DAY 109 - DAY 103 CRYSTAL SERENITY

WELCOME TO MALAGA, SPAIN

Pat...Thank you for your  comments.  I will be sure to ask about the item you mentioned about lecturers the next time I see the person responsible for the program.  

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

Shortly before dinner we listened to the World Cruise Choir perform.  The Choir on this World Cruise has been amazing.  We have been impressed with the number of songs they have performed on each segment, how well they have sung them and the number of participants.  One of the guests  gave a short and moving speech thanking Pastor Ed for leading  this effort.
 
Anyone can participate whether you are on for one, multi or all segments.  They sang four songs last evening.  Kudos to  Pastor Ed, his lovely wife Ruth, Pianist Richard, and for the support from Cruise Director Rick and Assistant Cruise Director Rafael.  

We have included  a couple of video clips.  One is of a song that is very sentimental and dear for many of us.   It is titled "What A Wonderful World".  This song is played when the Crystal ships leave a port.  When we hear it played whether at sea or on land we think of all of the memories we have made from each of our Crystal Cruises sailings.  It is a wonderful world.

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​These are the dinner menus from Waterside where we ate.

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We dined at Waterside and had three courses.

We began with the Warm White Asparagus Seafood Salad which was amazing.  We each had salads.

The night before Head Waiter Augusto showed us this evening's menu and we decided to special order Salmon.  Salmon is an item you can get even if it is not on the menu at the time you place your order but we thought it would make it easier to special order it.

​We were enjoying the meal so much we only took a photo of the salad.  LOL.  We did remember to take a photo of the rest of the Caymus Wine though.  LOL.

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The evening entertainment featured Italian Vocalist Marco Romano who performed twice at 7:45 and 9:30 PM.  

The only downside to the evening was forwarding the locks by one hour for the final time of this World Cruise.

We began our day as we always do. You know the routine by now.  A workout for Keith at the Fitness Center followed by coffee and breakfast in our room.  After breakfast we walked inside the ship.

Shortly before 8:00 AM  we transited the strait of Gibraltar.  We've  included a photo.

There was a lot of activities on the schedule.  The morning included several activities including two lectures.
 
Ambassador Adam Ereli spoke about Saudi Arabia and the Pivotal Middle Kingdom and Tom DeFrank spoke about Presidential  Stories which never made it to print.

At 10:30 AM we were shown the preliminary World Cruise Video. On our last night we will receive a thumb drive of the final video. It was terrific and sentmentai.

The video is created by the very talented Jeff Walters.  It combines terrific footage  and music at a  good clip.  As we watched the video we were reminded of  all of the special places  we visited during the World Cruise, all of the special events and the very talented team of entertainers  and enrichment personnel. 

Thank you Jeff Walters.  You have produced another wonderful video which will allow the World Cruisers to share it with family and friends and also relive the World Cruise for many years to come.  

Before the video was shown  Cruise Director Rick and World Cruise Hostess Stacey kicked off the session.  Rick gave a nice overview and Stacey read a beautiful poem which  she wrote to describe  this amazing adventure.  

At the conclusion of the video many from the outstanding Crystal Crew came into the theatre to the song of We Are Family.  Indeed  each time we sail on-board Crystal Cruises we are sailing with our extended family and a World Cruise reenforces this.  
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Following  the video we enjoyed lunch at  Marketplace.  

We spoke with Ruel who  we have known for many years.  He will be swinging back and forth between waiter and head waiter in Umi Uma providing the relief when head waiter Sigi goes on Holiday.  For the next few days  at lunch he is performing head waiter responsibilities along with Sigi and the other head waiters who work there during lunch and breakfast.  

​Congratulations  Ruel.

We arrived to Malaga, Spain at the scheduled time of 1:00 PM.

Malaga is located in Southern Spain and has a population of 600,000.  It is the sixth largest city of Spain.

Highlights include:

Museo Picasso Malaga a museum which opened in 2003 and has 285 works donated by the Picasso family.  

Gibralfaro; the castle was built in 929 CE by And-al-Rahman III.  

Alcazaba Fortress which was build by the Hammundid dynasty in the early 11th century.

Catedral de la Encarnacion which is a Roman Catholic Church built in Renaissance Architecture.  It was constructed over a long period between 1528  and 1782.

Centro de Arte Contemporanco is a modern art museum.

With a 1:00 PM arrival to  this city  and having visited here last October while on the three back-to-back Crystal Serenity Mediterranean  voyages and having first visited here on World Cruise 2007 we decided to stay on the ship. 

After  Keith played Paddle Tennis and we walked together outside and inside  the ship we stopped by The Bistro so Anne Marie could get a French Press Coffee.  Once the coffee is poured the process takes five minutes and it is timed with and  hourglass.   

Following is todays daily  Reflections  Program.

Cheers,

​Anne Marie & Keith

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