Da Nang, Vietnam

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Today, we visited Vietnam for the very first time. During this segment, we will visit two ports of call in Vietnam. Today, we visited Da Nang, Vietnam. The ship docked in Chan May Port, which is, located approximately 30 miles from Da Nang.

The ship also docked close to Hue allowing passengers to visit this imperial city. Hue, which is pronounced “hway”, served as the Vietnamese capital from 1802 to 1945.

There are a variety of places to visit from this port of call. In addition to Hue, there is China Beach, the Marble Mountains and Cham Museum. We visited the latter three on our tour.

If we think back to the period anywhere from the 1960’s to say mid-1990 we never would have imagined visiting Vietnam in our lifetime. Yet, here we are in Vietnam today. Of course, the same could be said about those from America’s generation from the 1940’s when they had the opportunity years later to visit countries such as Japan and Germany. This demonstrates how time can heal great pain and conflict between nations and those who are your enemies today can be your friends tomorrow. We know that this country still had a ways to go and that the people who live there do not enjoy the benefits that people in certain other areas of the world enjoy. For example, the government owns the land, rather than its people.

Since we set the clocks back one hour last evening, we awoke even earlier this morning as we also needed to get ready for a relatively early shore excursion. We each worked out in the Fitness Center on the machines that we have become accustomed to use each and every day. A couple of the other regulars such as Mary and John also worked out this morning. As was the case yesterday morning, the Fitness Center was fairly full of passengers by the time we finished up. With a great percentage of younger people on this segment of the World Cruise it’s nice to see more passengers utilizing the equipment in the center.

Towards the end of our workout, as daylight occurred, we realized how foggy it was outside. As a result of the fog we could not see the ocean from the Fitness Center.

After our workout we went back to our room and as we were walking down the corridor we could see the room service steward (the Butler does not come on duty until 7:00 AM and it was 5:50 AM) right near our door getting ready to bring our breakfast to our room. He was a few minutes early and this turned out to be perfect time. We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our room and after a little while we could see the ocean from our room even thought it was still fairly foggy outside.

Our ship arrived in port at around 7:00 AM. There is no fog on land. From our verandah we could see some stalls that were being set up where the locals sell merchandise. We could also see a long stretch of hills full of trees. There were some members of the military on the pier.

During Captain Glenn’s morning announcement he shared his thought of the day which is “Opportunities are made not found.”

We met our tour at 8:30 AM. We knew a few of the couples on our tour including our Travel Specialist and her husband.

Our tour included Da Nang and China beach so it represented both the “ancient” and the “new”. We were transported on a bus from the pier to the city of Da Nang. The drive took over an hour. We passed by a variety of small towns and a variety of structures from buildings in disrepair to nice looking buildings. During our drive into the city we drove thru the longest tunnel in Southeast Asia. If we remember correctly it is 6.5 kilometers.

During our drive to and from Da Nang, we were impressed with the overall roads. Overall, they were in better shape than we expected. There are very few automobiles on the road. Rather there were mostly buses and trucks and as we got into the city a vast number of motorbikes and some bicycles. The school children mainly ride on the bicycles.

Our first stop was the Cham Museum, where we viewed a variety of artifacts and our tour guide provided a good deal of information about what we would see.

We were then taken to an embroidery factory and from there we walked over to the Han Market. At the market a variety of items were sold from fruits and vegetables, to flowers, to a variety of packaged and bulk candies, to other food items, to thousands of shoes, to purses along with lots of other items. As we walked back to the bus, there were street vendors trying to sell us their items.

Afterwards we were taken to the village at Marble Mountain. The mountain is shaped like a dragon and is a series of marble and limestone formations. There was a store adjacent to the mountain, which sold marble items from little boxes and jewelry to very large items such as marble tables, benches lions and Buddha’s. Some of us, including Keith walked up the mountain. It was a beautiful walk and ended with a walk into a cave. We were told that during the Vietnam War that the cave was used as an emergency medical facility.

We then proceeded to China Beach. It served as a place for military personnel to find some rest and relaxation during the Vietnam Conflict and today is used by Hollywood to shoot a variety of movies. It is also home to a variety of five star resorts and there are plans to build many more over the coming years. We were taken to one resort for cold beverages including local beer, sodas and waters. The beach was beautiful as was the resort and if you didn’t know you were in Vietnam you may think that you were at a tropical island such as Hawaii. The setting was breathtaking.

As we drove back to the ship other areas were pointed out including an areas that was used during the war as an American Landing Strip.

Our guide shared lots of information to us about Vietnam. Interestingly, whenever he spoke about Ho Chi Minh City he referred to this city as Saigon. Keith asked him about the name and he said that the older people still think of it as Saigon and that the younger people also prefer to call it by its shorter name; Saigon.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour. Our tour guide had a nice sense of humor. There were times that we knew he was pulling our leg.

When we arrived back to the ship there were lots of locals selling items along the pier. There is no question that the sale of items made in Vietnam to tourists and the export of items around the world is a contributor to their economy. They are also trying to drive their economy vis-à-vis tourism. We realize there are other areas of their economy from the fishing industry to the export of rice to the outsourcing that is now coming into their country. It is still a rather poor country but our observation is that it is on the right path, which should pay dividends over the long run. We found the people to be very friendly.

We pre-ordered lunch before we left the ship in the morning so that it would be ready when we returned back to our room. After lunch, we looked at the items that were being sold on the pier (we didn’t purchases any but had a good time looking at them) and then we took a nice walk on the Promenade Deck.

The weather was delightful today. We had expected it to be very humid and that was not the case. We would guess that the highs were in the low 80s. It was a perfect day to be visiting this area of the world.

This evening we dined at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. We dined with Herbert Doppler, the Hotel Director of the ship and with Walter Pietschnig the Food and Beverage Manager. As Hotel Director, Herbert Doppler has responsibility for all personnel associated with the operation of the Hotel portion of the ship including all of the Stewardesses, Restaurant Personnel, Bar Staff, Entertainers, Cruise Director and his staff, the Front Desk, including Shore Excursion, Concierge, and Reception Personnel, the Pursers office, and just about everyone who is not involved in the operation and technical support of the ship. At the same time, Walter Pietschnig has responsibility for the Food and Beverage areas of the ship, including the restaurants and the lounges. We had a very enjoyable dinner with them. The food, service and of course the conversation was outstsanding.

St. Patrick’s Day was recognized in the Main Dining Room of the ship with some items that were on the menu in spirit of this holiday. This included Cream of Spinach Soup (green), Irish Lamb Stew, a couple of Desserts such as “The Dubliner” which consisted of Molly Maguire’s Bricoche Breat and Butter Pudding with Whiskey-Banana Caramel Sauce and Guinness Ice Cream (no calories ☺ ) and the “Irish Rain” consisting of Apple Fritters with Spiced Grapes and Crème Brulee with Guinness and Toasted Almond Ice Cream.

We each wore some green this evening in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

Tomorrow, we have a sea day as we sail to Ho Chi Minh City.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Vietnam

NOTE: We added a couple of pictures to the post from yesterday under Hong Kong Day 2. One picture shows one of the places selling fresh fish and the other picture is from one of the areas selling fruits/vegetables. We tried to post a couple of other pictures, including Hong Kong at night, but unfortunately we were not able to post them.

The pictures we posted this evening are from the Captain’s Welcome Reception. One is of the two of us and the other is of us and our Travel Specialist and her charming husband.

Last evening after we posted our Blog, we enjoyed a wonderful sail-away from Hong Kong. There was another beautiful laser light show and it was wonderful to see this city all lit up at night during our sail away from the port. Hong Kong was quite an interesting city to visit and this is another cit that we look forward to visiting in the future.

We awoke early this morning to begin our day. Keith was not the first passenger to the Fitness Center. Mary was already there as were a man and his fairly young daughter. Anne Marie arrived about twenty minutes later. The Fitness Center was as busy as we have seen it given the time of the day. We think that the reason for this is three-fold; the ship is sold out for this leg of the world cruise, there appears to be many more younger passengers on this segment, and given that many passengers arrived to Hong Kong either on the day of embarkation or one or two days later they are getting over their jet lag and woke up earlier than normal.

Some of the younger passengers also have their children with them. Some of them are also traveling with their grandparents. This is spring break for many schools and this combined with the fact that we are on shorter segments of twelve days is why younger families are on the cruise. We found this to be the same last year for one of the segments of the 2007 World Cruise.

We enjoyed a nice workout in the Fitness Center. Keith and Mary spoke for the entire workout while Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine and Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill. It is so nice to utilize this center and we really enjoy the machines.

During Captain Glenn’s morning announcement he noted that we were sailing n the South China Sea and cruising at a speed of 16.5 knots with three of six engines n use. Since we were ahead of schedule, he planned to reduce our overall speed. The temperature was 73 degrees Fahrenheit. Captain Glenn’s thought of the day was “If you don’t have a dream how are you going to make a dream come true.” We certainly agree with this thought. One should always have goals in their lives both short term and long term.

Afterwards, we stopped off at the Lido Café to get some coffee. Since this is the beginning of a new voyage there was a new team of deck stewards in the Lido Café. One of them is Nat who we have come to know so well over the years. We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our room.

After breakfast, we attended the Palm Sunday Service. The service was fairly well attended. We then went to the Rap With The Rabbi right after this service. Several passengers who boarded the ship in Hong Kong attended the Rap. It was another interesting session.

Later in the morning, Anne Marie picked up a complimentary needle-point kit, while Keith spoke with someone at the shore excursion desk about some of our upcoming tours.

Before lunch, we attended a lecture given by Destination Lecturer Dr. Jay Wolff who has been giving lectures since the beginning of the World Cruise. The topic of today’s lectures was “Dien Bien Phu – Hell in a Small Place.” This lecture covered the time in history when France swept Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam into French Indo-China in the 1880s. Many years later, after World War II, Vietnam fought France for her independence and in 1954 the small conquered the mighty n a tiny valley in a forgotten jungle. Once again, Dr. Wolff gave an extraordinary presentation.

We enjoyed a very nice lunch at the Main Dining Room. After lunch, we visited with some fellow passengers who have been on the cruise since Los Angeles and also spoke with a couple who just embarked in Hong Kong. We have sailed with them several times and they will be on the last four segments of this World Cruise.

This afternoon there was a special event for those passengers on the full World Cruise, which involved a look behind the scenes, related to the performances given by the Crystal Entertainers.

Before dinner, we attended the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception marking the first formal night of the cruise. Keith wore his new custom fit tuxedo shirt, which we had purchased while in Hong Kong. Other men wore new Dinner Jackets, which they had purchased in Hong Kong and some women were in new formal attire as well. We sat with our Travel Specialist and her husband along with some other passengers who we normally sit with.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. We each enjoyed lobster, which was flown in from Maine along with a wonderful salad and fruit for our dessert. We sat with our friends Stan and Mary.

Tomorrow, our World Cruise adventure continues as we visit Vietnam for the very first time. When we think back to the 1960’s and the 1970’s this is certainly a country of the world that we never dreamed that we would visit.

This evening we turn the clocks back one hour as we sail into yet another new time zone. We really enjoy cruising in this direction of the world as it is far easier to set the clocks backward than forward.


Keith & Anne Marie

Hong Kong Day 2

Last evening after we updated our Blog, we decided to go back out to walk around Hong Kong at night and to see the city all lit up. When we walked off the ship we ran into two familiar Lido Deck Stewards (Ruel and Max) who will be joining the ship tomorrow morning. We know them well and are glad that they have returned from Holiday. After we made our way outside of the Cruise Ship Terminal and the adjoining mall, we enjoyed a dazzling laser light show display, with music in the background. It was the most impressive outdoors laser show we have ever seen. After the show, we walked up and down several streets of Hong Kong. The sheer number of pedestrians, along with automobiles, taxis and buses was amazing. Does this city ever go to sleep? It seemed busier than even New York City is in the evening hours. We had a wonderful time walking around the city. We ran into several familiar faces from Crystal Crew to fellow passengers.

When we returned back to the ship, we ran into Olympian Cathy Rigby and each of us gave her a big hug. She is a wonderful person and we are so very glad that we had the opportunity to get to know her during the last couple of weeks. We also wished, Nina, from the front desk all our best since she begins her Holiday tomorrow. She is such as nice person and we look forward to seeing her again.

We have an outstanding view of the city from our room. The city is beautiful at night with all of the buildings lit up. The harbor is quite busy with lots of boats sailing all around, including several ferries. Now we know why the Hong Kong harbor is considered one if not the best harbors in the entire world.

This morning concluded the forth segment of the World Cruise. During this segment we sailed from Sydney Australia, to Hong Kong, China. We sailed a total distance of 6,229 nautical miles or an equivalent of 7,163 land miles. This was a wonderful itinerary as it had a wonderful mix of sea days and visits to so many wonderful ports of call. We thoroughly enjoyed Australia from its beautiful scenery to the warmth, charm and hospitality of its wonderful people. This is a beautiful and vibrant area of the world that we want to visit again and we hope that this area of the world will continue to retain its wonderful character in the years to come. It is certainly a treasure in this wondrous planet that we live on.

Several passengers who we have gotten to know quite well will be departing the ship this morning. The majority of the passengers seem to be spending a few days in Hong Kong before traveling home while some are flying home later today. For those guests staying at a Hotel through the Crystal Hotel Program they were either staying at the Intercontinental Hotel, the Peninsula Hotel, or the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Starting at Noon today many new passengers started boarding the ship. This marks the start of the fifth segment of the World Cruise. This segment of the cruise is totally sold out.

This segment of the World Cruise begins in Hong Kong. Tomorrow we will cruise at sea and then arrive in Chan May/Dan Nang, Vietnam the following day. This segment will also include an overnight stay in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; followed by an over night stay in Bangkok, Thailand, followed by a visit to Ko Samui, Thailand and the segment will conclude with an overnight stay in Singapore. In addition to these port days, this segment of the World Cruise will include four sea days.

We are very excited to be visiting all of these various interesting ports of call for the very first time.

We enjoyed a good nights sleep last evening as the ship remained in dock in Hong Kong. We woke up early in the morning and began our day with a nice workout in the Fitness Center. The Fitness Center was rather quiet. Keith was the first passenger to arrive at the Center. A few of the other regulars arrived a few minutes later including John and Mary. Anne Marie arrived a few minutes after that. Keith continued to workout on the Elliptical Machine while Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill. Keith spoke with Mary for most of his workout.

After our wonderful workout, we enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our room.

At around 8:30 AM we went back into the city. The streets were far less crowded the first hour or so into our walk that they had been the day before. We visited a place called Tin Hau Temple and also went by a fairly large Mosque called Kowloon Mosque. We also visited a park called Kowloon Park. We walked a fairly long distance until we arrived at the Ladies Market. Unfortunately, it was not yet opened so we headed over to the Jade Market. This market had many stands set up selling Jade and several other products. Afterwards, we found a rather extensive market with lots of stands selling fresh fish (and we mean fresh), poultry, beef, vegetables and fruits. The size of many of the vegetables and fruits were enormous. To put this into perspective the diameter of the carrots was similar to the size of a cucumber and the length was longer than the size of a normal carrot. The grapes were the size of small plums. The quality of the vegetables and the fruits was superb. This market was extremely crowded with shoppers who are local to the area.

A little while after we left this area we ran into Mary. She walked with us for a while and took us to a place where she purchased items yesterday but that store was closed. We then went to another area that she had also purchased some items from and we purchased some gifts there including one item for Anne Marie. We also stopped by one or two other places to purchase a few small items. We then went back to two stores that we had been to yesterday which are located in the Peninsula Hotel. In the hotel lobby we ran into a couple whom we first met last year when they were on two segments of the 2007 World Cruise. They were getting ready to be taken over to the Cruise Ship and will be on two segments of this years World Cruise.

As we headed back to the Cruise Ship terminal we ran into several other passengers who were out and about on the streets of Hong Kong. We had lunch back on the ship in the Main Dining Room. We were given champagne in flutes and toasted the start of this segment of our World Cruise adventure. After lunch we went back out to walk around the city. The sidewalks were extremely crowded between locals and tourists.

The weather was wonderful throughout the day, which added to our enjoyment as we walked around the city.

We also wanted to note one interesting observation regarding the very large shopping mall located at the Cruise Ship Terminal. Stores were grouped together by type of item that is sold there. For example, all of the children’s store from furniture to clothing were located in one area of the mall, whereas another area of the mall contained all of the various stores selling sporting item from sports related clothing to sport related equipment. This is different to the way stores are grouped together in many other places that we have visited around the world.

We also wanted to note that while better than yesterday there was quite a bit of pollution in the air. Hopefully, at some point this will be addressed.

Later in the afternoon, our Travel Specialist and her husband came by our room. They are on this segment of the World Cruise representing the Travel Consortium, Signature Travel Network. We were so very happy to see them and we are thrilled that they will be on this journey with us. We will be dining with them at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant in a couple of days.

Later in the afternoon, the Mandatory Guest Emergency Lifeboat drill was held for those guests who just embarked the ship this afternoon.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room.

Keith & Anne Marie

Hong Kong

Today we arrived in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a very cosmopolitan city. It is known for its soaring skyscrapers, and for its beautiful hills and harbor. Hong Kong is also recognized as having some of the world’s best shopping.

There are many nice places to see in and around the area including Victoria Peak, which provides beautiful views of this city and is Hong Kong’s highest peak at over 1,800 feet. Aberdeen is a former fishing village that is well known for its famous floating restaurants. Repulse Bay is a beach area resort that is popular with both locals and tourists alike. There is the Ocean Park also known as “Water World” which offers a large complex of swimming pools and other related water activities. Another attraction is the Hong Kong Space Museum, which is home to one of the most advanced planetariums in Asia.

Then there is the Ocean Terminal where we are docked which is a beautiful Cruise Ship Terminal with eight million square feet that includes a very large office complex, and a shopping center with over fifty food and beverage venues along with five cinemas, three hotels and over 600 retail shops. Within walking distance of the Ocean Terminal are many other retail stores along with The Star Ferry Terminal. Many visitors will take the Ferry during the daytime to explore the surrounding areas or at night to view the city with its beauty all lit up.

Last evening, each passenger received a letter from Captain Glenn with some information with respect to the flu outbreak. It provides some useful information as to precautions that each passenger should take to minimize the risk of becoming ill and in transmitting the illness to others. Many of the recommendations are good practices to follow all of the time.

We woke up early this morning and started the day with our daily workout. Once again, Keith was the first to arrive at the Fitness Center. A little while later other regulars such as John and Mary arrived as did Anne Marie. Keith enjoyed his workout on the Elliptical Machine, as did Anne Marie on the Treadmill. Keith and Mary had a wonderful conversation and talked about plans for today in Hong Kong.

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

The local pilot came onto our ship precisely at 8:00 AM and starting at that time we began to view our sail-in to Hong Kong. The skies were overcast during our arrival to Hong Kong and there was one area that we could see tremendous pollution, but nevertheless we enjoyed the beauty during our sail-in. Destination Lecturer Dr. Wolff narrated and provided lots of wonderful information for us. There were lots of passengers on the open deck and there was so much to see all around us.

We were cleared to go ashore ahead of scheduled and we went to a variety of places where we ended up running into many folks from the ship. We went over to the Peninsula Hotel and we quickly saw a couple that we met on last years World Cruise (they did the last half of that World Cruise) and they gave us a big hug. They are staying at this hotel and will be boarding the ship tomorrow for the second half of the World Cruise. We went to Ascot Chang and ordered a couple of custom made tuxedo shirts which will be ready at 10:00 AM tomorrow morning. We went to a variety of other shops in the Hotel including Jimmy Chen, which was recommended by some other passenger’s as well.

We did go over to Ashnell Shop, which was recommended by several people to look at the handbags. We would stay that about 75% of the people shopping there were from Crystal. We also went into another Men’s custom shop that a few people recommended to us including the family that sat near our table who live in Hong Kong. On our way back to the ship we looked at the Chinese Arts & Crafts Center. We had pre-ordered lunch and ate at 1:30 PM. When we finished it was time to go back out. We went back to several stores that we went to in the morning along with many other stores and we also walked for several hours.

The locals were very nice to us in all of the shops. The streets were fairly crowded but this is clearly a vibrant area.

There is definitely a pollution problem in Hong Kong. We do hope that the issue of Pollution will be addressed as it reminded us of the Los Angeles, California area before action was taken to curb the pollutants in the air. We could feel the impact of the pollution as we walked around throughout the day.

Tomorrow, we will explore more of Hong Kong. The ship is scheduled to leave Hong Kong at 8:00 PM. Tomorrow morning many passengers will be disembarking the ship while new passengers will be arriving starting at 12:00 noon.

This evening we will be enjoying a nice variety of Sushi in our room along with salad and a nice fruit plate from the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant.

Keith & Anne Marie

Sea Day and Crew Games

NOTE: We have posted three pictures. We gave three of our five medals to our Senior Waiter since he was part of the crew team who won the Tug-Of-War Competition and we also gave one of our medals to our Waiter who participated in the Tug-Of-War competition between the crew. We also gave one medal to a young girl who sat with her parents and grandparents at a table in the dining room near our table. She was very well behaved during the entire segment of the cruise and we thought she would appreciate the medal. When we gave it to her this evening we along with the nearby tables gave her a round of applause. We realize that the picture with her is sideways but we could not straighten it out.


Today, we received rather sad news about a friend’s illness. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and to his lovely wife. This is another reminder to us to appreciate each and every day as no one can predict ones future with any certainty. Some will ask us why we focus so much on the good and this is the reason why. There are times that some focus too much on what is wrong with something and we have come to learn that in the scheme of things most of those items are quite trite in the scheme of things. We are thankful that we have the means and the good health to not only see the world but to be travel on a cruise line as outstanding as Crystal. It is for these reasons that we focus our mind and energy on all that is great about our adventure because we realize how fortunate we are to be able to be a part of such a great adventure. We will continue to hope and pray for our two friends.

We enjoyed another wonderful day at sea as we sail to our next port of call in Hong Kong. We are on scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong at 10:00 AM tomorrow, local date/time. We will be sure to be out on deck as we have been told that Hong Kong is one if not the most beautiful harbour in the world.

We woke up early this morning. Keith was the first to arrive at the Fitness Center and later on others such as John and Mary arrived. By the time Keith finished his workout there were many passengers working out. Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine and spoke with Mary for a good portion of his workout. Anne Marie was also up and early and did the laundry. We have found that this time of the morning when most of our fellow passenger’s are still sleeping is the best time of day for us to get this done.

We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our room. We spoke with the butler about our plans for tomorrow. Since we will be out for most of the day in Hong Kong we thought it would be nice to have dinner in our room tomorrow evening. We plan to have sushi and salad for dinner from the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant.

Today has been a truly beautiful day. During Captain Glenn’s morning announcement he noted that today would be sunny and he was right. We will continue to travel at 19.5 knots per hour in order to stay on schedule for our arrival to Hong Kong. We will be met by the Local Pilot at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning and we should start to see the beauty of the surrounding area shortly thereafter at about 8:15 AM. Captain Glenn’s thought of the day is “You can’t get to the top by sitting on your bottom.”

We began our day by attending Rap with the Rabbi. Once, again we enjoyed the discussion. There was lots of good participation by those who attended and the Rabbi does a wonderful job preparing and leading these discussions. During this segment of the cruise we have lots of passengers attend from various religious faiths and we hope this continues. The Rabbi had invited lecturer Dr. Mark Elovitz to today’s session. Dr Elovitz did a wonderful job answering a variety of questions and offering his opinion on several items discussed today.

Later in the morning we spoke with Olympian Cathy Rigby. She is a wonderful person and has been so very kind to us. We exchanged e-mail addresses with her and look forward to keeping up with her in the future.

In the morning, there were a couple of lectures including Michael Glick who discussed “The Technology Evolution & The Future of Film. Last up in the morning, was lecture Clint Van Zandt. Today he presented “Nostradamus and the Psychic Detectives.” He discussed how the FBI and Police use psychic detectives to help solve mysteries.

At Noon it was time for Team Trivia. Today was the last day of Trivia for this segment of the cruise. We will take a break from Team Trivia during the next segment of the World Cruise. For the entire segment, we ended up finishing in fifth place out of fifteen teams.

Following Team Trivia we met with a few other couples who along with us will be hosting a crew party towards the end of the World Cruise.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the Main Dining Room. We enjoyed sitting at senior waiter Dragan’s table. Dragan will be leaving the ship in Hong Kong to go on Holiday and we hope that we will see him on a future Crystal Cruise. He is truly outstanding.

Although the World Cruise games have ended, at 2:00 PM the infamous Crew Tug-a-War & Slippery Pole competition took place. The Tug-a-War competition featured members of the crew from a variety of departments throughout the ship. Our friend Stan participated in the Tug-a-War with others from the computer university and we believe one other department. They gave it their all, but couldn’t pull it out. Better luck next time. ☺ Other teams included the restaurant waiters, the engine room, the stewardesses, the casino, the front desk personnel, along with other departments. This competition was rescheduled from the other day due to rain. We were glad that today turned out to be a sunny day so that this event could be held. . In the end, one of the teams of Waiters/Senior Waiters from the Main Dining Room won, including our Senior Waiter, Pablo. Way to go Pablo!

Afterwards there was the Slippery Pole competition where members of the crew competed with each other, two at a time. Whoever fell in the pool first lost the round. Only winners advanced to the next round.

These games were lots of fun for passengers and crew alike.

This evening is the final formal night for this segment of the World Cruise. Before dinner we attended the Captain’s Farewell Reception. As usual, it was great to see everyone dressed up in their formal attire and to converse with fellow passengers and several members of the Crystal Crew.

After the reception we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. We gave three of our medals away at dinner. We gave a medal to Pablo our Senior Waiter, and a medal to Layla our Waiter as each one competed in the crew tug a war. We gave one medal to a little girl who sat at a table near us in the dining room as she was so very nice and well behaved.

We anxiously look forward to our next stop in Hong Kong.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Hong Kong

Once again, we enjoyed a good nights sleep last evening. We find it easy to sleep at night with the slight rocking of the ship.

We awoke early this morning and started the day with our daily workout. Keith was the first one who arrived at the Fitness Center. A short while later Anne Marie arrived and John also arrived around the same time. A little while later Mary arrived so, once again, the four regulars were working out at the same time. Keith worked out the entire time on the Elliptical Machine and continues to rack up those miles. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill. As he frequently does, Keith enjoyed a wonderful talk with Mary. They each spoke about what we had seen in Brunei and also talked about several of the upcoming ports of call.

After our workout, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room.

Today and tomorrow are sea days as we cruise to our next port of call in Hong Kong. This will be a very big turnover stop for the ship, as many passengers will be getting off the ship at this port of call. This includes those passengers who have been on for one or more segments of the World Cruise. There are several passengers who go on the ship for half of the World Cruise; either the first four or the last four World Cruise segments. Since the end of this segment marks the conclusion of the forth of eight World Cruise segments, many passengers who booked the first half of the World Cruise will be disembarking the ship in Hong Kong.

At the same time, many new passengers will be boarding the ship and this next segment is all sold out.

Several members of the crew who we know so well from our current and previous sailings will be leaving the ship in Hong Kong. These includes two very dear crew members who work at the Reception Desk, Franz and Nina and one of the Senior Waiters in the Main Dining Room, Dragan, whose station area we normally try to sit at during lunchtime. Some of the Lido Deck Stewards will be leaving in Hong Kong as well. We will miss them all and look forward to seeing them again.

Since today is a sea day, there were many activities planned throughout the day. Today is also the final day for the World Cruise Games.

We wanted to mention yesterdays thought of the day for the Captain. It is “Behind every good man is a good woman”. When we attended the reception in the Captain’s quarters last evening, many of us recounted this quote. Speaking of the thought of the day, we really appreciate these thoughts and have mentioned to the Captain how much we appreciate them.

During this mornings talk, Captain Glenn noted that we were sailing in the South China Sea and that we were cruising at 20 knots per hour. The morning temperature was 81 degrees Fahrenheit. Captain Glenn’s thought of the day is “If you want to see the moon look at the bright side of it.”

This morning we participated in the mixed doubles table tennis tournament. As it turned out we were teamed together and we came in third place, (we lost in overtime or else we would have advanced to the final) so we won the Bronze Award. ☺

Later in the morning there was the Mid-way Mixer for all passengers on the cruise. This marked the half-way point for the World Cruise. We think that the half-way point is actually tomorrow but nevertheless it is amazing how quickly each and every day goes. There was lots of great entertainment along with drinks being served. The music was wonderful so even though we were in our athletic shoes, we still danced to one of the songs.

This segment of the World Cruise has gone by very quickly which is incredible when one considers the vast number of sea days. Of course, this is an area that sets Crystal apart from every cruise line in our opinion. There are so many wonderful activities to attend from the World Games, to the lectures, to the classes, to the evening entertainment, to the sports programs, to the art and music related activities that in a blink of an eye each day starts and comes to a conclusion. We applaud Crystal for their enrichment programs, which allow us to get exposure to a variety of interesting areas.

At 12:00 Noon it was time for Team Trivia and today was the Trivia World Game. The top three teams from today’s event received a Gold, Silver and Bronze medal respectively. Unfortunately, this was not one of our better days so no medals for our team.

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch today. We each had a delicious salad entrée.

Speaking of lunch, yesterday, we mentioned the dinner menu so we thought today we would briefly touch on the luncheon menu. There are a variety of venues for lunch.

The main dining room serves lunch from 12:00 Noon to 1:30 PM. They usually offer four or more appetizers and salads, three or more soups, and a couple of pasta specials which are available either as an appetizer or as a main fare item. There are five or more main fares, which are available as an entrée. On today’s menu this included a salad entrée of grille venison tenderloin and garden vegetable salad, a potato and wrapped shrimp salad, a king klip fillet seafood entrée, Viennese veal goulash and a hamburger or cheeseburger. You can also order a variety of other items and many times we will substitute a different entrée salad or we might make some slight changes to the entrée salad on the menu. You can also order a variety of side orders from vegetables, to pasta. And, don’t forget dessert. ☺ There are many desserts that can be ordered. Our dessert is always fruit but for example on the menu today is Coconut Tart a la mode, Sugar free sundae of sugar free blueberry crumble with sugar free vanilla ice cream, low-carb yogurt fruit terrine, vanilla/strawberry or chocolate chip ice cream, freshly frozen non fat rum coconut or raspberry yogurt, refreshing banana sherbet and an assortment of fruit in season and lastly international cheeses served with crackers and biscuits. At the same time other types of meals are available in the dining room from Kosher Meals, to low sodium meals.

Another option for lunch is the Lido Café. The Lido Café serves a large array of cold and hot items buffet style. There are so many food items to choose from and this venue provides a nice casual lunch and is also good for those who are in a hurry.

Lunch is also served at Tastes, which offers lunch and dinner in a casual atmosphere with table service, around the Neptune Pool from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

There is The Trident Grill where you can order hamburgers, cheeseburgers, wraps and other snacks from 11:30 AM to 6:00 PM.

There is also the Bistro, which services a variety of Bistro snacks, tarts and pastries from 11:30 AM to 6:00 PM and where you can also order a variety of hot and cold beverages. Many of the sommeliers work in the Bistro so if someone wants to pre-order a bottle of wine for dinner or to get some advice on wine this is a great place to stop by to get some advice. It is also a wonderful place to meet up with friends or to sit and read a book or a newspaper or magazine.

Many times there are special luncheons such as buffets. Today was one of those days. Today was a luncheon buffet featuring traditional German and Australian Fare.

Later in the afternoon, there is also the Afternoon Tea where one can order a variety of teas and also enjoy some special treats.

This evening marks the conclusion of the World Cruise Games. At 5:00 PM the closing medal ceremony was held. Keith received a Gold Medal for coming in first place in the men’s doubles table tennis tournament and Keith and Anne Marie each received a Bronze medal for finishing in third places in the mixed doubles table tennis tournament. In total, Keith received two gold medals; one silver medal and one bronze medal and Anne Marie received one bronze medal so our room has lots of medals along with certificates from these events. Win or lose we had a great time playing and getting to know many of our fellow passengers.

After the awards ceremony, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room.


Keith & Anne Marie





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A Day In Brunei

NOTE: Below this entry, we have also posted another entry, which has one picture from yesterday which was a picture of our Cruise Critic get-together in the Captain’s Quarters.

We have also updated our pictures on our picture web site. If you click on the link on the right hand side that takes you to our picture web site you will see a new group of pictures called Grand Gala Desserts. These pictures show some of the beautifully decorated cakes that were served at yesterdays Gala. We didn’t eat any of these cakes. ☺ However, we thought they were picture perfect so we took plenty of pictures of them. The chefs on Crystal are amazing. This is clearly an art so kudos to the Pastry Chefs were preparing marvelous cakes.

We have posted four pictures today. The first is a picture of us with Captain Glenn from two evenings ago. The second is a picture of one of the Water Village Homes. The third is a picture of the Chariot that was used when the Sultan went from being a Crown Prince to the Sultan of Brunei. Finally, the last picture is of the Jame’Asr Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque.

Today we arrived in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. This country borders the South Sea and has a long, lovely coast.

The Sultan rules this country. He is the Head of State, Prime Minister, Finance Minister, and Defense Minister. The Sultan’s family has ruled this nation for more than six centuries. Approximately 400,000 people live in this capital city. The Sultan is extremely wealthy.

His personal car collection is valued at $4 Billion dollars and includes over 500 Mercedes, over 350 Ferraris, over 350 Bentleys, almost 200 BMWs, over 175 Jaguars, over 150 Porsches, over 125 Rolls Royce’s and 20 Lamborghinis. Some sources estimate even higher numbers. We don’t quite understand why one individual needs so many cars and think that this amount of money could be much better spent on the people of this nation,

Approximately two-thirds of the residents of this nation are Muslim. Buddhists account for another 15% of the residents and Christianity accounts for the remaining 8% of the population.

Oil is king and oil is what drives this nations economy. There is no income tax but there is a tax on goods that are sold.

One observation. We saw very few locals during our tour. When we were in the mosque, we saw very few people and as we drove through the capital city we saw many motorists but we saw very few people on the sidewalks. Of course, our local guide did mention that since gasoline prices are relatively low that the locals do utilize their cars quite a big and that their means of getting around is almost exclusively the automobile. He also mentioned that the locals prefer not to walk much and that obesity has become a major problem.

Keith awoke very early in the morning and began his workout at 4:30 AM. We have an early tour so Keith wanted to get in an early workout. Anne Marie worked out in the afternoon. Mid-way through Keith’s workout Mary arrived and John arrived a little while after that.

After Keith finished his workout and was walking down the first flight of steps he saw a familiar face from the night crew who is one of the members of the crew who cleans the ship during the nighttime hours. Keith spoke with him for a little while and noted that he had begun his workout earlier than normal at 4:30 AM. At that point the member of the night crew said, yes, you normally begin at 5:00 AM. That is amazing that he remember the time that Keith gets up there in the morning.

We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in our room as we have done for the last couple of weeks. Since we had a fairly early shore excursion, we had breakfast delivered at 6:00 AM.

When we disembarked the ship, Brunei Health Officials were positioned at the gangway entrance where they performed random temperature checks of passengers. We were warned that this would occur.

We took a morning shore excursion that was called The Sultanate: City & Water Village Tour.

We began our tour with a brief look inside the Jame’Asr Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque. This mosque is the largest mosque in Brunei. We had to remove our shoes and the women were given black robes (looked similar to graduation robes to put on) and we could only walk on a certain area within the mosque. The outside landscaping of the mosque was impeccable.

We then had a stop across the street from the home of the Sultan. There was a large gates and lots of landscaping in the front. The palace contains over 1,600 rooms.

From there, we continued to the Royal Regalia Center. This center was constructed in 1992. It houses a collection of royal regalia including the royal chariot, gold and silver ceremonial armory and the crown used for the coronation along with a variety of gifts from other nations. We had to remove our shoes before we went inside.

Our final stop before returning to the ship was at Kampont Ayer, an over-water village. At the village we boarded a water taxi for a short ride over to the water village where we visited a traditional Brunei home. On our way to the home, we traveled by lots of homes within the water village and also had views of a couple of mosque s and the Sultan’s Palace. At the home, various desserts and tea were served.

We enjoyed this tour and we really appreciate the amount of information that our tour guide shared with us. We sat in the front of the bus and we asked our tour guide lots of questions.

During our tour we ran into a family (parents and an adult daughter) who we had met on a back to back Crystal cruise in the Mediterranean in 2005. We immediately recognized one another. They are from Canada and very nice people. The mother remembered how Keith had helped her into the tender when we cruised in 2005 and had waited for her to help her out of the tender.

When we arrived back from the ship, we enjoyed lunch in our room. Given the time we knew we were getting back, we had pre-ordered the lunch so that it was ready around the time we returned. The lunch was wonderful as it always is all the food on Crystal.

We both took a nice long on the promenade deck in the afternoon. I was fairly warm but we enjoyed getting fresh air by walking outside.

Before dinner this evening we had cocktails in the Captain’s Quarters. It is amazing that we were invited to the Captain’s Quarters two days in a row. Many of the passengers attending this evening are on the full World Cruise.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. The food throughout the World Cruise has been wonderful. We are amazed at the quality of the food and its presentation, particularly when one considers the number of passengers being served throughout the day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. During the World Cruise, many varied items are offered throughout the cruise given how long many of the passengers are on the ship.

On the dinner menu, there are typically four or more appetizers to choose from, three different soups, two different salads, a pasta special, a salad entrée, four main fare entrees along with a couple of alternative entrees. Several side orders are available from various potatoes, to pasta, to various vegetables. In addition there are vegetarian selections to choose from and there are lighter side items. Let us not forget about dessert. There are sugar-free desserts, classic desserts along with items from the cheese trolley. On most evenings, the headwaiters also prepare desserts such as Banana Foster, Cherries Jubilee, Crepes Suzettes and so forth. Many items not on the menu can be ordered and you can also make some changes to how a particular item is prepared. Also, if you provide 24 hours notice you can order just about anything in reason as long as the ingredients are available on the ship.

The cuisine served by Crystal is fabulous and we really appreciate the way Crystal accommodates how we enjoy having our meals prepared.

On top of that we greatly appreciate the outstanding, and we do mean the outstanding service, provided in the Main Dining Room and throughout the ship. In addition to the wonderful service, we also greatly appreciate the outstanding knowledge that the wait staff has with respect to food preparation and their recommendation of food items. The Main Dining Room staff includes the waiter who ensures that all of the items ordered are prepared by the kitchen and are picked up from the kitchen in an orderly manner so that all items for a particular course are ready to be brought over to the table at the same time, and also takes care of other items at the table including water, to hot beverages. There is the senior waiter who takes our order, serves most of the items, offers recommendations on items, and follows up to ensure that we are pleased with the meal. There is also a Head Waiter who has the responsibility for a large section of tables in the dining room. The Head Waiter will take care of special items that are ordered ahead of time, will prepare some special desserts, and also take care of other special food items. We have had our Head Waiter on many of our Crystal cruises and he amazes us by remembering many of our favorite food items. He also knows whether or not we will like a particular entrée on the menu as he knows we really likes fish and has an unbelievable memory as to what type of fish we enjoy. On a few evenings where we were not in the dining room the night before he knew we would not like the choices and without us asking he pre-ordered an alternative entrée for us and he was correct each time. Then there is the Maitre D’ of the dining room. We have sailed with him many times and he is wonderful. He takes care of all of the seating assignments, he will also arrange for special tables for passengers who need to eat together on a particular evening and oversees the entire wait staff. He comes around from time to time to check on us.

Our senior waiter, Pablo, and waiter, Layla, are both from Chile and have been wonderful. We appreciate their professionalism and enthusiasm and all that they do to make each of our meals very special and we are so fortunate to have them for the entire cruise. Our headwaiter is Peter and is known by some as tall Peter as he is rather tall. He is very knowledgeable in the area of food and we go with his food recommendations very often. Peter is from Austria. The Maitre D’ for the first half of the World Cruise is Leo and is also from Austria. He is also outstanding in all that he does. Every few segments we have a different Sommelier assigned to our table. Our current Sommelier is Gert and he is also from Austria. He is also very knowledgeable and we will ask him lots of questions about wine. Wines are available by the bottle and a variety of wines are available by the glass.

We love our table location in the dining room. We sit at a table for two but on occasion we have had the table expanded to accommodate another couple. On other evenings when we want to dine with other passengers we make plans to eat in one of the Specialty Restaurants. We were very fortunate to get this table as it is in one, if not the quietest area in the dining room and is by a window. We also know several of passengers who seat in this same area of the dining room.

Given the length of time we are on the cruise we eat very healthy foods in the dining room each evening. For dinner, we really enjoy all of the healthy foods available to choose from including the salad, the wonderfully prepared seafood entrees, the very fresh vegetables, and all of the fruit selections available for dessert. At the same time, there are so many other items to choose from and, on occasion we do order a fun item.

From time to time we’ll try to provide similar details about the other dining venues on the ship.


Keith & Anne Marie