A “culturally enriching cruise” on Voyager of the Seas, Singapore to Hong Kong

[Atleastonce]

I feel a little embarrassed about starting a trip report and not finishing it in a timely manner. We finished this trip and then I was straight into a month plus of continuous travel for work. I am currently sitting on a VA flight BNE-MEL to try and enjoy a work free long weekend exploring the Great Ocean Road.

Anyway, to finish up the trip report:

Cruising with RCL on a larger ship that cannot dock at passenger terminals hasn't really been a problem for us on recent cruises. The ports we docked at in Thailand and Vietnam were cargo terminals, with nothing around them, at all.

Every shore tour we had selected was a minimum 3 hour drive to get to the attraction, a few hours at the attraction and then 3 hour on the bus back to the ship. Coupled with the extreme heat, it was overbearing at times.

Our first port mentioned above, was in Thailand. As mentioned we stayed on the ship the first day and the second day was a shore tour. When we left the ship there was no immigration, no officials, nothing, just wander off and on as you please.

We were doing a city tour, some temples etc.... the things you might expect to do in this part of the world. I don't have any photos on my laptop, but will explain the most exciting part of the day - the numerous encounters with the police on the highways. We were told by our guide that we could not keep with the ships requested schedule if we did not drive above the speed limit and to expect numerous traffic stops by the police. He wasn't wrong. The assistant on the tour was seated at the front of the bus, we would get pulled over, he would pay off the police, we would continue until stopped next time - repeat. One tour bus driver refused to pay off the police and that tour had to sit on the side of the road until the driver was returned to the bus by the police.

 

[Atleastonce]

First Vietnam stop was Ho Chi Minh. Vietnam was the main point of this trip and this was an amazing day, take out the 3 hour bus trip to and from. The Cu Chi tunnels were an amazing site. This is something I had read about, watched on documentaries etc... but I don't really think you can appreciate the gravity of the situation until you walk through the jungle, in the rain and mud, slipping on the pathways, and hearing gunfire in the distance. For those who have not visited this location, you get an opportunity to fire rounds from some of the same weapons from the war at a range at the end of the tour. No one told us this, and I suppose this really added to the experience. A real goose bump moment walking through the jungle experiencing this.

The tunnels are very small, I maybe could fit into them, but could only bring myself to go into the entrance and peek into the tunnels.

A very worthwhile experience if you have not done so.

 

[Pushka]

Other than Hong Kong and Singapore the major Asian ports aren’t that great because of the location. Some of the smaller areas - eg Langkawi are tender so not as bad.

 

[Atleastonce]

The second and third ports were Nha Trang and Chan May. Again not passenger terminals and long transport times to anything. We did cultural tours again, and nothing out of the ordinary of what we expected. Some good interesting sites. Marble Mountain in Danang was pretty good, with buddha sculptures everywhere up the mountain. I do wonder how they got them there, a bit like the pyramids mysteries. The heights up the mountains where they are are impressive.

We went to a local restaurant for lunch in Nha Trang. The tour guide talked up the local spring rolls. We had some the previous day and they were amazing. When we got to the restaurant, every other tour had the same idea and we all ordered the spring rolls. You wold think this was a common occurrence with tour groups and the restaurant would cater in advance - wrong assumption. After 1/2 hour our guide told us to walk out and go and find other arrangements for food. We walked along the beach to find somewhere to eat. All the signs were not in Vietnamese or English as the main language, but Russian. The beach areas were packed with Russian tourists. We managed to get some food, but the organisation of the tour was terrible.

Did I mention July in Vietnam was hot!

 

[Atleastonce]

The next day in Chan May was pretty good. Apart from the heat the sights in and around the city were interesting. We experienced a pedal car/rickshaw around the street. This was the only time in my life I actually thought about the validity of my travel insurance whilst doing an activity in a foreign country. If you have been to Vietnam you will understand the traffic rules - none! Put yourself int he centre of the traffic in a rickshaw with a local driving, who knows what he can do, who he can cut in front of and it being so vastly different to Australian road rules and experiences then you can understand the trepidation on my part. Anyway we survived and i can tick that one off.

Remember to cargo docks I mentioned, well this was a tendered port, and in 40 degree plus temperatures, and a large ship, over 2000 passenger all arrived back from tours at the same time. They needed local police to put barriers up on the road because of the snaking queue waiting for the tenders. To Royal Caribbeans credit this was handled exceptionally, with frozen towels being handed out, unlimited water available, sunscreen being supplied and constant communications and updates. It was a relief to return to an air-conditioned stateroom. #firstworldproblems

 

[Atleastonce]

A few days cruising to get to Hong Kong. The riots had just started a few weeks prior and we were a little concerned.

Voyager of the Seas was an amazing ship with plenty to do, lots of areas to relax and entertainment galore. We did spend more time 'inside' on this cruise purely because of the temperature, but it forced us to relax more. I have never spent more time in a library just relaxing and reading.

When we docked in Hong Kong we disembarked easily and caught the free shuttle to the closest MTR station and then onwards to Jordan MTR and a short walk to the Novotel Nathan Road. Our third stay at this hotel, it is local and convenient for what we like to do, comfortable and clean.

it is an experience negotiating the MTR in the morning peak but we managed. Certainly a better economical option than the $100 the hotel quoted us to transfer us from port to hotel.

 

[Atleastonce]

We had 6 nights in Hong Kong. Having been there numerous times before we had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to do. We explored the city highlights around the harbour, star ferry and Hong Kong itself. The peak tram was being refurbished and the smog/cloud cover was very low so we didn't venture to the peak this time.

Did I mention it was hot!

If you have followed my previous posts, you would understand how much of a Disney fan we are. So yes Disneyland was on our list, but because of the temperature and the amount of time we had in Hong Kong we stretched out a busy one day visit to a leisurely two day visit to Disneyland.

We did the markets, the ladies market and Temple Street markets. We noticed that the the harassment by stall holders from our previous visits was just not there this time. They would wait for you to actually start asking prices before they would approach you, then bargaining would start. I didn't realise how much the original banter added to the experience. This time it was dull and boring. We did buy a few things, but the items we bought we saw in shops on Nathan Road for the same price or even cheaper. The markets expereince left us feeling we hadn't been to the the real Hong Kong market scene that it used to be.

 

[Atleastonce]

Our trip back was on SQ J HKG-SIN-BNE.

It was the first time we had used the airport link train from Kowloon to the airport, and what a seamless and perfect experience that was. Quick and efficient.

The SQ lounge in Hong Kong was small, but excellent, and they made the perfect Singapore Sling. The Hong Kong airport experience was nothing short of what you would expect.

The SQ J seat in the A380 was exceptional, as you would expect. It was our first experience in J on the SQ A380, and we were super impressed.

The transfer in SIN was a little tight, but only because of a gate change. Originally in terminal 2 the gate change was to terminal 3. For those not aware there is no SQ lounge in terminal 3, so we trekked there and back to the lounge in terminal 2 for about 1/2 hour then back to terminal 3. At least we got to see a bit more of the airport. We have never had a good look around the airport in Singapore because of either early flights or just being a lounge snob, and gone straight to and from the lounge. What we saw was pretty good, and we will spend more time wander around next time.

The flight back to BNE was uneventful. I feel like our standards and benchmarks are now SQ J, which can be dangerous given I an sitting in VA Y (not even an economy X seat) writing this on a free AMEX flight.

Sorry for the rushed and late report with no photos, but I feel I needed to at least finish up the report with some experiences and dialogue to complete what I had started.

Starting to descend into Melbourne so laptops are being stowed. Until next time

 

[Pushka]

The second and third ports were Nha Trang and Chan May. Again not passenger terminals and long transport times to anything. We did cultural tours again, and nothing out of the ordinary of what we expected. Some good interesting sites. Marble Mountain in Danang was pretty good, with buddha sculptures everywhere up the mountain. I do wonder how they got them there, a bit like the pyramids mysteries. The heights up the mountains where they are are impressive.

We went to a local restaurant for lunch in Nha Trang. The tour guide talked up the local spring rolls. We had some the previous day and they were amazing. When we got to the restaurant, every other tour had the same idea and we all ordered the spring rolls. You wold think this was a common occurrence with tour groups and the restaurant would cater in advance - wrong assumption. After 1/2 hour our guide told us to walk out and go and find other arrangements for food. We walked along the beach to find somewhere to eat. All the signs were not in Vietnamese or English as the main language, but Russian. The beach areas were packed with Russian tourists. We managed to get some food, but the organisation of the tour was terrible.

Did I mention July in Vietnam was hot!

We were in Vietnam in June and it was like a furnace. And lots of Russians - and this was 10 years ago!