Month: April 2019

This stage of the cruise is the last 6 days, with 4 days at sea and stops at Phy My (Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon) in Vietnam and Kaohsiung in Taiwan. The days at sea are pretty much the same routine that we developed earlier.

Our ukulele concert on the day before Singapore was a success on the basis of the crowd and the applause we received. Eric Ripper, our ukulele leader, invited anyone else who wanted to play the ukulele to join up after Singapore. The first day at sea after Singapore, we were flooded with enthusiastic new people who wanted to join up. All the borrowed soprano ukuleles were returned, and the new people were issued with ukuleles before the older hands could get their ukuleles back. Of course, Ian was pleased to hang onto his own tenor ukulele. In the end, I don’t think anyone missed out. We were given new music to learn, and Eric said that we would do a second concert on the day before we arrived at Hong Kong. However, this time we would only have half the number of sea days to prepare, which apparently worried a lot of people.

Numbers at ukulele classes, which again were only held on sea days, quickly dropped off, but Katie and Ian managed to hold onto a core of people, including John from Bowen. At the final concert, a smaller ukulele group played You Are my Sunshine again, as well as Hey Jude and Stand by Me. Again, we came across well. Much relieved, several of us enjoyed a celebratory drink afterwards.

Some of the ukulele group after the second concert. Eric is 4th from the right in the back.

John, Karen and Ian enjoying a celebratory drink

On the evening after our day trip to Ho Chi Minh City, we helped John and Joy from Bowen celebrate John’s 72^nd birthday. The crew came out with a small chocolate cake with one candle, and surrounding diners joined in with a chorus of Happy Birthday. We got to know John and Joy a bit better at the dinner. John is a retired dragline operator at a coal mine. They have a caravan, and enjoy travelling around Australia. They also like Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, and we had two bottles of Nobilo 2017 with dinner. We agreed to try and catch up as we travel around Australia during the rest of the year.

Our third and last formal night (on the second last sea day) saw Katie wear her Indian silk dress from Philomena. She looked stunning. The dining room had lobster tail on the menu for the special occasion, and we enjoyed a production show after dinner. Top night, although we did not see anyone we knew.

We returned to the ship relatively early after our shore excursion in Kaohsiung, in time for afternoon tea. We enjoyed afternoon tea several times last year on the Sun Princess cruise, so we wanted to attend at least once on this cruise. We had a table to ourselves, as usual for afternoon tea, and sampled the savoury and sweet delicacies over a pot of tea. Lovely!

We were invited to join Peter and Krystyna and David and Trish for dinner at the Crown Grill and Bar to celebrate Peter and Krystyna’s 39^th wedding anniversary. This was on the evening after the day in Kaohsiung, and therefore after a big Taiwanese curry lunch and afternoon tea. It was a tough job, but we felt up to the gastronomic challenge. The steaks were great, and a rendition of Happy Anniversary (very similar to Happy Birthday) was sung by staff and surrounding diners.

One of the dessert items that we all went for was a dessert sampler—what a great idea after a big meal!

That night, it was a bit cooler outside, and Ian enjoyed sitting on our balcony with a Boddington Pub Ale while watching the cargo ships pass. We were in a very busy shipping channel.

On the last evening of the cruise we had dinner with John and Joy, although Joy was not feeling well. We finished off another bottle of Nobilo Sav Blanc. After dinner, John joined us for a show put on by some of the non-entertainment crew. John shouted Ian a Scotch, the only one on this cruise for Ian, and it went down very nicely. The crew show was well done, and included Eric Ripper on his guitar singing The Who’s Baba O’Reilly.

We had a final cocktail of the cruise, and retired after a huge day. We kept the balcony door open to hear the water against the ship as we sailed on to Hong Kong.

The ship entered Hong Kong Harbour very early, and we did not wake until we were almost at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal. We crawled out of bed to get our first glimpse of the Hong Kong skyline, a bit tired after our last day on board. We had mixed emotions. We had thoroughly enjoyed our cruise, and we were sorry that it was over. However, Katie was eagerly looking forward to catching up with more of her family in Hong Kong. The next leg of our big trip had begun.

Kaohsiung is the second largest city in Taiwan, next to Taipei, which is about 300 km to the north and joined by a very fast train line. Like Singapore, it handles a lot of shipping. However, we understand that when the Majestic Princess visited on this cruise, it was the largest ship handled by the port to date. The harbour has a very narrow entrance, but we squeezed through OK. Taiwan is rarely on the must see list of travellers, and we also understand that this is the first time that Princess Cruises visited this city—it usually stops at Taipei.

Princess was very late in promoting tours from Kaohsiung, and had nothing available when we first looked. After attending an information session on the setting, we decided that $20 per head shuttle bus tickets to the centre of town was the best deal. Again, disembarking was easy, and we were welcomed to Kaohsiung by jolly dragons and drummers.

The shuttle buses had two stops—firstly Central Park and then San Duo shopping area. We rode the shuttle to the second stop, but at 9:30 am, it was very quiet. The major shops do not open until 11:00 am. We wandered around a bit aimlessly at first through some back streets.

We walked up the main road back to Central Park. There was lots of traffic, especially scooters, but very little evidence of economic activity. However, when the doors opened onto a building that we were walking past, we saw into a room of poker machines with quite a lot of people playing them. We thought it funny that you could not buy a bottle of milk at 10:00 am, but that the pokies were doing a roaring trade at that time.

Another interesting thing we noticed was that the traffic lights indicated how many seconds you had to cross the road. What an obvious improvement to pedestrian traffic—why don’t we have this at home?

We walked around Central Park, and found interestingly sculptured trees, and a group of senior citizens enjoying a dancing session. There were also squirrels, which are probably regarded as normal in Taiwan, but like useful pedestrian traffic lights, we don’t have them in Australia.

Having exhausted the range of attractions of Central Park, we walked down to the Love River, which flows through Kaohsiung. On the way we tried Gong Cha, which was promoted on the Majestic Princess. This was new to us, and we understand that it is a typically Taiwanese idea. It is a variety of teas, including a bubble tea with tapioca pearls. We tried a cold tea without sugar—interesting and drinkable, and quite refreshing on what was becoming a warm morning. We also tried some sweet tofu milk, with which we were familiar from Asian supermarkets in Australia. This was wonderful!

We were told that there were cafes along the Love River, like along the Seine in Paris. It was certainly pleasant to walk both sides of the river between two bridges. It was clean, with gardens and a clear love theme, but the cafes had not yet opened.

At the second bridge, we sat down to compose ourselves—it was now hot, there had been very little shade, and so we decided to walk back to the ship. However, the map showed that it was shorter to walk back to Central Park and then catch the shuttle. Back to Central Park we went, and we came across a Catholic cathedral. Katie went inside and said a prayer (that Central Park was not far away)!

We had a chance to sit on a grassy knoll in the shade while waiting for the shuttle at Central Park. When it came, we felt much refreshed, and decided to alight at San Duo and find a place for lunch in the large shopping mall there.

On our entry to the food court, we were welcomed by staff of the first restaurant we came to. However, we decided to check it all out, so went for a walk to get a comprehensive look at what was on offer. The food court was characterised by very little writing, but we could tell that some places were clearly offering Japanese cuisine. We settled on the first place we encountered. A couple in the neighbouring table had some interesting food, and they identified it for us on a pictorial menu. We ordered the same, and was surprised by two varieties of tasty, but not too spicy, chicken curry. Ian was also successful in buying a Taiwan beer from a local takeaway shop.

When we had finished our lunch, another couple from the cruise came up to the restaurant and asked us what the food was like. We raved about it, and said it was curry, but tasty and very mild. However, they were looking for something very spicy, so they kept on looking.

We caught the shuttle from San Duo back to the Majestic Princess, and arrived back in time for afternoon tea.

That evening, we had dinner at the Crown Grill and Bar to celebrate Peter and Krystyna’s 39^th wedding anniversary. More on that later.

Our day in Kaohsiung was an experiment to see how we would go on our own, exploring a potentially strange new place without a detailed plan, and taking advantage of opportunities that presented themselves. It was a complete success! We saw the heart of Kaohsiung’s central business district and the Love River, and experienced some tasty food.

Katie was so excited the night before that she couldn’t sleep. It has been a long time since Katie saw her sister, Lucy, and we have not been to Singapore since 1994.

The cruise ship docked at Marina Bay Cruise Terminal. Unsurprisingly, we passed many ships on the way to port as Singapore is one of the largest container ports in the world. We appreciated the smooth immigration process that Princess Cruise had facilitated, and we were able to disembark the ship with no delay.

Lucy and her partner, Eric, met us at the cruise terminal, where they had parked their car. We had a short drive around, and our first impression was that Singapore is an exceptionally clean and modern city. We did not recognise the place as it had changed so much in 25 years. There are several major new attractions, and Lucy had arranged for us to experience two of them–Marina Bay Sands and the Gardens by the Bay.

We had a quick breakfast of coffee and milk tea with sandwiches and toast at one of the food malls at the Marina Bay Sands. Milk tea is tea infused with condensed milk – very sweet and typically Singaporean.

Next, we visited the Sands SkyPark, which is the observation deck on the “ship” that sits on top of the three Marina Bay Sands towers. The “ship” is mostly a hotel. It has an infinity pool, but access is only given to guests. The observation deck is at one end of the “ship”. From it, visitors can get about a 270 degrees view of Singapore. It was very popular when we went up there on a clear Sunday morning. Lucy had also arranged for us to have a souvenir professional photo of our group, and we will treasure this.

Eric drove us to China Town, where we enjoyed lunch at the Peach Garden Chinese Restaurant. We had dim sum, flat rice noodles with mushrooms, yummy soup with scallops, and interesting sticky rice desserts served in young coconuts. Ian and Eric enjoyed their Tiger beers.

Our next stop was the Gardens by the Bay on 101 hectares of reclaimed land and opened in 2012. Lucy bought tickets for the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest Dome. These are huge, air-conditioned structures that house plants ranging from cool, temperate climates to tropical rain forests, including Australian plants and olive trees. It is difficult to explain these in words, so we took lots of photos. They have cost billions of dollars, and there is some controversy about whether it is money well spent. An interesting feature of the Flower Dome is the numerous sculptures made from pieces of wood.

To finish off we enjoyed a cool drink and snacks at McDonalds. Lucy and Eric had given us a very full and thoroughly enjoyable tour of some of the best of Singapore in the short time we were ashore. Eric drove the short distance back to the cruise terminal where we said our “goodbyes”. We thanked Lucy and Eric for their time and the generous gift of the Marina Sands SkyWalk photo. We insisted to them that they visit us in the Hunter Valley next year.

We were so tired after our hectic but very enjoyable tour of Singapore and catch-up with Lucy and Eric, that once on board, Katie immediately hit the sack and missed dinner, and Ian had to refresh himself with a Bodington so he could enjoy the Singapore sailaway sunset.

The days at sea are becoming very routine. Breakfast, lunch, ukulele class and dinner provide the main framework around which we fit in our other activities.

The gym is well equipped, and heavily used. Late afternoon seems to be the best time to work out when there are fewer people there.

On this leg we dined at La Mer French restaurant. The service and the food were top stuff, and our table was located with a view of the sunset and electrical activity in the clouds.

We started with cocktails, bread, and welcome dishes of polenta chips and olives stuffed with goat cheese. For entrée, we had a lobster bisque with a pastry top, and tortellini stuffed with wild mushrooms and snails in a green sauce. The lobster bisque was wonderful. For mains, we had duck breast in a tasty gravy, and jumbo scallops with more of the green sauce. Both were excellent. Dessert was a beautifully presented chocolate tart and a very light mousse, and again, these were delicious. Ian wanted to taste the French beer, but this was no longer available. Instead, we had a bottle of Yalumba Y Series Viognier 2016, which was full of flavour that went well with the rich food.

After our French meal, we had an early night and in bed enjoyed the latest doggie movie—A Dog’s Way Home. This is based on a book by W. Bruce Cameron, who also wrote A Dog’s Purpose, which we read last year, and which was also the basis of a movie.

On the day on which we were to cross the equator from the southern into the northern hemisphere, the ship had a Crossing of the Equator ceremony. This involved the ship’s First Officer, the Cruise Director, Neptune (King of the Sea) and his wife, Queen Double-D. Several dozen pollywogs who had not yet crossed the equator were put on trial for various trumped up charges. Of course, they were all found guilty, and sentenced to be covered in spaghetti and several differently coloured sauces. This all took place in the raised area between the two pools. As was to be expected, some food ended up in the pools, that were then closed for a day to enable cleaning. After the food splattering, the pollywogs were deemed to be shellbacks. The First Officer and the Cruise Director were both thrown in the pools, and the King and Queen escaped relatively unscathed by the experience.

We actually crossed the equator at sunset, about 8:00 pm. And a spectacular sunset it was.

We spent much of this leg practising the ukulele, either in our cabin, in a corner of a bar, or at Eric’s ukulele classes. This was becoming a Ukulele Cruise. Eric announced that we would be giving a concert on the day before we arrive in Singapore, and this spurred us on to even greater devotion. On the afternoon of the concert, there was much nervous tension. We performed in the Piazza, in the centre of the ship. The audience was spread on three levels. We had to stand, and thankfully had some music stands to put our music on. Over the Rainbow was a big hit with the crowd, and we followed up with Yellow Submarine, Brown Eyed Girl and Down on the Corner. For an encore we played Can’t Help Falling in Love. I think we did really well, considering that many people had not played a ukulele before. We did it, and felt both proud of our achievements and greatly relieved. The whole concert was recorded on the Reflections DVD produced on the cruise.

We are gradually settling into our cruise, being careful not to burn ourselves out in the first couple of days. On our first cruise—to the South Pacific on the Sun Princess about a year ago—we were overwhelmed with everything. This time, we were much more relaxed as the various aspects of cruising felt familiar. One of the big differences is that we have a private balcony to enjoy on this cruise.

After a full day at sea, we docked at Fishermans Wharf in Brisbane. We had booked a tour of nearby St Helena Island directly with Cat o’Nine Tails Tours. However, our tour was cancelled the previous day due to forecast inclement weather. Indeed, it was wet while we were docked, and we did not feel enthusiastic about going onshore. We will rebook St Helena Island for when we are back in Brisbane in early May.

There are lots of dining options, as well as copious bars. We like the dining rooms where we get waiter service, and rarely a bad meal. Sometimes, we go to the buffet or bistro for a more casual meal, but the food here can be a bit ordinary. The beer selection was interesting, with many international brands. Best value beers are probably the 440 ml cans of Guinness and Boddington Pub Ale. Wine is outrageously expensive, more so than on the Sun Princess, so we probably won’t indulge much. We did find a 2018 Tyrrells Old Winery Pinot Noir, se we bought a bottle (wine by the glass is way overpriced).

Every night there are shows, while there are numerous entertainers who sing and/or play instruments in the bars and the Piazza. The Piazza is the heart of the ship. We have seen two shows so far from the production cast from USA. They are leaving us in Darwin and will be replaced by a new production cast. The cruise director, who was also on our Sun Princess cruise last year, told us we were lucky to have two different production casts on the one cruise. He is probably right.

One of the best entertainers we have seen, ever, is Chris Watkins, a classical violinist and frustrated dancer (his words) from the UK. He starred in his own show, and then featured in a larger production show called Encore. We were also lucky to catch him for a short performance one evening in the Piazza. He plays a Swarovski crystal encrusted electric violin. Check out the shoes!

Dance classes are available for line dancing and ballroom dancing. The participants certainly appear to enjoy them. However, it is very crowded, and we have not yet been game to have a go.

Ian took his ukulele so he can keep up his fingerpicking and strumming practice. We heard that some cruises had a ukulele program, and by luck, our Majestic Princess cruise did. It is run by Eric Ripper, who is the ship’s videographer. There are 41 toy ukuleles available for guests, but a few people, including Ian, had their own. The first session was chaotic, and Eric did a sterling job of keeping us together on You Are My Sunshine. He has some interesting tunes planned for us, including Beatles and CCR.

We attended our very first karaoke session and loved it. Their motto is “When they’re good, its great, and when they’re bad, its better!” Not sure about the latter.

There are multiple pools and spas on the uppermost levels. The best pool area is the adults only Hollywood Pool Club. This is well patronised because of its outstanding and lavish facilities with little  private suites overlooking the sea for guests to relax and enjoy. Tea and coffee are also served there at breakfast time, and a bar opens mid morning.

There are three formal nights on our cruise. The fist one was on the Brisbane to Darwin leg. We had a full night, and didn’t get back to our room until midnight. It started with the Captain’s champagne waterfall cocktail party, which is done near the start of every Princess cruise. The Cruise Director introduced the Captain and his executive team to guests. We were amazed that Princess Cruise has a Director of Environment as well as a Staff Welfare Director. Guests were then invited to pour champagne over a tower of carefully stacked glasses. When the last guest had contributed to the champagne waterfall, to Ian’s horror, the glasses were emptied of their champagne into a bucket rather than given to the guests.

It took a while, but Ian tried the gym on day 5, and Katie joined him the next day. The gym is well appointed, and extremely popular.