En Route To Ashdod, Israel - Day 79

The Following Two Pictures Was Our Attempt To Give Some Feel How Pedestrians Just Walk In The Street. Much Of What We Observed Yesterday Was Much More Chaotic Than This But We Were Not Able To Capture That On Our Camera.

The Next Set Of Pictures Below These Were Taken During Yesterday's Shore Excursion In Alexandria, Egypt.

(Mosque)

(Mosque)

(Citadel)

(The Library)

(The Library)

(Alexandria National Museum)

(Alexandria National Museum)

(The Shops At The Pier)

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

We wanted to begin by sharing a few more observations about our time in Alexandria, Egypt. While far less chaotic than Cairo it is clearly a bustling city and the roads are full of motor vehicles of all sorts and shapes and ages including buses, vans, taxis, cars and truck but this is compounded by many people walking in the streets and not many traffic lights. We sat in the front of the bus and it is truly amazing that we did not run over any people or hit another vehicle. The buildings in the city vary from beautiful and modern buildings to others that are very much run down. Because of its location off the sea greater maintenance is required for the facades of buildings but in some cases the facades are in disrepair.

The library was amazing and is clearly a model for other libraries to emulate around the world. It is very futuristic not only in its design but in terms of the approach that the library is taking to move books over to the internet but to do this with very high quality results. They showed us a demonstration of how this works and we were quite impressed. The library is also large in scale and has a very large support group comprised of 2,000 people who work in a variety of roles at the library.

In addition to housing an unprecedented number of books it also has several areas of historical items that one would normally find in a museum. There was also a nice section on their former President Sadat. Adjacent to the library is a Planetarium.

This is our third time to this city and there is so much to do and to see here.

As we mentioned, since we had a shore excursion that did not get back until the time we normally dine in the Main Dining Room we decided to go to Silk Road for dinner. We love the food at Silk Road (no surprise to those of you following our travels) and we enjoyed another delicious meal. While last evening was the start of Passover given that there were many all day tours including one that visited the Pyramids in Cairo, we will have the Passover Seder this evening.

It was fun to just enjoy a nice dinner at Silk Road with just the two of us. Alberto, our waiter superbly served us Along with our assistant waiter Sonny, and the Sommelier Oleg. We let Alberto order the entire meal for us because he knows what we enjoy. We also appreciate the assistance provided by Head Waiter Sigi and the Maître d’ Antonio and we spoke with each of them for a little while before our dinner was served.

When we arrived back to our room we set the clocks forward one hour, as we will be sailing into a new time zone.

We woke up early this morning for another nice start of the day. Keith arrived to the Fitness Center precisely at the moment that one of the other regulars arrived and enjoyed a great workout on the Elliptical Machine. Since he will not be working out tomorrow as we have a full day and evening of activities planned in Israel, he did a super long workout on the Elliptical Machine Afterwards, it was Anne Marie’s turn and she worked out for an hour on the Treadmill. Each of us stopped by the Lido Café on our return back to the room to get some coffee.

At 8:00 AM there was a knock on the door by Alexander who brought our morning breakfast of Oatmeal and Fresh Fruit. As we do on most sea days we watched the Crystal Cruises Daily Morning Show as we ate our breakfast.

During Captain Glenn’s morning talk from the bridge he mentioned that the weather for today and tomorrow was quite good and he also shared with us a great thought for the day that goes like this.

“Remember what is right isn’t always popular and what is popular isn’t always right.”

In the morning Keith had the opportunity to talk with Hugh Downs for a few minutes. During their conversation Keith conveyed to him his admiration for his career in broadcasting and the nice memories that Keith has about watching the Today Show and the game show Concentration when Keith was a young boy while Hugh Downs was on both of these shows.

There were three very good lectures today.

In the morning a lecture was given by destination lecturer Profess Jean Pierre Isbout who presented Jerusalem the Golden. After this presentation special interest lecturer Thomas Lippman presented Creating Israel” How the CIA Got It Wrong.”

We enjoyed lunch on the Lido Deck and each made a salad entrée. We find that this approach works very well for us and there is always a very nice selection of salad related items for us to enjoy. Since we are now in the Mediterranean there lunch featured the Sun Buffet which features flavors of the Mediterranean. The buffet includes regional specialties from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, and Tunisia/Algeria/Morocco. As you can imagine there were so many delicious items to choose from.

In the afternoon, Hugh Downs presented “Old Then, Younger Now – A guide to successful ageing.”. Hugh Downs also conducted a question and answer session following his talk.

In between all of these activities we got ready for tomorrow’s journey to Israel, read, wrote, did some laundry and spoke with some fellow passengers and crew.

This evening we celebrated Passover on the ship. On our two other sailings that occurred over the Passover Holiday the Seder was conducted in the area around the indoor pool. This is because we had too many guests signed up for the Seder that exceeded the capacity of Prego. Since we have less total passengers on the ship this time around we were able to have the Seder in Prego, which really works out nicely since the kitchen facilities are right there.

The Rabbi did a wonderful job conducting the service as he always does. There were slightly more than 100 guests in attendance. Some non-Jewish guests attended who had never been to a Seder, which was a wonderful experience for everyone. This adds to the spirit of family and community throughout the ship.

Passover begins on the 15^th of the Hebrew month of Nisan and is observed for seven days. There are some that observe this holiday for eight days. Passover is celebrated as a remembrance for the exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. It has been observed for thousands of years.

The timing of Passover took on even more significance for us given that our ship has left Egypt and is on its way to Israel it is very special to be celebrating the Passover Holiday in this area of the World.

The food on the table included all of the traditional food items that are part of the Seder. The meal was terrific as are all meals prepared by Crystal. Some of the items included chopped liver, nice vegetables, gefilte fish, hard boiled eggs, matzah, and a half a kosher chicken for each person. Why a half chicken you ask? This way each person gets both white and dark meet and can eat either white, dark or both based on their preference. We had macaroons for desert.

We read from the Haggadah, which tells the story of the Exodus and includes the story, prayers, songs and other rituals that are all part of the Passover Seder and Celebration.

We had a lovely evening.

We will be unable to post tomorrow as we have a full day and we do mean a full day. We will be up early to go through Israeli customs and then we will be on an all day tour and following the tour we will go to a special event for those passengers on the full World Cruise. We will not get back to the ship until after 10:00 PM.

Believe it or not we will both not workout in the morning.

Therefore, we will post more two days from now.

TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..

“All we are saying is give peace a chance.”

Keith and Anne Marie

Welcome To Alexandria, Egypt - Day 78

(A Familiar Site Each Time We Have Visited Alexandria)

(This Building Is Adjacent To Where The Serenity Was Docked)

(All Of The Buses Lined Up For The Morning Tours)

(A View Of An Older Section Of The City From The Ship)

Monday, March 29, 2010

We wanted to note that we have now had over 25,000 visitors to our Blog. This includes those visiting for the very first time along with those who have visited one or more times since we began writing the Blog. We love to hear from you and have read all of your comments and we look forward to hearing from you as this journey continues to unfold.

Yesterday was a wonderful day. While this was our third transit of the Suez Canal it was still an enjoyable experience. We were one of twenty-three ships in a caravan and we were the first in line for most of the transit. We had wonderful weather and it was nice to be outside for a portion of the transit. We ate lunch outside so we could enjoy the experience and enjoyed being outside later in the afternoon as well.

We also wanted to note that when Anne Marie was on her long walk on the Promenade Deck yesterday afternoon that all of the hoses that have been out ever since we sailed in areas where there were reports of pirate activity were being put away. So, now with our successful transit of the Suez Canal the issues of pirate activity are now behind us. Congratulations to Crystal and to the Military from various countries around the world for being on top of this situation and for taking the necessary pro-active steps to keep all of us safe.

Late yesterday afternoon after we did our post we learned that a passenger needed to be taken off the ship as they had a cardiac issue and the ship waited while another boat met us so that the passenger could be transported to a land based medical facility. While the Serenity has excellent medical facilities and highly trained medical personnel it is always best in this situation to transport the individual to a land based medical facility. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the passenger and hope that a speedy recovery occurs.

Before dinner, Keith stopped by the reception desk to get our passports which were needed for today’s visit to Alexandria, Egypt.

We enjoyed another fantastic evening on the ship last evening.

As we mentioned in yesterdays post we had dinner with another couple who we invited to join us at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant and we had a very nice time with them. We first met them during the 2008 World Cruse and they have been on several World Cruises.

We each began the meal with the special appetizer of the evening prepared by the chef. This was followed by what is known as our salad that goes by our last name, We each had the regular fish entrée with Keith having the Broiled Baanzino Fish without the sauce over spinach and Anne Marie having it the way it is prepared. Keith also got a large bowl of steamed vegetables. Our dessert was fresh fruit.

After dinner we attended a terrific show featuring Celebrity Ventriloquist Ronn Lucas. Ronn has entertained for over 25 years. He has starred in various national Television programs including David Letterman, and The Tonight Show/ He has been the recipient of numerous accolades including being labeled as the “The World’s Best Ventriloquist”, by the New York Times and the London Times. He has also performed before several United States Presidents as well as the Queen of England and was the first ventriloquist to have his own, long running show in Las Vegas for eight years. The passenger who he called up to the stage is someone we met at the very start of the World Cruise and is only a few doors down from us on the ship.

We slept very well last evening and once again Keith was up very early in the morning to begin his day with a wonderful workout in the Fitness Center. He worked out on the Elliptical Machine. He was the first one up there. He was able to watch our entry into the Port of Alexandria and the timing was perfect as the sun was rising. This is our third time to this port and it is a very large and nice port with some attractive facilities close by.

Keith could already see all of the buses lined up with many of them scheduled to take many passengers and crew to the Pyramids. They will do this in a caravan for security reasons.

After a nice workout, he stopped by the Lido Café to bring back some coffee to the room. The Lido Café was very crowded and there was lots of staff up there since many passengers are taking the full day tour to Cairo to see the Pyramids. Just a few minutes after returning back to the room it was Anne Marie’s turn and she worked out for an hour on the Treadmill. Like Keith she brought some coffee back to the room. Keith also did some laundry while Anne Marie was working out.

We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in the room. We chatted with Alexander for a few minutes and then enjoyed breakfast, as we got ready for another wonderful day. We then took care of various errands around the ship.

Today marks our third visit to Alexandria, Egypt. This is a beautiful city and with each passing day they are learning more about the past as through excavation they continue to turn up new artifacts and treasures from this cities past.

Just like any city around the world there are many beautiful areas of Alexandria such as places we visited today along with other places that are quite nice. At the same time there are those places that are not as nice and very chaotic.

Alexandria is named after Alexander The Great. Alexandria was established in 332 BC and for many years was one of the most famous cities in the world. It served as Egypt’s capital for clost to one thousand years until the Muslim conquest of Eypt in 641 AD.

Alexandria is home to the Library of Alexandria and this library was known as the largest library of the ancient world.

Today, Alexandria’s population is close to 4.5 million inhabitants. It is the second largest city in Egypt and it is the country’s largest seaport. It is well know for its tourism.

Alexandria is a large city and extends twenty miles along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Alexandria was a major trading post between Europe and Asia. Alexandria was also the setting for the rather intense relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony. It was also the center of learning in the anicent world. However, overtime ancient Alexandria declidne and when Napoleon landed, he encountered a much different city than that of ancient times which by then became a sparsely populated fishing village.

Before our afternoon shore excursion we went ashore

We not only had to show our passport to the local authorities before we could get off the ship, but we had to point out where it was stamped.

Once on shore and we looked a several of the shop that is around the pier.

Over the years we have found those folks who work the shops at the pier to be a lot less pushy and much nicer than those who work the downtown area. We suspect that they have been told that for the shops to be at the pier that they need to not harass the tourists. As you pass each of the shops you hear the normal lines such as “there is no charge for looking”, “please take a look at what we have”, “come into my shop”, “be sure to come back and look at my ship”, etc. We walked by each shop until we reached the end taking in all that they have and then we settled on two shops. We then narrowed it down to one shop and there was a particular item that we wanted and we wanted several pieces of that item which they said they could get for us in five minutes. Their translation of five minutes was really about twenty minutes but that was fine. After the items showed up we settled on a price that both they and we were happy with. They offered us Egyptian Tea or a Canned Soda or even Bottled Water and we politely said no thank you. The good news about making the purchase in the morning is that since many people were either on a tour or just stayed on the ship there were very few buyers so we had their full attention.

We then got back to the ship and got organized for our tour this afternoon. We ate lunch at the Lido Café as we have done on almost everyday of the cruise and we each enjoyed a very nice salad entrée that we made for ourselves.

Today we took a shore excursion in the afternoon that visited three of Alexandria’s most historical sites.

Our first stop was to the Alexandria National Museum, which contains 1,800 pieces of art. A highlight of this museum is the display of artifacts raised during underwater excavations around Alexandria in recent years.

Our next visit was to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, or Alexandria Library. The original library was built in 283 BC by Alexander the Great . In the 4^th century the library and the museum along with half a million volumes was destroyed by fire. IN 1995, construction began on this new library.

After our visit to the library, we had photo stops at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Abou Al Abbas Mosque. We also drove past the 15^th Century Fort Quait Bey that guards the eastern entrance of the harbor.

The tour was wonderful and we also had terrific weather. We have been so very fortunate to have had wonderful weather throughout this adventure. The only days with poor weather were in Key West on the seven-day cruise and our arrival back to Miami from the seven day cruise where it was also very cold. Other than that we have enjoyed very nice weather and in general very mild seas. We realize that as we get into Europe that the weather will be much cooler, particularly as we visit ports near the Black Sea.

We are dining in Silk Road this evening. While this evening is the first night of Passover since there are some all day tours that do not get back until late at night plus our tour that got back around 6:00 PM the Passover Seder will be held tomorrow evening on the second night of Passover. Since at that point we will have left Egypt on the way to Israel this will make the celebration of Passover tomorrow evening quite special.

TODAY’S THOUGHT OF THE DAY……

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.”

Keith and Anne Marie

Transiting The Suez Canal - Day 77

Tanker Mention In Our Blog That Ran Aground

Another Ship In Front Of Us As We Transited The Suez Canal

Typical Views From The Port (left) Side Of The Ship

Views From Port Side Of Ship

Another View From The Bow (Forward Area) Of The Ship

Typical Of The Views From The Starboard (Right) Side Of The Ship

A View From The Port Side Of The Ship

The 50th Anniversary Couple (Chuck and Kay) With Their Traveling Companion Of Many Years

The Galaxy Orchestra and Lead Male Vocalist Dennis Dubbin Were Some Of The Performers At Last Evenings 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

Sunday, March 27

We enjoyed another nice time on the ship last evening.

Before dinner, Anne Marie attended a Catholic Mass for Palm Sunday. She was one of two guests selected by Msgr. Wilbur Davis to assist in the service.

It was nice to be back in the Main Dining Room after several days dining in other restaurants. Several members of the Dining Room Staff teased us for havng been away. Each of the respective restaurant staffs takes pride in their respective restaurant and would love for passenger’s to dine there al the time.

During our dinner we enjoyed a nice conversation with Agusto our headwaiter, Pedja, our senior waiter, Therese, our waiter, and Urji, our sommelier. They have been a wonderful team. Agusto will be going on Holiday at the end of this leg of the cruise. Dinner was wonderful as it always is in the Main Dining Room and in the other dining venues.

We began dinner with a nice dark roll as we allow ourselves one roll each day (no butter). We then enjoyed a very nicely prepared salad that we have fairly often. It is similar to the one we enjoy at Prego but just slightly different. We each had the Broiled Grouper Fillet on Basmati Rice, which was served with Fresh Vegetables. We also had a side order of steamed vegetables and fresh asparagus. For our dessert it was a fruit plate for Anne Marie as the galley is now out of blueberries until more is brought onto the ship in one of the upcoming ports and strawberries for Keith. We had wine that we sent down yesterday morning, which was a bottle that we had brought onto the ship on January 4 when we boarded in Miami. That wine has traveled extensively with us since that time. J

After dinner, we went to a party to celebrate the 50^th Wedding Anniversary of a very nice couple who we first met in 2007 and whom we sailed with in 2008 and now again on this World Cruise. The anniversary celebration was held in the Stardust Club, which is a wonderful venue for these types of parties.

The Anniversary couple greeted each of the invited guests at the door and in addition to several passengers some of the members of the staff were in attendance along with many of the senior officers.

The band played and the quartet of singers sang a special song to the couple and the gent gave a very nice speech touching on how he first met his wife fifty-one years ago while he was serving overseas and along with a tip on how their marriage has been a success. It was all very touching and it was so very nice to celebrate this special occasion with our Crystal family of friends.

We slept well last evening and looked forward to today’s transit of the Suez Canal. Today marks the third time we have sailed the Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal was first opened in November of 1869. The Canal provides a more direct route for ships to traverse between Asia and Europe, avoiding the necessity to navigate around Africa or to carry goods overland between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

The Canal is 119 miles long, with a maximum depth of 66 feet. Unlike the Panama Canal, it contains no locks. The canal is owned and operated by the Suez Canal Authority of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Essentially as one is transiting the Suez Canal they are viewing the continents of Asia on one side and Africa on the other side.

Another marvel of the Suez Canal is that towards the end of the transit you pass under the highest suspension bridge in the entire world.

Once again, Keith awoke early this morning for his daily morning workout. He enjoyed another wonderful workout on the Elliptical Machine. It was nice to be back at sea. Keith was the second to arrive and by the time he finished his workout he was the only person there since some passenger’s had adjusted their workout schedule because of our transit of the Suez Canal. We began the transit about one hour earlier than planned so Keith was able to watch the transit as soon as it was light outside during his workout.

After the workout Keith stopped by the Lido Café to bring coffee back to the room. By that time Anne Marie was getting ready to begin her workout and she worked out for one hour on the treadmill. Like Keith, she brought coffee back to the room.

At 8:00 AM, there was a knock on the door and it was Alexander with our morning breakfast. Like most days we enjoyed Oatmeal with Cinnamon along with some fresh fruit. While enjoying breakfast, we watched the Crystal Cruises Daily Morning Show. A good portion of the show was devoted to the Suez Canal as the expert on board was the featured guest on the show. They did do trivia at the end of the show and Keith correctly answered one of the questions.

Today has been filled with activities recognizing that many passengers have been through the Suez Canal before while some have not.

Between 9:00 AM and 11:30 AM they had a Suez Canal expert narrator what we were seeing from the Palm Court which is a nice large room at the forward area of the ship that has floor to ceiling windows perfect for viewing. The narrator was given a microphone for the talk and she was also available to answer questions. Also from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM as she did in the morning Sherine Barakat offered commentary from the same location as we continued to transit the Suez Canal.

We went outside from time to time. It was on the cooler side this morning but still the weather was perfect for our viewing. As one is transiting the Suez Canal on the port (left) side of the ship one will see many towns and land that has been irrigated and is quite lush looking with grass and all sorts of trees and bushes and other vegetation. On the starboard (right) side of the ship it is essentially mainly the desert.

During Captain Glenn’s morning talk from the bridge he shared his thought of the day which was “I have learned that people will forget what you did but they will not forget how you made them feel.”

The Captain spoke a few other times during the course of the morning. At one point he advised us that a tanker ran aground so we had to stay anchored for a little while. Ultimately we had to go around the tanker by taking the old route.

We attended the Rap with the Rabbi, which was another excellent session. We will be celebrating Passover in just a couple of days, which will be a delight.

There were two lectures this morning. Destination Lecturer Professor Jean-Pierre Isbouts who spoke about the secret of the Pyramids gave the first one. As part of this talk he explored the mysteries of the Great Pyramids of Giza as well as the sunken treasures of Alexandria, the city of Cleopatra once founded by Alexander the Great. Once again this was a very good presentation.

Marc Ginsberg gave the second presentation of the morning and he spoke about Israelis in the Muslim World from Mossad to Mitzva. We first met Marc Ginsberg in 2007 and he is just an outstanding speaker. He has so much knowledge to share and he is also a charismatic speaker.

We enjoyed another nice lunch at the Lido Café where we once again prepared our own salad entrees.

In the afternoon special interest lecturer Thomas Lippmann gave a presentation on The Middle East from the period starting in 1979 up to the current time frame.

Throughout the World Cruise we have enjoyed an outstanding team of lecturers. What has been nice is the collective team on each leg where one or two talk about the destination and others focus on the politics and other issues of the specific region we are in at the time of the lectures.

Anne Marie also enjoyed another nice long walk in the afternoon on the Promenade Deck while she could take in the beauty of the Suez Canal. Keith played some Paddle Tennis so he too could be outdoors. Anne Marie also sat out by the pool and Keith spoke with some fellow passengers where the discussion focused on this area of the world.

This evening we have invited two guests who we first met in 2008 to join us for a nice dinner at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant and we will post about that tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, our next port of call is Alexandria , Egypt.

TODAY’S THOUGHT OF THE DAY….

“Appreciation makes people feel more important than almost anything else you can give them.”

Keith and Anne Marie

Another Day In Safaga - Day 76

Dinner Last Evening At Silk Road With Our World Cruise Hostess

One Of The Special Items Made By The Sushi Chef

Additional Pictures From Our Visit To The Lost City Of Petra

Saturday, March 27, 2010

We had a wonderful time at dinner with World Cruise Hostess Stacey Huston. This is her second year as the World Cruise Hostess and during other times of the year she serves as an Assistant Cruise Director on the Crystal Serenity. She always has a nice smile and a nice laugh. Like us, Stacey focuses on the glass being half full rather than half empty. We truly believe that all of this is quite positive and very contagious as Stacey is able to make those around her laugh and smile and she brings out the very best in others. We had a wonderful conversation with Stacey as we enjoyed another delicious meal at the Silk Road Japanese Specialty Restaurant. We had sushi and sashimi (Keith) followed by wonderfully prepared entrees.

The chef was trying out some items last night so we dined at the right place at the right time. With many guests either on the overnight shore excursion to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, or other guests on a one day tour of Luxor which did not get back until fairly late last evening, there were far fewer guests dining in Silk Road and Prego last evening.

Before we ordered sushi and sashimi we enjoyed a trio of three different items that were more of a tasting. This included a lettuce wrapped chicken salad, a square of tofu with a special topping, and a seasoned Japanese Vegetable. All three were terrific. A little while later one of the Sushi Chefs stopped by the table to ask what we thought of the trio and we told him how much we enjoyed it. We ended up also having a couple of other items that he made for us. One was a small plate of seared salmon, very thinly sliced, with a horseradish sauce that we shared, and later on we each enjoyed a lobster dumpling.

This reminded us that sometime during this voyage we plan to sit at the Sushi Bar, which we did one time last year on the Crystal Symphony. When one sits at the sushi bar they can just let the chefs know that the would be happy to try whatever the chef wants to prepare and this provides the opportunity to taste a variety of items. For Keith that works well as he is willing to try Sashimi. For Anne Marie she normally sticks to the Sushi rolls. J

We had Alberto as our Waiter last evening with his wonderful assistant, Sonny. Another Waiter also helped out from time to time (Walter) who we have known for many years. There are so many other wonderful waiters who we enjoy and work at Silk Road.

Alberto knows us so well that when he came by the table to ask what sushi and sashimi we wanted we just asked him to order what he knows we enjoy so he took care of that and then Stacey ordered those items that she likes and it was brought out on one sushi platter that as always looks like a work of art.

We also enjoyed the Hot Soba Noodle Soup and Anne Marie had fruit plate and decaffeinated coffee while Keith passed on the fruit and had Green Tea.

Once again we were having such a wonderful conversation that we ended up dining for two hours and thirty minutes.

In our fast paced society it is unusual to dine for such a long time as many times one goes to a restaurant at home on land where the dining experience moves rapidly. When Keith used to travel internationally for business he remembers that in certain places around the world (France is a perfect example) one sat down for dinner and they essentially had the table for the entire night.

It’s been nice to have a few leisurely dinners from time to time to enjoy the cuisine, the ambience, the service, and the conversation.

Just like a fine wine, sometimes we all need to take a step back and enjoy the texture and savor the tastes of the different foods.

On a related note, one of the very nice aspects of the World Cruise is the time it provides to get to know others so very well. This includes the bonds that we are developed with the crew of the Crystal Serenity, several members who are part of the enrichment and entertainment staff, and with many fellow passengers. On top of this the bond deepens because of all of the memories that we share together as we sail to so many interesting places. The diversity of places that we are seeing this year is extraordinary given that the itinerary has includes places as diverse as the Caribbean, South America, Africa, Asia, The Middle East and Europe. It is a truly amazing itinerary and as we have mentioned from time to time it has been the best of the World Cruises we have taken.

We began today as we do each and every day on the ship with another great workout in the Fitness Center. Keith was up first and as he walked up three flights of stairs he spoke with a few members of the Crystal Cruises Night Crew who each evening are busy cleaning all of the public areas of the ship. Just a few minutes after Keith arrived our friend John also arrived. John and Keith spoke for a while from their respective Elliptical Machines and then they each caught a portion of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Games and then Keith caught up with some news. From time to time we have been able to get a television station that provides sort of a combined look at new and world events and includes PBS News and even C-Span so Keith was actually able to catch both programs during his workout.

Afterwards, he stopped by the Lido Café for some coffee to take back and enjoy in the room. As he approached the coffee machine not one, not two, not even three, but the team of the four Lido Deck Stewards approached Keith. This includes Nat, Clark, Richie and Glenn and the four of them took charge and had Keith’s two cups of coffee prepared in seconds. Then Keith spoke with them for a while. Since the ship had an overnight they took out the Basketball Hoop last evening so some of the crew could shoot baskets. These overnights are really nice for both guests and staff.

By the time he got back to the room Anne Marie was just minutes away from taking the same path as Keith did up to the Fitness Center where she enjoyed a one hour workout on the Treadmill. Like Keith, she brought back coffee to the room after her workout. Keith did some laundry while Anne Marie was working out and also did some reading and writing. Keith has started a book called Googled by Ken Auletta and is already enjoying that book.

We enjoyed another nice breakfast in our room, which was served by Alexander. We spoke with Alexander for a little while talking about our upcoming plans for Alexandra, Egypt and for Ashdod, Israel. Ashdod will be a very busy day as we have an all day shore excursion, which will be followed by a World Cruise event.

The ship remained in Safaga, Egypt until around 12:00 Noon today. Those guests who took an overland program to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings returned late morning. As was the case yesterday, we just stayed on the ship today as we did not have any shore excursions planned. We didn’t take the complimentary shuttle into town because we did this a couple of years ago and there really is not much to this town. There is a hotel and just a few stores and none of them really interest us so this has been a nice time to take advantage of the ship.

Safaga is a small-populated town of only around 35,000 residents and is situated on the Red Sea Coast.

From time to time people will ask what are the requirement when you visit certain places around the world and the requirements for this country is an example of how requirements can change from year to year. When we first visited Egypt in 2007 we had to fill out a landing card and on that card we were asked to note the model number(s) and the value of each piece of electronic equipment such as cameras and video cameras we were taking off the ship. Likewise, we were asked to note the total currency we were taking into the country. In 2008 we also filled out a landing card but it didn’t ask us to note video equipment or currency we were bringing into the country. This time around there were no landing cards to fill out but any passengers or crew member who were getting off the ship was required to carry their passport with them at all times. This is why when others ask what the process is when visiting a country we always say whatever we experienced is always subject to change.

After breakfast we took care of some items on the ship throughout the morning hours and we also spoke with some fellow guests and members of the crew. At one point we were sitting in the Crystal Cove and it was almost like a community chit chat as so many fellow passengers stopped by to say hello to us and to one another.

We enjoyed a very nice lunch in the Lido Café as we each made our very own salad entrée. We sat outside and as we got to the end of the buffet line the Lido Deck Steward team of Nat, Clark, Richie and Glenn assisted us by taking our trays and getting us all set up outside where we ate. They brought our beverages. We also saw Lido Deck Steward Ross whose rotation for this and if we remember correctly the next leg of the World Cruise is serving drinks at lunch. As we have mentioned before, the Lido Deck Stewards rotate to other areas from voyage to voyage which includes other area such as the Trident Grill and Tastes and the Pool Area and the Paddle Tennis Courts. A few of them also are assigned to serve beverages during the daytime. In the evening some of them assist in some of the lounges, in the Main Dining Room and during the shows serving wine, champagne, spirits along with drinks without alcohol. They enjoy the rotation and in addition to enjoying the variety of the various venues their start times vary depending on what rotation they are on so that is nice as well. As we have said from time to time, it is these folks who are the heart of the ship and they are so very kind to all of the guests. The way they conduct themselves and the way they interact with others is truly outstanding. They are very loyal to Crystal Cruises, who in turn, is very loyal to them. This is why so many of them have worked for Crystal Cruises for many years. This is true of so many other key personnel and in our humble options speaks volumes for Crystal and the way they run their business. Our belief is in the end it is the people who make a business successful and in the end it is the people who make Crystal the cruise line they are with the best service of any cruise line we have sailed with.

In the afternoon, Keith played Paddle Tennis with one of the entertainers, one of the fitness directors and a fellow passenger for about an hour until we decided to stop as it was quite windy on the open deck and afterwards met with a couple of his fellow passengers and enjoyed a wonderful conversation with them. Anne Marie took another nice long walk on the Promenade Deck and afterwards she sat out by the pool.

This evening we will dine in the Main Dining Room and look forward to being back at our very own table and enjoying all of the wonderful service, cuisine and ambience of this restaurant.

We will also be attending a 50^th Wedding Anniversary Party for a very nice couple who is also on this World Cruise adventure.

In life, we have learned that in most instances success comes from working on a solution to a problem rather than just talking about the problem. We believe that sometimes individuals and other outlets such as the media are too focused on the problem. So, with this in mind here is today’s thought of the day. In business, Keith used to say let’s identify the problem and agree on what the true problem is and then once that was accomplished let’s work together to lay out the solution. So with this in mind, here is

TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY…..

“The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.”

Keith and Anne Marie