partly contributed by the wait for photos from the bf (which i still haven't received today =p) and also because i know these posts will be super photo-intensive which will take me hours to choose+upload+resize+caption, i have procrastinated to blog for months. (super 佩服 those bloggers who still bother to edit their pictures!)
but! i have been inspired by priscilla's latest cruise photos to do this. =D
let's see how much of the trip i still can remember fron my terrible memory. this is why i always take a gazillion photos when i go for a holiday. hehe.
in june last year, the 6 of us (david + peggy, frank + joanna & gb + me, initliazed from here on) booked a 5D4N singpore-klang-phuket-singapore cruise with royal caribbean for the end of the year. i don't usually book holidays so early in advance, cos the wait is agonizing! but this cruise is super popular and we wanted to go during the school holiday period, so we decided to book early to avoid disappointing rooms.
after a almost-6 month wait, it was finally time for us to pack our bags! i must still say i'm super impressed by F&J's minimal luggage considering that they even brought sport shoes. shoes do take up a lot of space and i think we all had minimum 2 pairs each (casual and non-casual). P said she wanted to bring her whole wardrobe. XD
the ship was only scheduled to sail at 5pm, but being the super
kiasu +
yau gwee singaporeans we are, we decided to meet at noontime to have
a free an additional lunch on board the ship. hee.
first view of the ship. probably still refueling since i think she just docked that morning.
filling up our white-cards for the stopover at thailand.
the place was pretty crowded, even though i thought we reached quite early. a lot of like-minded people
! hehe. but the staff were very professional and the check-in was very smooth...
... soon it was time to go...
=Di we is very excited!
it would be nice if this led to an aeroplane instead tee-hee XD
us taking a super ugly picture which i hope they deleted immediately after the cruiseour staterooms would not be ready until 2pm, so the staff told us that we could go get some lunch first. so our first stop of the ship : windjammer cafe. this is also where we had all our buffet meals for the next 4 days.
lunched beside the pool cos all the indoor seats were taken. we were early, but not early enough =pour luggage were still with us, so we didn't go explore the ship yet, until the announcement came to inform us that our rooms were ready.
our tiny interior stateroom
water is quite the luxurious item onboard, thus explaining the numerous bottles
the tinier bathroom
our key cards and the day's copy of "cruise compass", which provided us with info like weather and activities of the dayafter putting down our luggage, it was time to explore the ship! =D
x'mas deco for the festive season~
casino was closed as we were not at international waters yet
royal caribbean's huge fleet of cruise ships! can't wait for the voyager of the sea to come soon hehe
checking out the library
quick break for some self-dispensed ice-cream!
outdoor pool on deck 9. we were docked next to aida, another cruise ship
mini-golf was packed!
rock wall tootravelling during the school holidays meant that most of the passengers were families with their school children. which also meant that the rock wall was full at all times during its opening hours, and we didn't get a chance to try it =/
by this time it was near the sailing time, and we were all asked to gather for the muster drill. the staff were very professional and treated it seriously though they probably have done it a thousand times already. everyone was very cooperative too, except for the few passengers who were using their mobile phones even though they were requested not to. then again maybe it was because they were foreigners who didn't understand english.
and at 5pm, we set sail. wheeeee! =D
dinner later that night was a choice between buffet at windjammer's or fine dining at romeo & juliet restaurant, we had chosen the 2nd seating of my time dining at 8pm at r&j's. so at 6+, we decided to grab a light snack. the wonderful thing about this cruise is that there is good food EVERYWHERE ANYTIME so you are well-fed no matter where and when. =D
the fries, pizza and burgers from solarium which everyone lovedafter replenishing our energy, we continued our exploration of the various decks, before going back to our rooms to prepare for dinner. since it was fine dining, we decided to dress up too, since it wasn't everyday we had the chance to have such
atas meals. hehe.
r&j welcomes us!we were allocated to a table of 8, where we would have our dinner every night. when we reached, there were another 2 guys sharing our table. and i think it was quite awkward for them cos they never came back after the 1st night. oops.
our waiter was singkarn, from thailand, and assistant waiter racquel, from the philippines. perhaps due to their different nationalities/cultures/personailities, there seemed to be some tension between them. but they were very professional and served us well. until the last night at least, before it seemed to spill out. ho ho.
anyways. the main point is the food. we could choose our appetizers, main course and dessert from their menu, but were not limited to 1 choice/portion per category! this means that we could order 2 different appetizers if we wanted, or 2 servings of the same dish if we liked it so much. thumbs up to the generosity!
oh, and the one good thing about travelling in a group is that we can each order different stuff and try all of them. hehe. first up, appetizers :
clockwise from top-left : sweet corn soup, vidalia onion tart, caesar salad & gado gadothere was a wide variety of main courses to choose from, but i guess most of us were beef-lovers. hehe.
slow-roasted prime rib & miso pesto brushed atlantic salmonand last but not least, dessert. everything looked so pretty!
clockwise from bottom-left : sherbet, strawberry pavlova & savarinpriscilla and kenny had told us from their previous experience that the food was fantabulous, and true enough, they didn't disappoint. YUMS.
after dinner, we quickly headed down to that's entertainment theater, where the show of the night was starting.
first night : acrobatic and magic show.
pictures are quite blur cos we didn't managed to get a good seat since our dinner ended quite late. but i must say the show was a good conclusion to our first day.
