Millennium Amazing Asian Adventure 2014

Welcome to Jenna and Dee’s Amazing, Asian Adventure on Celebrity Millennium. I’ll do the best I can to post “live” from our trip to Asia when it starts next week. Hopefully between slow, expensive internet and the wonderful time I’m having, this will be the longest post I make.

The trip includes a B2B sailings on Celebrity Millennium. The itinerary starts in Hong Kong, sails to Singapore and then Singapore Round Trip. We booked this sailing a year ago on Celebrity Constellation after an amazing 27 day sailing out of Istanbul which included the fall westbound TA to Fort Lauderdale. We’re traveling with our friends Toni and Rob we met on this cruise last year.

We arrive in Hong Kong on Thursday, November 5, four days before we board, and five days before the ship departs Hong Kong on November 10. On the day we arrive back to Singapore, we’re flying to Siem Reap, Cambodia and Angkor Wat for four days before flying home.

This is our detailed cruise itinerary:

One of the reasons we were really intrigued by this itinerary is we’re overnighting in 5 ports including Hong Kong. It also includes a mix of history and nature as well as providing the mix of sea days, touring and relaxing beach options we enjoy.

We are relatively well traveled though last year was our first trip to Europe or Asia (Turkey) and this is our first trip to Asia “proper”. I travel extensively for work, over 200 days a year for work earning lots of airline miles and hotel points which enables us to travel well for vacation. It’s really a good thing I LOVE to travel, though much of my work travel is tough, with single night stays and long drives.

We have been actively planning the trip for a year. I take care of the travel, hotels and transfers, watching for price drops (that’s a sport on Cruise Critic, right?). With a few exceptions, Dee has arranged all of the tours, which are private. I know what we’re doing in some ports and in others I have a rough idea, so we’ll get to find out together!

We live more than 90 minutes from the closet airport in Portland, Maine. Sometimes we fly out of Boston or Manchester which are 3-3.5 hours. In this case, we have a 7am flight out of Portland to Chicago where we connect to Hong Kong. A flight this early would mean leaving for the airport before 4:30 so we’re staying at a hotel the night before we fly out. Who wants to start your vacation by getting up at 3:30am! I stay at this hotel often, so they’re letting us park a car there for free for the entire trip, 37 days.

For most people, the flight is just a way to get to your final destination, but I LOVE to fly! We have long flights, to get halfway around the world, literally, and after the flights to Istanbul last year, we decided we wanted lie flat business or first class seats to make this more comfortable. What better way to start an amazing vacation than in a nice seat on the plane that converts to a bed? It’s a 16 hour flight, right?

Flights to Hong Kong were booked on United as soon as they were release in early December via Choice Air on refundable tickets (with fees). They were immediately upgraded with miles and some additional fees to business class. Return flights were booked in late February completely on miles in business class on Asiana.

As an FYI not all choice air flights are upgradable, we had to pay a little bit more than the lowest price to allowed the upgrade, but it was still less than buying the ticket right from United and far less than full price business. If you’re planning on using Choice Air, and want to upgrade, make sure you ask, and check twice to make sure the fare is upgradeable. Be ready to buy the ticket and upgrade immediately, or you may lose the option as upgrades can be limited. One other note, while the miles were accruable, some airlines have spending requirements to make premiere status, the discounted flights on Choice Air would not have counted towards the spending required to make premiere status on United.

Flights sound great, right? I wish it was that simple! Just like with cruises if you have refundable tickets, or book with miles, you can look for better deals and upgraded seats. Almost like watching for price drops or upgrades on cruises. In the last 7 days, with less than a week until our trip, I cancelled all of our flights and rebooked on different flights, talk about stress! I rebooked the flights to Hong Kong using miles in first class still on United through Chicago instead of Newark. We leave a little earlier and get in a little earlier. We received a refund for the flights minus the small fee and received the miles back by paying another small fee. In the end, we ended up saving a significant amount of money.

I also was able to upgrade our return flights from Siem Reap through Seoul from business to first class for the 13 hour flight and eliminate about 8 hours of travel with just a few more miles than previously needed. The one downside is we now transfer from JFK-Newark on our own to make our flight home to Portland. We had to claim our bags and clear customs and security at JFK anyway, so now we add about an hour car to the journey and don’t have to fly to Charlotte, NC and back.

Enough of flights for now!

I’m happy to answer any questions, so feel free to ask. We’re really excited, it’s hard to work as we’re counting down the days!

Happy sailing,

Jenna

We are on the second part of your trip out of Singapore on November 23. Will be interested to know what the entertainment will be like.

Jenna

Have a fabulous trip. Not sure how much I will be able to follow you "live" as we board Eclipse the same day you board Millennium but our cruise next spring is on Millennium, so I will definitely catch up once we are home.

If you are interested in hiring a boat to see the pink dolphins while you are in HK, let me know and I will dig out the details.

Jenna, I don't know your physical condition but for us the best parts of Hong Kong are the hiking opportunities. That, and of course going up to The Peak on a clear night!

Jenna

Really looking forward to your experience on the Millennium and your review. It's something we would love to do again as we did some of it on Costa Allegra a 650 pax ship. We are cruising with you next year on Infinity. It will be great to get to know you and Dee through your review until we meet you in person.

Anita

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Thanks for the tips Sue and Gigem. I may hike, not sure about the others. In hopHong Kong we're staying at the highest hotel in the world. Pink Dolphins sound like fun! We've left about half of our time unscheduled without tours in Hing Kong and a number of the ports with longer stays We're going to explore and be spontaneous while also trying not to over do it, it is vacation after all, but I guess that's what sea days are for :)

Happy sailing,

Jenna

Jenna

You can get details of the Pink Dolphin Boat Charter from info@hkdolphinwatch.com. It was great fun and also very relaxing.

Hi Jenna and Dee:)

Looking forward to your posts - especially the 1st leg.

We board in Singapore on the 7th Dec to go to Hong Kong - so please make sure you leave your cabin and the boat nice and tidy!!:D

Peter & Hazel

Jenna

This trip sounds amazing!! I wish that I could take a sabbatical or something like that from work to take a trip like this. It sounds like a once in a lifetime opportunity!!

Subscribing.

Safe travels!!

Nikki

Jenna, I'm really excited to hear about your adventures. My husband and I are booked on these two cruises starting January 18 and Feb 1. We've also booked some private tours so want to hear how this turns out for you. Gail

Hi Jenna,

Pete and I are on the Singapore leg of this cruise so Im eagerly awaiting your reports.

SO envious of your flight arrangements! We, on the other hand are travelling economy from Newcastle to Dubai, have a longish wait in Dubai, then on to Singapore.

We are hoping our Emirates experience is going to be better than any of our previous flights to Europe and the US.

In any case its all part of the holiday experience and I intend to enjoy it.

See you at the meet and mingle!

Jen

I use Emirates for all my Australasia flights in economy. I'm sure you'll benefit from the chance to stretch your legs between flights, and from the high baggage allowances. The A380s are really good to travel in, just avoid sitting close to the galley areas if you are trying to sleep;).

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Just a quick update.

Today is my last day of "real" work and it is a bit hard to stay focused. I have a few more things to clear off my plate over the next day and a half before we leave. We’re self-employed, so we need to make sure everything runs well while we’re gone. Both Dee and I have been actively doing this for a week or so, but there is so much to do. We have lots of animals and have been actively thinning the “herd”. Dee’s daughter is taking care of one dog, her son is taking care of our puppy and one went to our handler. We breed labs, so he’s in the show ring while we’re gone. That leaves 4 dogs, 2 cats, 2 horses, a turtle, a bird, and a Cockatoo. Our house sitter will still have her hands full!

It was COOooold here today, with snow on the way tonight, YUCK, can't wait to get away.

One thing I thought I should share is our preparations in regards to vaccinations. We visited the travel clinic associated with our Dr's office back in September to confirm all of our needed shots. Hep A, Hep B, etc and we decided we were going to take Malaria medication, primarily because of the trip to Cambodia. Most of the other locations are not high risk. We chose Malarone, which thankfully was covered by our insurance. We were also given prophylactic antibiotics just in case.

I’m already tracking our flights to make sure everything is on time and anticipation is building. We’re really excited about Hong Kong, but also can’t wait to get on the ship, Dee has been telling me about some of the excursions, they sounds exciting!

Happy sailing!

Jenna

I use Emirates for all my Australasia flights in economy. I'm sure you'll benefit from the chance to stretch your legs between flights, and from the high baggage allowances. The A380s are really good to travel in, just avoid sitting close to the galley areas if you are trying to sleep;).

 

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Thank you so much for this reassuring post!

Jen

I use Emirates for all my Australasia flights in economy. I'm sure you'll benefit from the chance to stretch your legs between flights, and from the high baggage allowances. The A380s are really good to travel in, just avoid sitting close to the galley areas if you are trying to sleep;).

 

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Thank you so much for this reassuring post!

Jen

It's not nicknamed Blig Air for nothing :)

Happy sailing,

Jenna

I know this is the boring stuff, we still don't board for 5 days, and the ship doesn't leave for 6, but it FEELS like it is here. It will be soon enough.

Bags are totally packed, but they've been mostly packed for a week or more. How many bags do two women who don't pack lightly take on a 37 day trip to Asia? Two checked bags each, plus one roll-a-board each and our totes. We each have a 1 bag that is over 50 lbs and 1 that is under. If we were limited to 50lb bags we'd be in trouble as we'd have to move some stuff around and we'd still be10lbs over. Thankfully we're allowed 70 lbs bags (due both to my status on United Airlines and our ticket allowance). I think we'll need a car just for our luggage! HINT: invest in luggage that has 4 wheels and rolls easily. We each can easily roll our bags without a cart!

One great thing about cruising is we don't have to pack and unpack many times. 28 days in the same place is more than I get all year with my travel. We decided last minute to upgrade our cabin slightly on the second cruise, so we will be moving cabins a bit down the hall. Dee isn't happy about this, but she'll manage and get over it once she is sitting in the tub on our balcony. No doubt our butler can help :D

Flights are checked in (almost, we still need to verify Dee's passport) and we're heading out in a bit to do a few last minute errands, vote, and of course, get our nails done this afternoon. Tonight where having dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Portland, Maine. What better way to start a vacation? If anyone has never been, Portland is a little gem of a restaurant city. Often beaten out Boston and other New England locals with James Beard award winning restaurants and continually being rated tops in the country.

Happy sailing,

Jenna

A warm kitchen on a cold night.

Happy sailing,

Jenna

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We left this morning from Chicago basically on time at about 1:30pm local time.

This is me:

And this is Dee:

We made it to Hong Kong a bit early, after about 15 and a half hours we arrived at about 7:20 pm ish local time the next day. Immigration and luggage pickup was pretty painless and after a bit we found our driver and left the airport about 8:30 pm to a light drizzle.

We arrived at our hotel to a beautiful view of Hong Kong:

We enjoyed an Asian meal in the hotel. I couldn't pass up the Peking Duck

Even though we slept quite a bit on the flight, we're heading to bed at 12:30am local time (11:20 am at home) to try and get onto local time.

We have no plans or tours scheduled for tomorrow. Our friends arrive tomorrow night and we'll start touring on Friday.

Happy sailing,

Jenna

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Living vicariously through you and Dee!!

How did you enjoy the first class product on United? Or was that business? It looks like a business class seat- but I haven't flown United in ages. I'm on AA/OW mostly these days.

Also, I'm dying to know- was the Peking duck delish??

That was Global First on United. It is bigger than their two business class products. It doesn't quite compare to Luftansas's new first or the Asian airlines but service was excellent from the lounge to in flight service and the seat was comfortable.

The duck was excellent, crispy skin, rendered fat, beautiful plum sauce and pancakes.

Started the morning with a run on the 118 floor and stretching by the pool.

Breakfast overlooking the city from the 116 floor. If you look you can see Mariner of the Seas. She looks really small!

Happy sailing,

Jenna

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You two look very happy! What a gorgeous pool area in the hotel.

Interested to find out if you find the Ritz Carlton a bit cut off / not quite in the centre of things. Hong Kong is my favourite city and we would love to do a cruise from there. Normally we stay at the Mandarin Oriental which has a fantastic location in Central.

Interested to find out if you find the Ritz Carlton a bit cut off / not quite in the centre of things. Hong Kong is my favourite city and we would love to do a cruise from there. Normally we stay at the Mandarin Oriental which has a fantastic location in Central.

So far we love the hotel, but we've only explored the Ladies Market, the Gold Fish Market, Langham Place and Nathan Rd. They provide use a driver one way in Kowloon (Club Floor) and have two MTR start ions in the building (Kowloon station and airport express). The service at the hotel has been excellent. Tomorrow we have a full day of exploring on the island. Sunday is again unscheduled, and Monday touring older parts of Hong Kong.

Tonight we're off to Ocean Terminal for a little shopping, the laser light show, avenue of stars and "The World" happens to be here. It's the third time we've seen The World in port in toast year or so. I think she's following us around!

Towards Nathan and Langam place:

Ongoing protests shut down parts of streets on Nathan place making it easier to walk around.

Goldfish market:

Happy sailing,

Jenna

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Dude....so totally envious, but in a good way!!!

I probably will not get over to Hong Kong, Singapore, and places like that for another 15 or 20 years, when I retire or I'm closer to retiring. I said that only because I want to be gone for 30 to 45 days and its just unfeasible in my current work environment.

How are you and Dee doing with jet lag? Any issues there? Also, curious if language barrier is or becomes an issue during the trip at all.

Enjoying so far!

We agree. 2 weeks is not enough so we have two 2 week B2B cruises with 4 days on either end plus the travel days it's 37.

Because we lost a day we ended up sleeping on the flights, which was basically all

day at our destination, arrived in the evening only 7-8 hours after we left (plus a day). We headed to bed again. We have been a bit tired but not too bad. This lie flat seats sure do help. We actually took today pretty easy.

A large majority speak English and most signs are in both languages. It was rainy tonight and all the taxi drivers were trying to rip tourists off. I'd have none of that and let the bellman deal with it on our return.

Happy sailing,

Jenna

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