ON THE ROAD AGAIN TO ST. HELENA - DAY TWO OF THREE DAYS AT SEA Catherine yes....somehow a young boy who started out as a New York Yankees fan through the bad and good times was/is also a Boston Celtic fan. Keith always loved those teams that focused on team ball starting with the part of the Bill Russell era that Keith remembers to John Havlicek, then Dave Cowens and to the Larry Bird era to their last championship team to the present. We began last evening by attending a cocktail party that was hosted by our Travel Agent, Gerri, for the Travel Agency that we book our cruises with. Gerri is on the left in the second photo wearing the green necklace. Anne Marie is with friend Jocelyn in the second photo. We met Jocelyn and her husband Bob at the World Cruise Gala in 2007 at the Four Seasons Hotel on the eve of our first World Cruise and have sailed with them many times. We had a full house as a lot of guests on our cruise book with our the agency we use. Gerri did a terrific job hosting the event including giving a very nice welcome address after everyone had arrived. These are the menus from Waterside. We dined at Waterside. There are many nights when it is difficult to make a choice and this was the case last evening. Which of the two appetizers which sound wonderful should we have? As it turned out Anne Marie selected one of them which was the Freshly Baked Lobster Strudel and Keith selected the other one which was the Charred Cod. Each of us were pleased with our selections. As we do from time-to-time, we both had a small version without meat of the Salad Entree for our appetizer salad. We both had the Halibut for our entree. The sauce which accompanied it was flavorful. All in all we had a lovely meal with outstanding service from the terrific waitstaff team of Head Waiter Augusto, Senior Waiter Claudia and Waiter Yiuraj. We very much appreciate Restaurant Manger Leo who like a conductor of an orchestra keeps everything in the dining venue flowing extremely well. Waiter Yiuraj is in the photo with Anne Marie. St Patrick's Day was celebrated last evening rather than the night before as there was the World Cruise shore-side event that evening plus it was a day in port and the need to have the face-to-face meetings with immigration. The featured entertainment included two showings of a show developed for this voyage as a tribute to the beautiful music and dance of Ireland. The Avenue Saloon was turned into a St. Patrick's night with song, music, drink and even fish and chips as part of the celebration. At 11:00 PM the DJ in the Pulse played Irish themed Dance Music. As part of the celebration we got another benefit which was a time change. Yes, we turned back the clocks by one hour before going to sleep. We will benefit from two additional changes of the clock but payback time will come when we forward the clock on three separate occasions before the final segment of World Cruise 2019 comes to a conclusion. We slept very well as we are sailing to St. Helena. You can barely feel that we are at sea. Keith was up first and enjoyed a nice workout at the Fitness Center. After his exercise he spent more time stretching as he was trying to realize some of the benefits from yesterday's massage which was addressing some knots of his muscles. Well some might be an understatement. Hopefully those rooms are sound-proof because if they weren't someone might have heard Keith in a bit of pain as those knots were being worked on. LOL, but it's true. We also enjoyed coffee and breakfast In our room as we got ready for another wonderful day on-board Serenity. Following breakfast we went on one of those one hour walks on the inside of the ship. During our walk we always run into many people we know. Today was filled with lots of enrichment and other activities. Three lectures: Tim Severin gave the first of a two part lecture on The Brendon Voyage. World Affairs Lecturer spoke about Donald True. In the afternoon Joshue Young gave a talk on the a behind the scenes look at the entertainment business with emphasis on actors John Travolta, Clint Eastwood, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Douglas, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Woody Harrelson and one other person that we will just leave out. Speaking of lectures before dinner last evening we watched the lecture given by Tony Leon. As we mentioned he had been opposition leader to two President's in South Africa. He is a dynamic and charismatic speaker and we enjoyed his first lecture of the cruise as we have the previous ones he has given. He spent a good deal of time discussing the upcoming election for a new South African President as well as discussing previous President's starting with Nelson Mandela. He spoke about challenges and issues for the government. The country has so many natural resources and so much potential that it will be interesting to watch how they deal with their existing challenges over the coming years. We have mentioned this a couple of times already but in our own country there is far less news on these topics so we greatly appreciate these talks given on the ship on topics that are relevant to the area of the world we are sailing. We also enjoy seeing coverage while on the ship by television stations that we get such as the BBC. For us travel is discovery and this is all part of the experience. Keith was able to get in more Paddle Tennis in the morning and Anne Marie while Anne Marie worked on her second knitting project. In the afternoon even though this is not a wine and food themed cruise, Head Sommelier conducted a complimentary wine tasting event at Waterside. We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace. After lunch it was back to the Paddle Tennis courts for Keith and a walk for Anne Marie. Sea days are a great time to engage with others and to enjoy all of the amenities of the ship and that is what plan on doing for the rest of the day. Below you will find the daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith
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ON THE ROAD AGAIN - ST.HELENA - DAY ONE OF THREE SEA DAYS Mike,thank you for your comments and we can say that a World Cruise is an amazing experience and we hope that you get to do it after you retire. All...We continue to enjoy your comments and questions so keep them coming. These are the menus from Waterside. After we posted yesterday afternoon we spoke with our son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons via video over Whats App. It is so nice that this technology exists so we can keep up with family while away from home. Last night was the second World Cruise Shore-Side Event. After lots of careful thought we made the decision to not attend this special event due to Anne Marie's diseases. We just didn't think it would be a good idea for her. The theme of the event was Star Wars which is something that Keith is very fond of and Anne Marie would have enjoyed. The theme of the event was Exploring The Great Namibia Desert. The specially themed Star Wars event was presented in a landscape to represent the Star Wars desert planet of Tatooine. The guests were e taken to the dunes of the Namibia Desert. The desert has been in existence for over 43 millions years, and has remained unchanged for the past 2 millions years. We are sorry to have missed the event but happy that our fellow World Cruisers went to such a special event. Rather than go to one of the dining venues we decided to have a relaxing evening in our room. Rao organized a wonderful meal for us. We began with wine, veggies and shrimp. For dinner we began with a nice salad of Spinach, Tomatoes and Mushroom. Our next course was Spinach Salad followed by Pizza. This is the first time since boarding that we had Pizza. The cruse was thinner then in the past and one that we liked very much. We also attended the Mandatory Immigration Inspection which all guests had to go through on-board Serenity before departure. The inspection started at 7:00 PM at the Stardust Lounge. We brought with us the second copy of our landing card (first one was collected at our arrival face-to-fact inspection) along with our passports. They stamped our passport on the same page they used for the entry stamp a few days ago. The process was quick and efficient and after that was complete our passports were collected by Crystal Cruises. We slept well as we are sailing to St. Helena. We began today with our normal routine of a workout for Keith at the Fitness Center followed by coffee and breakfast. Afterwards, we both walked inside the ship. Keith had a massage at the Salon. This was his first massage on the ship. He got the massage to focus on relieving muscle issues that Keith has been having. The Massage Therapist identified several other muscles to work on. Today is the first of three sea days. The program included two lectures. Special Interest Lecture Robert Caske spoke about the battle of Roeke's Drift which took place on January 22nd and 23rd of 1879. Former Ambassador Tony Leon spoke about 2019 and the year of living dangerously in South Africa. He spoke about the prospects of new President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa winning this year's election and reversing the corruption and low growth of his predecessor. We have seen Tony Leon speak on several World Cruises. His first time was in 2010. He was an Ambassador from South Africa to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. He was also the former leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of South Africa during the Presidencies of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. Keith got into the Irish Spirit wearing a shirt for his favorite baseball team. He does have some leprechaun in him as he has always been a Boston Celtics Fan. We had lunch at Marketplace. Today's lunch featured the Asian Buffet. We are including photos that we took yesterday of green deserts in honor of St. Patrick's Day. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon doing things that we enjoy including Paddle Tennis for Keith, walking and knitting for Anne Marie and conversations with fellow guests and members of the crew. This is the daily Reflections Program for today. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith WELCOME TO WALVIS BAY, NAMIBIA Happy St. Patrick’s Day From Crystal Serenity. We began last evening with a pre-dinner drink at Palm Court with fellow guest Robin. We enjoyed a lovely conversation. These are the menus from Waterside. We dined at the Italian Specialty Restaurant Prego. The menu has been revised for this segment of the World Cruise lithe some new items. We dined at the Italian Specialty Restaurant Prego. The menu has been revised for this segment of the World Cruise lithe some new items. Our waiter was Petar who took wonderful care of us along with Specialty Restaurant Maitre d’ Paolo and Head Waiter Mario. Dining at Prego is similar to dining at a small town restaurant in a town or village. We tried some of the new items. I had the Assorted Antipasti Plate and Anne Marie had the Warm Sage – Butter Poached Lobster. Both were perfect and are new items. For our next course we had the Caesar Salad. Our entrée was a new item which was a Pistachio Crusted Grilled Kingklip. The fish came out hot and moist and was very flavorful with the minestrone which accompanied it. The featured entertainment was two showings of My Life: The Music of Billy Joel performed by James Fox. This is a very exciting and upbeat show and a wonderful tribute to Billy Joel. We slept well as we sailed to Walvis Bay. The sea was relatively calm and the gentle rocking of the ship made it easy to fall asleep. We began the day like we always do with an early morning workout for Keith followed by Coffee and Breakfast in our room. Today marked our third visit to Walvis Bay. On our first visit in 2007 we did a Crystal Cruises tour. Walvis Bay is a combination of desert and ocean and was settled in 187 by Commander Richard Dryer who took possession and settlement of the area under Queen Victoria’s name. In 1994 the area was incorporated into the Republic of Namibia. It is home to 67,000 residents. Major attractions include: Civic Center which is home to the Walvis Bay Museum that documents the town’s history. Rheinish Mission Church which was assembled from prefabricated wood which came from Hamburg, Germany in 1880. It is the oldest building still standing in Walvis Bay. Dune 7 which is the highest of several dunes in Namibia. It was measured at a height of 1,256 feet. Why its name? This is because it is the seventh dune that one encounters after crossing the river Tsauchab. The Laggoon which is located southwest of Walvis Bay provides a wonderful opportunity for Flamingo Viewing. Sandwich Harbour which is located 50 miles from Walvis Bay and is known for its birdlife. Swakopmund which is a seaside town with many cafes and restaurants located 22 miles from Walvis Bay. A couple of photos from our arrival. It was overcast and had rained earlier. Walvis Bay is a place where if you want to visit sites it is best to take a tour. There was a shuttle which took you to a shopping mall. On one of our visits we were docked in a location where we walked along the coast and we saw several flamingos. Unfortunately, we were docked in an area not easily accessible to where we visited before. Surprisingly it was brisk and overcast given where we are visiting. Anne Marie stayed on the ship and walked for an hour and worked on knitting while Keith went off briefly. This is a container port and the area near the ship was filled with tour vehicles. Keith carefully made his way out of the port and walked for a little while. Some of the streets were desolate other than for some taxis and one or two people and Keith made the executive decision to turn back. He did stop and spoke with a few locals who were selling various items. He made some donations before heading back to the ship. Back on the ship Keith visited with some friends who we know from prior cruises who are on-board. This included Ernie and Val and the Schofields. Before going ashore Keith spoke with friends Jim and Rob. One of the nice aspects of cruising is making friends and also seeing them on other cruises. We first met Ernie and Val our very first time on Crystal Serenity in 2005 through mutual friends Alan and Helen. We were looking to do something special in 2007 to celebrate a milestone anniversary and thinking of a 30 day voyage on another cruise line. After two meals with Ernie and Val who a few months earlier had completed World Cruise 2005 they had us sold on taking our first World Cruise and before the ship we put in a waitlist deposit for the 2007 World Cruise before knowing the itinerary. As they say the rest is history. We enjoyed lunch at the Marketplace. These are desserts from yesterday's lunch at Waterside. The one that got Anne Marie's attention was the Chocolate Mousse Cup. We are enjoying the rest of the afternoon on-board the ship including walking (Anne Marie), paddle tennis (Keith) and enjoying the company of fellow guests and the wonderful members of the crew. While Keith was playing Paddle Tennis the sun came out and it turned out to be a gorgeous afternoon. Fun to be outside. Fun to be on the ship. It's all great. Following is the daily Reflections Program from today. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith WECLOME TO LUDERITZ, NAMIBIA Thank you Wili for your nice comments. We wanted to begin by mentioned that after we posted yesterday we watched the lectur given yesterday by Daniel Silke about Africa. In terms of sheer size he noted you can fit the USA, UK, Japan, China and India inside Africa. In fact, the UK would fit inside Madagascar. He mentioned that Sengal represents the change to the modern Africa and that in many countries the infrastructure is improving. Some of the economic investment comes from China who is making major investments. At the same time he noted there are stability challenges in some of the countries with political unrest. Many foreign countries are investing because of the high growth across Africa. At the same time tourism continues to increase with many foreigners visiting the continent in record numbers. Foreign countries are building Embassies with China having Embassies in 52 of the 54 jurisdictions. Trade with China is up 226% in the last ten years and trade with India has grown even greater. Other countries investing include Turkey. At the same time USA trade is down marginally. China is looking to have power in the continent. He also explained that many of the countries have large amounts of debt with country relative to all other countries. This is something to think about as China continues to have influence on the continent in the coming years. Economic growth in Africa is second to Asia although it starts with a much smaller overall GDP. About ten countries are experiencing high growth but some countries such as South Africa are doing poorly economically and have other issues such as power outages. In terms of population Africa will overtake Asia by the end of the century. In fact, 37% of the projected growth in population will occur in Africa. At the same time there are major challenge. For example, Africa as a whole will need to create 18 million jobs per year to keep up with the growing population. They will have to add significantly greater infrastructure. The question is can they do what other countries have done such as creating an environment for foreign investors to come in far greater numbers to increase their manufacturing capabilities similar to what China has done. Our takeaway is three-fold. One is that in our own country we are not covering much of what is taking place around the world with Africa as an example. Secondly, while other countries are making investments in the continent and focused on trade our country appears to be sitting back. Third,while Africa has many challenges we are reminded that China faced some of the same issues before countries like our own began trading with them which helped to spurn major growth in their country. Will they achieve similar successes economically? Time will tell. Switching gears, last evening was Black Tie Optional (BTO) night. We began the evening by attending the Captain's Reception. On most voyages there are now one reception which is the Crystal Society Reception. This voyage is unique in terms of its overall length and it being the last segment of the World Cruise so it was very nice that the reception was held. In addition, Captain Birger has returned to Serenity as Captain Giske went on a well-deserved Holiday. One can enter the reception from one of two entrances. If they come through the main entrance they will be greeted by Crystal Society Hostess Alissa and they can say hello and have a photo taken with the Captain and see some of the other senior officers such as the Hotel Director and Cruise Director. The other option is to use the other entrance to expedite getting inside. We enjoy these receptions. There is a live band on-hand and the opportunity for guests to dance. Captain Birger spoke with everyone which is always nice. He also introduced the Senior Officers; Vice Captain Juan Fernandez, Chief Engineer Robert Bayfield, Hotel Director Scott Peterson and Cruise Director Rick Spath. The doctor was introduced but we didn't get his name. This is his first time with Crystal Cruises. Anne Marie with Crystal Society Hostess Alissa. We dined at Waterside for the third consecutive night. We enjoyed a wonderful meal. Caviar for Keith and an Eggplant Appetizer for Anne Marie followed by a salad and lobster as our entree. Photo of the two of us with Sommelier Donovan. We tried a Cabernet that Crystal just brought on board from South Africa which we enjoyed. The headline entertainer was Steffan Mullan, a Classical Crossover Artist, who performed two shows at 7:45 and 9:30 PM. We slept very well as we continued sailing to Luderitz, Namibia. We kept to the regular routine of an early morning workout for Keith followed by Coffee and Breakfast in our room. We arrived to Luderitz, Namibia in the morning. We have been to Namibia on two prior occasions but this is our fist visit to this town. The town is small with a population of less than 15,000 people Major attractions include: Luderitz Museum founded in 1966 which provides an extensive collection of artifacts relating to local history. Felsen Church constructed in 1912 and was proclaimed a national monument in 1978. Grober Haus which was originally the home of Lieutenant Hans George. Bismack Street which is the town's Main Street with many historical buildings and shops. Kolmanskop which is a ghost town located six miles from Luderitz. We took the tender ashore. Within tour planned for today we walked around for awhile. We went into a couple of places including a local food store and went by the church. Anne Marie with the local Penguin (LOL). We also turned the table or is that the camera onto Photography Manager Neil Roberts. Enjoyed the rest of the day on-board Serenity. This included walking together, paddle tennis, lunch at Waterside and having conversations with fellow guests and the wonder members of Team Crystal Serenity. While walking we ran into Journalist and 2009 Pulitzer Prize Winner Eugene Robinson and his wife Avis. We spoke with them for quite awhile. This is their first time on-board Crystal Cruises and he is on-board as part of the enrichment program. We wanted to close by saying that the last two weeks Anne Marie began her first knitting project of this cruise and made a shawl. She is now working on her second shawl of the cruise. This is the daily Reflections Program for today. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith ON THE ROAD TO LUDERITZ, NAMIBIA Catherine, we were also advised that we needed two blank visa pages in our Passport for South Africa. When we met with them for the first face-to-face inspection they did place the first stamp on the first of two blank pages and yesterday they placed the second stamp from our final face-to-face with them right below that. Doris, thank you for your kind comments about the blog and the two of us. They are very much appreciated. South Africa is a very interesting country to visit. As mentioned, last evening we attended the mandatory muster drill for all guests. This included those who embarked for this new voyage and those, in-transit guests, like ourselves who have been on one or more previous cruises. Afterwards, we had a drink in the Crystal Cove. Bartender Marvin was one of two bartenders who took great care of us. For pretty much the entire cruise we have not had any canapés. This time Keith said yes. You'll see why in a moment. These are the dinner menus from Waterside where we dined for the second consecutive evening. We were joined for dinner by our wonderful travel specialist Gerri. Gerri and another colleague will be on-board for this entire segment. It was very nice to dine with her. We enjoyed terrific cuisine & service and wonderful conversation. The food photos are the appetizer which Keith had which was Smoked Trout, an entree salad which Keith had without meat and a smaller salad appetizer portion and and salmon which we both had. We enjoyed a nice bottle of wine which is not part of the inclusive wines. We were supposed to leave Cape Town at 7:00 PM. Shortly before 8:00 PM, Captain Birger spoke from the bridge and said that due to high winds the port was closed. This is not unusual for Cape Town. The Captain said we might leave at Midnight, sometime later or even in the morning but that we could make up the speed to get to Luderitz on-time. During today's talk from the Bridge Captain Birger noted that we received additional fuel so we would have more given the possible increase in speed. The good news is we departed the port at around 11:45 PM. From time to time ships have had to stay one to two additional days in port due to the port being closed down. If that happened because we had completed our face to face meetings we would not have been able to get off the ship. All in all great news for us. We slept well and the seas were relatively calm. We started the day as we always do. Keith was up early and enjoyed a good workout at the Fitness Center. The guest Laundry Facilities opened at midnight so Keith did a couple of loads of wash. Today the laundry rooms will likely be busy since the rooms were closed the past few days and with many people having been on Safari and undoubtedly have lots of clothes to wash. We both enjoyed coffee and breakfast in our room. We had a busy morning of several fitness activities. After breakfast we both went to Personal Training with Melanie (Keith) and Charlotte (Anne Marie). Keith attended indoor cycling afterwards. Anne Marie went to Yoga. Corrinme Welke is the new Yoga Instructor. Keith played Paddle Tennis until he met with one of the officers about an event we are sponsoring. Some of the toys we use at Fitness starting with ones that Anne Marie used. Since today was a sea day there was lots on the daily program. The lectures included: Ken Rees spoke about Namibia and covered the two ports of call we will be visiting. Daniel Silke spoke about the State Of Africa and the challenges they have. Fee Halsten spoke about Ardmore Ceramic Art which has been featured in the on-board store. We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace. The theme was African and included several dishes from Africa along with food that is typical of the buffet. After lunch Keith played Paddle Tennis until it was time to attend a mandatory Namibian Immigration Inspection. Following is the daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith FINAL DAY: CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA Catherine, thank you for sharing the quote from Mark Twain about travel. Over the years we have appreciated many of the quotes attributed to him. Before dinner last evening we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the Crystal Cove. We saw Pat along with Rob and Jim who boarded that day. Bartenders Mel and Atzal took great care of us. We enjoyed the music of Violinist Irina Guskova on the Electric Violin. We dined at Waterside and these are the restaurant menus. When we sat down Senior Waiter said we didn't need a menu because she knew precisely what we would order. As it turned out she did. She got it all right. LOL but she did. We began the meal with appetizers of Ahi Tuna for Keith and Shrimp Cocktail for Anne Marie. We both had salads and were happy to see that Spinach is back on-board the ship. We both had the Local Kingklip Fillet for our entree. Augusto brought a couple of additional Fillets for Keith and added them to the dish. The fish was cooked perfectly and enhanced with the chowder which accompanied the fish. On each succeeding cruise the Sommelier's change. This time we have Sommelier Donovan from Cape Town. This is our first time having Donovan. We tried a Chenin Blanc and a Cabernet both of which had just been brought on board from South Africa. We enjoyed both of them. This specific Cabernet was a full body wine which Keith enjoys. We slept well last evening as we remained docked. The day started as usual with a workout for Keith at the Fitness Center followed by coffee and breakfast in our room. The only difference is by the time he finished in addition to one guest who we know who walks on the treadmill and arrives shortly before Keith's workout is finished, there were three other guests there. They likely were up early getting over the jet lag. Since Keith hadn't played Paddle Tennis the past couple of days his legs felt strong and he ended up having a longer workout on the Elliptical Machine than he usually does. Later today we will be leaving Cape Town on the fourth and final segment of World Cruise 2019. This is a map of the entire World Cruise. We walked over to the Victoria & Albert Waterfront where we picked up one of the Hop On Hop Off Bus (HOHO) buses. The bus weaved through the downtown area, took us up to Table Mountain offering breathtaking views and proceeded along the shoreline with its beautiful scenery including views of the sea, the beach and the Twelve Apostles Mountain Range. The weather was stunning making it enjoyable to sit outside. We enjoyed lunch on the ship at Marketplace. Afterwards, Anne Marie walked while Keith played singles Paddle Tennis with one fellow guest for ninety minutes. At 2:30 PM the mandatory face-to-face inspection begins. We will need to bring our passports with us which we were required to have in our possession each time we were on land in South Africa. Later today we will attend the mandatory muster drill for only the second time since boarding. This one is mandatory for all guests including those of us who are in-transit meaning we have already been on one or more previous voyages. We are including the daily Reflections Program from yesterday and today below. We have had a lovely time in Cape Town & South Africa. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith |
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