JacintaH

We are staying at Novotel at Clarke Quay in a couple of days time.  It’s near to a MRT station and quite central.  Clarke Quay I saw an entertainment precinct so the eateries can be quite pricey but hey if you are on holidays then you tend to roll with it.

On 12/9/2018 at 2:42 PM, MicCanberra said:

I remember it well, saw a few pics of people wearing their Ugg thongs on FB.

It got so cold we had to turn the ceiling fan off.  🤣🤣🤣

6 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

That wouldn't bother me, it would be much cooler as well.

We are looking forward to some winter weather in the Northern Hemisphere.  We don’t get much winter up here in FNQ.  This year winter for us was on a Wednesday in late July.  

That’s brilliant!  🤣

4 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Enjoy Korea.

Thankyou.  We have some interesting and new (to us) ports to enjoy this time around.

Aboard Sapphire Princess celebrating NY after a day in Taipei.  NY day to be spent at sea heading to Busan.  

Wishing all all those who are travelling or staying at home a safe and happy holiday and a great start to the new year.

I thought you said they had ‘sports’ on TV.....cricket??? What does Jiminy Cricket and his buddies have to do with sports?? Don’t those games take about 48hrs to complete? And some position is called ‘Silly Mid On’ that stands about 10ft (I’m sorry, 3m) from a guy with a really thick bat hitting a very very hard ball and you don’t wear baseball gloves???

 

And Tennis?? They kicked it out of the Olympics in 1924. And for good reason! (Trying to think of another sentence I can end with a ‘!!!’).

 

Den

Lol, Obviously not one to appreciate the finer things in life. ;p

I was pig to say the same, price of a 6” a lot of salad, meat if you wish. When I’m going low carb a great option.

I've just had one now for lunch and they weren't being shy on the portion control - I reckon they packed the contents of a 12" roll into my container. ;p;p;p

The northern parts of Australia are very hot and humid during our summer so by doing the cruise late in the season then doing any Australian sightseeing you will avoid the worst of the summer heat.

Travelling in March will see you arrive in the north in the middle of our wet season - its glorious if you don't let a bit (or a lot) of rain ruin your day. Its low season for us and a very different way to experience the tropics. Technically there is a risk of a cyclone and while I can't guarantee you a cyclone experience you would have to be supremely unlucky to catch one. Best way to enjoy the Tropical Wet Season is to pack your sense of humour and adventure.

Yes as well as being super expensive

,I travel with disposable plate and fork and just enjoy the salad, I am not super sensitive so I just empty it off the roll and end up with a heaped up plate you would be surprised

Cheers Carole

Do you know you can just order a salad bowl from Subway? That way you can get the contents of the what goes in the bread served up a bit more nicely and avoid the waste of tossing the roll.

We have spent time on Samui-toured the island. Stayed on three of the beach areas during a beach holiday/Thailand tour.

 

From our perspective the key draws were the beaches (we were not on a cruise) and the fabulous one day boat trips to the karsts and the nearby islands. Including kayaking through island caves. Not sure if these tours are offered on cruise ships or if you will disembark in time to do private ones, or return at the right time. Just our opinion.

 

We are in the area in Jan/Feb but will be giving Samui a miss in favor of another, smaller island. It is a very touristy spot. Not as bad as Phuket but certainly well in it's way.

Thanks for your thoughts - I'm happily concluding that keeping things simple will be most suitable and keep us happy.

We did SIN-HKG on Azamara in Dec 2016 and Koh Samui was our first port. We decided not to book anything - we only had a short visit and the cooking class I wanted was aimed at resort visitors so the timing didn't work out. It's a tender port and the water was not great - a LOT of problems getting the tenders to the ship (they were locals - not the ship lifeboats - we were told that's a port requirement - but they could NOT dock at the ship) So that added to the short amount of time available on shore. And we had a small ship. I can't imagine trying to get everyone off a large ship. Anyway, we walked around the port town (Na Thon) and had a beer and a Thai foot/leg massage. Made us happy :-)

 

That said, if we hadn't been able to get ashore, I wouldn't have minded staying on the ship.

Funny you should share your experiences - it was one of those TV Cruise ship shows where Azamara docked at Koh Samui that prompted me to write my post. It looked like an unpleasant scrum on the dock and the "can't be bothered's" started to kick in. I do like the idea of a lazy stroll, beer and massage too so that could be as complex as the itinerary for that day gets.

https://www.samuielephantsanctuary.org/

Thanks for that idea - we really aren't the type who would appreciate that type of attraction. I've been spoiled and have travelled to see wildlife in its natural environment.

This is one of our ports of call in December 2018 and I’m struggling to find something to do that interests us. In the past we have always taken every opportunity to visit a port and now feel conflicted about maybe choosing to stay on board on this occasion.

Our main aim for this particular cruise is to enjoy a good rest after a long and busy working year and sample some new countries. We have been to Bangkok on a previous cruise and enjoyed the hospitality and culture of the Thai people.

Is anyone able to point out to me anything we might regret missing if we choose to stay on the ship while at Koh Samui?

Thanks in advance 🙏🏼

This December will be our fourth Xmas Cruise. To date we’ve only cruised with Celebrity. We don’t celebrate Christmas but are happy to see those family groups delighting in their family celebrations. In our experience people can celebrate as much or as little as they please without feeling out of step with the crowd.

We have cruised at Christmas three times and are booked for our fourth Xmas Cruise this year. Lots of families, lots of kids, not always behaving nicely.

The nice thing about an Xmas cruise is that you can celebrate as much or as little as suits you. We ordinarily don’t celebrate Xmas but feel quite comfortable with how it’s marked on a cruise. In the past I have noticed however that members of our Roll Call from the UK expressed disappointment in the way Celebrity marked the day.

Hi all, am looking into cruising with Seabourn next year but being a 28yr old blue collar Aussie (consider myself a bit of a yobbo) I am worried it about it being to upmarket for me.

 

Iv cruised on Celebrity and Windstar and i dont like the idea of waiting for service like the bigger ships (Celebrity) and much more enjoyed Windstar. Anyway what you think? Am I too bogan for Seabourn haha.

 

Cheers

 

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You will be fine. You obviously come from an excellent family.

Enjoy

Jacinta (Hoare) ;p

Brilliant timing, well done. Your trip in to town should not be awful, you are located in the midst of the Celebrations and will be able to experience our second most significant cultural day.

IIRC when Princess announced they were basing ships in Sydney they announced to the press and media that they had conducted a survey of Australian's pet complaints about cruising and poor coffee topped the bill.

Princess declared they were going to train their baristas in Australia. What happened? Or was it Carnival?

I think I have read that claim attributable to all the mass market lines. If thats what they are doing then they have a problem in execution and outcomes. :o

As long as the Baristas are using decent coffee.:halo:

 

Time for a cup of International Roast Instant, lol. No I will go premium, Nescafe Blend 43.

You’re terrible Muriel. :o

March is our Wet season and to be honest a great time to visit the Tropics. The Wet changes how our region looks and feels.

You would be very very unlucky if a cyclone (hurricane) would spoil your trip but it’s technically a possibility.

Coral Sea weather events tend to happen later in the Wet Season (just a lay persons observation) and our weather forecasting is well developed to give ships masters plenty of heads up of suspicious systems.

If packing your own solution means bringing something electrical that plugs in there is the strong possibility that they may take it off you before boarding & return it to you at the end.

The reason they give is related to electrical safety but that doesn't gel with me as they provide drip coffee machines in suites and for a while RC was providing kettles in Australian waters. They still do so in Asia, due to passenger demand for chinese tea.

 

Princess did however deliver a flask/jug of boiling water to the cabin very promptly when asked.

 

Sad isn't it that even our instant is better than that foul American stuff. Uggg

My own solution doesn’t include jugs or similar. I have a travel sized grinder and an Aeropress. All I need is water at 93C (no hotter according to a barista). Easy eh?:')

Singapore has great coffee roasters.

I suggest you try the hook bags. Haven't tried them personally but they look good.:)

These look like a bit of fun. We have a couple of days in Singapore before we embark so I’ll pop them on the list to follow up. Thank you.

Princess should get COSTA Coffee on board their ships, like P&O UK have. Costa Coffee is everywhere in UK, in every town. Costa is owned by Whitbreads who own the Premier Inn chain.

 

Always a decent brew is Costa.:hearteyes:

I struggled with Costa coffees on a trip to the UK a couple of years. Our experience then was that the coffee was made by an automatic machine and a little weak for my tastes. That said, Costa coffees are far superior to Starbucks in my travels.

I just think that Australia and NZ need to export more trained baristas to the rest of the world.

Agreed, we have become coffee snobs. The coffee here is so good that it has become a search of the world for a decent coffee when travelling and yet nearly always ending in disappointment until we return home.

So true and such a first world problem :') Sometimes I have to stop and ponder just how spoiled I’ve become. We have a great collection of coffee roasters and baristas here in Cairns so my daily drop sets a high mark to match.