If you love current events and politics and can afford a luxury cruise, you won't want to miss the 2009 World Leaders Symposium, "The Middle East in the 21st Century", which will be held on the newly-refurbished luxury cruise ship the Silversea Silver Wind from March 19 to April 3, 2009. Participants will travel to the Persian Gulf states of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman with former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry, and other leading scholars and historians.

The 2009 World Leaders Symposium is a follow up to the 2008 symposium on the Silver Whisper, which was held aboard the Silver Whisper in March 2008. The 2008 symposium, titled "Rising Global Powers: China and East Asia," brought nearly 250 participants to the East Asian cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Nagasaki. Onboard guest speakers included former U.S. President George H.W. Bush; former U.S. Secretary of Defense William J. Perry; and leading China scholar and author Jonathan D. Spence.
World Leaders Symposium on Silversea Cruises

Silver Wind Photo Courtesy of Silversea Cruises

The beaches of Bermuda really do have pink sand!

Bermuda Beach (c) Linda Garrison