Robertson International Travel : Wednesday, January 27 ~ At Sea in the Atlantic

THE LOVE AFFAIR OF REX ZIAK AND CAPTAIN COOK

We promised our return to the story of Rex Ziak which, on this ship, is far more than the assumed love affair with Captain Cook. In the fall of 2008, we encouraged Crystal Cruises to bring our friend, Rex Ziak, aboard the 2009 Crystal Serenity World Cruise to talk about Captain Cook, one of Rex's top explorers in addition to Lewis and Clark on the Columbia River where we met Rex in 2006. He came aboard in Auckland, New Zealand, delivered 3 lectures, and disembarked in Sydney with some of the highest ratings received by a lecturer on Crystal.

One evening in our Nobu Restaurant, Silk Road, we introduced Rex to our delightful and charming Japanese Public Relations Officer, Keiko Osugi. Instantly, an international love affair was born which lasted until the end of the world cruise with Rex reboarding the ship in Yokohama upon the request of Crystal Cruises due to his high ratings. Very few people knew about this romance, including us. Three weeks after our return from last year's world cruise, we received an email from Rex and Keiko announcing they were getting married on November 7, 2009!

They are now both back aboard this full Crystal Serenity World Cruise (above) as husband and wife with Rex continuing his lecture series on Caption Cook and Keiko continuing with her Japanese Relations Officer duties. Their happiness is overwhelming and resonates throughout the Crystal Serenity. A romantic novel could be written about Rex and Keiko, but we will end by saying we couldn't be happier for them.

Rex's lecture today started with the early exploration of the globe by Drake, Pizarro, Magellan, Cabot, De Gama and many others with his build up to, according to Rex, the greatest and most important explorer, Captain James Cook. As always, he packed the Hollywood Theatre!

We had some fun this evening with an idea to improve the elevator service aboard the Crystal Serenity. We caught one of our favorite crew members in full uniform acting as the elevator operator and our wine steward offering wine for the ride up! We recommend the continuation of these enhancements for the world cruise!

Just before we entered the Galaxy Lounge to watch the award winning production show of "My Favorite Things", we visited with our honorary Voyager Club Host, Virtuoso Chairman Jesse Upchurch and his assistant on this portion of our world cruise, Donna Coleman Myrick. "My Favorite Things" was as dazzling as ever with a performace better than anything you see on Broadway or London's West End! Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!