Miami - Disembarkation and Final Reflections

Final Night Celebration: The World Cruise Countdown was neat because the Galaxy Orchestra played Big Band Music, people “sloppy danced” and there was of course Champaign and food. They counted down and at 0 balloons dropped and confetti was shot over the balcony, it was wild ... for Crystal. What I liked the best was the Big Band Music, I wished someone played that every night, I would have sat nightly watching and listening to the Standards and the Great American Songbook ... MY kind of music. Final Reflections: Our South American adventure was a delight filled with cosmopolitan cities juxtaposed with rugged outback. I certainly enjoyed the big cities of Buenos Aires and Rio and all the trimmings that came with them. The Argentine beef lived up to its hype and it was fun to see people dancing the tango in the street. The beaches of Rio were impressive, the city not as scary and the women sun bathers wore more clothes than I thought. At least they were wearing thongs! The Amazon was a revelation to me with its muddy water, big towns and all the interesting vegetation, birds and animals. The cruise was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy family and the sights and sounds of South America in the luxury of a Crystal Cruise.

April 30 – Key West

I forgot to mention how wonderful the Main stage show was last night. They had a full orchestra (augmented by some U. of Miami musicians) and did a Pops concert centered around Opera. It was incredible! They brought on one extra soloist and featured Karyn a girl who didn’t sing in my first segment shows but is an employee who did a couple shows the second segment in addition to singing in the Crystal Chorus I sang in. All the entertainers participated including some headliners who were violinists and dancers and it was a marvelous show. I had an opportunity to sing in it but there were too may rehearsals, I had to learn Italian and too many shows. I’m on vacation for heaven sakes!! Today I did another catamaran and snorkeling tour that was only 3 hours this time. It wasn’t as much fun because the catamaran was huge and didn’t have a place where I could sit right above the water. But it was nice to get out on the water and see all the boats and schooners. We were also able to see a lot of fish right off the side of the boat. The water was 70 degrees so there was NO chance I was getting in, particularly with the outside temperature at 70 degrees and a strong wind. People didn’t snorkel long as it was a little rough in addition to being cold. I haven’t been back to Key West in over 10 years and boy has it grown. No longer a sleepy little town but a tourist cruise port that has lots of t-shirt and souvenir shops. The nice thing is they still have a lot of quaint bars and restaurants and the touristy shops are pretty anyway. With so many white building the town looks very clean. I had been to all the sights before so I just walked around for about 4 hours and got a gelato and a snack at the famous “Sloppy Joes.” I came back to swim but the pool was closed because those crazy Americans sent their public health inspector on board, probably because we came from the Amazon, and closed the pool as of 6am this morning because the ph was too high. It will reopen once they get off at 6pm, but by then I’ll be at dinner. Oh well I did my strokes in the hot tub. I REALLY miss having the opportunity to swim every morning!!!! Tonight the movie, “Great Expectations” and a countdown to next year’s world cruise in the atrium. Tomorrow: Miami and end of cruise

March 29 – last of three days at sea

All sea days for me are pretty much the same and I love them! But not anything new to report so I thought I’d give my evaluation of the ship. Probably the most obvious thing for me is the level of personal service by ALL employees of the ship. It took a couple weeks for me to really understand that you actually can get ANYTHING you want on the ship and order ANYTHING you want for dinner, even if it’s not on the menu. Except for a couple incidences in the Lido restaurant they don’t treat a “segment” cruiser any differently than a world cruiser in everyday activities. The level of service and if you have a butler is determined of course by the cost and size of your room. I did often see butlers running around getting things like a small plate of potato chips to take to someone or a bowl of ice cream (looking pretty funny carrying a small plate of potato chips in tails and with white gloves). I played trivia on a team called the M&M’s and they went to the ice cream man and asked for a bag of M & M’s and they got it. I wish I had known sooner than 2 days ago that I could have gotten sauerkraut EVERY day for lunch…I would have lost some weight. I’d say the rooms may be a little smaller, the bathrooms a little bigger than a standard room and I loved the balcony with the direct view of the ocean…I spent a lot of time there. It’s been a blast and really two different experiences with the two segments I did on the Crystal Serenity. Nothing beats having family with me, but I also enjoyed cruising by myself as well. I made as many friends as I wanted to, but I will say that this ship is a little harder to make friends on than the normal cruise ships, or at least it is when the world cruisers are on. Could also be the age of the passengers and there aren't as many swimmers as I usually meet. I’ll have trouble saying goodbye to this cruise and vacation….but then I always do.

March 26 – Barbados

The day started the way a lot of days on this cruise start…by lightly raining. I had a tour today on a catamaran to sail and snorkel. It was a 5 ½ hour tour and it was terrific! The weather was great, it was a bit cloudy and it lightly rain twice for about 5 minutes, but most the day was sunny and hot. The catamaran had the crisscross trampoline like front that I like because it can be like an amusement ride. I didn’t get very wet and it was a blast! I decided not to snorkel as the masks never really fit. The lunch they provided was better than usual on those types of things as they grilled steaks and had chicken, shrimp, scalloped potatoes (yum), brown rice and 3 types of salad. They also had 3 or 4 desserts and an open bar. Of interest is we did pass the famous resort of Sandy Lane here Tiger Woods got married. It’s outrageously expensive and there is a 14 day minimum. . A good time was had by all! Tonight I noticed when I was walking after dinner that there was a full moon so a trip to the hot tub to enjoy the moon is a must.

March 25, Devil’s Island – or specifically Ile Royale of Devil’s Island

Devil’s Island is one of the three infamous penal colonies of the Islands of Salvation, the other being Royale Island and St Joseph Island developed in French Guiana and located 10 miles off the South American coast. Today all three islands are generally considered Devil’s Island. The penitentiary was first opened by Emperor Napoleon III’s government in 1852, and became one of the most infamous prisons in history before closing in 1946. Once the prisoner served his sentence and was free he had to pay for his own transportation back to France, and because they had no money they all were forced to stay on the island or surrounding land. Each Island served a different purpose of the penal colony: Royale (the one we actually toured) was the site of the administration center, the wardens’ accommodations and for prisoners deemed less dangerous. The more troublesome convicts of hardened thieves and murderers were kept on St. Joseph. On the almost inaccessible Devil’s Island, political prisoners were kept in isolation. A sentence to Devil’s Island or the neighboring islands was considered the equivalent of a death sentence. A great many of the more than 80,000 prisoners sent to the harsh conditions at disease-infested Devil’s Island were never seen again. The dense jungle; malaria & yellow fever; sharks and piranhas; and rough current and rocky shores served as a detriment for prisoners to escape. The prisoner who became world famous was Henri Charriere, immortalized in the movie Papillon, for supposedly being the only convict ever to have escaped from the “green hell.” In 1965, the French government transferred the responsibility for most of the islands to its newly founded Guiana Space Center. France, the Russians, and Europeans use the mainland for missile launches and the islands for tracking. We tendered in to the Royale Island and were able to roam freely throughout the uninhabited island where they had guides positioned throughout the island to explain the various ruins. It was an interesting day and I was thankful it wasn’t too hot that I couldn’t walk the 2 miles up the steep hill to see all the cells and buildings. It was also nice to see the blue ocean after the week of brown Amazon water. Tomorrow – sea day

March 23 – Cruising the Amazon

Today was typical of the days we’ve spent in the Amazon, rainy in the morning and clearing up in the afternoon. The rain most often was light and didn’t deter activities, including walking and swimming. It did help keep the temperatures bereable. Some final facts and impressions about the Amazon: The Amazon actually becomes 11 different names when it is all said and done and runs over 4,000 from Peru to the sea.(As a reference it’s only 2900 miles from San Francisco to New York.) Every year the Amazon deposits 1.3 million TONS of sediment into the Atlantic Ocean. Some trees in the Amazon basin stand 120 feet tall with the tallest soaring up to 22 feet. There are 8,000 species of insects and 1,500 fish species that live in the Amazon. It is still believed that there are small bands of “undiscovered” groups of traditional Indian people living in such isolated outposts that they have probably never had contact with anyone other than their immediate group. Today we crossed the Equator again on our way out of the Amazon. It's located where we dropped off our river pilots in Macapa and of course the necessary ceremonies took place. As for my general observations: I didn’t do any research so I came into the Amazon with the perception that it was maybe a mile wide at the widest and had only really small villages. I've mentioned in past posts the size of both the Amazon and the cities. I also thought we’d be swarming in bugs and I wouldn’t be able to spend a lot of time outside. To the contrary we’ve had very few bugs, on ship and shore, and the ones we’ve had have been mostly beetles, moths and dragonflies. I hope I get back here in the near future and I think I would actually do some of the jungle walks next time. We’ll see as I always opt for the boat tours and I’d have a hard time passing those up! Tomorrow: Devil’s Island – I watched “Papillon” last night in the theatre to get ready.

March 22 – Santarem

The village of Santarem grew up around the spot where the Amazon meets the Tapajos River (another place where the waters run side by side). Today Santarem has blossomed into an important trading center and a vibrant city with a very busy waterfront. At least twice in history groups of people from the United States tried to settle here, once was after the Civil War when a group of 110 Confederates soldiers came from the vanquished Southern states. The Confederate soldiers ran into trouble when they tried to grow the same crops as they did at home and found out that the new environment was unfriendly and incapable of supporting those crops. Before long little remained of those settlers as most died of malaria and some came back to the States. Several of the original settlers remained, planting crops like rubber and sugar cane, and provided influences into the patchwork quilt that is Santarem. It’s said that the Confederate influence can still be felt (I’m not quite sure where or how as I didn’t notice). Then in 1920 Henry Ford purchased 60 acres near Santarem and figured he’d cultivate his own rubber. Pretty soon an American-style town sprung up with the un-Brazilian name of Fordlandia. His dream turned into a nightmare in the jungle. Torrential rains, poor soil and deadly malaria forced the plant’s closing and he turned the town back over to the Brazilian government following WWII. It still exists, a decaying testament to his failed venture but it serves as a center for the Ministry of Agriculture. I took the shuttle bus into the Fisherman’s Square on the waterfront this morning as I had a water tour this afternoon and I wanted to see some of the town. The waterfront was the highlight for me as it’s very busy with fruit and vegetable markets, tour boats, passenger boats, restaurants and some shopping. The market was interesting as they brought their things to market on these huge flat wheelbarrow type carts and vendors and people were coming and going, the produce was very colorful. With Santarem being half way between Manaus and Belem (at the mouth of the Amazon and the ocean) people and cargo come and go from this busy port to the two larger cities. Taking 24 hours to travel to the two bigger cities, most travel is done on large ferry boats. These huge boats have a few cabins but most have hammocks that hang all throughout the boat and are a lot cheaper than the cabins. (Hammocks apparently were invented here). So most people, businessmen and fisherman alike, swing from their hammock as they travel. The town, itself, is tired, rundown and unimpressive. The river and jungle, however were terrific. I boarded a riverboat and spent 4 hours meandering through the rivers and tributaries and on Lake Maica. We saw more river houses and some farms and lots of wildlife. Today I saw pigs, horses, water buffalo, monkeys, sloths, iguanas, a macaw, an eagle, lots of other beautiful birds, unbelievable brightly colored butterflies, more pink dolphins and piranhas. Part of our tour was piranha fishing. I caught one about an inch and a half in length, you fish for them with just a line with a hook and what looked like a small piece of steak. The line is wound around a piece of wood, and when they nibble, you yank. It was a fun day and it was great seeing interesting wildlife on our last port of call in the Amazon. Tomorrow: Cruising the Amazon