Live: Dec 22 2023 Solstice 12 Night Thailand & Vietnam Holiday Cruise!

[mahdnc]

After coming home from our Xpedition Galapagos sailing a couple of weeks ago, my wife and I are heading out again to do another cruise, this time to Asia over Christmas and New Year's.  It's been a bit of an unusual coincidence for us as we typically take only one cruise a year.  However this Asia trip was originally booked in Dec 2019 (for a Dec 2020 sailing)--some 4 years ago.  But Covid and the slow world recovery kept pushing this cruise back 3 years in a row when it finally slid into a spot right after our Thanksgiving Galapagos cruise.  So we shrugged our shoulders and decided to take both cruises.  That was our form of post-Covid revenge travel.

 

Here is our current trip plan (link)

 

 

 

 

When we originally booked this sailing for Dec 2020, it was a 14 night cruise aboard Millennium.  There were overnights at Singapore and Hong Kong which are now missing on our current 12 night sailing.  We had planned on staying pre and post cruise at Singapore and Hong Kong.   So when the overnights got dropped with our current sailing, I decided to book five nights pre-cruise in Singapore and five nights post-cruise in Hong Kong to make up for it.  It probably works out better that way.  So this trip will have 3 phases: Singapore (5 nights) + cruise (12 nights) + Hong Kong (5 nights) 

 

Originally when we booked this cruise, our two adult children were set to go with us--it would have been our 15th Celebrity cruise as a family.  But now 3 years later a lot has changed--they are unable to go with us for a variety of personal and work reasons.  So that is another casualty for us from the Covid cancellation/delays.

 

Today we plan on flying out of Chicago (ORD) and we will fly to San Francisco (SFO) for a 7 hour layover designed to allow us to have dinner in San Francisco with our son and his wonderful girl friend at Mister Jiu's restaurant.  I suggested that he pick the place to eat since he knows San Francisco so well after living there for over five years.  I told him that since we are headed to Asia for almost a month, I preferred we not eat Chinese food during our stop in San Francisco.    Well Mister Jiu's is a Chinese restaurant--a Michelin star one--but still a Chinese restaurant.  So that is where we are going today.  It will be nice to see our son and his girl friend.

 

Our flight then leaves SFO at about 11pm local time.  We will then have the pleasure of flying on United Airline's flagship route designated as Flight #1 which makes it very easy to remember.  But the nonstop flight from SFO to SIN will be about 17.5 hours long.  Our car comes to pick us up at 9am, so here we go.....

 

David and Marcia

[billc23]

Sounds awesome! I will be following along with great interest since I will be on the Solstice Hong Kong to Singapore in March. 

[mahdnc]

11 minutes ago, billc23 said:

Sounds awesome! I will be following along with great interest since I will be on the Solstice Hong Kong to Singapore in March. 

 

There is another Cruise Critic member, @Miaminice, who is on the same sailing.  Oliver is known for publishing well written Live threads replete with very impressive photographs.  We will be taking different shore excursions at each port so there will be some variety there.  Be on the lookout for that.

[mahdnc]

Singapore requires that you fill out information for a Singapore Arrival Card.  My understanding is that it was implemented during Covid.  It's free and fairly simple and you can submit it up to 3 days in advance of your arrival.  I just took care of it by downloading the MyICA Mobile app and filling out two individual submissions (one for my wife and me).  When you are done, you receive a receipt that has a UPC code on it in the app which I presume you have to show when you arrive at the airport.

[billc23]

22 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

There is another Cruise Critic member, @Miaminice, who is on the same sailing.  Oliver is known for publishing well written Live threads replete with very impressive photographs.  We will be taking different shore excursions at each port so there will be some variety there.  Be on the lookout for that.

That is great. I have booked shore excursions and am more than willing to make changes based on your experiences. I was raised in a first generation Italian family and will say that the home cooked Italian food, the USA restaurant food and the food in Italy are quite different so the Asian food in SF will be a nice contrast to the food in Asia. Have fun with your son!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by billc23

[mahdnc]

8 minutes ago, billc23 said:

I was raised in a first generation Italian family and will say that the home cooked Italian food, the USA restaurant food and the food in Italy are quite different so the Asian food in SF will be a nice contrast to the food in Asia. Have fun with your son!

 

True

[marieps]

Have a great trip, David.  Hope Galapagos was everything you expected and more.

[mahdnc]

Just now, marieps said:

Have a great trip, David.  Hope Galapagos was everything you expected and more.

Jim, the Galapagos was a most awesome trip.  It was hard to keep up with all the wildlife. I didn’t fall for the first sea lion I saw as you warned. 

[Susanb10567]

Have a great trip…we are booked on this cruise in 2025…not sure if we are going to sail due to my husband’s work but I hope we can…

[Barwick Cruiser]

David, thanks so much for doing another live posting so soon after your fabulous Galapagos adventure that so many were able to enjoy. I’m looking forward to a new journey to Asia with you and Marcia! 
Cathy

[mahdnc]

49 minutes ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

David, thanks so much for doing another live posting so soon after your fabulous Galapagos adventure that so many were able to enjoy. I’m looking forward to a new journey to Asia with you and Marcia! 
Cathy

Thank you, Cathy. When and where is your next sailing?

[mahdnc]

We arrived at O’Hare Airport at about 10 am. Traffic on the roads was light and the airport was pretty deserted.
 

I miss my dog already. She was so disappointed with being left behind again.  Fortunately her dog sitter has arrived. 
 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by mahdnc

[mchell810]

I am so glad to catch this thread at the start! 

Enjoy your trip 😀

[raudacruise]

Oh boy!  Another adventure with great pics.  Woo hoo!

[Ciaranaman]

Glad I saw this before too many pages were added 🤣.   Will be eagerly awaiting your pics and descriptions of your new journey.  Safe travels!

~Bernadette

[Bullswood]

Looking forward to this! By the way, on your trip plan, doesn't UA1 on 16th arrive HKG on 18th due to the overnight+date line?

[mahdnc]

26 minutes ago, Bullswood said:

Looking forward to this! By the way, on your trip plan, doesn't UA1 on 16th arrive HKG on 18th due to the overnight+date line?

Yes, your statement is factually correct. But we actually fly out tonight at 10:45pm (Dec 15). Just to keep the trip plan chart simple looking, I documented the SFO to SIN leg on the chart in the Dec 16th row.  That date by the way kinda doesn’t exist for us as we leave SFO on Dec 15, but arrive SIN on Dec 17. I may have taken similar liberties by there way I documented our return flight.    Sorry for the confusion. 

 

[theopup]

5 hours ago, mahdnc said:

I miss my dog already. She was so disappointed with being left behind again.  Fortunately her dog sitter has arrived. 

We miss our dog when we travel as well. It is always good to know that you have them well taken care of when you are away though.

 

Have a wonderful trip, I will be following along too.

[dlh015]

And here we gooooooo again!!

 

Tagging along ago of course...

 

BON VOYAGE!!

[Bullswood]

No problem - just thought I’d mention in case you’d paid for an extra night in the hotel in SIN. Bon voyage!

44 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Yes, your statement is factually correct. But we actually fly out tonight at 10:45pm (Dec 15). Just to keep the trip plan chart simple looking, I documented the SFO to SIN leg on the chart in the Dec 16th row.  That date by the way kinda doesn’t exist for us as we leave SFO on Dec 15, but arrive SIN on Dec 17. I may have taken similar liberties by there way I documented our return flight.    Sorry for the confusion. 

 

[vickykay]

Hi David,

 

Looking forward to another wonderful review.  Can’t wait to follow along.

Have a great cruise!

[NMTraveller]

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Yes, your statement is factually correct. But we actually fly out tonight at 10:45pm (Dec 15). Just to keep the trip plan chart simple looking, I documented the SFO to SIN leg on the chart in the Dec 16th row.  That date by the way kinda doesn’t exist for us as we leave SFO on Dec 15, but arrive SIN on Dec 17. I may have taken similar liberties by there way I documented our return flight.    Sorry for the confusion. 

 

Time travel 🤣Have fun.  Interested to hear what your favorite places are in Singapore...

Edited December 16, 2023 by NMTraveller

[NMTraveller]

Are the SFO to SIN flights United or Singapore Airlines jets?

[RenRan]

Thanks for posting your adventure.  I will be following along as we will be on the Solstice March 3, 2024 - Singapore to Hong Kong. We also will stay 5 days in Singapore and 5 days in Hong Kong. We were booked for this cruise for Feb. 2020. Cancelled 11 days before we were to fly out. I think Miaminice was on our roll call.

[mahdnc]

 

We landed in SFO about 30 min ahead of schedule (3:00pm).  The skies were clear for most of our flight and so we got a good look at the ground.

 

We left the airport to visit our son, Chris, and his lovely girlfriend.  We walked around Union Square to look at the Christmas decorations and then headed off to Mr. Jiu's for dinner which included Peking Duck. 

 

 

A quick Uber back to the airport and we are at the gate waiting to board our flight to Singapore.

 

'

 

 

Ok, time to board.  17.5 hours, here we come.