Our luggage from Florida was on the bed with everything in it, in spite of warnings that we couldn't ship medicines, computer batteries, liquids, etc. When our present luggage arrived, our room looked like a luggage store. We found our skinny hangars and put up the extra shelves that hang from the clothes rod. I decided to not use any of my Hawaiian clothes, so that helped find space for clothes in the closet. A bottle of champagne and a beautiful flower arrangement was on our table.
Raffles hotel. It used to be on the water, but Singapore has reclaimed a lot of land it seems.
After we got situated, had some lunch at the buffet, we went back to Singapore to have High Tea at the Raffles Hotel. We got there early so we went to the Long's Bar and had a Singapore Sling. I had the virgin one. It is pineapple juice, lime juice, and grenadine syrup. It is delicious. David got a real one. The price was $28.00! Mine was $14.00. They gave you a bag of peanuts in the shell at the table. At the Tiffin room, we were seated near the harpist. Tea, and the tower of little sandwiches and pastries were brought out. Also included was a buffet of other delicacies as well as some dim sum which was delicious. We ate our fill even though we now have all meals free on the ship. It is a good thing we enjoyed it because the bill came to $134.00! During the tea it started to rain. Then there was thunder and lightning. The covered walkways were wet when we left still in the rain. The taxi line was very long, we waited over 1/2 hour. A man was holding onto the railing and then nodded off, walked down the stairs but fell over. I thought he was having a heart attack or was really ill, but then we realized that he was probably drunk. David noticed that the singapore sling tastes like refreshing fruit juice, but it packs quite a wallop.
one of the many lion head sculptures of Singapore
Monday, March 23, 2015.
After spending the night in our stateroom on our tranquility bed, we had our concierge breakfast in our room so we had plenty of time to get ready for our trip to the Jarong Bird Park.
flamingos
What a lovely park - lush, beautifully maintained, meandering pathways, orchids, and even the tallest man made waterfall. We saw the ostrich up close, and a dinosaur bird. They also have a lot of penguins, ones who like cold, and ones from Africa who like hot weather. There were two areas with the beautiful pink pelicans. We liked our African "bird park" better, however, on safari. We certainly saw a lot of interesting birds in Africa and India and in their native habitat.
Singapore from our hotel room
the cable car went over our ship
After lunch in the Grand Dining Room where we chose the Canyon Ranch Spa menu, we took our naps, and then went on the Singapore cable car to Fabor Mtn and then to Sentosa which is a huge amusement park, water park area. This was our last look at Singapore.
Today, Lee Kuan Yew, the first President of Singapore, the man responsible for this pristine, organized, and safe city state country, has died at 91 years old. His son is now the President. Singapore is an example to the world of how to manage an area with a large population. You may think it is very controlled, which it is, but under the circumstances, it works quite well.
We talked to the World Cruise concierge who assured us that we have free internet and took care of setting it up, as well as arranging to have the heat dial fixed. He said there are about 370 passengers on board (300 less than capacity), and 150 World Cruisers. We wondered why it seemed that the ship was not crowded.
On board ship, we had our mandatory evacuation drill and then went to dinner in the dining room. We sat with Shelby, a wonderful woman from Alabama who likes to ramble around the world. She has been on many Oceania cruises. She ran the family nursing home, taking care of aging parents and Aunts and Uncles, then was a travel agent, then was a member of the legislature of Alabama. Such a humorous, engaging woman. The time passed too quickly. We went on deck to watch the ship leave Singapore harbor and met Dick and Kathy, bloggers from Cruise Critic who I contacted. They went to Cuba for a month before joining the ship. Then we were off to the evening's entertainment, Chris Powley, from New Zealand, who is a singer.
March 24, Tuesday. Sea day. Up and at 'em off to bridge lessons, meet and greet cruise critic message board members, Indian cooking demonstration with ingredients like semolina, curry leaf, and coconut powder. After lunch outside where the weather was perfect for Hawaiians', we each went our separate ways for our day at sea activities. David heard the lecture on Ko Samui, our port tomorrow. I played bridge with Jim. They were new decks of cards and shuffled for the first time. All the hands seemed to have horrendous trump splits. You just couldn't make a contract when the person on your right had as many trumps as you did. We could only play until 4:00pm so we got in 13 hands. I went to Bingo, but only 3 others showed up. I have never heard of such a poor turn out for bingo on a cruise ship. We played one coverall.
I got back to the room to get dressed for dinner and also had time to finally put away all my stuff. They took our bags to storage now and it seems like we can actually live in our 216 sq feet cabin.
Dinner at the Polo Grill was interesting. David got to wear one of his sports jackets and bowties, and I got to wear a new green dress I got in Florida. It is so nice to wear regular clothes. We sat with two women from Washington state who we first saw on the Bird Park adventure. Another couple, Barbara and Dennis, were Judges in California, retired to Hawaii, but recently moved back to California. They invited David to play on their Trivia team and left early to play. They came back for dessert. We spent 3 hours having a delightful evening. Then we saw Jim Coston playing his banjo which was the evening's entertainment.
Highlight of the day - feeling moved into our room and wearing new clothes. Next was meeting new friends on the ship who I hope we will see again. There are some very interesting people here. I should probably just write about the people. Oh yes, I learned that it is okay to pick up a chilled prawn with your fingers and dip it in sauce and eat it, even though it looks like a lobster claw it is so huge.
We just missed each other in Singapore. Did the same things. I enjoyed Raffles, ate many peanuts (smaller than US peanuts) and dumped shells in baskets on bar, had two gin & tonics ($40 + tip but Sing dollars, not US). If David thought one Singapore sling was potent, he doesn't drink. Tourists next to me from London had 3 each and were fine! Also took cable car over my ship (Rotterdam). A taxi in Singapore? Great subway service to port. Use subway next time. And for me, there will be many more next times in Singapore.
ReplyDeleteFinally, surprised your ship is so empty. Caused by delay in start of cruise? More space for the two of you but fewer people to get to know.