little britain

There is a kettle in every cabin ( as there was in the Australian cruises) however these don’t have sachets of coffee ( which they did have in Australia). The teabags are a brand called Dilmah? Bring your own! When DH went up to the WJ to get a carton of milk for our fridge there weren’t any because there was no cereal 🥣 available!! Very different ( drat I’ve used that word again!) food choices even at breakfast!

From Vintages back towards the MDR below

*iFly 1 minute is free I am going to have to look up alternative words for “different” otherwise I will start to found like a stuck record!!! OMG the retail opportunities are on a different scale! The jewellery, the watches, the handbags… even shoes! And it’s all classy stuff. 🛍️ As suspected there is a high western demographic on board. Its interesting to see how the Brits/Australians etc tend to gravitate towards the Schooner Bar! The wine list is distinctly short! In Gold there were 3 whiles and 3 reds! That was it. My earlier excitement about WA being only $14 has been shot down in flames when I found the limit was $13!! There are only 2-3 gins in board. No Hendricks or Botanist. I haven’t seen any Park West art (which is usually opposite Vintages) - so sometimes “different is good” lol.

Sorry, diamonds aren’t able to dine in Silver. D+ can only dine there on a sail by sail basis depending upon numbers. The cut off is around 20 D+ will be allowed in. The WJ is very different to usual with some amazing joints of meat and food flavours. The Hotpot place at the back is complimentary apart from if you order lobster etc. but it’s reservations needed. We are going for Sichuan Red tomorrow- it is either ALC or they do set menu for $45pp but we got offered 20% off which softens the blow a bit!

No there is no Solarium bistro - that whole area is Silver dining. Yes I’ll find out who is allowed in!

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Perhaps you missed my recent review which you may find useful

Differences: Basic North Star is $20pp adult and child Extended iFly is $80pp adult and child 1-2-1 flowrider lesson $552pp adult and child Basic iFly - tbd Next the layout is different. *deck 3 casino is large and mostly tables with games I have never seen. There are not many slot machines *deck 4 Boleros is replaced with a karaoke bar ( but no bar!) called Star Moment *cafe Prom and Sorrentos is replaced with Sichuan Red specialty restaurant $tbd but BOGO not accepted *pub is replaced with Leaf & Bean tea shop $ *there is one large main dining room which you can look down into from deck 5 outside Jamie’s *Wonderland is called Dadong Wonderland $59.99pp *deck 14 there is no outside seating at the back of WJ. This is area called Hotpot $ *Sorrentos is by WJ *Teppanyaki $64.99pp is by WJ and BOGO not accepted *Splashaway Cafe is by the pool serving pizza 🍕 The whole Pinnacle/D+ set up is very different. It is Silver and Gold dining. Deck 14 is Silver lounge and a buffet ( looks like a very upmarket Solarium cafe) this is where the drinks and canapés are served in the evening. From here there is a private lift 🛗 up to deck 16 for Gold Dining which is like CK on steroids! Beautiful room with private outside seating area. The only downside is the menu for lunch and dinner does not change all cruise. *signage is in 2 languages *Whispering Angel is $14!!!! silver dining lounge solarium outside 270 Star Moment karaoke 🎤 Tables as far as you can see high stakes! 🤔🤷‍♀️ elevators

It was S$13 cab fare to the cruise terminal. There is a train that stops close but it looks like a good 5 min walk ( covered) to the terminal. Sydney certainly has won the prize in embarkation. This was organised chaos. There was initially a separate line for Pinnacles but there were so many check points it all got merged into one. We had to surrender our passports. Finally onboard: first impressions.. wow. Of course we have just been on Ovation for 19 days and I have been on Odyssey so am familiar with Quantum and Quantum Ultra class. Someone once described Odyssey as the “red headed step child” on CC because of her differences… not sure what that makes Spectrum?! She is noticeably different. elevator art

The time has come to set off for MBS cruise terminal and board this ship which is different from the rest of the RCI fleet! It’s only a 5n cruise but the following one is 12n so I am expecting a lot more westerners than usual, a lot of b2bs and a lot of Pinnacles!

Telegraph is ok: no usbs -lol apart from one on the back of phone that charges very slowly but won’t charge our new style usb iPads. Quirky art, huge showers, a solid 4* hotel I’d say!

It didn’t actually open until noon, so we didn’t go in. The menu prices at Lavo restaurant didn’t look too outrageous given where it was!

I had bought an Aíralo eSIM which covers 14 Asian counties for this trip. It cost US $13 for 3G of data. My first experience of an eSIM and it’s working well.

Literally one block away from our hotel is Chinatown. One street and one world away! Character buildings, old shophouses, shutters and temples. Clarke Quay Then we drank beer 🍻

Doh ^^^ we are at the Telegraph Hotel, not the Trafalgar! Senior moment!

the shoppes at Marina Bay Sands in Marina Bay Sands hotel. It’s vast. A view from the Lavo bar at the top of MBS on 57th floor. The Fullerton is the low hotel in the middle opposite

It’s Chinese New Year 🧧 which means that everything is closed ! Yes even Starbucks! It was very tricky trying to find somewhere for breakfast. We had also forgotten a plug/usb charger - especially stupid as the plugs in Singapore are the same as the ones in England and we have tons of them at home! Before I go on, I’ll let you into a secret: I don’t actually like Singapore. To me it is characterless and bland; it’s like being stuck in a 5* airport departure terminal surrounded by high end shops and everything is spotlessly clean. Even Lau Pa Sat, the street food market, has signs saying you will be fined if you leave litter. Give me KL or Bangkok for some Asian flavour any day! On Saturday night there was a drone show for CNY with 1,500 drones… it started at 8pm and went on for 10 minutes. Everywhere along the waterfront opposite MBS was packed. At 8.01 the torrential downpour started and lasted exactly 9 minutes!! You could not believe it!! And when it rains it rains! marina bay sands hotel the merlion ( you can see the crowds waiting for the drones) a dragon 🐉 made of drones in the rain. Spectacular

We used Enterprise, dropped off on Saturday at the one by the bridge then Ubered back to hotel.

Changi is huge and efficient. We had completed our MyICA forms and simply scanned our passports at entry. It’s a bit sad we have been to all these countries and no one single passport stamp! No Uber in Singapore but we were the only people in line at the cab rank. It’s about a 20 minute ride into the city centre to our hotel. We were staying right by Lau Pa Sat in an older style heritage hotel called The Trafalgar. We had landed at 9 and were at the hotel by 10! It’s a 3hr time difference from Sydney. So bed time.

Some of you followed our recent 3 cruises from Australia and a few of you requested that I continue the story with our final cruise from Singapore on Spectrum. So here goes! We had a few hours to kill between disembarking and our flight in Sydney, and the old school friend who I had arranged to meet got tied up in meetings; so we went to do the laundry 🧺! When you’re travelling for 7 weeks this definitely needs to be part of your routine. I figured the Bondi Beach area is full of backpackers and backpackers need laundries right 🤷‍♀️ so we caught an Uber over there and found an amazing place. Literally a room full of washers and dryers; washing powder provided for free, at only A$9 per load! The joys of international travel! When all washed and dried we Ubered to the airport to await our 4:15 flight to Singapore. Sydney international terminal is full of high end retail opportunities 🛍️ at what seemed good prices. We were flying Singapore Airlines again; it seemed to be a brand new A380, I love that plane but prefer the Emirates layout with the bar at the back lol! A great range of films helped pass the 8hr flight

We flew to IAH last year, stayed at airport hotel then picked up car and it was easy drive down to Galveston stopping at NASA en route. Galveston is a lovely town with some great restaurants. If you have a few days take the car over on the free ferry to Bolivar to drive on the beach!

Ovation - Capt Epsen resumed 1-21

Virgin Voyages is the latest cruise line to announce it will reroute a ship around Africa instead of attempting to pass through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. The line has changed three itineraries as it reroutes the Resilient Lady to the Mediterranean, beginning with its 15-day March 27 sailing from Sydney to Singapore, its 14-day April 11 sailing from Singapore to Dubai and its 14-day April 25 sailing from Dubai to Athens. The ship will instead depart from Sydney on a new route that will include extended time at sea with calls in Eden and Fremantle (Perth), Australia; Port Louis, Mauritius Islands; Durban and Cape Town, South Africa; Walvis Bay, Namibia; Praia, Cape Verde; Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain; Casablanca, Morocco; Barcelona; Valletta, Malta; and Santorini and Piraeus (Athens), Greece. Guests on any of the three former sailings will have guaranteed spots on the new sailing at no additional cost. Guests who do not wish to sail the new itinerary can receive a future voyage credit based on their paid balance or a full refund.

Can you remember where you tendered into Phuket on Patong beach ? Was it the pier at the southern end?

Still nothing about Jewel ?