En Route To Carins, Australia

We awoke early this morning and started our day off at the Fitness Center. After taking off a few days from working out, Anne Marie was able to get workout today. Anne Marie is slowly making improved progress and hopefully will be over this in a few more days. Then the challenge will be for both of us to avoid getting sick again. We continue to try to keep our distances from those who we suspect are ill. We also thoroughly wipe down the fitness equipment before we use it and we wash our hands as often as possible and use the anti bacterial cleanser, which Anne Maries carries with her at all times in her purse, every time we touch items including the restaurant menus. The challenge is being in a close environment such as a cruise ship or when we ride the bus for a tour or to take the complimentary transportation to and from town.

Keith was the first one to the Fitness Center and Anne Marie arrived a little while after. Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine and Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill. Other regulars such as John and Mary worked out as well. Keith enjoyed a nice conversation with Mary. By the time we finished up, there were far fewer passengers working out than is normal for so early in a cruise segment. We’re not sure why but maybe some folks wanted to sleep in later today.

After our workout we stopped by the Lido Café to get some coffee to take back with us and then we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room. Typically, we order the same thing for breakfast each day. We have cereal and a variety of fruit and coffee. We were kidding around with the Butler about this and asked if we are in the majority or in the minority in terms of the type of food we order. Not surprisingly, he confirmed what we expected that we are in the minority. He had a good way of putting it. Many of the passengers order a children’s breakfast, such as Pancakes, Waffle, or French toast. Sometime during the cruise, we will try the children’s breakfast ☺

During Captain Glenn’s morning announcement he noted that we were in the Coral Sea and in the area of the Great Barrier Reef. At the time of his announcement we were using two of six engines and traveling at a speed of a little over 13 knots per hour. In order to make it to our next port of call on schedule he would be increasing the speed and utilizing one additional engine. His thought of the Day is “If what you are telling is the truth you don’t have to choose your words so carefully.”

Speaking of the Great Barrier Reef is represents the sum total of a sprawling swarm of reefs and islands. It measures 1,250 miles long and in certain places it measures as high as 50 miles wide. It is comprised of 3,000 individual reefs and 850 islands. It continues to grow in size.

Today is a sea day as we sail to our next port of call located in Cairns, Australia. There were many activities throughout the day and afternoon.

Keith attended a lecture given by Destination Lecturer Dr. Wolff. The topic of his presentation was “I Shall Return. The Ballad of Douglas MacArthur.” Dr. Wolff talked about the greatness that Douglas MacArthur achieved. He discussed his achievements, which included the US victory in World War I, the Pacific successes in World War II and his role in Korea. At the same time he discussed his failings which led up to his resignation/dismissal from the armed forces. Dr. Wolff continues to give outstanding lectures and it is amazing all of the topics that he has covered. The other day we took the elevator down from the Captain’s Reception to the Main Dining Room for dinner, and he was on our elevator. Recognizing that with stops we might have two minutes on the elevator, Keith asked Dr. Wolff if he could share one of his interesting stories with us for the two minutes. ☺

Following Dr. Wolff’s lecture Keith attended a lecture given by former FBI Profiler Clint Van Zandt. He discussed Modern Day Pirates. He started off by talking about the history of the early Pirates and how law enforcement agencies and militaries around the world continue to fight this menace on the seas. He also provided case studies of modern day private attacks and the weapons used to combat them. He discussed the infamous disappearance of the recent newlywed on a honeymoon with his wife in from a Royal Caribbean Ship along with the pirate attack of the Seabourn Spirit cruise ship of Samoa.

We then went to Team Trivia. Today, our team finished in a tie for third place in terms of overall score. We had eleven of fifteen questions right.

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

Later in the afternoon we attended a get together that Keith organized for those passengers who post to the Cruise Critic Web Site. Several passengers who have been on board since January attended along with a couple of passengers who joined the ship earlier in the week in Sydney, Australia. We all got together at the afternoon tea that Crystal provides. Today’s tea was called Chocolate Tea Time. Various desserts were served at this tea including brownies, ganache, chocolate crème brulee, chocolate mousse and other sweets. Everyone who attended seemed to have a wonderful time.

After this get together we attended a cocktail reception that was provided by our Travel Consortium; Signature. The reception was very well attended.

This evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Silk Road Japanese Specialty restaurant with fellow passenger’s Helen and Allan King. We had a wonderful meal with fine cuisine along with a wonderful conversation.

This evening marked the opening ceremony for the 2008 World Cruise Games. There is an opening ceremony later this evening. The two Olympians who are on this segment of the cruise are Cathy Rigby and Mitch Gaylord.

Tomorrow we have another sea day as we sail to our next port of call in morning in Cairns, Australia.

Keith & Anne Marie

Brisbane, Australia

After we published last evenings Blog we ran into the Cruise Director who highly recommended that we see the evening show. We are so very glad that we took his advice. The entertainment was by Ventriloquist Jay Johnson. He was outstanding and he had us laughing for much of his show. He is best remembered for playing Chuck and Bob, the crazy ventriloquist in the evening television show known as Soap. This is the show that featured other actors such as Billy Crystal. This is the first time he has performed for Crystal and he was very funny from the moment he walked on stage. He started by telling a number of jokes before he brought to life his puppet. We are very glad we attended this show.

Today, we arrived at Brisbane, Australia. This is a maiden port of call for Crystal. Brisbane is located between the Gold Coast to the south and the Sunshine Coast to the north. This town as an array of places to visit including it Botanical Gardens, the Sir Thomas Planetarium, the Queensland Museum, Art Gallery and Maritime Museum. There are about 1 Million Residents of greater Brisbane, with far few people living downtown.

Last evening we set the clocks back on hour as we cruised into a new time zone. Keith awoke quite early this morning and was up to the Fitness Center a little before 5:00 AM. However, he was not the first one to the Center as another passenger who he knows quite well was already working out. Surprisingly, it never was too busy in the Center while Keith was still there. Anne Marie took another day off from working out, as she is still under the weather. After Keith’s workout he went to the Lido Café to have a cup of coffee and then went out on the open deck to watch as the ship began to get closer to the Brisbane Harbor.

We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our room as we arrived at the Cruise Ship Terminal.

During Captain Glenn’s morning talk he mentioned that at 2:00 AM we picked up the pilot for the long journey downriver. Before arriving at the berth, he turned the ship around to that we could sail right out of port when we depart at 6:00 PM this evening. The Captain’s thought of the day is “Please don’t make the mistake and give nothing because you only could give a little bit.”

Crystal offered a complimentary tour this afternoon for all passengers who are on this world cruise segment. However, we decided to pass on the tour since Anne Marie is not feeling well and Keith was also concerned about sitting on a bus with other passengers who are also under the weather. Essentially, there are a few different bugs going around from the common cold, to some passengers who seem to have laryngitis like symptoms, to some who have one or two other types of viruses. Some have been sick once, some twice and we know of at least one couple who came on the ship starting with the voyage before the world cruise and the husband is now sick for the third time while the wife is now sick for the second time. Hopefully, this will all cease shortly. We spoke with the ships doctor last evening at the Captain’s Welcome Session and he has definitely been very busy.

We also learned in today’s daily program that since our ship has entered one of the most environmentally sensitive areas of the world, and, due to local environmental regulations in the Great Barrier Reef, that is necessary to close guest laundry facilities during the time we transit this area in order to conserve the ships water supply. The facilities will be closed starting March 1 and will reopen on March 5.

Crystal provided a complimentary shuttle service from the pier to the city center of Brisbane. This involved a three mile drive and shuttles ran every twenty minutes for so.

As we were going down to the cruise ship terminal we ran into a very nice woman who used to work on the Serenity as the assistant to the Hotel Director. She recognized us right away. She told us that her husband, Adi, who used to be the Head Sommelier, was downstairs and sure enough we spoke with him. He recognized us right away and also remembered that Keith was his partner in the Passenger/Crew Triathlon that was part of last years World Cruise Games. We miss them both. After many years with Crystal they have settled down in Brisbane, Australia where they started a travel business. We also ran into one of the Shore Excursion Staff who just returned to the ship from Holiday in Sydney and she remembered our names right away. What memories the crew has.


We took the first shuttle at 9:00 AM, which dropped us off by a department store in the downtown area.

We enjoyed a very nice walk and first went over to the Botanical Gardens. Afterwards, we walked on a pedestrian bridge over the river and walked through a University and then we walked along the river where we passed a variety of gardens and a man made beach. We walked by the Maritime Museum, the Art Gallery and an area where the World Expo was held twenty years ago. We then walked over another bridge into the city where we saw the former Treasury building, which believe it or not is now a casino.

In town, we bought an item for Anne Marie’s virus and a couple of other small items. The town is very vibrant. We walked for a while longer until it was time to take the shuttle back to the ship. We then had lunch in the main dining room and then went back off the ship to walk around the Cruise Ship Terminal. The terminal is fairly new and has some very nice shops and restaurants. They even had a high-end grocery market with wonderful looking vegetables and fruits along with a section with fresh seafood, meats, and sushi. The quality of these food items was definitely high end with reasonable prices. We even saw the Moreton Bay bug that resembles a crayfish and it is very popular with the locals. We posted a picture showing them. There were some nice retail shops and even a movie theatre. The quality of these shops is of a standard much higher than what one normally sees at a cruise ship terminal.

All of the locals who we spoke with were very polite and considerate. They would ask us nice questions and went out of their way to assist us. The city was very clean, vibrant and it felt very safe. Everything is so very well organized including the security at each of the cruise ship terminal that we have gone through in each Australian Port.

This is a country that we have become more impressed with by the day. The people are wonderful, the cities are all clean, there is so much natural beauty and there is so much to do, and there is vibrancy in the air.

Since many passengers were on the complimentary shore excursion, and given that we will be unable to do washes over the next few days, we decided to do a couple of washes since the washing machines and dryers were available.

Before dinner, we attended Friday evening services where we, once again, said a prayer for a very special couple whose husband is ill. Our thoughts go out to them.

This evening we enjoyed a nice meal in the Main Dining Room. We had pre-ordered chicken and a chicken soup hoping that this would be a nice remedy for Anne Marie’s virus.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Brisbane, Australia

Last evening we enjoyed a wonderful World Cruise shore side event in Sydney, Australia. The event was called “A Walk-About Sydney. It was held at the Crystal Palace Ballroom, at Luna Park, in Sydney. We had a wonderful time.

We all met at 5:45 PM and at 6:00 PM we boarded another ship that was docked alongside the Crystal Serenity. We were taken on a Harbour Cruise for about an hour. We were so very happy to have the opportunity to cruise around the Harbour to see both the beauty of the Harbour and to see such beautiful views of this wonderful city. We were served a variety of Hors D’oeuvres and wine and soft drinks during the Harbour Cruise. We sat with fellow World Cruisers John and Linda, Jim and Judy and Bill and Sandra.

When we arrived at the Luna Park we made our way to the Ballroom for the World Cruise Event. It took awhile to get all of the passengers over there but eventually all of the passengers made it over there. During our welcome, a choir composed of 40 or more people (may have been fifty) sang several songs for us. Both the Captain and the Cruise Director gave welcome comments. During the event there was a variety of entertainment to appeal to the different age groups and interests of passengers. We were entertained before the meal, between each course and at the end of the meal. The entertainment was terrific. It included dancing, a five person band, a woman who sang during dinner and played an instrument, a trio of singers who sang a variety of songs including several opera songs and also provided some comedy in their act.

The menu included an Australian Dinner Menu. We had an appetizer course of Ballontine of cured salmon rolled in summer herbs, brandade, rocket L Crème fraiche. The main course included an aged sirloin wrapped on caramelized onion and a portao tart with onion puree. For dessert we enjoyed an individual pavlova with yoghurt cream and berries. There was also fresh bread rolls and a variety of beverages including water, soft drinks, red, wihte and sparkling wines and a couple of Australian Beers.

We sat with John and Linda, Bill and Sandra, Jim and Judy and Jerry. We had a wonderful table and really enjoyed everyone’s company at the table. We enjoyed several toast at the table and we all laughed quite a bit throughout the evenings festivities.

We had two options for returning to the ship bus or boat. We all opted to take the bus and arrived back to the ship at around 10:45 PM. All in all it was a nice evening. The ship left Sydney at 12:00 Midnight. We had a wonderful time in this incredible city and look forward to coming back to this lovely city in the future.

Sydney was wonderful and we enjoyed a very special day in this vibrant city. For those of you who have never been to Sydney we highly recommend it. All of Australia ports have been great. There is so much to see, people are friendly, each city is vibrant, we felt very safe there, it is nice that English is the spoken language and you can even drink the regular water. ☺ We hope that we will return to Sydney, as there is so much to see in this beautiful city.

This morning Keith awoke early and went to the Fitness Center while Anne Marie took it easy since she is still sick. Keith enjoyed a wonderful conversation with Mary as he does almost everyday we workout. He ended up working out on the Elliptical machines for his longest workout yet; two hours. He will make up for that at tonight’s formal dinner. Mary and Keith also talked about what each of us had done in Sydney. We really enjoyed Sydney as we have enjoyed all of the ports in Australia.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room. The rest was good for Anne Marie. She is actually feeling worse rather than better but will hopefully be on the mend soon.

During the Captain’s daily talk he shared with us his thought for the day, which is “People don’t resist changed. They resist being changed.” Once again, we have come to appreciate the thoughts that Captain Glenn shares with us during each day of the cruise.

Keith attended Rap with the Rabbi and enjoyed the session. Some new people attended who are on this leg of the World Cruise and the Rabbi had prepared a very interesting talk and discussion.

We also signed up for the various World Games. During the course of this segment of the World Cruise there will be a number of games where passengers will have the opportunity to compete with one another. This will include Team Trivia, Basketball, Shuffleboard, Bridge, Shuffleboard, Fast Walking, Solitaire, Swimming, Paddle Tennis, Golf, Darts, Chess, and many more activities. Olympians Cathy Rigby and Mitch Gaylord will be on hand for these games. These games are lots of fun and provide a nice opportunity for passenger’s to get to know one another.

Later in the morning Keith attended a lecture given by Former FBI Profiler Clint Van Zandt who discussed the history of criminal profiling and the wy of youthful violence. Mr. Van Zandt also discussed what occurred at Virginia Tech University and provided his personal thoughts on how and why our youth of today can commit such crimes and what can be done to prevent similar occurrences from happening in the future. Mr Van Zandt was a lecturer on last years World Cruise. He appears on a variety of television shows including MSNBC, CNN and NBC and CBS. He will be giving three additional talks during this segment.

At the same time, Anne Marie picked up here complimentary needlepoint kit for this leg of the segment.

Afterwards we attended our first session of Team Trivia. There was one person from Cruise Critic on our team along with a couple who we know from last year and their two daughters and son in law. We answered 10 of 15 questions correctly and believe we finished in a tie for third place.

We enjoyed a very nice lunch in the Main Dining Room. After lunch, Keith played table tennis with a friend from last years World Cruise. Eventually, other passengers joined in and we also played several games of mixed doubles.

Before dinner this evening we attended the Captains Welcome Reception. We always look forward to this reception. We then enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. The attire for this evening was Formal and it was so very nice to see everyone dressed in formal attire. We believe this adds to the overall ambiance of the cruise. Given the length of this segment of the World Cruise, there will be four formals this time around.

Tomorrow we will visit the Port of Brisbane, Australia. We are signed up for a complimentary shore excursion but we will have to see how Anne Marie is feeling.

Keith & Anne Marie

We Love Sydney

We added some pictures to our picture web site from Australia. Please click on the link on the right hand site to view these pictures.

This morning we arrived in Sydney, Australia. . This brings to an end Segment 3 of the World Cruise and the start of Segment 4. During the course of this cruise we sailed a total distance of 3,587 nautical miles or the equivalent of 4,125 land miles.

On Segment 4 of the World Cruise we will cruise from Sydney, Australia to Hong Kong, China. This segment is seventeen days in length and includes eleven (yes eleven) sea days.

Sydney is one of the very well known cities of the southern hemisphere with a population that exceeds four million people. There is so much to see in Sydney. Its harbor is one of if not the most beautiful harbors in the world. A very well known building is the Sydney Opera House. Another well-known site is the Sydney Harbour Bridge which many locals and tourists enjoy walking across. Sydney is also very well for it numerous and its beautiful beaches. Other major tourist sites include The Rocks and Millers Point, the Traronga Zoo, Sydney Aquarium, Australian Museum, Chinese Garden, Sydney Olympic Park, and so many other locations they are too numerous to list.

I began the day with a workout in the Fitness Center at 4:05 AM (yes 4;05 AM) while my wife slept in since she is still not feeling well. I wanted to start early enough so he would be done with the workout in time to watch our sail-in to the Sydney Harbour. While it was very dark we still enjoyed nice views of the city all lit up and I took some videos of our arrival. There were some intermittent showers and some lightening and thunder from time to time.

The ship had two choices and one was to arrive very early in the morning and the other option was to arrive later in the morning. While the latter option would give us a better view, it was not chosen since today is disembarkation for those passengers who are not on the next segment of the World Cruise and also since we are only in Sydney for one day until our ship sails out of the Harbor at Midnight.

We also enjoyed breakfast in the room afterwards. After the sunrise I went back outside to take videos and pictures from all around the ship.

From the ship we enjoyed a great view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Opera House, The Sydney Skyline and even Luna Park where this evenings World Cruise Event will be held.





We walked to the Sydney Opera House. This facility was completed in 1973 and draws over 2 million visitors each year. We walked all around the Royal Botanical Garden, and we walked by the Government House. We walked by a variety of other sites including the State Parliament House, the State Library, the Domain, the Government House, the Conservatory of Music, and the Rocks. We also walked both ways across the Sydney Bridge and also saw a variety of other sites including the Sydney Centerpoint Tower. During our walk to the Opera House and all around the Royal Botanical Garden we saw numerous local out from those taking a nice walk to those jogging.

After walking all morning we returned back to the ship for lunch in the Main Dining Room. After lunch we went back out and we walked in the downtown area, which was so very vibrant. We walked to the Queen Victoria Building, which now contains over 200 boutiques. The architecture of the building is quite impressive.

We had a wonderful walk throughout the day and afternoon. We walked almost twelve miles so add the ten+ miles that Keith did on the Elliptical Machine this morning it added to a lot of mileage.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves today. We are avid walkers and this is a walker’s city. While the skies were overcast, we were fortunate that it didn’t rain while we were out and the temperature was mainly in the 70s so it was a nice day to be out and about. The locals who we spoke with were very friendly and helpful to us. The city was extremely easy to get around. The harbour is outstanding and it is nice that right outside the cruise ship terminal is an assortment of stores, restaurants and cafes and that from the pier we could walk to so many interesting places. This city along with Melbourne and Hobart are places that we would like to return to again as there is so much more to do that we did not have an opportunity to take advantage of given our limited time in these ports. Sydney has a wonderful atmosphere and is one of the nicest cities in the world.

Today we also ran into a couple of people who are not working on the ship right now but people that we sailed with during the course of last years World Cruise. This would be Peter who was the shore excursion manager on this ship and David who was the Sports Director. They are both very friendly people and they are both from Australia. The were both visiting the ship today.

This evening we have our first of two World Cruise shore side events. This event is only for those who are on the Full World Cruise and most of the details of the event are kept from us so we will be surprised. We have been told that the event is called “A Walk-About Sydney. It will be held at the Crystal Palace Ballroom, at Luna Park, in Sydney. The attire for the evening is Country Club Casual and we have been asked to be ready at 5:45 PM so we can be transported to this event. I will post details of this event tomorrow. We can see this venue from the ship and we also had nice views of Luna Park during our morning walk around Sydney.


Keith

En Route To Sydney, Australia

Today we have a full day at sea as we cruise to Sydney, Australia

Last evening the seas were relatively calm. Keith woke up early this morning and enjoyed another nice workout in the Fitness Center. He was the first one in the Fitness Center and there were not too many passengers working out today. Anne Marie is still not feeling too well so she took another well-deserved break from working out. She met Keith at the Fitness Center at the end of his workout and we both went to the Lido Café for breakfast.

We both enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in the Lido Café. Typically, we enjoy cereal and fruit for breakfast. The fruit on the ship has been quite good over the past few days such as the strawberries, blueberries, melon, bananas and the grapefruit. On most days we have breakfast in the Lido Café as we don’t want to wear our exercise clothes in the Main Dining Room and the Lido Café opens earlier in the morning so it is much easier for us to just eat there. On occasion, we have breakfast delivered to our suite and the butler does a wonderful job setting up the breakfast for us. Midway through our breakfast we were joined by one other passenger at our table.

When we went back to our room we saw that there was one available washing machine in the Laundry Room so we decided to take advantage of that and we did a couple of loads of laundry. Keith saw the Cruise Director in the hallway and he was kind enough to show him the television studio for the ship, which we learned, is located right on our floor. There were sections to the studio; one with all of the various broadcast equipment used to broadcast from the studio and for all of the various stations used to broadcast movies throughout the day and evening hours along with equipment used to monitor the stations. The other room was the studio that we see on television on most mornings where the daily program is shown. It’s sort of like a mini set for shows such as the Today Show and Good Morning America. It was very impressive and Keith really appreciated the Cruise Director taking time to show him this area of the ship.

Speaking of television, we continue to pick up a fair amount of programming as we cruise this part of the world. We continue to receive CNN Worldwide News, CNN Headline News, Fox News, CNBC, BBC along with a Japanese Station in English and a station from Australia long with two ESPN stations. In addition a few Crystal stations broadcast movies along with another worldwide station that shows movies and there is also another station showing older movies. There are other Crystal Cruises stations that carry other programming from the Crystal produced morning show featuring the Cruise Director and World Cruise Hostess, to a station that features information about upcoming ports of call and the shore excursions, to another station that features the various lectures to another station that provides information about future Crystal Cruises. We also get two newspapers from Crystal so it provides some additional information regarding news and then we use the Internet from time to time to catch up on other news related items.

We are sixteen hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time in the United States. So, usually we are one day ahead. This is still confusing to some people on the ship so many times Keith has to explain this to other passengers. As we’ve mentioned, it is so much easier traveling in this direction where we mainly set the clock backwards from time to time.

We listened to the Captains Announcement this morning and he noted that the seas have been relatively calm. His thought for the day is “ You don’t drown from falling in the water. You drown by staying there.” For us this is a reminder to take charge of ones life and to be pro-active rather than reactive to changes in ones environment. We really enjoy these thoughts of the day and, therefore, like to pass them on.

Since today is a sea day there are many lectures and other activities throughout the day.

Destination Lecturer Dr. Jay Wolff gave the second presentation. He presented “Gallipolia.” His presentation dealt with the Australian and New Zealand Troops who joined Empire forces in Europe during World War 1. They were used in an ill-fated offensive against the Turks, their lives were tragically squandered by high-level incompetence. Their countrymen remember their obedience and bravery to this day. As is the case with all of Dr. Wolff’s presentations it was very well attended and the story that he told was both informative and quite interesting. We continue to learn a great deal from Dr. Wolff.

Book Dramatist Barbara Rinella gave the last presentation of the morning. As they say, they saved the best for last. She was wonderful. The title of her presentation was “Who will Henry VII choose to become the new Queen of England?” She dramatized the book titled The Boleyn Inheritance, by Philppa Gregory whose historical fiction presents a fascinating portrayal of the intrigue, political maneuvering and emotional upheaval of the Tudor court of Kig Henry VII after the natural death of his third wife, Jane Seymour. This presentation was given to a standing room only crowd and was a crowd pleaser. At the conclusion of her session, as she does in other sessions, Barbara Rienella told us about a variety of other books. Anne Marie is reading one of them now.

Before lunch we had the opportunity to visit the Bridge along with six other people and we greatly appreciated this opportunity. While we visited the bridge last year during a World Cruise event, it was nice to see the bridge with so few people. During the tour, Captain Glenn came up to talk with the group. The sophistication of the equipment is truly remarkable. It is amazing what can be monitored on board the ship as well as all of the various cruising capabilities, which exist on this vessel.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. The dining room was relatively quiet since there was also an Australian Luncheon Buffet featuring a variety of items from “down under”.

We took a nice walk on the Promenade Deck after lunch. The outside weather was quite nice and we thought that the fresh air would do Anne Marie some good. We ran into Barbara Rinella and told her how much we enjoyed each of her three talks.

Afterwards, I played table tennis with various passengers for about ninety minutes. It was my only second time playing since the World Cruise began. It’s time to get some practice for the upcoming World Games. ☺

We enjoyed yet another wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. Last evening we had greatly enjoyed the fresh Tasmanian Salmon so much that we asked for it again this evening. We found it to be very tasty and moist.

This evening marked the conclusion of the third segment of the World Cruise. Those passengers who are leaving the ship will disembark the ship sometime tomorrow morning in Sydney. Approximately 400 passengers will be leaving the ship. Tomorrow afternoon, new passengers will be joining the ship. The ship will carry a little over 800 passengers during the next segment of the World Cruise.

We are very excited about our first visit to Sydney, Australia.

Keith & Anne Marie

Melbourne, Australia Day 2

NOTE: We have removed the capability to post comments on this Blog. We were sorry to do this as we really enjoyed receiving comments from those of you posted, but unfortunately, we noticed that someone who we do not know was posting comments trying to direct folks to some other web site. We do enjoy hearing from you, so please be sure to e mail us with any comments, questions and other thoughts you have.

We wanted to mention that yesterday there were two ships on port. There was the Sapphire Princess and a very large Ferry that goes between Melbourne and Tasmania. Today, there is another Ferry that goes to Tasmania as well.

Last evening we were reading the Program (Reflections) that Crystal provides each of its passengers on a daily basis. The program included a chart on the Beaufort Scale. Almost every morning, the Captain discussed the wind during his morning talk and mentions a number, which is a number on the Beaufort Scale. IN 1858, British admiral, mariner, and amateur meteorologist Sir Francis Beaufort invented this scale in which number 0 to 12 indicates the force of the wind. Zero (0) refers to the calmest of winds and Twelve (12) refers to hurricane force winds. The evening that we sailed into Melbourne, we had winds of number 10 on the Beaufort Scale which refers to storm winds so hopefully this gives you a sense as to how severe the winds were.

Keith awoke early this morning and went to the Fitness Center to workout on the elliptical machine. Keith was the first one in the Center and a little while later Mary arrived to the center. Anne Marie is in the middle of some type of cold so she got a well-deserved rest and slept in a later this morning while Keith worked out. Before not too long, John also arrived at the Center. There were very few people in the Center today since we are in port and many passengers are booked on either a morning or afternoon tour. Keith chatted with Mary for much of the workout. After Keith’s workout we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room.

Originally, we were booked on a complimentary excursion through Crystal but decided last evening to forgo this excursion. We so thoroughly enjoyed our time in Melbourne on Sunday and since it is a great walking city we decided that we would go out again on our own today. Also, with several passengers still sick we thought it might be better not to sit with so many people on a bus. We also figured that it would be good to get as much fresh air as possible.

We started walking at around 9:00 AM. We began by walking on a street that is by the beach and the ocean and then after about a mile we took another street that would eventually lead us to the downtown area. On our way, we passed by several restaurants, bakeries, designer clothing stores, food stores, cafes, and an assortment of other businesses. We also walked thru a few different neighborhoods. We walked for several hours and did not return to the ship until lunchtime.

We ended up walking ten miles and enjoyed the sights of Melbourne. Our walk also included time in the Financial District, and we also saw the various judicial buildings and also through Flagstaff Gardens which is a very nice park/garden area. The weather was on the cooler side for most of our walk so we each wore a fleece and were quite comfortable. Between this walk and Keith’s 13 mile workout on the Elliptical Machine sis morning he went over 23 miles today.

Melbourne is a very easy city to navigate on your own. It is a very cosmopolitan city and it offers much in the way of daytime sightseeing including various museums, the aquarium, the botanical gardens, the zoo and many others interesting places to visit. At the same time it offers a very nice nightlife from lots of restaurants serving a variety of cuisines to nightclubs and other evening entertainment. It is also a very clean city, and a city that appears to be very safe for both locals and tourists alike. As we mentioned yesterday, it has the feel of many cities in the United States during the 1950s and the 1960s. It is a great walking city with very well marked street signs, lots of pedestrian traffic crossings and very polite/considerate motorists.

We wanted to add a few other observations. The McDonald’s Restaurants that we saw had signage that also said McCafé. It’s not often that we think of this fast food establishment as a café. ☺ As we were walking by the judicial courts we saw both male and female lawyers all wearing wigs in keeping with their British Heritage. Unlike, what we observe in many cities around the world, motorists do not honk their car horns and seem to show much more patience than many drivers from other large cities.

As we were returning back to the ship we first ran into the Maitre D of the Main Dining Room Leo Assmair and a few minutes later our Butler, Alexanader. They each were going on a nice walk. They are both wonderful and very professional and we have enjoyed our talks with each of them during the course of this cruise. As was the case on last years cruise, Leo will be on the first half of this cruise and then when he goes on vacation another Maitre D will come on for the second half of the World Cruise. Our butler will be on for another few segments of the cruise before he returns to his home country of Serbia. As we have mentioned before, overtime those on the ship, passengers and crew alike, become like a small hometown community.

When we arrived back at the ship we enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. From the window in the Main Dining Room we could see lots of Jelly Fish swimming around the ship. Let’s hope we don’t see them on the dinner menu. ☺

After lunch we took it easy and stayed on the ship. We took care of some errands and enjoyed the quiet time since some passengers were spending part or all of the afternoon in port. Passengers were asked to be back on board the ship by 5:30 PM for the 6:00 PM sail away.

Before dinner, we attended a special performance of the World Cruise Chorus. We believe this is the first performance since the World Cruise began. Last year there was a concert on each segment but for some reason this year it took until the third segment for their first concert. The performance included a combination of those on the full World Cruise and those on one or more segments. In addition to various passengers, the performance also included the acappella quartet known as Full Sail and Tony Award Nominated Broadway Vocalist Michel Bell who has performed on several cruises we have taken with Crystal Cruises.

This evening we had our table in the Main Dining Room expanded from a two person to a four-person table so that the Rabbi and his lovely wife could join us for dinner. This is the second time they have dined with us during the course of the cruise. They are wonderful people and we greatly enjoy our talks with them. They have a wonderful outlook on life and it is always a pleasure to see them. The food and service was outstanding as it always is. Keith enjoyed an entrée of broiled fresh Tasmanian salmon. He selected this since it is not only fresh but is from the area of the world we are sailing in. Anne Marie enjoyed a Halibut Fillet. We mainly have seafood for dinner and we have enjoyed a variety of wonderful seafood entrees on board the ship.

Tomorrow we will be at sea before this third segment of the World Cruise concludes the following day in Sydney, Australia. Approximately 400 passengers will be getting off the ship in Sydney, while some new passengers will be joining the ship in the afternoon. The ship will not be as full as it was on our current segment of the World Cruise and we believe there will be around 150 less passengers on this segment of the cruise. The upcoming segment has lots of sea days.

Keith & Anne Marie

Melbourne, Australia

We had a wonderful day today in Melbourne, Australia. It truly reminds us of the USA back in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Last evening we continued to have very rough seas. It was extremely windy. At times it felt as if we were in a large aircraft and experiencing turbulence. The ship did wonderful in spit of all of this. Yesterday, when we went to the Captain’s Farewell Reception we were on Deck 12 in a room called the Palm Court and there were a times that because of the high winds that water actually splashed onto the outside windows of this room. We were fine with the seas and did not feel seasick at all. We just needed to walk carefully during the evening hours and we could hear the ship vibrate from time to time and of course feel the movement of the ship throughout most of the night. Anne Marie wore earplugs so she heard far less of the noise than Keith did.

After we had dinner at the Specialty Restaurant last evening we went by the second Captain’s Farewell Reception of the evening, which is, held for those passengers who are in the second dinner seating. We have been doing this of late just to say hello to some passengers who we don’t see as often since we eat dinner at the main seating. We just stayed for a little while after walking around the reception a couple of times. We ran into several people who we know. We also spoke with the Captain a couple of times last evening. He is a wonderful Captain and we appreciate all he does for the safety of the ship and for all passengers and crew.

To give you more perspective as to yesterdays weather conditions, during the Captain’s morning talk he mentioned that last evening we had Force 10, which equals a storm. At one point the winds as high as 65 Knots at one point and then leveled off to between 55 to 60 Knots overnight. The Captain’s thought of the day is “The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook.” We continue to look forward to these thoughts of the day and today’s thought reminds us of the importance of focusing on all that is good each day rather than dwelling on other items. There is so much to be gained from a positive outlook and we remind ourselves of how truly fortunate we are In our case, we know how lucky and fortunate we are to be cruising with Crystal and to be taking a World Cruise and we look forward to making new memories each and every day that will last a lifetime. We also realize that life is relatively short particularly when one considers the age of the earth so we want to focus on what is good each and everyday. Again, we have so much to be thankful for.


Today, we arrived in Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne is the capital of Victoria. It is the second largest city in Australia, with a population of over 3 million people. This city has a very diverse population with almost a third of its residents born overseas. An example of its diversity is the fact that more people who are Greek descendants live in Melbourne than in any other worldwide city except for those who live in Athens. Many immigrants settled in Melbourne from a variety of places such as China, Vietnam, Italy and Lebanon.

Its architecture has a European flair. This city is also well known for its large number of restaurants, stores, entertainment, and nightclubs. Throughout the year it hosts major events from concerts, to plays, to sporting events, including the Formula One Grand Prix.

The locals take great pride in their city just as those who live in other cities around the world do.

As we mentioned, last evening the seas were quite choppy as it was very windy. While the seas were quite choppy they did not bother us. We just needed to walk carefully. The pilot met the ship a little after 4:00 AM this morning and we reached Melbourne at approximately 8:00 AM.

We awoke early this morning as we do each day and started our day off with a nice workout in the Fitness Center. Keith was the first one in the Fitness Center and Anne Marie arrived a short time later. A few minutes after Anne Marie began her workout John also arrived to the center. For most of our workout it was just the three of us in the center and then when John left it was just the two of us. It was dark outside for most of our workout but we could see another cruise ship not too far away, which was also sailing into the harbor.

After our workout, we enjoyed a nice breakfast in the Lido Café. A few of the regulars who normally sit at a table right adjacent to the table we sit at were also in the Café including John and his lovely wife Linda and about six or so other passengers.

Keep in mind that today is Sunday in Australia as we are about eighteen hours or so ahead of the East Coast of the USA. The pilot boarded our ship at around 4:00 AM this morning We arrived at the pier a little before 8:00 AM this morning. We docked at the Outer East Station Pier at Beach Street in Melbourne. The pier is located a few miles from the downtown area. Crystal Cruises provided a complimentary shuttle that ran every thirty minutes between the pier and the Mercure Grand Hotel, located downtown. The drive was about twenty minutes in each direction.

We will be in Melbourne today and tomorrow as we have an overnight in this nice city. We have a shore excursion planned for tomorrow, which is a complimentary excursion provided to all guests. This is being offered two times; one tomorrow morning and the other tomorrow afternoon. We are booked on the morning excursions.

When we disembarked the ship to wait for the complimentary bus it was very (and we do mean very windy). In some ways we felt as if we were in the Windy City of Chicago, Illinois in March. We had to wait longer than expected for the first shuttle bus as there was a traffic jam getting into the pier but once we boarded the bus we were downtown in about twenty minutes. We walked to a variety of places. Our first stop was Queen Victoria Market which first opened in the 1870’s and sells a variety of clothing and other merchandise and has an extensive area selling fresh lamb, beef, seafood, poultry and fruits and vegetables. We saw just about every type of item related to lamb that you can think of. We then walked to some other areas including to the Melbourne Museum and to Chinatown. Chinatown was quite extensive. We also walked along the river a market area selling slow-food (just the opposite of fast-food) and we also went to a local arts and crafts fair held each Sunday. As we walked the streets of the downtown area we could see so much diversity in terms of restaurants and in terms of people all around us. Everyone we spoke with was very friendly and at the market they were not pushy at all. The cost of goods seemed on a little more reasonable when compared to what we might expect to pay in the United States.

We walked about three and one half miles and then decided to take the shuttle back to the ship for lunch. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the main dining room and sat adjacent to a family who is on this segment of the cruise who we know from Cruise Critic. We spoke with them during lunch.

After we freshened up we decided to take a nice walk. About fifteen minutes into our walk we ran into a familiar person who works at the reception desk of the Serenity who we also know from last years World Cruise. His name is Franz and he is always so very friendly to us. He had told us this morning that he was going to walk from the ship to and from the town and sure enough that is what he did. So, he gave us directions and with our trusty map we decided to walk as far as we thought we had time for and sure enough we ended up walking all the way to and from the downtown area. We walked a little over seven miles and during our walk we passed many restaurants, where it was clear that the locals dine. We also passed numerous bakeries with perfectly looking cakes and pastries and we also passed many other places such as a wonderful looking fruit and vegetable market. We also saw a very nice supermarket and went in there to buy one item. We entered the downtown area from the other direction that we saw this morning so we saw another area of the downtown. We could see the Melbourne Aquarium from where we walked and walked by the other side of the river where was saw some local entertainment including various clowns, face-painting for children, old time cars from the 1940s and the 1950s and a band comprised of teenage boys who played wonderful music. It was quite a festive atmosphere and we were happy to feel like part of the festivities. We felt very safe for the entire walk and again this city had the feel of the 1950s and early 1960s in the USA.

We certainly got our exercise for the day. Between our workout and our two extended walks, Anne Marie walked about fifteen miles today and Keith ended up doing over twenty miles of walking and elliptical exercise.

While the day started off windy the rest of the day was very nice. We would say it was in the 60s and at times there was some wind which was quite nice while a other points there was very little wind.

We enjoyed two different types of fish for dinner this evening in the Main Dining Room. One was a fresh fish called Trevally. Coincidentally, we had seen Trevally fish at the seafood market earlier today. We also enjoyed a Black Bass fish which the headwaiter had ordered for us as he knew we had really liked it the other evening.

Oh and one more piece of news. Yesterday, we were asked by a couple that we know from last year if we wanted to play on their team trivia team during the next segment of the cruise. We saw they in town today and told them that we would join their team for the next segment of the cruise. The next segment of the World Cruise has a lot of sea days(eleven sea days) as we cruise from Sydney, Australia to Hong Kong so that’s a lot of trivia. Last year we played team trivia throughout the World Cruise but this year we were taking some time off from it but we are ready to play it again. It will be fun. ☺


Keith & Anne Marie