TR: Asia Trip 2015 – Pt. 8: Disembarking & Kuala Lumpur (10/22-10/23/2015)

The boarding process went smoothly, and our bags arrived separately but efficiently enough for us to have everything stored away by the time we had to leave for our muster drill. Disembarking Singapore, we drove ourselves out into the haze and through hundreds of idle boats. Sailing out of Singapore is really quite the experience. As we did on our Navigator of the Seas cruise, we planned out an excellent attack. First, dinner was procured at Johnny Rockets. Burgers and fries sounded great. As is often the case, it was nowhere near full, and customers who came in were miffed (as they always seem to be) at the paying extra for a meal here. But compared to fighting our way through the main dining room or buffet on the first night, this is so much more relaxing. We got in some mini golf and pool time too while skipping the first night’s show in the theater. I doubt I missed anything.

TR: Asia Trip 2015 – Pt. 7: Mariner of the Seas Ship Review

When I do trip reports of cruises, the ship itself is what I start with. It is where most of the action on a cruise takes place, whether sleeping, eating, or some combination where I snore with a sandwich in my mouth. I kid, I kid. It also simplifies things later rather than pour through and write out the same opinion over and over.

-EMBARKATION-

I actually reviewed this in Part 6 of my trip report, and rather than rehash it again, let’s just admit that this was neither Singapore nor Royal Caribbean’s finest moment. I didn’t spend a lot of time on this in the prior portion of trip report, but I’d suggest that at the time of entry into Singapore that you note the number of days you’ll be there up until the cruise and then note the day the cruise leaves as the date that you leave Singapore. This isn’t like Europe where they seem to have almost no interest whatsoever in your transit dates. You’ll receive a new entry card in your passport the day you pick them up. Oh, and you pick them up because you hand them over. This was the same procedure as we saw on our Mediterranean cruise in 2013.

TR: Asia Trip 2015 – Part 6: Singapore 1st Glance (10/21-10/22/2015)

Our flight arrived into Changi International Airport right around on time at 9PM. Our terminal at Singapore, Terminal 1, is the crappy one, and in spite of this, it is clearly well ahead of most of the west’s best airports. Immigration in Singapore is a breeze – short wait at the counter, basically rubber stamped, luggage coming out efficiently. I had some trepidation about this given Singapore’s notorious policies for importation of items as seemingly benign as chewing gum, but it wasn’t anything to concern myself over. The people to be concerned are those who look at the “DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS UNDER SINGAPORE LAW” note on the entry card and realize they’ve made a horrible mistake.

TR: Jewel of the Seas 2014 Caribbean Cruise Pt. 6 – Barbados & Sea Day (10/16 & 17/2014)

By the time our 5th day on the boat had arrived, we had fallen into certain patterns of activity. The coffee drinks in the Starbucks were one that we’d enjoy. Another was the TV programming produced on board the ship. Not the morning show or even so much the game shows replayed from nights prior. For some reason, the shopping consultant talks replayed over and over with Lee, the boat’s shopping consultant, were mesmerizing. Our favorite was on one program where he informed us that an overwhelming percentage of people notice watches on people and judge them on their watch, then mentioned that we almost assuredly had noticed he had two on. We laughed about how no one in our peer group we know aside from myself wears a watch and that, indeed, we hadn’t been that interested as to notice that he had two on. Apparently one of the watches regulated the nervous system by magic microchip. I don’t know about you, but I’m not rushing to acquire untested-by-the-FDA cyborg control chips from commercial retailers.

TR: Jewel of the Seas 2014 Caribbean Cruise Pt. 5 – St. Lucia (10/15/2014)

Our journey’s next stop would be the 32nd country I’ve stepped foot in – St. Lucia. The sailing down the night before from Antigua was pretty calm and unmemorable. Entering St. Lucia isn’t something I can say the same about. For whatever reason, we backed into port, giving us the best view possible of the island on approach. Like Antigua the day before, the island nation’s major city is packed in a natural harbor in which ships must maneuver tight lanes to find their way to a dock. Castries is a different animal from St. John’s though – a series of high rise towers faces the water front, and the runway for the island’s main airport forces approaching planes to fly directly over the entrance to the harbor. St. Lucia is more lush and mountainous than our previous port, more comparable as a result to Dominica.

TR: Jewel of the Seas 2014 Caribbean Cruise Pt. 3 – Embarkation & St. Croix (10/11 & 12/2014)

With boarding complete, the process of waiting to leave seemed to drag on forever. Our bags arrived after a short time and we had to force ourselves into putting things away. The sailaway show promised comedy. Feeling confident in my own personal ability to make jokes about how powerful the toilet flushes and how many times lights flicker in the bathroom, we chose to skip this and do, well, something else. Mostly, this “something else” was to go tour the ship and see things. Both lunch and dinner were found in the buffet, with us siting both inside and outdoors in a comparative rarity – outdoor aft space for balcony dining. Nice to have it.

TR: Jewel of the Seas 2014 Caribbean Cruise Pt. 2 – Ship Review (10/11-10/18/2014)

When I do trip reports of cruises, the ship itself is what I start with. It is where most of the action on a cruise takes place, whether sleeping, eating, or some combination where I snore with a sandwich in my mouth. I kid, I kid. It also simplifies things later rather than pour through and write out the same opinion over and over.

TR: Jewel of the Seas 2014 Caribbean Cruise Pt. 1 – Preface

At one point in 2012, we had three cruises concurrently booked. I mention this specifically because after that third cruise of the group, we somehow managed to have zero booked for several months and not even any clear plan of when to next do one, where it would be, anything. 6 months out, emboldened by our new jobs and the revolutionary freedom to schedule things less than a year in advance, we finally settled on something that appealed to both of us. And then we canceled our reservation on the Carnival Valor for this April, departing San Juan.

TR: Old School Road Trip Pt. 8 – Wisconsin Craziness & Conclusion (6/7- 6/8/2014)

Our morning started off right: free breakfast with our rate at the Courtyard Rockford was delicious. We left the room on time. Cameras charged up. Weather looking pretty solid. Everything was working out. Except for, as alluded to in the last trip report, Google having given us a bad address for House On The Rock. Add in an hour of driving time, and we were kinda bummed out about how the rest of the day would unfold because of what it potentially meant us needing to trim. We just had to agree: what’s done is done. We must move on. And into the hills we went, past Madison, past a bunch of other towns that I don’t remember the name of, and then to the strange flower pots that are on either side of the House on The Rock’s driveway.

TR: European Trip 2013 (Rome/Navigator of the Seas) Pt. 10: Debarkation & Final Thoughts (5/4-5/2013)

5-4-2013

As all trips must, this one was coming to the conclusion. Our last day on the Navigator of the Seas was uneventful, and not much can be discerned by our lack of action and activity. I took pictures, we finished using our internet time, we played Scrabble. I lost badly to my wife, something that being tipsy certainly didn’t help in my case. The most strenuous process was that of acquiring our passports, held on board during the journey and returned to us only after standing in a long line through the main dining room.