DAY 108 - DAY 102 CRYSTAL SERENITY

ON THE ROAD TO MALAGA, SPAIN

Emily we did seem to surprise some people with the late night and pizza.  Maybe we should do it for real.  LOL.

We enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the Crystal Plaza.

These are the dinner menus from Waterside where we dined last evening.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Waterside.

We began with appetizers of Sautéed Tiger Prawns for both of us.  Our second course was salad.  Keith had the Pan-Seared Covina and Anne Marie had Veal Scallopini Pizzaiola.  

We also enjoyed a  Caymus Cabernet which Donovan decanted  for us.

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Two different shows were performed last evening.  This included two showings of Crystal On Broadway "The Show" performed in the Galaxy Lounge at 7:45 and 9:30 PM.  The other shows was Cabaret Showtime with Rock 'n' Roll Pianist Brett Cave performed at 8:45 and 10:30 PM at the Stardust Club.

The Crystal Cove featured live music by Pianist Richard Pucci, music by Richard Pucci and Violinist Irina Gukova, Carlos Rayan preforming solo on the Guitar and music and song by Ana & Humberto.  This took place between 5:15 PM and 12:00 Midnight.  There was live music and dancing at the Palm Court and the Avenue Saloon featured Pianist Dan Davies.  

DJ Emotion hosted music trivia at Pulse from 10:00 to 11 PM and a late night dance party starting at 11:00 PM until late in the evening.

The featured movie, A Quiet Place was shown on the full screen at 8:00 and 10:15 PM.

The quality and quantity of quality of entertainment has been amazing.

We slept well as we are sailing to our next port of call of Malaga, Spain.  Thankfully we didn't forward the clock again but that comes soon.

When we returned to the room there was a lovely letter from World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston with lots of information for the final days of the World Cruise along with a gift for each of us.  The gift is a fold-and-go, wireless, noise-canceling headphones which will come in handy for our upcoming flights.  Wonderful.

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Keith had another personal training workout with Fitness Director Melanie.  We have really enjoyed these workouts.  Following the workout he met up with Anne Marie and we walked inside the ship.

We are enjoying another terrific day on-board Crystal Serenity.

In the morning we participated in a behind the scenes tour for those on the full World Cruise.  We have done this several times and it provides a nice opportunity to see the crew areas of the ship.

We were divided into  groups of  10 people and escorted by two of the Crystal Ensemble of Dancers.  We visited:  Engine Room, Officer Bar,  Officer Mess, Crew Bar, Crew Mess, Laundry Area, Florist, Tailor, Uniform Room, Printing Room, Offices of Food & Beverage Manager,  Shore Excursion, Concierge, Hotel Director, Assistant Hotel Director, Sommelier, Bar Manager, Operator, Front Office Manager, Conference Area along with several other areas.  We saw the maze of hallways including the major corridor known as the highway along with an area that  we are familiar  with where we get the tenders known as Times Square as other crew corridors intersect this area.

As many  times as we have done the tour there is always something new to see and learn.  We appreciate team Serenity organizing this tour as it required many members from the team being there for the actual tour.

1The morning also included a second Ocean Views of this segment.  It featured Pulitzer Award Winner Eugene  Robinson, Ambassador Tony Leon, Ambassador Marc Ginsberg, Writer Tom DeFrank and moderator Ken Rees.

As mentioned, questions are asked by Ken Rees and the audience votes before and after each items is discussed by the panel.  
 
Questions asked before the discussion included:
 
How do you rate your national politicians?
 
Doing a Good Job  16
 
They are Letting People Down  110
 
All are as bad as each other  70
 
I Regard Myself Leaning 
 
The Right  57
 
The Left  46

The Center 111
 
First Topic:
 
What are we going to do with the thousands of captured ISIS prisoners who are in custody?
 
They should be back to countries where they are citizens and face trial   47
 
Leave them are in desert camps  27
 
Send them to an island prison for the rest of their lives  129
 
Ambassador Ginsberg said send them to an island for the rest of their lives. Eugene Robinson said maybe send them to an island but have a process to deal with those who repent.  Tom DeFrank said he was somewhere in between the Ambassador and Eugene and definitely not to send them for their home country for trial.  Ambassador Leon said there needs to be an international approach to this but also an approach that takes into account the rule of the law and find  a way to bridge those who are radicalized for life with those who become deradicalization.  

We are including the summary of this discussion to this question but not for the other ones
 
Answers after discussion.
 
They should be back to countries where they are citizens and face trial   28
 
Leave them are in desert camps  24
 
Send them to an island prison for the rest of their lives  151
 
What should we do about Global Migration 
 
First question related to the USA
 
I agree the Mexican border wall is necessary  51
 
The wall is not going to stop illegal immigrants 153
 
Second question related to not just USA but other countries who deal with this such as the United Kingdom.
 
Immigration Can help us but must be very tightly controlled.  110
 
We must keep our doors open to the desperate and needy  44
 
Illegal immigration must be stopped – using force if necessary 47

Results after discussion:  (NOTE: The discussion ended up mainly focusing on the USA border.)
 
Immigration Can help us but must be very tightly controlled.  132
 
We must keep our doors open to the desperate and needy  41
 
Illegal immigration must be stopped – using force if necessary 37
 
Venezuela 
 
I think President Trump did the right thing recognizing the opposition leader  80
 
We should stay out of the issue 111
 
Follow-up question
 
We  should take military action to support the opposition    leader. 49
 
Try talking to President Maduro, not threatening him105
 

​Results after discussion:

 
We  should take military action to support the opposition  leader.    19


Try talking to President Maduro, not threatening him 146

The afternoon  featured a  talk given by Professor David Drewry about whether or not our climate is changing and the evidence we have learned from Africa.

We enjoyed lunch at at Waterside.  In the afternoon Keith played Paddle Tennis, Anne Marie walked. It was windy outside making for very interesting games.  

As we  post we are enjoying another wonderful afternoon on Crystal Serenity.

The following is the daily Reflections Program.

Cheers,

Anne Marie & Keith