Mariner of the Seas From Singapore 10/22/15- Complete Picture Review!

[gapearl]

Love, love, love this review! Definitely interested in Singapore! :)

 

Thanks for reading! You should definitely check out the cruises from there. It's a totally different experience.

 

Loving your review. Never been there, probably never will so living it with you. Thank-you

 

Thanks so much for following along. :)

[gapearl]

What a class act you are!! To respond to everyone's comments with personalization!

 

Your review is worthy of dollars. Have you thought of being a travel blogger?

 

We will be cruising in Singapore next year, and your pictures and comments are not only informative, but entertaining. We have friends in Atlanta that we are trying to convince to "see the world" and travel with us. I am sending them a link to your review as, hopefully, motivation to get their butts in gear!

 

(By the way, we have had the same occurrence of people wanting to take our picture with them. At first we found it strange, but now we have almost come to expect it when traveling to what we consider exotic locales. It just means that they find that YOU are the exotic one!)

 

Can't wait to hear more. With the amount of details and pictures you provide, this is going to be a long thread! Thanks for all the work.

 

Thanks for the kind words! Yes, I always respond to comments. I guess that's the polite southern girl in me. When someone gives you a compliment, you say thank you. :) People have said for years I should get paid to write, I just need to figure out a way to do it. The travel blog is very incomplete. I still have about 10 posts to finish before even getting started on this trip.

 

There's no excuse for living in Atlanta and not traveling internationally. There are nonstop flights all over the world from here. I figured the same thing you said about me being the exotic looking one. That's usually the case wherever I go because usually there are never many people that, ahem, "look like me" lol. I never take it personal. I think it's quite amusing and flattering. :)

 

Yes this will definitely be a long thread. I don't know how to write short reviews! :p

 

Da!!!! I see you are a travel blogger! Ok, the profession suits you!

 

The blog is more informative whereas the reviews here are more humorous. Keep checking back there once I finish this review. I have more to write there on Guatemala, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.

[gapearl]

Awesome Review of Singapore

 

Welcome to Singapore by the way. Glad you enjoyed your time here. :)

 

Waiting eagerly for your Mariner Review as we will be going on it in a months time.

 

Thank you! Yes I did enjoy your country very much. I have a feeling this review might get you some new visitors. I'm almost done with my pictures on day 1 of the cruise and will be getting them posted later tonight. I have lots of ship pictures I'll post throughout the review. :)

[LizSS]

Woo!! Haven't read yet, about to start just had to tell you how happy I am To find another gapearl review! I have read all your other reviews several times each, looking forward to diving in!

 

I sailed the Mariner back in 07 (OMG was that really already 8 years ago?!) absolutely loved her

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited November 12, 2015 by LizSS

[TheCriuseDirector]

So glad you're doing this, with Carnival Going to Asia in 2018- about when my senior trip will be- I am almost positive that I'll choose that as my destination and I can't wait to see what you have to say.

[Cruzin-K]

Thanks for the great review. I love all the detail about Singapore. I'm hoping to include Singapore as part of my mega milestone birthday bash in 2018 for my 29th (with 21 years experience) birthday :D

[windjamming]

Just found this thread, and I'm hooked! I've never taken a cruise in Asia so very much looking forward to reading about your experience.

 

You have a wonderful way with words, and your passion for life is obvious. Thanks for letting us enjoy your travels vicariously!

[gapearl]

Singapore- Day 5

 

It's time to wrap up my time in Singapore!

 

I got off to a late start today and didn't get out the door until 1:30 pm. I had a few more places I wanted to see but still wanted to keep it a pretty chill day.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

My first stop was the Asian Civilizations Museum. It's right across the street from the Fullerton Hotel. It's free to get in and has many different kinds of unique artifacts. Less than an hour is all you need.

 

 

 

 

 

Sarasvati, the Hindu goddess of learning and music.

 

 

I think this is a Ganesha?

 

[gapearl]

 

The head of a bodhisattva.

 

 

 

 

A carved human skull.

 

 

[gapearl]

From the museum it was a short walk through the bottom level of the hotel to get to Merlion Park. You have the best view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel from here.

 

 

The Singapore Flyer and the Singapore ArtScience Museum.

 

 

There's the Cirque du Soleil tent. I'm a huge fan of these shows, having seen 7 and might try to catch one more in Vegas before year's end. Totem is the traveling show that was here at the time. I've already seen it when it came to Atlanta a few years ago. If it was one of the shows that I had not seen and won't be coming to the US any time soon, I definitely would have bought a ticket.

 

 

There's the infinity pool up on the 57th floor.

 

 

Geez, it's hard to get someone to take a picture of you here. Everyone seems to want to be left alone, although like the boys from Sentosa, I did have another guy ask to take a picture with me. He said he was from Indonesia, and when I asked why he wanted a picture with me, all of a sudden he didn't speak English any more. lol

 

 

[gapearl]

Little India was my last stop. I really did feel like I was transported from one country to another. This is about as close to India that you can get without going there.

 

Passing through the fruit and vegetable markets.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

There were lots of stores selling fabric and some beautiful packaged sari sets. I was so tempted to buy one, but I'd have no place to wear it so I passed. If I was actually in India for a few days, I probably would have bought one and worn it while out sightseeing.

 

 

 

The flowers had soooo any bees, and I'm petrified of bees! :eek:

 

 

 

[gapearl]

I found another Hindu temple. I have no idea who all the different gods are, but they were fun to photograph.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

The Deepavali Festival would be happening a couple of weeks after I left. This festival is a big deal and I hate I would miss getting to see all the lights.

 

 

 

 

A lot of restaurants were closed until 5:30-6 pm when they would reopen for dinner. I walked around (hungry, really hungry) for a while until I found a good place called Khansama. The food was delicious!

 

Chicken tikka masala with butten naan and rice. I seriously need to find a good Indian restaurant here at home.

 

 

A traditional Indian dessert called gulab jamun. It's like a really sweet donut hole in a really sweet syrup.

 

 

Once I made it back to the apartment for the night, I washed all of my dirty clothes in the laundry room, got on Facebook for a while, and passed out before I could even pack. I was pretty tired. My five days in Singapore were nothing short of awesome. It's a lovely place to visit and those of you cruising from there in the future should give yourselves a few days to explore everything there is to see and do. :)

[kelkel2]

I hopped on over from the Carnival hoping to find your review! I found it, so excited!!!

[gapearl]

Cruise Day 1- Embarkation

 

I woke up early so I could get my stuff together and be out the door to hail a taxi at 11:30 am. One thing that's surprisingly not expensive in Singapore are the taxis. My 25 minute ride was only $12. The Voyager of the Seas was also in port. I heard she was doing a 2 week cruise to Australia.

 

That moment when you see your ship for the first time! :D

 

 

The drop off building is the same for both ships. I asked the porter that took my bags if I could give him a tip, and he said no that's ok. Wow, that's a huge difference from the porters in Florida that all but threaten to throw your bag in the ocean if you don't give then a dollar. There's a currency exchange in the terminal with an ATM, so you can change your money before you leave. They don't accept debit or credit cards here like some currency exchange places do, so make sure you get some cash before getting in line. I was happy to have my money already changed for Malaysia and Thailand.

 

There were long, long lines everywhere and so many people!

 

 

 

This is why I was happy I didn't bring any wine bottles. I thought Royal Caribbean allows you to bring two bottles of wine per stateroom? I guess that doesn't apply to cruises from Singapore.

 

 

After passing through the security line, I went to the check in line. There's a line for gold members that was empty, and I breezed right to the front bypassing at least 100 others in the regular line. The line with the other higher statuses was no more than about 6-8 deep. In addition to my sea pass card, I was given a card with a color and sent to wait. And then wait a while longer. There was an announcement that boarding would begin between 2:30-3 pm. It's a quarter past 1. Oh dear, I'm getting hungry and cranky because I'm hungry. An older man that could be my father sat down right next to me and said hola and asked if I speak Spanish. Good thing I do. LOL He said he thought I was Cuban which is why he sat next to me haha. He was also a solo traveler from Madrid. I told him about my trips to Madrid and Barcelona over the last few years.

 

 

We got the call for some of the colors to board at 1:30 pm. This is the first time I've had to pass through immigration before boarding a ship and had no idea it was required. Pack your patience, folks. The lines are long and move at a tortoise pace. Ladies, don't try to be cute in your new Jessica Simpson wedges. Wear some comfortable shoes. It took at least 20 minutes to get through. I arrived at noon and it was after 2 pm when I boarded the ship. There's no need to get here too early.

[gapearl]

 

How exciting! I got to meet Shrek!

 

 

 

I went to the Wingjammer for lunch and and it was packed. There was hardly anywhere to sit. I ended up sharing a table with two ladies from California that were on their second leg of a back to back. I love how the Windjammer is set up for constant passenger flow. There are multiple small food stations so there are never any lines anywhere. The variety was very large, including a gluten free station, soup station, make your own sandwich station, salad bar with cold meats, sushi was available sometimes, dessert of course, and so many hot food stations.

 

 

Bread pudding and chocolate cake, yummy.

 

[gapearl]

My stateroom was ready as soon as I boarded and I dropped off my carry ons before getting lunch. I got lucky with this room. When I booked back in March, I booked an inside at the full 200% solo rate. A few months later, there was a huge price drop if I switched to an inside guarantee, which I did. About a week after that, they assigned me 6293, an inside with the promenade view. Basically, I saved $500 and got a better cabin. My solo supplement was now about 125%. That's what I call winning!

 

The promenade rooms have two sitting areas.

 

 

The room is a bit tight but was it was fine for just me.

 

 

There's not much closet space if you have 2-3 people. The safe takes a 4 digit pin of your choice.

 

 

There's not a lot of drawer space either, and they are very small.

 

 

The bathroom.

 

 

There's some storage areas behind the mirrors.

 

[gapearl]

Some shelf space on your vanity.

 

 

 

I saw some of the entertainment team dancing right outside my window.

 

 

 

 

I don't think I've ever had four different currencies at once.

 

[gapearl]

After laying down for a while, I woke up to unpack and met my cabin steward, Endra. He asked me if there was anything I needed. I asked if I could get a bathrobe, but he said no they were only for diamond members and above. People here on the boards said they usually say yes, so I don't know why he said no. It wasn't a big deal, but sure would have been nice to have.

 

At the muster drill, they scan your sea pass card to make sure you're really present. It was so hot and humid out there. It was crowded. Babies were crying. Someone please push me over board. At least I'll cool off in the water. I could see people still boarding during the muster. I couldn't help but wonder if it was because of late flights or the back up at boarding.

 

There was supposed to be a welcome aboard parade on the promenade at 5:15. Ten minutes after it was supposed to start, it still hadn't and there wasn't any sign of it about to begin, so went up to deck 11 to take some pictures and watch sailaway. I don't know if the parade ever happened or not. We still were not moving at 6 pm so I went back to my room to finish unpacking and get ready for dinner.

 

MBS out in the distance.

 

 

 

Me with the Voyager OTS in the background.

 

 

The pool area on deck 11.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

The arcade for both little kids and big kids.

 

 

 

The kids clubs.

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

Johnny Rockets has a $6.95 surcharge.

 

 

There are some games out on the decks.

 

 

 

 

 

The Solarium for adults.

 

[gapearl]

The haze hasn't lightened up at all yet. It's going to be so much worse in Malaysia tomorrow.

 

 

The ship docks in an industrial area

 

 

 

The Voyager again.

 

 

[gapearl]

Fiona! I love that when the Dreamworks characters are out and about they have a member of the staff with them available to take your picture with YOUR camera. They don't just have the ship's photographers taking them for you to buy.

 

 

The Royal Promenade. It feels kind of like a mall to me.

 

 

The pub along the promenade.

 

 

The drink of the day was the Singapore punch for $6.75.

 

 

This drink menu was available at every bar. However every bar didn't have every wine selection that was listed.