NOTE: We included some pictures from our visit to Devil’s Island and one picture from last evenings Formal Night.
We had a wonderful evening last night. It was a formal night and everyone really looked very nice. Most of the men were in Tuxedos and the women were all dressed up in a variety of formal outfits.
Before the early dinner complimentary drinks were offered in all of the lounges. We did not have any drinks but we did stop by one of the lounges to talk with some fellow passengers.
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner. As we had mentioned it was French Night. We enjoyed a nice salad, fish entrée, and fruit for dinner and one of the French rolls. Having a French night before arriving to Devil’s Island was perfect timing. We enjoyed dinner and as usual everything was perfect. We had a nice discussion with the headwaiter that we have for this portion of the World Cruise, Augusto. This is our first time having Augusto and he has been great as are many of the other Headwaiters who we have come to know over the years.
After dinner, we went to the Crystal Society Party. We sat with two couples, friends Bob and Glo and Mary Ellen and Jack and one first time Crystal Cruiser who is traveling solo. They recognized those Crystal Cruisers who have sailed with Crystal a significant number of times and this includes one passenger who has sailed with Crystal more than 230 times along with a couple that has sailed with Crystal close to 150 times.
When we arrived back to the room lying on top of the bed were this year’s World Cruise Shirts. They are green and match the hats that we received at the start of the World Cruise. We have also received very nice Black World Cruise Jackets.
This morning Keith woke early for his morning workout. Some of you have asked if the ship provided coverage of the NFL championship games and the answer is yes. The challenge watching them is that there are so many other activities including lectures that we want to participate in so we (mainly Keith) would catch a few minutes of each game. They were also repeated so Keith watched portions of the Cowboys/Vikings game followed by the Jets/Chargers game while he was working out on the Elliptical Machine. We also saw portions of the games on Saturday.
Afterwards, Keith did a couple of washes in the laundry room while we were waiting for our breakfast to come to the room. We find that it’s easier to do the laundry in the early morning, as most guests are asleep. Anne Marie did not work out in the morning as we were having breakfast earlier this morning in anticipation of the tenders operating between the ship and Devil’s Island beginning at 8:00 AM.
Thankfully, we learned a great deal of Devil’s Island from the wonderful destination lecturer on board the Serenity, Ken Rees. During his presentation he provided the background to this island, as it was a French penal colony from 1852 to 1953. In general, if you were sentenced to this island it was considered the equivalent of a death sentence. Why? The answer is simple as one could easily succumb to the hard labor that was required by most prisoners or one could easily fall victim to yellow fever, malaria or other tropical diseases. There was a similar challenge for the prison guards. At the same time, if you made it through your sentence you had to come up with the money in order to be provided transportation from the island back to France. This was no easy task. This was done in order to incent the prisoner’s to become residents of the island.
Oh, and don’t think of trying to escape because that was not possible. Even if you could somehow get away you had the challenge of the shark infested waters.
The area is actually comprised of multiple islands with each island having served a different purpose. Devil Island was home to the prisoners. Another of the islands housed the administrative center, the wardens’ accommodations and a few of the less dangerous prisoners. In total, over 80,000 prisoners were sentenced to Devil’s Island and most were never heard from again.
Supposedly very few convicts escaped possibly as few as one which is the infamous Henri Charriere who is immortalized in the movie Pavilion.
We were very fortunate that we were able to visit the Island. This is actually the Island adjacent to Devil’s Island called Ile Royale. About one hour before the Tenders were scheduled to begin it was pouring down rain and the seas were extremely choppy.
At 8:00 AM Captain Glenn said that tenders would operate and that the weather forecast did call for a chance of more rain. By the way the thought of the day from Captain Glenn was “Those that stay home have one road the first page of the book.”
We were brave and took the very first tender. In total, there were about 6 guests on that tender including our friend John. We spent the entire time with John. When we arrived at the Island we met the first of three guides that Crystal brought in for our visit. They were stationed at various points and provided information about the buildings and the Island. The rains stopped and the pathways were initially wet but in time the sun came out and most of the area dried up. During our walk we went inside a variety of buildings including a church, museum, hospital, what remains of some cell blocks. We walked around the entire island on a path. About three quarters of the pathway was on level ground and the remaining portion actually involved walking down some very steep paths. Most guests only walked a portion of the area and many stayed on board the ship. There was also a gift shop, a restaurant, a hotel and believe it or not some rooms that are being built to look like cell blocks that will be rented out for 70 Euros per night. On our way back from the Island we had to wait awhile as there was a concern due to the currents. We believe the Serenity was repositioned which allowed us to proceed back to the ship. We were told that due to the currents and weather that about half the time cruise lines are not able to take passengers to the island so we consider ourselves very fortunate to have visited here. In many ways that is similar to say visiting the Falkland Islands were weather/rough seas can impact visits to the Island about fifty percent of the time.
One of the pleasures of this voyages are all of the interesting passengers one gets to meet. While many of the passengers are from the United States of America, there are quite a few passengers on board for either the entire World Cruise or portions of the World Cruise who are residents of other countries around the World. On this current leg of the World Cruise we have passengers on board the ship from Sweden, Australia, Japan, China, The United Kingdom, Germany, Canada (Quebec, Montreal, Toronto and British Columbia), South Africa, New Zealand, Switzerland and France. On top of this is the wonderful Crystal Crew who represent more than fifty nationalities from around the globe. This level of diversity truly adds to the overall enrichment of the cruise and provides a very nice opportunity to increase ones knowledge of customs, culture and viewpoints of so many nationalities from around the world.
We both walked on the Promenade Deck for about thirty minutes before lunch and then enjoyed lunch outside on the Lido Deck. From the deck we could see the three Islands. After lunch Anne Marie took along walk on the Promenade Deck where she continued to listen to one of her audio books. Keith decided to be adventurous and to play Paddle Tennis with some of the members of the crew. Today, the crew who were playing were simply outstanding while Keith is still that rookie in training. But, as they say, you have to start somewhere.
Keith is someone who believes that you should always try new things in life so he will continue to persevere on the court.
This evening we dine at Silk Road with our friends Bob and Glo. We saw the waiter who we will have this evening and asked for a special sushi item for the four of us.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will lead you there.”
Keith and Anne Marie
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