DAY 72 - DAY SIXTY FOUR ON THE CRYSTAL SERENITY

Yesterday afternoon we decided to go to Chinatown.  We would have taken the subway but it would have meant waiting about 25 minutes for the shuttle to get us to the Marina Bay Hotel so we just decided to take a taxi.  Taxis are quite reasonable in Singapore so it was not about the money, but rather the enjoyment of using the subway.

It took only about 15 minutes to get to Chinatown from the Cruise Ship Terminal.  We spent a few hours there walking up and down many streets including those that sold merchandise and others that sold food and we also visited a couple of Chinese Temples.  We had a fun time.  The weather was not too hot until our last thirty minutes there.

This is the year of the Horse.

One of the streets we walked was all about Food.

While we did not have any food, the standards for food in Singapore are quite high and one feels very safe not only dining in restaurants but even purchasing items from street vendors.

We also visited two Chinese Temples.

Before dinner, we sat with friends John and Linda.  This will be the last time that we will get together with them on this sailing as they will be leaving the ship on Monday and will be returning home.  While we will miss them dearly, we  look forward to sailing with them again.

Anne Marie with dear friends John and Linda.

Anne Marie with one of her new Jim Thompson purses.

We enjoyed dinner at the Crystal Dining Room.  The good news is that we enjoy all of the dining venues but this is the one that we dine at the most since the other three venues are specialty restaurants and to keep them special we only like to visit them from time to time.

You guessed right.  It was orange night.

We each began our meals with salads.  Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie had the Assorted Greens Salad. 

For our entrée we each had the Broiled Norwegian Salmon.  We have not had Salmon for quite a while and we always enjoy it.  It was very tasty and cooked perfectly and the salmon was of a nice size.    We also shared side orders of peas and asparagus and Keith had grilled onions and a baked potato.

We teased Head Waiter Augusto about the Norwegian Salmon.  Augusto was born in Italy and lived there a long time and now resides in Norway with his wife and children.

For dessert, Anne Marie had the Sugar Free Mocha Puff.  Keith had those mixed berries that he enjoys almost every evening.

We also enjoyed some nice wines that Sommelier, Javier, recommended for us.

After dinner, we went to the variety show which featured Gary Guthman on the Trumpet and The MacDonad Brothers from Scotland.  The brothers sing and each play a few different musical instruments.  We loved both acts.  They will be leaving the Crystal Serenit and then moving over to the Crystal Symphony.

We slept very well last evening.  All of that walking made it fairly easy to fall asleep since we did not have the benefit of the ship rocking us to sleep since we were docked in Singapore.

Keith awoke early and began another day with a good workout at the Fitness Center.  As he always does, when he finished his workout he enjoyed coffee at the Lido Cafe.  He saw friend Linda and wished her and John safe travels and we look forward to sailing with Linda and John again.

He brought coffee back to the room for Anne Marie and then we walked outside on the Promenade Deck for a little while and for a portion of the walk we saw friend Elaine and caught up with her.

Rao brought us breakfast earlier than we normally have it just like yesterday.

Today marks the conclusion of the  third segment of the World Cruise and begin the next segment. During this voyage we sailed from Hong Kong to Singapore and traveled a distance of 2,637 Nautical Miles or the Equivalent of 3023 Land Miles.

After we got ready, we made our way through passport control plus security and then into the area where the luggage was awaiting those disembarking the Serenity today. We have never seen such an orderly setup as the one we saw today.  Most of the luggage was grouped together by room and was places on luggage carts.

We then took a taxi over to the Colonial. District and from there we walked to several places including the shopping district on Orchid Road  We also stopped along the way and back at different sites and then we walked over to Raffles Hotel. We had a great time and the weather for the most part was quite nice.

St. Andrews

Even though the building used to be a church it is part of the Singapore Art Museum.

The Tana Park

We would have loved to have visited the Maghain Aboth Synagogue but we could not gain entry.

We did return to Jim Thomson and Anne Marie got two more purses.

We then took a taxi back from Raffles Hotel over to the Cruise Ship Terminal and then spoke with good friend Peggy for awhile at the terminal before all three of us returned to the ship.  We went through security in the terminal and then we went through passport control.

We had lunch on the ship at the Crystal Dining Room and we had the L.A. Cobb Salad.  When we first embark the ship a Cobb Salad has become our tradition and on many turn around days we try to have the Cobb Salad and dine at the Dining Room rather than at the Lido Cafe.

We enjoyed the ship in the afternoon.  We took a one hour walk and also read and wrote and then got ready for the evening.  We also spoke with several members of the crew including some who joined the ship today.  We also saw several familiar faces of guests who boarded today who we have sailed with in the past.

This evening we will be attending the second and final World Cruise Shoreside Event.  We will post about this tomorrow.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……...

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

 Keith & Anne Marie