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

[WestOzCrusier]

Loving your review of both Singapore and Mariner. I have been to Singapore and also been on Mariner last year, but I'm really interested in the Itinerary you are doing as we are doing the same one in January next year. Whilst I have been on Mariner previously I have been concerned about all the negative reviews being posted, especially given we convinced our best friends to join us.

Keep up the awesome posting gapearl and thank you so much!

[WaveSplasher]

Hmm... I have no clue why the boarding was delayed for the mariner.. It could be because they were boarding the Voyager first since 6000 passengers from both ships will have created a bottleneck at the immigration.

 

But at least Royal should do was to inform you about the delay in boarding.

[lalenalei]

I'm trying not to comment so you don't have to reply! :D

 

Very excited to hear about your adventures! Mine was one of the negative reviews...the ship was super fun, but our shipmates were not. It was tough. We just elected to find a sailing out of a different port for a more international crowd. Checking in frequently to see what you've done!

[S.C.]

I'm reading always love your reviews!

[kelkel2]

I am just loving this review! I don't know if I'll ever find myself in this part of the world, but your photos make me feel like in right there with you!

[ASeaPrincess1]

 

Is anyone out there in Cruise Critic Land reading this? Y'all let me know that you are and that I'm not just writing this for my health. LOL

 

Up next is day 2 in Port Klang/Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

 

I'm here and reading. Mariner is one of my most favorite ships, so I was looking forward to seeing her again, at least in pictures.

Miss her here on the West Coast.

 

Loving your review!

[dctravelinggirl]

Just found your review over here and really enjoying it so far! Thanks for taking the time to do this. A trip to SE Asia is definitely in my future, but I'm debating whether to make a cruise a part of it or not. I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of your review and seeing what it's like to cruise in this part of the world!

Edited November 13, 2015 by dctravelinggirl

[gapearl]

Yes we are reading it all and loving it ! Look forward to you next page ! Thankyou for time and energy here ,we are hanging on every word as the reviews on cc are so bad atm for this cruise and we are cruising on 22 nd Jan ,interesting that maybe I cant bring 2 bottles of wine will have to look into that one x

 

I just finished with my day 2 pictures so they'll be posted soon. I would definitely look into the wine issue. I honestly don't know if they were enforcing the no wine brought on board sign.

 

Great review so far Kim. We sailed on mariner out of Singapore in 2014 and had a great time. Will be interesting to hear what you thought of Malaysia. We found it interesting, but 1 day was plenty. Wish you had been on our cruise, we had a group of about 20 from CC that spent a lot of time together during the cruise. We had a blast.

 

Brings back so many memories seeing your photos. Great work!

We are sailing on Quantum out of Shanghai in March for 13 nights (B2B). Can't wait!

 

Cheers

 

Spoiler alert- I thought Kuala Lumpur was a cool, interesting place, Penang was ok, and Langkawi was probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen. I have a friend thinking about a land trip to Malaysia after seeing my pictures on Facebook. I wouldn't mind going back and staying for a week. Wow, the Quantum from Shanghai? That's gonna be awesome! :D

[gapearl]

I'm loving this review, so glad you've got the embarkation done in time for me to read - we fly out this afternoon for our Mariner adventure. YAY! I'm disappointed about the wine as we had planned to take advantage of that. Also disappointed that Singapore doesn't do cruise terminals as well as they do airports, AND that all the stuff I want to do on Day 1 finishes before I'm likely to get on the ship. Oh man! Never mind, still super excited and knowing these things ahead of time will make things a bit smoother when we get there hopefully.

 

On the other hand, you've made me look forward to our days in Singapore itself even more, so that's a plus. Your style of travel / interests are quite different from mine (esp with a toddler in tow) but great insights nonetheless.

 

I love your mention of people wanting to take photos with you, it reminds me of traveling to Brisbane (Queensland in Australia) which has a lot of Asian tourists. At some touristy spots people kept asking if they could take pics of my blond haired, blue eyed (and rather cute) little girl, as she was such a novelty to them. Take it as a compliment, that they see you as an exotic beauty :)

 

Looking forward to reading more, hopefully I'll get a chance to catch up on the thread before we embark.

 

Oh that's so awesome you're about to take this cruise too! I'd much rather be back on the ship than sitting here in the cold weather. How many days are you staying in Singapore and what do you have planned when you get there? One thing the Singapore cruise terminal does do right is having the currency exchange there. That was so convenient! When I was in Guatemala and people would just stare at me as I walked down the street and kids would tap their moms and point, I would just smile and wave and say hola! :D I think it's kind of cool to be the exotic looking one. LOL

 

Loving your review of both Singapore and Mariner. I have been to Singapore and also been on Mariner last year, but I'm really interested in the Itinerary you are doing as we are doing the same one in January next year. Whilst I have been on Mariner previously I have been concerned about all the negative reviews being posted, especially given we convinced our best friends to join us.

Keep up the awesome posting gapearl and thank you so much!

 

What have the negative reviews been saying? I wouldn't worry too much about it. The only negative things I would have would be very small issues, not enough for me to discourage anyone from sailing her. I know you and your friends will have a wonderful time in January. :)

[gapearl]

Hmm... I have no clue why the boarding was delayed for the mariner.. It could be because they were boarding the Voyager first since 6000 passengers from both ships will have created a bottleneck at the immigration.

 

But at least Royal should do was to inform you about the delay in boarding.

 

I was thinking the delay could have been because of customs and immigration, but boarding two ships in the same place probably did have a lot to do with it. I see you're taking your first solo cruise. Are you excited or nervous about that?

 

I'm trying not to comment so you don't have to reply! :D

 

Very excited to hear about your adventures! Mine was one of the negative reviews...the ship was super fun, but our shipmates were not. It was tough. We just elected to find a sailing out of a different port for a more international crowd. Checking in frequently to see what you've done!

 

LOL no worries! There was a really good international crowd on this sailing. I met people from 6 continents! Darn Antarctica for not sending anyone! :p:D:o

[gapearl]

I'm reading always love your reviews!

 

Welcome back!

 

I am just loving this review! I don't know if I'll ever find myself in this part of the world, but your photos make me feel like in right there with you!

 

You never know, you might end up there one day. Thanks for following along. I'll have a Vista review for you as well before you sail. ;)

[gapearl]

I'm here and reading. Mariner is one of my most favorite ships, so I was looking forward to seeing her again, at least in pictures.

Miss her here on the West Coast.

 

Loving your review!

 

The Mariner was indeed a nice ship. I have many more pictures of her to come later. Thanks for reading. :)

 

Just found your review over here and really enjoying it so far! Thanks for taking the time to do this. A trip to SE Asia is definitely in my future, but I'm debating whether to make a cruise a part of it or not. I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of your review and seeing what it's like to cruise in this part of the world!

 

I say do the cruise! It's such a long trip over here that you should do and see as much as you can. Consider doing what I did- land trip at the beginning, cruise in the middle, and land again after. Malaysia and Thailand are super cheap though, so I could understand if you just wanted to stay put for a couple of weeks.

[Bimmer09]

I had late seating in The Sound of Music dining room on deck 5. The only thing I was unhappy with this cruise was my MDR experience the first night. First, I was not shown to my table, just pointed in the direction of where it was, despite the fact that there were 3 hosts at the check in stand.

 

Well, that is a nice welcome, I don't think. Everyone should be escorted to their table. It speaks to a lack of supervision by the Head Waiters, that the staff feel they can pretty much ignore you.

 

I hope this was an isolated case and that you mentioned it in your Post-Cruise survey.

 

Norris

[dani negreanu]

Following avidly.

 

I like your writing style, and spirit.

 

I'd very much like to visit... the humidity is a strong deterrent, though. We suffer from a lot of humidity in the area near the Mediteranean beach, where we live.

 

Jerusalem is not humid at all, if the Holy Land is on your "bucket list" :)

 

Thanks, Kim, for taking the time to do such a thorough and enjoyable review. Much appreciated.

 

Dani

[gapearl]

Cruise Day 2- Port Klang/Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

 

Holy moly I have 124 pictures for this post! :eek:

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

I've got a new country checked off my list today! I had a full day planned and grabbed a quick breakfast from the Windjammer. I was ready to do a hallelujah happy dance when I saw turkey sausage at the buffet. I haven't eaten pork since 1993 and my other cruise line only serves chicken sausage in the MDR so this was a very welcome surprise. Because the buffet was modified for an Asia sailing, I don't know if this might be exclusive to this ship or if it's fleet wide.

 

Here at Port Klang, you exit on deck 4. I had originally planned to go the cheap route and take the train up to the Batu Caves, plus I also wanted to see the Blue Mosque. The ship docks in an industrial area and the first stop on the MTR line is about 3-4 miles away. That would have required a taxi there, a taxi from the Shah Alam stop, and a taxi back to the ship. This is why doing your research is sooooo very important so you're not unprepared. I emailed a KL local who is a trusted member of the Trip Advisor forum to see if he thought this was a brilliant or dreadful idea, and he convinced me to just hire a driver for the day. It only made since to do that because my "cheap" idea could have turned expensive with all the taxis. I spent some time reading reviews on some of the different drivers, and decided to go with someone who was recommended a lot named Zaidee. He was waiting for me with my name on a sign right at 8:30 am when I debarked.

 

There were lots of buses for ships tours sitting here waiting for passengers. Yay, we beat them all.

 

 

The exchange rate is about 4.2 Malaysian ringgits to 1 US dollar. Zaidee's fee for the day was RM350, or about $80ish. That came out to about $10 an hour for my driver. If anyone is interested in contacting him, let me know and I'll pass along his email address. My plan B was to do the ship's excursion of Kuala Lumpur on your own for 7 hours for $40. However it's more like 4 1/2-5 hours in reality since it's an hour drive each way. Zaidee is a very kind man and we immediately began chatting. He's married and has 3 small children and he loves American music, particularly Michael Jackson. There was a lot of traffic and a lot of stop and go. It's a good thing we got off to an early start.

 

Some pictures from the drive from the port.

 

 

 

 

 

Look at how bad the haze is today! It got worse as the day went on.

 

[gapearl]

It took about an hour and 15 minutes to reach our first stop at the Batu Caves. At the entrance you have a large gold statue of the Hindu Lord Murugan. The cliffs surrounding the caves are all limestone. When the Thaipusam Festival is held in January or February, about one million visitors will come to the caves. A Google search showed me that it's happening next year on January 23, so those of you on the January 22 sailing that might have been planning to visit the caves might want to remember this. I think the festival would be pretty spectacular to see, but just think about the traffic and the limited time you will have.

 

We have arrived at the Batu Caves.

 

 

 

 

 

That's a long way up. Ladies, you must have on long pants or you will be required to rent a wrap. They have them available at the bottom of the stairs. The cost is RM5 and you will receive RM2 back when you return it.

 

 

No exercise? Like the 272 steps up here weren't enough. lol

 

[gapearl]

Monkeys are running around EVERYWHERE! It is suggested that you don't have any plastic bags in your hands, as the monkeys will think they contain food and might try to steal it from you. Keep a good grasp on your purses, bags and cameras. Those are some quick little rascals and I don't think you'll get anything back once they get hold of it.

 

Monkey in front of a temple.

 

 

I can't believe I got one to strike a pose. haha

 

 

Motherly love, how sweet! This is one of my favorite pictures I took all cruise.

 

 

Lunch time.

 

 

 

The babies sure do know how to hold on tight. These monkeys must have very active sex lives. There were so many babies. LOL

 

[gapearl]

More monkey-ing around.

 

 

If you want to go deeper into the caves, look for this sign. It's $10 for an hour tour. You'll see it at the top on the left.

 

 

 

There were several Hindu temples at the top. One temple had a man inviting people in to offer them blessings from the gods. I debated on whether or not to participate but had to respectfully say no as I disagreed with his statement that all gods are the same. I did appreciate his kindness and watched as he offered the blessings to those willing to participate.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

You can see to the right there are some vendors with Malaysian trinkets for sale. Straight ahead, ugh more stairs. Be careful, as they're wet and slippery.

 

 

 

 

View from the top on the way back down.

 

 

The back of another temple at the bottom.

 

 

Me with two ladies I met on the ship from South Africa. The one on the left is moving to Atlanta next month, so I gave her my phone number to get in touch with me once she's here.

 

 

I stayed at the Batu Caves for 45 minutes. This was such an amazing place and I'm glad I was able to experience it. Put it on your bucket list.

[gapearl]

Zaidee suggested we go visit the royal palace next for some pictures. He said there are 9 kings in Malaysia, so this is only one of many.

 

Again, check out the haze.

 

 

Istana negara translated literally means palace country.

 

 

 

This guy has a sword. Yeahhh, I won't be messing with him.

 

 

The palace zoomed in between the bars of the gate.

 

 

[gapearl]

Next up was the Islamic Arts Museum. The cost of entry was RM14. The museum houses thousands of artifacts from Southeast Asia and the Middle East. There were both Muslim and non-Muslim visitors. A small group of college students asked if they could interview me for a project and asked a few questions, including where I was from, asked about my religion and how I felt mine was similar and different. They video taped me and had to find 4 other tourists to interview. I was happy to oblige and glad I could help them out.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

There were displays of some popular mosques from around the world.

 

 

 

 

This is the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. I have some friends that have visited there this year and it looks like a really grand place in person.

 

 

The Taj Mahal? I don't think I ever knew it's a mosque.

 

[gapearl]

There was a map showing how far we were from Mecca.

 

 

The Quran scrolling in both English and Arabic.

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

 

 

I swear I know how to spell SHARING. My handwriting can be a little messy sometimes and the a looks like an e. :p

 

 

The National Mosque of Malaysia is close by the museum. It's open to visitors daily except Friday because of prayers. Today was a Friday so I was not able to go in.