Singapore extra days thought please...

Wow folks...thanks for the great replies..We really appreciate it...I wish we could deviate the hotel to another room for the same Regent price but we are a bit chicken..oh well..Regent agreed to the pre pre deviation as long as we stayed in their choice hotel..so okay..just bite the bullet...

Anyway..we think we might now do 3 days pre (pre)...Day one day arrive on Cathay about 12pm and then a down day for jet lag..maybe walk to the Botanical....

Next day buy the 48 hour HOHO..and the half day tour ( I know that is a duplication...but we want to be able to wander around a bit).. Then do the night zoo with dinner (Front of the line is more expensive but it cuts the 40 min wait to 10)...

Next day morning HOHO to catch a few things as suggested on this thread and then meet up with the group in the afternoon...

At least that is the plan for now...

Oh yea we are coming in from Canada...Pearson Toronto - lay over 3 hours in Honhy Kong..

again I would skip the night zoo. i also would go to the sands for their light show at night. best i ever seen.

Dear Fellow Cruiser,

If you are not intending to travel this part of the world anytime soon thereafter I suggest you spend a few days in Hong Kong on the way and travel to Singapore via Cathay Pacific with a stopover. Hong Kong is magnificent and one of the most nteresting cities in the world.. Stay at the Peninula or Intercontinental with a Harbour view easy to walk about Kowloon and take the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island.

Regards,

david

Could not agree more! There is absolutely no comparison between Hong Kong and Singapore. Yes - Singapore is probably the cleanest place on earth - is safe, etc. It is such a sanitized country that it boggles the mind.

I had a t-shirt from Singapore. On the back it lists all of the things that you can be fined for. One of them is not flushing the toilet - $150 fine (while I agree that we should all flush the toilet, I still wonder who checks on people to insure that this is done), feeding pigeons ($500 fine), spitting in public ($1,000 fine ) homosexuality (could result in a prison term) As most know, they do not sell gum as someone might throw their gum on the street (if you sell gum the penalty is $100,000 plus 2 years in jail).

Again, for those of you that enjoy an artificial environment, I am not putting you down in any way. It is Singapore that I have issues with. As some of you may recall, Michael Peter Fay - a U.S. citizen was caned for theft and vandalism at age 18. If this spikes your interest, you may want to Google it.

How does this relate to the subject? IMO, anyone visiting Singapore - whether by sea or plane should be aware of these things. Enjoy yourselves but be aware that this country is not exactly as it appears.

Depending on where you are coming from, personally I would not spend the extra time in Hong Kong. It is 4 hours from Singapore. Coming from a NYC airport, you can fly nonstop to Singapore. If you wanted to spend time outside of Singapore, our most favorite location in the world is Bali - probably 2.5 hours from Singapore. A bit closer but not nearly as interesting is the island of Langkawi in Malaysia (relaxing and pretty and a good jet lag decompression spot). Not sure where your cruise goes to, but Malaysia is just a hop, skip and jump away. Just exercise caution with the cultural police (as a runner running in that country it was the most scared I have ever been on a run and I have run through some scary areas in NYC late at night! and that was literally outside the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur). Singapore is what it is. Highly sanitized when compared to pretty much all Asia cities but it's Singapore. Ideally you can immerse yourself whether there or another location.

And back to Raffles - it is about the experience. Aka a Bellini in Venice. Sure total tourist, but still fun. Then you can get off the beaten path. Full immersion (multiple nights, waking up with local residents) is the best part of travel which is much harder to do on a cruise. The before and after can allow you to do that though! (My favorite memories are running through neighborhoods at sunrise and seeing locals go about their mornings. My DHiwho ss not a morning person nor a runner, has been converted on our early sunrise runs around the world. It sets us up to pick where we want to go back and visit).

Whatever you decide, make it your own and you will have an awesome time!!

I'm wondering if our off topic comments are confusing the issue. I apologize if it is -- I just love Hong Kong and just about everywhere in Asia that we have visited (we have spent much time in Thailand and Malaysia (which of course includes Borneo and will also be going to Bali for the third time next year). What I mean by "much time" is that these were land trips rather than cruises. We have spent more time in Thailand than any other place outside of the U.S. and would return in a minute.

One of the above comments mentioned Malaysia. As you likely know, Singapore borders on Malaysia and many day tours go there. That would be another option for anyone visiting Singapore.