about an hour and a half on the machine. Anne Marie does well with the treadmill and on most days she will read a portion of a book while working out on the treadmill. Towards the end of her workout, she will put the book away and walk at a much faster pace. We also try to get in other walks during the day either on the promenade deck or on land on those days that we are in port. Also, we use the steps when going between decks almost all of the time except if Anne Marie is wearing an evening shoe where walking on the steps might be difficult and/or somewhat dangerous.

Keith was the first one in the Fitness Center this morning and Anne Marie arrived about twenty minutes later. A few minutes after that Mary arrived and, once again, Keith enjoyed a nice morning conversation with Mary while they worked out. By the time we left, only one other person was working out which is far less than the norm. We think the combination of the rough seas and the fact that we were scheduled to arrive in port at 11:00 AM today contributed to very few people working out.

The same could be said about the Lido Café. We enjoyed a nice quiet breakfast in the Café, but there were very few people up there even by the time we left. We enjoyed watching the sunrise from the Café it was quite sunny.

During this mornings talk by the Captain, he announced the delay in reaching the port of Dunedin, New Zealand. Today’s thought of they day fro the Captain is “A true friend is someone who takes the bus when the limousine breaks down.”

Because of the delay in reaching today’s port of call a number of activities were added to the daytime schedule..

We attended a couple of lectures this morning. Master Magician Mark Haslam gave a lecture titled the story of Houdini. Mark Haslam is not only a terrific magician, but he is also speaks eloquently and gave a wonderful lecture. Destination Lecturer Dr. Jay Wolff gave a lecture on the Titanic, which was added to the list of morning activities. He clarified a number of points, which had been misreported over the years and as usual delivered a wonderful presentation.

We then had a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. The food and the service continue to be spectacular.

Our original plan was to visit this port of call right after we docked and we had made a reservation in the Prego Specialty Restaurant so that we would have more time in the port. Unfortunately, due to the additional delays we decided to stay on the ship since there would be very little time in port so we ended up canceling our Prego reservations and ended up going to the Main Dining Room for dinner. We fully understand that these delays were not caused by Crystal and that they did the best the could to minimize impact to each and every passenger.

Keith & Anne Marie