Welcome To Zanzibar, Tanzania - Day 39

NOTE: We included a picture with the two of us with the two Olympians who are on board the ship for the Crystal Cruises World Games from last evening following the awards ceremony. We also included a picture from Barbara Rinella’s presentation from this morning titled “ A Fun Visit with Good Friends” which featured Katherine Hepburn and Emma Bomback. We’ve also included several pictures from our walking tour including some from the seafood and fruit/vegetables markets and some related to slavery.

We had a wonderful time last evening.

At 5:15 PM we attended the ceremony of the World Games. Anne Marie received two Bronze Awards for Table Tennis and Keith received one Silver Award for Men’s Basketball. For each of the events, the winners are called up to receive a medal and a certificate, which are presented by the two Olympic Athletes.

Afterwards, we had a wonderful time in the Main Dining Room.

We each began the meal with a salad and we had Salmon as our entrée. We want to note that this was not just Salmon but Norwegian Salmon. Captain Glenn will often highlights during his talks Norway since this is where he is from even trying to convince many of us from the United States that it was the Norwegians who discovered this area of the World. So, we are thinking that the Captain had a hand in the selection of this entrée. Just kidding! J In fact, Keith spoke with the Captain at the Ceremony and mentioned the Norwegian Salmon that we planned to order for dinner. The salmon was great and it actually has a somewhat different taste than some of the other types of salmon and we really enjoyed it. We also enjoyed the items that accompanied it. We finished up the meal with berries.

Before dinner we learned that we would arrive to Zanzibar a few hours late due to the winds. All of the shore excursions were rescheduled to the afternoon. During dinner complimentary wines was served to all passengers complements of the Captain which we thought was a nice touch.

Following dinner, we attended a Variety Show, which featured not one, not two, not even three but four acts. We have never seen four acts in one show and it truly reflects all of the wonderful entertainers that we have on board the ship. Each act was outstanding. This included multi talented entertainer Craig Richards who played different brass instruments including another song by Kenny G, juggler and comedian Mark Nizer whose performance was truly remarkable, the classical duo of violinists Rafael and Monika who once again touched the audience with their music, and Music Theatre vocalist Anthony Stuart Lloyd who sang a couple of numbers including one song from Fiddler On The Roof. It was a fabulous show offering high quality entertainment for all of us to enjoy. The showroom was full as almost all the passengers on-board the ship attended these acts.

What is amazing is that in Kenya all of the entertainers will be leaving the ship and a new set of entertainers will come on board for the second half of this leg which features several consecutive days at sea.

All of this made for a truly outstanding evening on the ship.

We slept very well last evening as we looked forward to another glorious day on the Crystal Serenity. With the delayed arrival to Zanzibar the morning schedule was augmented.

Keith awoke early for another wonderful workout at the Fitness Center. With each passing day he is getting more used to the Stationary Bicycle. He still misses his workout on the Elliptical Machine but that will come in time. He arrived even earlier to the Fitness Center to get extra time on the bicycle and afterwards did a series of weight lifting on the machines. The only two people at the center was our friend John and the Executive Chef. After a long workout, he stopped by the Lido Café for some coffee. He spoke with a couple of the Lido Deck Stewards; Ross and Earl and another fellow passenger Tom.

When he arrived back to the room he took advantage of the early hour and did some laundry.

Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill and after she finished she stopped by the Lido Café for some coffee as well.

Afterwards, we both enjoyed a nice breakfast in our room.

As it turned out we arrived to Zanzibar earlier than expected from last evening. Captain Glenn announced in the morning that we would begin tender service at 10:00 AM rather than at 12:00 Noon.

One of the schedule changes for the morning was the addition of Barbara Rinella who presented “ A Fun Visit with Good Friends which featured Katherine Hepburn and Emma Bomback. Barbara was wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed her talk. She gives an outstanding performance that one thinks they are at the theatre. She is truly amazing. We spoke with Barbara before and after her talk. Originally, she was scheduled to give talks on three books for this leg of the World Cruise but was prepared for a forth and this was the forth one. She is such a unique presenter as she not only discusses the book and tells you a great deal about the main character(s) but she dresses like them and acts out portions of the book. At the same time she includes a few humorous tid bits from the cruise. She is truly a delight, which is why she is invited year after year by Crystal. She comes back for one voyage each year and it is one of the legs of the World Cruise.

We enjoyed a nice lunch at the Lido Café. We each had a nice salad entrée and we sat outside. We were the only passengers outside so it was nice and quiet. We had a beautiful view of the Island and the water was nice and blue. The weather was quite nice as well

Zanzibar is an island that is located off the coast of Tanzania. It is home to many exotic spices and fruits, including clove, lemon grass, jackfruit and mango.

The population of the surrounding area where we will visit today totals approximately 800,000 individuals. The official languages of Zanzibar are Kiswahili and English. English is spoken by most of the islanders.

We anchored off the island and tender service was offered between the ship and the Island. The distance between the pier and the town is approximately ten minutes by drive.

Today we took a walking tour of Stone Town. This area is the old city and cultural heart of Zanzibar. This is a town of winding alleys, bazaars, mosques and grand Arab houses. The major attractions of this town include the Old Fort built around 1700, the Palace Museum, the House of Wonders, St. Joseph’s Cathedral and the Darajani Market.

One of the areas that we will not forget was an area was used to test the slaves for their endurance and their strength. We were taken down to a very small room in which upwards to 75 slaves was taken and they were held in shackles for three to four days without any food or water. With just ten of us in this room and after ten minutes we were dripping in sweat and some on the tour were feeling a bit claustrophobic.

Two other observations. A good percentage of the local economy appears to be based on the buying and selling of items such as fruits, vegetables, spices and seafood and selling these items to one another.

In addition we saw many generators all around town and learned that a good portion of the town has had no electricity for three months. Supposedly, they now have an expert looking at the situation but there appears to be no solution in site.

We arrived back to the ship at around 4:00 PM.

Before dinner, we attended a Classical Concert by Internationally Acclaimed Classical Pianist Rustem Hayroudinoff The performance was outstanding.

This evening we will dine in the Main Dining Room where we will enjoy some items that we pre-ordered with our headwaiter last evening. We will post additional details about dinner and the evening tomorrow.

After dinner we will also attend a world cruise function, which is called Kamp Kwazulu.

TODAY’S THOUGHT OF THE DAY…..

“The way to get started is to stop doing and to begin doing.”

Keith and Anne Marie