LIVE from the Ocean Princess - 28 days from Rome to Singapore 10/15 - 11/12/2011

[Kiwi Kruzer]

For those following the thread , the cruise carries on in 2 more segments,

Singapore to Sydney and Sydney to Papeete.

Once in Tahiti, Ocean does a series of Tahitian cruises

and then heads all the way back she has just come.:D

 

 

 

 

Date Port Arrive Depart

Sat 12/11/11 Singapore / Singapore 17:00

Sun 13/11/11 At Sea

Mon 14/11/11 Koh Samui / Thailand 08:00 16:00

Tue 15/11/11 Laem Chabang / Thailand 07:00 18:00

Wed 16/11/11 At Sea

Thu 17/11/11 Ho Chi Minh City / Vietnam 08:00 19:00

Fri 18/11/11 At Sea

Sat 19/11/11 At Sea

Sun 20/11/11 At Sea

Mon 21/11/11 Benoa (Bali) / Indonesia 07:00 18:00

Tue 22/11/11 At Sea

Wed 23/11/11 At Sea

Thu 24/11/11 Darwin / Australia 08:00 18:00

Fri 25/11/11 At Sea

Sat 26/11/11 At Sea

Sun 27/11/11 At Sea

Mon 28/11/11 Cairns / Australia 07:00 17:00

Tue 29/11/11 Airlie Beach / Australia 12:00 19:00

Wed 30/11/11 At Sea

Thu 01/12/11 At Sea

Fri 02/12/11 Sydney / Australia 07:00 19:00

Sat 03/12/11 At Sea

Sun 04/12/11 At Sea

Mon 05/12/11 At Sea

Tue 06/12/11 Tauranga / New Zealand 07:00 18:00

Wed 07/12/11 Auckland / New Zealand 07:00 17:00

Thu 08/12/11 At Sea

Fri 09/12/11 At Sea

Fri 09/12/11 Date Line 19:00 20:00

Sat 10/12/11 At Sea

Sat 10/12/11 Suva (Fiji) / South Seas 12:00 18:00

Sun 11/12/11 Apia (Samoa-i-Sisifo) / South Seas 09:00 18:00

Mon 12/12/11 Pago Pago / South Seas 07:00 16:00

Tue 13/12/11 At Sea

Wed 14/12/11 At Sea

Thu 15/12/11 Bora Bora / French Polynesia 09:00 18:00

Fri 16/12/11 Moorea / French Polynesia 08:00 17:00

Fri 16/12/11 Papeete (Tahiti) / French Polynesia 20:00

Sat 17/12/11 Papeete (Tahiti) / French Polynesia

[Aussie Gal]

Wayne,

 

Thanks for taking us along with you on this segment. We are going to be doing your segment in reverse in March when we board the Ocean and leave from Sydney to Singapore. Can you tell me if Sami Baker is the new Cruise Director?

 

Jennie

[DonahCBrown]

Hi all,

 

Our turn to check in from the airport after a couple of wonderful days in Singapore - we checked into the Intercontinental on Middle Road after leaving Ocean Princess - room was ready, got an upgrade to a suite which was like having an apartment after a month of tiny cruise ship cabin! It was really a lovely place - we had a 'shophouse' room, which overlooked the Bugis Street mall - noise level might have been a little much for anyone who is noise aversive, but it was such a colorful scene we didn't mind it at all.

 

The Bugis MRT station is a few steps from the hotel and the MRT is clean, convenient, safe, and gets you pretty much anywhere you want to go cheaply. We visited Chinatown, Little India, and Sentosa Island, as well as hitting the malls. The cruise ship terminal is at the Harbourside stop and you can walk from there to Sentosa, which is a fun way to spend a few hours - more if you have kids and want to do Universal Studios themepark. Admission to the island is $1SGD and a real bargain.

 

Singapore seems to get thunderstorms in the afternoons - at least at this time of year, so plan your sightseeing for the morning hours - and your flying too, if you can manage it. Both afternoons we had torrential downpours, but were safely either in the MRT or more or less under cover by the time it hit (day one we were in Chinatown - you can make you way through a maze of shops and stay under cover for the most part)

 

Will be watching the thread as you all make you way on to Sydney and beyond. Please give our regards to my dear friend Sammi Baker (and wish her happy birthday, too) and to Captain Ravera - he did our vow renewal on the Norwegian Fjords cruise - very special.

 

Safe travels everyone and enjoy the rest of the cruise(s).

[coo359a2]

Safe travels and hope your flight is a good one. Do you know if we are docking at the same terminal in April?

[davidnsteph]

We enjoyed very much reading this thread about your experiences in the ports and the onboard activities. Thank you for taking us along on your journey.

 

David

[DonahCBrown]

Safe travels and hope your flight is a good one. Do you know if we are docking at the same terminal in April?

 

Can only hope so as it is VERY easy to navigate! Also located basically in a shopping mall and on the MRT line. Will be checking with Princess to see if we can ascertain.

[Aussie Gal]

Donna,

 

So glad you enjoyed staying at the Intercontinental, it is our favourite hotel in Singapore and we will be staying there for 3 days after our cruise on the Ocean Princess from Sydney to Singapore.

 

Thanks for your great posts, have really enjoyed them especially your post on your trip to Agra. It brought back many memories of our trip there from Oceania's Nautica back in 2008. Is Captain Ravera on board now? I would love to have him when we are on her in March though I did hear he would be on leave. He was on the Ocean Princess last year when we did the Capetown to Dover cruise, he has a great personality.

 

Jennie

[QueenCruiseAlot]

Wayne,

Thanks for continuing the thread.

Who is the new Captain?

 

Also, who is the Staff Captain and Hotel Director?

[Aloha 1]

Hello from the Marriott in Athens. Just checked in and exhausted from flying for a zillion hours. Will see you on the Pacific in a few days. I will leave this thread now for Wayne to continue if he so desires.

 

You can't leave until you give a review of the Athens Marriott! We'll be disembarking the Pacific next August there.

[DonahCBrown]

Donna,

 

So glad you enjoyed staying at the Intercontinental, it is our favourite hotel in Singapore and we will be staying there for 3 days after our cruise on the Ocean Princess from Sydney to Singapore.

 

Thanks for your great posts, have really enjoyed them especially your post on your trip to Agra. It brought back many memories of our trip there from Oceania's Nautica back in 2008. Is Captain Ravera on board now? I would love to have him when we are on her in March though I did hear he would be on leave. He was on the Ocean Princess last year when we did the Capetown to Dover cruise, he has a great personality.

 

Jennie

 

Capt. Bilton (another charmer!) said so - we didn't get to see him or Sammi, but understood both were joining the ship in Singapore. Don't know about March, though, or who his relief Capt. might be - sounded like Bilton was headed for the Grand after his time off.

[Pia1913]

You can't leave until you give a review of the Athens Marriott! We'll be disembarking the Pacific next August there.

 

OK. I came back. ;) The hotel itself is very nice; a regular Marriott business hotel. Rooms are spacious and modern. Full tea and coffee maker in room for your use (no charge) plus a mini bar (which we have no intention of opening) too. The area however is the pits. Very rundown; commercial as well as residential. Streets are not clean and several strip bars (three on this street that we can see). There is a supermarket three blocks away; went there this morning to buy wine and Pepsi. Very hilly to get there, but all downhill when carrying packages. About three blocks to the left of the hotel(flat ground) is a Starbucks and one block to the right is Star City which has a movie theater, a bowling alley and best of all a Bistro which serves burgers, salads, etc. Open for all meals and it looks to be moderately priced. Everything in the hotel itself is outrageously expensive, so look for these other venues for your meals. We are on the Exec. floor so we have those benefits.

 

 

Tina: we will not be docking at the same place in April. The Diamond docks at a container port, unless there has been new construction in Singapore and they can now dock at the mall area.

 

Jennie: We did shower at the Emirates Lounge, but not in Singapore. In Dubai. That's where we really needed to refresh and had a 5 1/2 hour layover in which to take advantage of Emirates hospitality.

[Waynetor]

Today’s port of call was Ko Samui Thailand, the largest of a group of islands in the Gulf of Thailand. It is about 30 km by ferry to the mainland. The island has many beautiful beaches with shallow, calm water with upscale resorts along the north coast.

The day started solid cloud and went downhill from there. The tender ride was smooth compared to many tender trips but around 15 minutes. Even being as far out as we were, there was only 5 to 8 metres of water under the hull. The main feature of our first stop was trained monkeys that climb coconut trees and pick the fruit. Most of the monkeys pick around 500 per day but the all stars can go up to 1,000 per day. It started raining while we were there and did not end until we were back on the ship at 1:30. Our next stop was a restaurant that had great cliff side views of the Gulf. We got a free pop there but with the rain it was hard to enjoy much of the view. From there we went to 2 locations that featured giant Buddhas. The rain for the most part was not too heavy, just annoying. The tour took us on a drive around the island totalling about 70 km. Overall the island looks very nice with lush hills but there does not seen to be a lot of history, large development or industry. Most of the business are quite small. Most food and other items come from the mainland. We saw some water buffalo but no other livestock

There is a large shopping area around the port. We did not check it out due to the rain but most of it looks like it was aimed at the locals and not tourist. One of the other tours included rides on elephants which everyone on it seemed to love. Other tours included going to beaches – not sure what they ended up doing – hopefully something other than sitting on a beach watching rain.

Tonight’s entertainment was David Knight, a hypnotist. He started with 12 volunteers and whittled that down to 5. Of those, 3 were really into it and very funny. I’ve seen him before but each show is new.

Captain Ravera noted at the welcome aboard party the total passengers for this segment total 635 so once again there are cabins empty. His speech at the party was just so-so but a group of us met him in the buffet area this evening and he seemed very approachable. I had a very nice talk with Sammi Bakerand, the new CD. She seems to really enjoy life at sea. The family that was on the previous segment remain the only family. There is a wife and young daughter sailing with a crew member but they will only be on board for 10 days.

Tomorrow we will be in Bangkok. There will be a large change in staff as many that live in the Philippines, Thailand or Vietnam are ending contracts. According to the captain the weather should be good but the BBC is reporting heavy rain so we will see in a few hours. I have a morning tour to a garden scheduled so hopefully the rain will hold off.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

The bridge cam is back working again.

 

[treesah]

Thank you Pia, Donna and Wayne. Donna, Taj Mahal has a special nook in my heart because it was the one place in the world that my Mom wanted to see It was not to be. But it's on my bucket list and your description of its beauty just makes me more determined to pursue it.

 

Thank you, all.

[DonahCBrown]

Aloha everyone - made it home in one piece - great upgraded flight from Singapore to Narita, new United 'lie flat' business seats - very comfy, but back to 'old business class' on the Narita to HNL - still better than the cattle car but a come down from the 'upstairs' part of the big 747 of the prior flight. Some bumps along the way with thunderstorms - maybe the same weatehr systems Wayne is going through. Anyway - it is now yesterday again, and some othr time and I'm for a nap. dogs still remember who we are, which is a plus, and everything at home looks good. Will be following the adventures of our continuing passengers!

[Aloha 1]

OK. I came back. ;) The hotel itself is very nice; a regular Marriott business hotel. Rooms are spacious and modern. Full tea and coffee maker in room for your use (no charge) plus a mini bar (which we have no intention of opening) too. The area however is the pits. Very rundown; commercial as well as residential. Streets are not clean and several strip bars (three on this street that we can see). There is a supermarket three blocks away; went there this morning to buy wine and Pepsi. Very hilly to get there, but all downhill when carrying packages. About three blocks to the left of the hotel(flat ground) is a Starbucks and one block to the right is Star City which has a movie theater, a bowling alley and best of all a Bistro which serves burgers, salads, etc. Open for all meals and it looks to be moderately priced. Everything in the hotel itself is outrageously expensive, so look for these other venues for your meals. We are on the Exec. floor so we have those benefits.

 

Pia, Many mahalos for sticking around to answer. sounds like a real mixed bag. Question: Are there any decent hotels near the Athens airport for a one night stay?

[shellbeachjim]

Pia, Many mahalos for sticking around to answer. sounds like a real mixed bag. Question: Are there any decent hotels near the Athens airport for a one night stay?

We stayed at the Sofitel at the Athens airport in 2007 and it was nice. We had a late arriving flight in Athens and we could walk from the terminal to the hotel. I booked it using points so I don't know what their rates are.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

They have arrived at Laem Chabang, Thailand.

 

From the bridge...

 

A pic from when we were there , looking the other way to the cruise terminal.

 

 

[JWJs]

Welcome Home Donna and thank you once again for all of your WONDERFUL reports! :):):)

[Dorinda]

Donna - Good to know you made it home safely!:)

 

Cheers, Dee

[kath00]

Thanks to everyone for this wonderful TR! Best one of CC by far! I hope others continue to post here for the additional legs. :)

 

Katherine

[dshimizu]

It's Deb and Bill here currently holidaying in Palm Springs until the end of November. Our friends have been on this trip sop I have been following along with Pia nd Donna's thread daily! Our next planned cruises are from San Fran to Hawaii retune next April then SF to South America Dec 21012. How you are both doing great and hope to sail with you again.

[Waynetor]

Today we are in Laem Chabang, the port for Bangkok Thailand. From the ship all you can see is port related activity. The city of Bangkok is around an hour and half drive each way. Only the very small ships like the Yachts of Seaborn get to dock in Bangkok.

The weather turned out very nice, mid 80’s, mostly sunny with thin clouds and slight breeze.

This morning 27 passengers got off for a vacation from their cruise vacation. They toured the grand Palace in Singapore and then flew to Cambodia. The main thing there is visiting Angor What. They will rejoin us in Vietnam.

We did the Nong Nuch Garden and Cultural Performance half day tour (40 min. drive). The first stop in the Garden was an area where they had made many interesting artwork out of pottery. There was a lot of interesting flowers there as well as mid age elephants, tigers and macaw that you could get pictures with. From there the bus did a quick tour the large garden property and then we attend a Thailand cultural show that include many different dance routines, a martial art, and elephants. Next we moved next door to an area for an elephant show. They had been trained to pick soccer balls, use their trunks to shoot basketball and throw bowling balls. They did dances, rode large tricycles and lots of other tricks. There were young children (on school vacation) selling bunches of bananas. After each event the elephants would come over to the edge and stick their trunks into the crowd looking for bananas. The bananas are smaller than those sold in North America but these elephants would take a whole bunch at once given the chance. After that there was just a bit of time to look around before heading back. On the way back we stopped at a store that advertised itself as the world largest gem store. We were shown the area where the stones were cut and moulded into fine jewellery. The store also sold purses, silk clothing, lotions and handicrafts. Besides the 2 buses for our tour, there were buses for several other tours from sources other than the ship at the store so that tells you the type of place it was.

The other tours all got back close to sailaway time (all abroad 5:30) so it was a quite afternoon on board. Princess brought on a local group to do a cultural show starting at 4:30. There were 6 musicians and about a dozen others that did 6 dance routines that took near an hour. Unfortunately there were less than 100 people there for this interesting show.

Tonight’s show was the same comedian/singer that was part of the welcome aboard show.

As soon as we left the port area we could see lots of octopus fishing boats. After the show I looked out and saw 38 off one side of the ship. These boats are very interesting. Each has 4 or 6 arms that reach out over the water. Each arm will have about 6 floodlights shinning down into the water to attract the octopus.

There has been a bit of a problem for those using the ships laundry service. There was a problem with the machine that prints the labels used to ID each passengers load resulting in a couple extra days to get laundry back. The only other on board news is all the balcony cabins on deck 7 got new balcony furniture today. (I assume other decks will also be done).

[cnd crsr]

It is unfortunate so few were aboard to see the Thai show. We really enjoyed it last year.

[balcony queen]

Hi Waynetor. Thanks for continuing this thread. Shame so many could not attend the concert.