Wednesday 31 October 2018
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 12: Tuesday 30 October
Another sea day and Paul and I are both still getting over the bug we've been struggling with. Basically stayed in the cabin for most of the day - good for us and probably also good for everyone else :-)
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 11: Monday 29 October - Adelaide
Arrived in Adelaide on time. No real plans apart from catching the train into the city; Paul has organised to pick up a game he purchased.
We received a lovely welcome. A band was playing on the dock, and there were volunteer greeters on the way out handing out maps, vouchers and advice. There is a railway line just outside the port, and the Metro people were also working overtime for us. I had planned to buy a one day train ticket but I wasn't going to get a Metrocard as they aren't regularly available at that station. However, when we got there, there were railway staff on hand selling special cruise Metrocards for $10 - a little cheaper than the full day pass. I got one of these, but Paul did even better - because he has an ACT Seniors travel card he got a free ticket.
The train wasn't too crowded, but it seemed that cruise travellers made up the vast majority of the passengers.
And when we got into the city there were even more volunteers helping with directions etc.
I didn't do too much in the end because I still wasn't feeling all that well - just had a wander about the mall, gathered up a supply of Diet Coke (they let you carry on up to 12 cans per cabin, but this actually ends up being 12 cans per person because they don't check "by cabin") and then came back to the dock. Paul stayed a little longer before he came back. There really wasn't enough time to do anything seriously interesting anyway; for some reason Royal Caribbean has planned this cruise so that there really isn't a long time in port anywhere.
We received a lovely welcome. A band was playing on the dock, and there were volunteer greeters on the way out handing out maps, vouchers and advice. There is a railway line just outside the port, and the Metro people were also working overtime for us. I had planned to buy a one day train ticket but I wasn't going to get a Metrocard as they aren't regularly available at that station. However, when we got there, there were railway staff on hand selling special cruise Metrocards for $10 - a little cheaper than the full day pass. I got one of these, but Paul did even better - because he has an ACT Seniors travel card he got a free ticket.
The train wasn't too crowded, but it seemed that cruise travellers made up the vast majority of the passengers.
And when we got into the city there were even more volunteers helping with directions etc.
I didn't do too much in the end because I still wasn't feeling all that well - just had a wander about the mall, gathered up a supply of Diet Coke (they let you carry on up to 12 cans per cabin, but this actually ends up being 12 cans per person because they don't check "by cabin") and then came back to the dock. Paul stayed a little longer before he came back. There really wasn't enough time to do anything seriously interesting anyway; for some reason Royal Caribbean has planned this cruise so that there really isn't a long time in port anywhere.
Sunday 28 October 2018
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 10: Sunday 28 October
Last sea day before Adelaide. We both had an unhappy night last night, we were both sick during the night. We ended up sleeping in until quite late, we only got up to breakfast at around 10am. Hopefully we'll pick up during the day, since we have a booking at one of the specialty restaurants tonight, and at this late stage we have to pay even if we cancel.
Later: although we both spent much of the day sleeping, fortunately we both felt well enough to go out for dinner. The restaurant is Chops Grille, a so-called "American steakhouse". They actually have a lot of seafood as well as steak; not great for Paul. Anyway, we both started off with a Crispy Goat Cheese Salad, which wasn't at all what we expected but was delicious. Paul then had an appetiser - Grilled Black Pepper Bacon which was delicious (I had a taste). Then Paul had a rack of lamb for his main course while I had a 9oz Angus Filet Mignon. Both were excellent; the steak was incredibly tender and tasty. Then we finished with Key Lime Meringue Pie (for Paul) and Apple Pie a la mode (for me). Again, all very nice.
After dinner though - straight back to the cabin in the hope of properly sleeping off whatever bug it is that we've picked up.
Later: although we both spent much of the day sleeping, fortunately we both felt well enough to go out for dinner. The restaurant is Chops Grille, a so-called "American steakhouse". They actually have a lot of seafood as well as steak; not great for Paul. Anyway, we both started off with a Crispy Goat Cheese Salad, which wasn't at all what we expected but was delicious. Paul then had an appetiser - Grilled Black Pepper Bacon which was delicious (I had a taste). Then Paul had a rack of lamb for his main course while I had a 9oz Angus Filet Mignon. Both were excellent; the steak was incredibly tender and tasty. Then we finished with Key Lime Meringue Pie (for Paul) and Apple Pie a la mode (for me). Again, all very nice.
After dinner though - straight back to the cabin in the hope of properly sleeping off whatever bug it is that we've picked up.
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 9: Saturday 27 October
Another sea day. We moved the clocks forward an hour last night and an hour the night before. This seems to be playing havoc with everyone's wake-up time; we didn't get to breakfast until after 8am this morning; earlier in the cruise the Windjammer Buffet would have been crowded by this time, but it was really quiet today.
Again, not a lot to report; I'm hoping to go to an information session this afternoon, but my cruise history tells me there's a really good chance that I'll have a snooze instead......
Later: Yep, snooze it was. Didn't get anywhere near the information session.
We did however discover that the "Kung Fu Panda Noodle Hut" had re-opened. There has been a lot of confusion about this particular restaurant - the ship's own website says that there is a "Johnny Rockets" burger bar but most people who have been on it confirm that it's this noodle bar instead. However, it had been closed for "renovation" since before Singapore, and people who asked were being told that it was going to reopen as a fish and chips cafe. However, it now appears that the full change-over to fish and chips won't happen until after we get to Sydney.
Again, not a lot to report; I'm hoping to go to an information session this afternoon, but my cruise history tells me there's a really good chance that I'll have a snooze instead......
Later: Yep, snooze it was. Didn't get anywhere near the information session.
We did however discover that the "Kung Fu Panda Noodle Hut" had re-opened. There has been a lot of confusion about this particular restaurant - the ship's own website says that there is a "Johnny Rockets" burger bar but most people who have been on it confirm that it's this noodle bar instead. However, it had been closed for "renovation" since before Singapore, and people who asked were being told that it was going to reopen as a fish and chips cafe. However, it now appears that the full change-over to fish and chips won't happen until after we get to Sydney.
Saturday 27 October 2018
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 8: Friday 26 October
Back at sea today - we've rounded the corner and are now sailing across the southern part of WA. And, the weather is definitely showing the change of location - the warmest it got out on deck today was 15 degrees. Not much else to report - the good thing about cruises is you can do lots of different things all day, or you can do nothing much at all, and we generally end up in the "nothing much at all" group :-)
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 7: Thursday 25 October
Before the cruise, I booked and paid for an "All Access Ship's Tour". I've done a similar thing on a Princess ship - they take you behind the scenes to see areas like the food storage, galley, laundry, bridge, engine control room. It was originally scheduled for the first Sunday of the cruise, but then they cancelled it for "Health and Safety reasons", and they said that they might be able to reschedule it for a later time. However, on the Monday, I saw on the cruise Facebook group that people in the "Diamond and above" loyalty group - i.e., not me - had been advised that *all* such tours had been cancelled for the entire cruise, and I assumed that this really was the case, because not long afterwards they refunded my payment.
Imagine my surprise then when they contacted me and said they have rescheduled for today. Of course, we should have been in Perth today but because of the medical detour we were still a long way short of Perth.
Overall, it was interesting, but I don't think I'd do it again; not on a cruise ship full of Australians anyway. Most of the people were fine but I was embarrassed by some of them - "joking" with the crew members who were explaining things to us but actually insulting them, trying to force the particular crew members to answer questions that clearly weren't in their area of expertise; claiming that they understand how the ship's engines work because they know about car engines; claiming to know how the whole ship works because "we're from a boating family", refusing to follow the instructions from the tour leader even though they were clearly designed to keep us and the crew safe (because we were in areas where passengers would never normally be allowed), and at least two people (not me) clearly didn't meet the physical criteria for doing the tour but came along anyway....
Looking at that it sounds like I had a terrible time - I didn't, but overall it wasn't organised well enough to overcome those irritations.
We finally got to Fremantle, but it was around 5:30 before people could leave the ship. After that, they kept announcing that "unless you need to leave the ship straight away it would be best to wait a while". Paul and I thought that we had "waited a while", but as it turned out, not long enough. When we joined the queue it started almost as far forward as you can go on deck 5. And, it went past the midships area where you could leave the ship, right down to almost as far aft as you can go, then turned around and back to the middle of the ship to exit. It only took about half an hour and most people were quite polite about it - although of course there was the usual person of a different culture who doesn't believe in queuing and just cut in wherever, but there doesn't seem to be anything you can do about that. It was always going to be busy - it's a huge ship and if we had arrived on time people would have had tours and excursions planned and the departure from the ship would have been staggered a little, but as it was, everyone wanted to get off the ship asap.
One interesting thing we realised is that when you're leaving a Princess ship, they're constantly telling you when you need to be back. I didn't hear or see anything about the expected return time today. It will be fascinating to see if we get away on time......
We achieved all we wanted to in Fremantle which was mostly boring stuff like getting some prescriptions filled at a chemist and picking up some stuff from Coles. Both the chemist and Coles were doing a roaring trade from cruise ship passengers. We also found a restaurant called Gypsy Tapas House which I would not usually consider even trying, but there wasn't a lot of choice. And, as it turned out, the food was delicious.
Imagine my surprise then when they contacted me and said they have rescheduled for today. Of course, we should have been in Perth today but because of the medical detour we were still a long way short of Perth.
Overall, it was interesting, but I don't think I'd do it again; not on a cruise ship full of Australians anyway. Most of the people were fine but I was embarrassed by some of them - "joking" with the crew members who were explaining things to us but actually insulting them, trying to force the particular crew members to answer questions that clearly weren't in their area of expertise; claiming that they understand how the ship's engines work because they know about car engines; claiming to know how the whole ship works because "we're from a boating family", refusing to follow the instructions from the tour leader even though they were clearly designed to keep us and the crew safe (because we were in areas where passengers would never normally be allowed), and at least two people (not me) clearly didn't meet the physical criteria for doing the tour but came along anyway....
Looking at that it sounds like I had a terrible time - I didn't, but overall it wasn't organised well enough to overcome those irritations.
We finally got to Fremantle, but it was around 5:30 before people could leave the ship. After that, they kept announcing that "unless you need to leave the ship straight away it would be best to wait a while". Paul and I thought that we had "waited a while", but as it turned out, not long enough. When we joined the queue it started almost as far forward as you can go on deck 5. And, it went past the midships area where you could leave the ship, right down to almost as far aft as you can go, then turned around and back to the middle of the ship to exit. It only took about half an hour and most people were quite polite about it - although of course there was the usual person of a different culture who doesn't believe in queuing and just cut in wherever, but there doesn't seem to be anything you can do about that. It was always going to be busy - it's a huge ship and if we had arrived on time people would have had tours and excursions planned and the departure from the ship would have been staggered a little, but as it was, everyone wanted to get off the ship asap.
One interesting thing we realised is that when you're leaving a Princess ship, they're constantly telling you when you need to be back. I didn't hear or see anything about the expected return time today. It will be fascinating to see if we get away on time......
We achieved all we wanted to in Fremantle which was mostly boring stuff like getting some prescriptions filled at a chemist and picking up some stuff from Coles. Both the chemist and Coles were doing a roaring trade from cruise ship passengers. We also found a restaurant called Gypsy Tapas House which I would not usually consider even trying, but there wasn't a lot of choice. And, as it turned out, the food was delicious.
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 6: Wednesday 24 October
Another quiet sea day, although we went a long way out of our way - heading for Exmouth for an emergency medical evacuation. This means that our expected 8am arrival in Perth is now more like 5pm, which has messed up a lot of people's plans.
There are people from Border Control on ship checking everyone's passports etc; I guess it's better to do it this way (over three days) rather than to try to process 3500 people all at once when we arrive.
There are people from Border Control on ship checking everyone's passports etc; I guess it's better to do it this way (over three days) rather than to try to process 3500 people all at once when we arrive.
Wednesday 24 October 2018
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 5: Tuesday 23 October
Another quiet day, but I got caught out a bit today. Usually after a couple of days at sea I've become accustomed to the movement of the ship, but the first couple of days of this cruise were very, very calm. So today, I ended up being affected by the ship movement a bit. Problem solved though - I took a Travacalm before lunch and had a snooze afterwards, and I was pretty much OK by dinner time. It was quiet in the dining room this evening, so I suspect I wasn't the only one caught out.
As usual for us on a cruise, we have been playing in the Casino once or twice a day. Current status is "losing money quite slowly" which is more than you can ask for really.
Late update: at lunchtime today we heard two separate medical emergency calls, only a few minutes apart, to two completely separate parts of the ship. It turns out that one of the people involved is sick enough / injured enough to need to be evacuated from the ship. So, instead of heading basically south towards Perth as planned, we're now heading east towards Exmouth, and apparently at 6am tomorrow there will be an emergency helicopter evacuation from the ship. Based on the online displays here, it looks like this is going to take us about 500km off course, and so it's no surprise that the captain has announced that we will be very late arriving in Perth. We were due to be there at 8am on Thursday but he's now estimating early afternoon. We were due to leave at 5pm but that won't allow time for any sort of off-ship tours; the captain says he's trying to extend our stay but right now he doesn't know if that will be possible, or for how long.
As usual for us on a cruise, we have been playing in the Casino once or twice a day. Current status is "losing money quite slowly" which is more than you can ask for really.
Late update: at lunchtime today we heard two separate medical emergency calls, only a few minutes apart, to two completely separate parts of the ship. It turns out that one of the people involved is sick enough / injured enough to need to be evacuated from the ship. So, instead of heading basically south towards Perth as planned, we're now heading east towards Exmouth, and apparently at 6am tomorrow there will be an emergency helicopter evacuation from the ship. Based on the online displays here, it looks like this is going to take us about 500km off course, and so it's no surprise that the captain has announced that we will be very late arriving in Perth. We were due to be there at 8am on Thursday but he's now estimating early afternoon. We were due to leave at 5pm but that won't allow time for any sort of off-ship tours; the captain says he's trying to extend our stay but right now he doesn't know if that will be possible, or for how long.
Tuesday 23 October 2018
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 4: Monday 22 October
Another fairly quiet day planned apart from our ride on the North Star. This is like one cabin of the London Eye or Singapore Flyer, on a large crane that can take it high up over the ship.
The organisation left a lot to be desired. The ride is free, but you have to book for a specific time, which we did. Then, just before your ride you go up to the entry area for the North Star and check in, and they give you the ticket. Worked quite well for us, but a lot of people didn't understand the process and there wasn't any obvious way to find out. In the few minutes we were waiting for our turn, people kept showing up without bookings and wanting to go on the ride. The young man who was trying to organise it was getting very stressed out and it's not totally surprising either; a couple of people were quite rude to him; unnecessary (since he clearly wouldn't have been the person who created the process) and for the same reason, unlikely to achieve anything either (since he just as clearly wouldn't be senior enough to change the rules).
The ride itself was excellent - the view from on high was astounding.
The organisation left a lot to be desired. The ride is free, but you have to book for a specific time, which we did. Then, just before your ride you go up to the entry area for the North Star and check in, and they give you the ticket. Worked quite well for us, but a lot of people didn't understand the process and there wasn't any obvious way to find out. In the few minutes we were waiting for our turn, people kept showing up without bookings and wanting to go on the ride. The young man who was trying to organise it was getting very stressed out and it's not totally surprising either; a couple of people were quite rude to him; unnecessary (since he clearly wouldn't have been the person who created the process) and for the same reason, unlikely to achieve anything either (since he just as clearly wouldn't be senior enough to change the rules).
The ride itself was excellent - the view from on high was astounding.
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 3: Sunday 21 October
We sailed through the Sunda Strait last night so now we're in the Indian Ocean. I haven't had any issues with sea-sickness so far, but the seas are definitely higher now, so I've taken another Travacalm as a preventative.
Absolutely nothing planned today now that they've cancelled my All Access Tour of the ship. I had also signed up to attend a Roll Call get-together, but you don't get to find out when / where it is until they send you an invitation onboard. However, I never got the invitation, and I found out that it was on when it was almost over. There were a lot of problems with registering for the roll call event - some people registered for it and then their sign-up was lost, and this happened to some people multiple times, so maybe mine got lost too.
Today I'll post about our cabin. In brief - very nice. It's bigger than our hotel room in Singapore - there's enough room here for a sofa as well as the bed.
And, there's a really good amount of both desk space and storage. Definitely the biggest cabin we've had, with the exception of the mini-suite on the ship formerly known as Dawn Princess.
And, something I've never seen on a cruise ship before, although I know some of the ships that sail out of England do this - in our room they have provided a kettle and the makings for cups of tea!
The bathroom is nicely set out and the shower has a proper glass door instead of the clingy plastic curtains that they have on lots of ships.
And, because of the location, our balcony is larger than most - enough room for two nice chairs and a small table.
Absolutely nothing planned today now that they've cancelled my All Access Tour of the ship. I had also signed up to attend a Roll Call get-together, but you don't get to find out when / where it is until they send you an invitation onboard. However, I never got the invitation, and I found out that it was on when it was almost over. There were a lot of problems with registering for the roll call event - some people registered for it and then their sign-up was lost, and this happened to some people multiple times, so maybe mine got lost too.
Today I'll post about our cabin. In brief - very nice. It's bigger than our hotel room in Singapore - there's enough room here for a sofa as well as the bed.
And, there's a really good amount of both desk space and storage. Definitely the biggest cabin we've had, with the exception of the mini-suite on the ship formerly known as Dawn Princess.
And, something I've never seen on a cruise ship before, although I know some of the ships that sail out of England do this - in our room they have provided a kettle and the makings for cups of tea!
The bathroom is nicely set out and the shower has a proper glass door instead of the clingy plastic curtains that they have on lots of ships.
And, because of the location, our balcony is larger than most - enough room for two nice chairs and a small table.
Sunday 21 October 2018
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 2: Saturday 20 October
"Planned" for a quiet day today - actually by not planning anything. We headed off to the buffet for (late) breakfast - it was crowded but not overwhelmingly so. Then we found the most important place on board - the place where they sell the good coffee! Then we checked out the Casino to make sure we'll be able to lose the correct amount of money - that definitely won't be a problem :-)
By the time we did this and lazed around a bit it was lunch time, so back to the buffet.
During the afternoon we finally had the first rain that we've really seen since we left home; although they had forecast storms for every day in Singapore, none of them came near us :-)
I got some unfortunate news today - I was booked tomorrow on the "All Access Ship's Tour" where they take you around and show you lots of behind the scenes stuff. I've done it on a Princess ship - and it was really interesting - but not on any Royal Caribbean one. However, they notified me today that for "Health and Safety reasons" they can't hold the tour tomorrow. They haven't refunded my money yet because they do hope to run the tour later on the cruise.
Dinner tonight was at our proper fixed seating table. I'm not sure if the couple who were seated with us tonight (Denise and Bob) will stay at our table; they're very keen to join family who are at another table. The maitre de wouldn't change them over tonight, even though the table their family is at is an eight seater with a number of unused seats. Anyway, for a co-incidence, Denise and Bob are going to do their first Princess cruise next year, and it turns out that it's the same one we're going on - the Majestic Princess to New Zealand.
After dinner we went to a show called Pixels. We knew it was very popular, and we really enjoyed it although it's a bit hard to describe what it's about - lets just say a combination of people doing music, dance and acrobatics in conjunction with video and sort-of-dance being done by robots.
Finished off the night by losing some money in the casino - always fun :-)
By the time we did this and lazed around a bit it was lunch time, so back to the buffet.
During the afternoon we finally had the first rain that we've really seen since we left home; although they had forecast storms for every day in Singapore, none of them came near us :-)
I got some unfortunate news today - I was booked tomorrow on the "All Access Ship's Tour" where they take you around and show you lots of behind the scenes stuff. I've done it on a Princess ship - and it was really interesting - but not on any Royal Caribbean one. However, they notified me today that for "Health and Safety reasons" they can't hold the tour tomorrow. They haven't refunded my money yet because they do hope to run the tour later on the cruise.
Dinner tonight was at our proper fixed seating table. I'm not sure if the couple who were seated with us tonight (Denise and Bob) will stay at our table; they're very keen to join family who are at another table. The maitre de wouldn't change them over tonight, even though the table their family is at is an eight seater with a number of unused seats. Anyway, for a co-incidence, Denise and Bob are going to do their first Princess cruise next year, and it turns out that it's the same one we're going on - the Majestic Princess to New Zealand.
After dinner we went to a show called Pixels. We knew it was very popular, and we really enjoyed it although it's a bit hard to describe what it's about - lets just say a combination of people doing music, dance and acrobatics in conjunction with video and sort-of-dance being done by robots.
Finished off the night by losing some money in the casino - always fun :-)
Ovation of the Seas Cruise Day 1: Friday 19 October
As I mentioned, our boarding time was changed from 11am to 4:30pm because of problems on the ship on the way to Singapore. So, we got up and mostly packed, then went out for breakfast. On the way it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to try the Singapore Flyer - the big ferris wheel down by the bay. I also thought that with so many delayed cruisers in town it might be booked out, but we decided to go and have a look anyway. As it happens, we had only a very short wait. The views over the city and island were really excellent, it was well worth the cost.
Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and took our suitcases to the cruise port via the MRT. Worked pretty well; although we had to catch two separate trains I think we only had to carry the suitcases up 6 steps, and only on an escalator once; the rest of the way was flat walkways and lifts.
Then, we got to the cruise port, and talk about chaos.
This was well after 2pm, but there were still heaps of people trying to leave the ship, plus of course get on and off the other ship in port. There were at least three places on the lower level called 'bag drop' but none of them were accepting bags; even though some people had been told upstairs to bring their bags down to the lower level.
Anyway, we fought our way upstairs and finally found the right place to leave the bags, and then we escaped; we went back to the train and back to Suntec City again.
We got back around 4:30 which was our supposed new boarding time, and inside the cruise terminal seemed almost more chaotic than before! They had started boarding; the new arrangement was boarding by deck starting from the top. When we arrived, they had already called all the decks above us, plus ours and the one below. However, there was just a huge group of people; we couldn't see any idea of where we were meant to go. We eventually got into the process though, starting with security. The couple in front of us caused a problem because they were trying to bring wine aboard - what they were doing would have been acceptable on a Princess cruise but not on Royal Caribbean. I also caused a delay; I was carrying 8 small cans of Diet Coke which is allowable, but with all the pushing and shoving I hadn't found a place where I could take them out of my backpack, so I had to do it at security. Anyway, we finally got through there, then fairly quickly up to and through the Royal Caribbean check-in. Then, they gave us a boarding card with a colour, and told us to wait. Just fascinating how badly this was organised. For each of the boarding colours there was a group of seats with a sign showing the colour, and the colour was also named on your boarding card. The colours included "Black" and "Silver" for example, and I could see those areas. However, the next three colours were three different shades of green - including "Lime" and "Mint" - but our colour was different again - "Green" - and there wasn't a "Green" area that we could see at all. Most people couldn't see the "Mint" area either, since the sign was turned around. And despite all that, in the end it didn't matter, because a little while later they called everyone who was there waiting, regardless of boarding colour. Next stop was immigration, where it looked like we should be able to go through the "Automatic" gates but they were stopping almost everyone from trying. Paul went through quite quickly, but I got caught up again because they were directing people to specific gates, two at a time. And, just when the lady in front of me was due to be seen, the Immigration lady decided to log off and leave, and it took quite some time for the new person to take her place. Then, the last stop along the way was just as you board the ship, where they scan the bar code on your boarding pass. Paul's again went through fine, but mine wouldn't scan, so she had to check my passport bla bla bla.
Finally though we got on board and found our cabin.
By this time it was almost dinner time, but because of all the delays they weren't trying to have formal dinner arrangements. We ended up having quite a nice meal in one of the restaurants anyway.
Then back to our cabin where we met our Cabin Steward, followed by the least organised Muster Drill I've ever attended. The map on the back of our door says quite clearly that we are required to go the drill via the emergency stairs just near our door. However, they remained firmly closed, so we went to the normal stairs instead. Not a person in sight until we got there. Then, we had to stand around watching the most inane, stupid safety video I've ever seen. Even the Royal Caribbean staff were apologising as we left....
However, never mind, we were finally on board and all good with the world.
Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and took our suitcases to the cruise port via the MRT. Worked pretty well; although we had to catch two separate trains I think we only had to carry the suitcases up 6 steps, and only on an escalator once; the rest of the way was flat walkways and lifts.
Then, we got to the cruise port, and talk about chaos.
This was well after 2pm, but there were still heaps of people trying to leave the ship, plus of course get on and off the other ship in port. There were at least three places on the lower level called 'bag drop' but none of them were accepting bags; even though some people had been told upstairs to bring their bags down to the lower level.
Anyway, we fought our way upstairs and finally found the right place to leave the bags, and then we escaped; we went back to the train and back to Suntec City again.
We got back around 4:30 which was our supposed new boarding time, and inside the cruise terminal seemed almost more chaotic than before! They had started boarding; the new arrangement was boarding by deck starting from the top. When we arrived, they had already called all the decks above us, plus ours and the one below. However, there was just a huge group of people; we couldn't see any idea of where we were meant to go. We eventually got into the process though, starting with security. The couple in front of us caused a problem because they were trying to bring wine aboard - what they were doing would have been acceptable on a Princess cruise but not on Royal Caribbean. I also caused a delay; I was carrying 8 small cans of Diet Coke which is allowable, but with all the pushing and shoving I hadn't found a place where I could take them out of my backpack, so I had to do it at security. Anyway, we finally got through there, then fairly quickly up to and through the Royal Caribbean check-in. Then, they gave us a boarding card with a colour, and told us to wait. Just fascinating how badly this was organised. For each of the boarding colours there was a group of seats with a sign showing the colour, and the colour was also named on your boarding card. The colours included "Black" and "Silver" for example, and I could see those areas. However, the next three colours were three different shades of green - including "Lime" and "Mint" - but our colour was different again - "Green" - and there wasn't a "Green" area that we could see at all. Most people couldn't see the "Mint" area either, since the sign was turned around. And despite all that, in the end it didn't matter, because a little while later they called everyone who was there waiting, regardless of boarding colour. Next stop was immigration, where it looked like we should be able to go through the "Automatic" gates but they were stopping almost everyone from trying. Paul went through quite quickly, but I got caught up again because they were directing people to specific gates, two at a time. And, just when the lady in front of me was due to be seen, the Immigration lady decided to log off and leave, and it took quite some time for the new person to take her place. Then, the last stop along the way was just as you board the ship, where they scan the bar code on your boarding pass. Paul's again went through fine, but mine wouldn't scan, so she had to check my passport bla bla bla.
Finally though we got on board and found our cabin.
By this time it was almost dinner time, but because of all the delays they weren't trying to have formal dinner arrangements. We ended up having quite a nice meal in one of the restaurants anyway.
Then back to our cabin where we met our Cabin Steward, followed by the least organised Muster Drill I've ever attended. The map on the back of our door says quite clearly that we are required to go the drill via the emergency stairs just near our door. However, they remained firmly closed, so we went to the normal stairs instead. Not a person in sight until we got there. Then, we had to stand around watching the most inane, stupid safety video I've ever seen. Even the Royal Caribbean staff were apologising as we left....
However, never mind, we were finally on board and all good with the world.
Saturday 20 October 2018
Ovation of the Seas Cruise: Thursday 18 October - Singapore
We had thoughts of going to the Gardens by the Bay today but we're both still a little tired from the travel. So, we started the day by having breakfast and then walking around to an absolutely enormous shopping and office area (Suntec City). I don't think we saw any more than a small proportion of the whole place and there was definitely more shopping there than anywhere in Canberra.
By this stage, we had found out that our boarding time for the cruise had been delayed. We were scheduled to board at 11:30am Friday, but that was based on the ship arriving at about 6am. However, they had a medical emergency overnight and so had to return to their previous port, and won't be arriving in Singapore until 11am. Our new boarding time is 4:30pm. I asked the hotel if they'd extend our checkout time until 2pm and they agreed - and without extra charge!
We went out again and checked out using the MRT to get to the port, and it looks like it will be okay provided we avoid peak hour - the locals wouldn't take kindly to tourists with suitcases during peak hour!
Dinner was at another large shopping area nearby that we had not even realised was there, even though our hotel overlooks it! I think we could spend a year here and still not find all the interesting stores and restaurants in the area :-)
Came home expecting to crash but someone got into the lift on the 10th floor talking about a smell of smoke; he was quite concerned and was going downstairs to report it. We were one floor higher and we could also definitely smell something smoky, so we got our important things (aka phone, iPad etc!) and went downstairs. By the time we got there though, there wasn't much going on, and the lady at the desk told Paul that it had all been dealt with. Possibly someone just cooking illicitly in their room.
Given the dramas we had in Sydney before our last cruise (woken up twice in one night by fire alarm and fire trucks) I'm hoping that the lady at the front desk really is right!!!
Added note: since we didn't burn to death in the night, it was obviously all OK :-)
By this stage, we had found out that our boarding time for the cruise had been delayed. We were scheduled to board at 11:30am Friday, but that was based on the ship arriving at about 6am. However, they had a medical emergency overnight and so had to return to their previous port, and won't be arriving in Singapore until 11am. Our new boarding time is 4:30pm. I asked the hotel if they'd extend our checkout time until 2pm and they agreed - and without extra charge!
We went out again and checked out using the MRT to get to the port, and it looks like it will be okay provided we avoid peak hour - the locals wouldn't take kindly to tourists with suitcases during peak hour!
Dinner was at another large shopping area nearby that we had not even realised was there, even though our hotel overlooks it! I think we could spend a year here and still not find all the interesting stores and restaurants in the area :-)
Came home expecting to crash but someone got into the lift on the 10th floor talking about a smell of smoke; he was quite concerned and was going downstairs to report it. We were one floor higher and we could also definitely smell something smoky, so we got our important things (aka phone, iPad etc!) and went downstairs. By the time we got there though, there wasn't much going on, and the lady at the desk told Paul that it had all been dealt with. Possibly someone just cooking illicitly in their room.
Given the dramas we had in Sydney before our last cruise (woken up twice in one night by fire alarm and fire trucks) I'm hoping that the lady at the front desk really is right!!!
Added note: since we didn't burn to death in the night, it was obviously all OK :-)
Ovation of the Seas Cruise: Wednesday 17 October - Singapore
Woke up around 8am local time and both of us felt that we weren't going to get any more sleep, despite the long day and interrupted night.
So, we started getting our bearings - found the local markets and shopping centre, had some breakfast, checked out the train station. We also spent some time getting SIM cards for our phones - even though it's only three days it's still good to be able to access the internet when you're out and about.
In the afternoon we bought a three day tourist pass for travel on the MRT and started off by using it to get to Pasir Ris MRT station for the start of a tour we had booked.
The tour was about Changi and World War 2. It became quite clear that in the rush for development a lot of historical sites in Singapore have been demolished, but just the same it was quite interesting and I'm glad we went along.
Had dinner at a street market nearby and went home to crash after a very long day.
So, we started getting our bearings - found the local markets and shopping centre, had some breakfast, checked out the train station. We also spent some time getting SIM cards for our phones - even though it's only three days it's still good to be able to access the internet when you're out and about.
In the afternoon we bought a three day tourist pass for travel on the MRT and started off by using it to get to Pasir Ris MRT station for the start of a tour we had booked.
The tour was about Changi and World War 2. It became quite clear that in the rush for development a lot of historical sites in Singapore have been demolished, but just the same it was quite interesting and I'm glad we went along.
Had dinner at a street market nearby and went home to crash after a very long day.
Ovation of the Seas Cruise: Sydney and flight to Singapore - 15 & 16 October
The trip to Sydney on the train on Monday 15th was the usual - slow and tedious but the least uncomfortable of the available options.
Once we arrived at Central we got the train to Martin Place station and then to our hotel. The only issue with all of that was actually getting into and out of the train stations - as in Brisbane, they're quite keen for people with suitcases to use the lifts rather than the escalators, but it was like a magical mystery tour actually finding the lifts in both Central and Martin Place.
Because we booked the room direct with the hotel, we automatically got a noon checkout rather than the standard 11am. I was hoping to be able to extend it further but they only allow for one more hour of extension. They charge $30 for it but that wasn't my problem, we'd need to go out to lunch anyway so a late checkout wouldn't help unless it could be until 3pm or so.
Anyway, the room was ok, we had a fairly good night's sleep although the airconditioning was less than great; the room really was too warm.
We got up fairly early on the Tuesday and went out for coffee and some last minute shopping, then went back to the hotel until around 11:30. Checked out and asked them to mind our suitcases. Then came the great trek - we thought we'd just go for a walk. So we trotted down Phillip Street to the Quay and admired the Radiance of the Seas which was in port, making sure to avoid the hordes at the Opera House who were hoping for a glimpse of Harry and Meghan. Then we wandered up George Street and eventually ended up at Darling Harbour, where we had lunch. Then we decided to try to go to Paddy's Market but it was closed. So, we hopped on the light rail up to Central where we made a great discovery - we decided to buy Opal cards since we'll be using Sydney trains a few times over the next few months. Turns out that not only were we paying too much because of paying standard fares rather than Opal (which we knew) but they actually honour the ACT MyWay concession cards, which means that Paul can get the even lower concession fares. A really helpful young man at Central sorted this out for us and now we're proud holders of Opal cards.
Then, despite our lovely new Opal cards, we *walked* all the way back to the hotel instead of getting a train! According to my phone, almost 18,000 steps for the day.
By now it was about 3pm and we decided to go to the airport - knowing that it would be too early really. So, we got out there and of course were really hot and sweaty because of all that walking. As it turns out, there are showers in the public toilets there, so with a bit of careful purchasing (for example, a towel) we were both able to have a shower and change into other clothes. Much nicer way start a long-ish flight
While this was all happening though, someone posted on the Facebook group about the cruise that our flight was delayed. And, sure enough, the Sydney Airport website said that our 9:45pm flight had been delayed by 45 minutes to 10:30. At this stage we weren't sure if that was correct, because the boards in the airport still had it leaving at 9:45, and Scoot doesn't have their own online "arrival and departure" checker to confirm. I was a bit concerned about this, because the airport has a fairly strict 11pm curfew and we weren't going to have much leeway if it really was correct.
Anyway, they finally started check us in, so we went through immigration and security, where I yet again got pulled over for the bomb test. I absolutely believe that I meet their criteria for "little old white lady to be pulled over so that people can't complain about profiling". Not complaining, but it really does happen to me all the time! Paul also got pulled up for a pat-down check and the bomb test.
We checked out where our gate was and then went and spent an outrageous amount on dinner ($58 for two burgers, two orange juices, and one large chips) before settling down to wait for the flight.
Eventually the airport signs started showing that the flight was delayed, but some people still hadn't noticed. Later though, a lady sitting behind us asked if we knew when the curfew was, and we started discussing the risks, when two people sitting across from us both heard what we were talking about, went pale and started panicking. One of them - obviously a really optimistic young lady - had a further flight from Singapore; she had allowed only two hours to arrive there, get off the plane, get through Immigration / luggage / Customs, and check back in for another flight. I wouldn't risk this if my first flight was with a really reliable airline, let alone with Scoot, who are notorious for delays.
Interesting flight left from our gate while we were waiting - the airline code was ASY (flight ASY42) and it turns out this is an Australian Air Force flight. The destination on the board meant nothing to me, but Google told me it's an air base in Dubai. The passengers appeared (not surprisingly) to be Aussie and maybe NZ defence force people.
People started lining up to board our flight long before it was ready to board. The Scoot people at the counter told them all to sit down and wait (which they all ignored), and in the end a lot of them were made to line up somewhere else for boarding. People (like us) paid a lot of money for the good seats, or simply to get early boarding, and Scoot was very good about making sure those financial promises were met.
We finally took off at one minute to 11 - so a bit over an hour late and one minute before curfew. They did make up some time en route but we definitely arrived late. Both of us managed to get a bit of sleep along the way. We never expected Scoot business class to be equivalent to Qantas or Singapore Airlines - we were hoping for something like their premium economy and that's what we got - nice wide seats that you could recline a decent distance without smacking the person behind in the face. However, we also got a meal included (in economy you have to pay for it) and ditto access to their entertainment service which you watch on your own device. Almost the best thing - sharing the toilet only with those in business class - no queues and it was still clean at the end of the flight.
Arrival into Singapore was fine - VERY long walk to immigration but not much of a queue (a lot of the people on our flight must have been transitting), a short wait for our luggage and no wait for a taxi. Our taxi driver was a bit of a lunatic - road lanes were optional in his mind - but at that time of the day there was almost no traffic and he told us a lot about Singapore.
The hotel had our room all ready and waiting, and once we got to it - around 5am local time - we showered and crashed.
Once we arrived at Central we got the train to Martin Place station and then to our hotel. The only issue with all of that was actually getting into and out of the train stations - as in Brisbane, they're quite keen for people with suitcases to use the lifts rather than the escalators, but it was like a magical mystery tour actually finding the lifts in both Central and Martin Place.
Because we booked the room direct with the hotel, we automatically got a noon checkout rather than the standard 11am. I was hoping to be able to extend it further but they only allow for one more hour of extension. They charge $30 for it but that wasn't my problem, we'd need to go out to lunch anyway so a late checkout wouldn't help unless it could be until 3pm or so.
Anyway, the room was ok, we had a fairly good night's sleep although the airconditioning was less than great; the room really was too warm.
We got up fairly early on the Tuesday and went out for coffee and some last minute shopping, then went back to the hotel until around 11:30. Checked out and asked them to mind our suitcases. Then came the great trek - we thought we'd just go for a walk. So we trotted down Phillip Street to the Quay and admired the Radiance of the Seas which was in port, making sure to avoid the hordes at the Opera House who were hoping for a glimpse of Harry and Meghan. Then we wandered up George Street and eventually ended up at Darling Harbour, where we had lunch. Then we decided to try to go to Paddy's Market but it was closed. So, we hopped on the light rail up to Central where we made a great discovery - we decided to buy Opal cards since we'll be using Sydney trains a few times over the next few months. Turns out that not only were we paying too much because of paying standard fares rather than Opal (which we knew) but they actually honour the ACT MyWay concession cards, which means that Paul can get the even lower concession fares. A really helpful young man at Central sorted this out for us and now we're proud holders of Opal cards.
Then, despite our lovely new Opal cards, we *walked* all the way back to the hotel instead of getting a train! According to my phone, almost 18,000 steps for the day.
By now it was about 3pm and we decided to go to the airport - knowing that it would be too early really. So, we got out there and of course were really hot and sweaty because of all that walking. As it turns out, there are showers in the public toilets there, so with a bit of careful purchasing (for example, a towel) we were both able to have a shower and change into other clothes. Much nicer way start a long-ish flight
While this was all happening though, someone posted on the Facebook group about the cruise that our flight was delayed. And, sure enough, the Sydney Airport website said that our 9:45pm flight had been delayed by 45 minutes to 10:30. At this stage we weren't sure if that was correct, because the boards in the airport still had it leaving at 9:45, and Scoot doesn't have their own online "arrival and departure" checker to confirm. I was a bit concerned about this, because the airport has a fairly strict 11pm curfew and we weren't going to have much leeway if it really was correct.
Anyway, they finally started check us in, so we went through immigration and security, where I yet again got pulled over for the bomb test. I absolutely believe that I meet their criteria for "little old white lady to be pulled over so that people can't complain about profiling". Not complaining, but it really does happen to me all the time! Paul also got pulled up for a pat-down check and the bomb test.
We checked out where our gate was and then went and spent an outrageous amount on dinner ($58 for two burgers, two orange juices, and one large chips) before settling down to wait for the flight.
Eventually the airport signs started showing that the flight was delayed, but some people still hadn't noticed. Later though, a lady sitting behind us asked if we knew when the curfew was, and we started discussing the risks, when two people sitting across from us both heard what we were talking about, went pale and started panicking. One of them - obviously a really optimistic young lady - had a further flight from Singapore; she had allowed only two hours to arrive there, get off the plane, get through Immigration / luggage / Customs, and check back in for another flight. I wouldn't risk this if my first flight was with a really reliable airline, let alone with Scoot, who are notorious for delays.
Interesting flight left from our gate while we were waiting - the airline code was ASY (flight ASY42) and it turns out this is an Australian Air Force flight. The destination on the board meant nothing to me, but Google told me it's an air base in Dubai. The passengers appeared (not surprisingly) to be Aussie and maybe NZ defence force people.
People started lining up to board our flight long before it was ready to board. The Scoot people at the counter told them all to sit down and wait (which they all ignored), and in the end a lot of them were made to line up somewhere else for boarding. People (like us) paid a lot of money for the good seats, or simply to get early boarding, and Scoot was very good about making sure those financial promises were met.
We finally took off at one minute to 11 - so a bit over an hour late and one minute before curfew. They did make up some time en route but we definitely arrived late. Both of us managed to get a bit of sleep along the way. We never expected Scoot business class to be equivalent to Qantas or Singapore Airlines - we were hoping for something like their premium economy and that's what we got - nice wide seats that you could recline a decent distance without smacking the person behind in the face. However, we also got a meal included (in economy you have to pay for it) and ditto access to their entertainment service which you watch on your own device. Almost the best thing - sharing the toilet only with those in business class - no queues and it was still clean at the end of the flight.
Arrival into Singapore was fine - VERY long walk to immigration but not much of a queue (a lot of the people on our flight must have been transitting), a short wait for our luggage and no wait for a taxi. Our taxi driver was a bit of a lunatic - road lanes were optional in his mind - but at that time of the day there was almost no traffic and he told us a lot about Singapore.
The hotel had our room all ready and waiting, and once we got to it - around 5am local time - we showered and crashed.
Sunday 14 October 2018
Leaving tomorrow!
Tomorrow we leave Canberra and our next cruise is now only 5 days away. I'm looking forward to this; it's almost a year since I stepped foot on a cruise ship and I'm having withdrawal symptoms :-)
Packing is all done, although not without challenges. Singapore is going to be really hot and sticky, and I'd guess that it will be quite warm for the first few days of the cruise. However, the weather forecast for the three ports we visit in Australia hints at much cooler weather, and it will definitely be cool at sea once we get to the south of Australia. Not that we mind cool weather, but packing for both hot and cool weather is always a bit tricky when you're trying to stick to one suitcase each. Usually the problem with luggage weight is the airline(s) but this time we only have one flight which has a 30kg per person baggage allowance. However, getting to and from Sydney on the train is the issue this time - we can have up to three bags each but none of them can be over 20kg (and we've found that they're really strict about this). My bag is 19.9kg according to our scales, so we could be up for a quick re-organisation if the scales at the railway station disagree :-)
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