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

[mahdnc]

51 minutes ago, desibee said:

We were in Singapore last year at this time for the start of a holiday cruise to Malaysia.  Highlights not to be missed are:

 

Gardens By the Bay - both during the day and at night, also the food in Satay By the Bay is quite good.  Last year there was a pretty extensive Christmas Village at the Gardens By the Bay as well.  Not sure if they are doing it again this year?

 

Don't miss the fountain show Spectra by the Marina Bay Sands.

 

The Botanical Gardens and especially the Orchids are a must see.

 

Go to at least one food market (hawker center), we went to Lau Pa Sat but probably should have gone earlier in the day.  Most things were sold out by the time we got there after sunset.  I hear Maxwell in China Town is a great hawker center but we never got there.

 

For the love of all that is holy, get you some Hokkaido Milk Ice Cream.  We got some at Suntec City and also at Lau Pa Sat.  

 

Go to Haw Par Villa to see the Chinese folklore statues!  It's free and directly on an MRT line.  It costs a little extra money to go to Hell (you'll see what I mean) but it's worth it.

 

Try some Hainese Chicken Rice.

 

Thank you for the suggestions.  We will look into it.

[desibee]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

From what I have read and observed in my less than 24 hours here in Singapore is that there is no tipping in general.  For example, there was no obvious option to tip the Grab (via the app) and taxi drivers (Apple Pay) and nothing so far here at the hotel.

The only time you might tip in Singapore is if a porter brings your bags somewhere.  There is absolutely no tipping in restaurants.

[NMTraveller]

12 minutes ago, desibee said:

The only time you might tip in Singapore is if a porter brings your bags somewhere.  There is absolutely no tipping in restaurants.

What is the customary tip for a porter to bring your bags up to your room? And at the cruise port?

Edited December 17, 2023 by NMTraveller

[desibee]

2 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

What is the customary tip for a porter to bring your bags up to your room? And at the cruise port?

I think it depends on the class of hotel you're staying at.  But generally you can just tip 1-2 SGD per bag they transport.  It certainly isn't expected though, no one is going to act offended if you don't tip the bellhop.

[mahdnc]

We are trying to go cashless here in Singapore and later in Hong Kong by going with ApplePay like we have with our two prior trips to Australia. 
 

On the other hand, Vietnam and Thailand are very cash oriented and so we will have to be prepared for that and obtain their local currency from ATMs when we go ashore. 
 

During our Galapagos trip last month we didn’t have to worry about foreign currency since they have a US dollar based economy.  However I still got a surprise and a chuckle when I got change back from my $20 after making a small purchase in Quito. Some of the change appeared to be given in strange subway or old arcade tokens or something like that and I was put off by it. When I held the tokens closer to my face for careful inspection so that I could complain accurately, it turned out to be US one dollar coins. I had not before seen the current dollar coin that is so rarely used in America!

Edited December 17, 2023 by mahdnc

[Savage2017]

Sounds so good so far, looking forward to hearing about the rest of your fab holiday 😎

[mahdnc]

15 hours ago, Missusdubbya said:

Thanks for the review @mahdnc, I will be on your cruise - might see you around 😁

 

That's very nice. I plan on being at the Oceanview Bar at the back of Deck 14 when we sail away from Singapore, if you happen to be nearby.....

 

David and Marcia

[bjahil47]

Just caught up!  Following along on your great vacation!  Enjoy!

[mchell810]

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

We are trying to go cashless here in Singapore and later in Hong Kong by going with ApplePay like we have with our two prior trips to Australia. 
 

 

When you paid the taxi via Apple pay, was there an option to use a credit card directly?

[mahdnc]

4 minutes ago, mchell810 said:

 

When you paid the taxi via Apple pay, was there an option to use a credit card directly?

Yes, you could use a credit card directly. 

[mchell810]

6 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Yes, you could use a credit card directly. 

 

Thanks.

[NMTraveller]

10 hours ago, mahdnc said:

.The only problem I had was getting the app set up with my credit card. It didn’t like my two Chase Visa cards even after multiple attempts but I got it to take my MasterCard. 

Have your Chase cards worked elsewhere in Singapore?  Just wondering as with Chase cards you do not report travel,  they supposedly figure it out...  I was wondering if I should purchase a coffee in the airport to let them know I was traveling?  Not sure...  I suppose if I opened the Chase app in Singapore they would know I was there...

 

I would guess that the Chase cards work with ApplePay?

Edited December 18, 2023 by NMTraveller

[mahdnc]

4 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

Have your Chase cards worked elsewhere in Singapore?  Just wondering as with Chase cards you do not report travel,  they supposedly figure it out...  I was wondering if I should purchase a coffee in the airport to let them know I was traveling?  Not sure...  I suppose if I opened the Chase app in Singapore they would know I was there...

 

I would guess that the Chase cards work with ApplePay?

My wife has used her Chase card here without difficulty. I presume that there was some kind of incompatibility that occurred as far a getting them to work with Grab. 

[Miaminice]

56 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

My wife has used her Chase card here without difficulty. I presume that there was some kind of incompatibility that occurred as far a getting them to work with Grab. 

Hi,

I had problems integrating the card using the camera. It just wouldn’t work. Tried it manually and it worked at the first try.

 

See you soon!

Oliver

[mahdnc]

5 hours ago, Miaminice said:

Hi,

I had problems integrating the card using the camera. It just wouldn’t work. Tried it manually and it worked at the first try.

 

See you soon!

Oliver

 

Camera scan of the card and manual entry--neither worked for us for either Chase card.  Manual entry of our MasterCard worked.

[mahdnc]

We were pretty jet lagged yesterday so I didn't post anything here. I think that was the worst of it and today should be better although Marcia did not sleep well last night.

 

We ate breakfast at the hotel executive lounge yesterday.  Then later in the morning, we took a cab ($12.14 SGD) from our hotel to Chinatown to visit the Chinatown Street Market.  We did a lot of browsing and liitle buying although my wife bought a couple of gifts for our kids.  We took a Grab ride ($8.90 SGD) from there back to the hotel so we could take a nap in the early afternoon because I was dying.

 

 

[mahdnc]

[mahdnc]

 

After taking a badly needed nap, we went to the Gardens By The Bay which is a huge nature park located near Marina Bay Sands. Much of this huge park is free and interesting and has Christmas decorations.

 

 

There were several venues in the park that have an admission fee. This included the marquee Cloud Forest and Flower Dome conservatories which were both inside their own separate greenhouse structure.  In fact the Flower Dome is the largest greenhouse in the world while the Cloud Forest greenhouse has a slightly smaller footprint but is taller. 

 

Admission to both venues can be purchased in advance by going online or in person when you get there although you may have to endure a line.  We did ours online.  Buying tickets was a bit confusing because of the number of options and my own lack of familiarity with the fancy sounding names of the venues.  Here is a link to the official website to buy the tickets to the two venues: Cloud Forest (Avatar) + Flower Dome tickets ($53 SGD per person over 12 years old).  You have to select the one hour time slot for the particular date which you would like to attend these two venues.  The hourly time slots for the daytime are simply lumped together as “9 am - 4 pm” when you purchase your admission tickets online. After that your choices become 4-5pm, 5-6pm, 6-7pm, and finally 7-8pm.  The admission price is the same for each time slot but the later time slots are more popular because it is cooler and many people like to stay to see the free 15 minute light show at 7:45 pm, 8:45 pm, and there is a 9:35 pm show added for the Christmas holidays. We were too tired to see it and will catch it later this week. 

 

We selected the 5-6 pm time slot and it took us two hours to see both of them.

The entrances to the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome are next to each other so you do not have to allow for time to get to the second venue unless you spend significant time in the gift shop that each venue dumps you to as part of the exiting process. Note that both venues will exit you to the same shared gift shop. 

 

The Cloud Forest has an Avatar movie theme with Avatar things sprinkled throughout the conservatory which gives it a Universal Studios like ambiance.  Some of the Avatar stuff is interactive which was pretty good and would be especially attractive to kids. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cloud Forest is an architectural marvel (actually the Flower Dome is, too, but it was more apparent with the Cloud Forest). To help humidify the air inside the conservatory, the Cloud Forest houses the world’s second tallest indoor waterfalls. Apparently first place belongs to the famous Jewel at Singapore’s airport. 
 

 

 

 

The walkway winds around the waterfall at various elevations. Several sections of walkway are suspended in midair allowing you views all around including Marina Bay Sands which towers nearby. 

 

 

There are many interesting features including “Orchids From Machu Picchu” and quite a few flowers. throughout the conservatory.

 

 

 

 

 

There was an impressive set of white glass lilies in a pond made by none other than the famous Dale Chihuly. 

 

 

There was an exhibit of very small flowers which had round magnifying glasses for you to see them better. 

 

The massive Flower Dome has many themed botanical areas from all over the world with lots of Christmas displays. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

This is the view of the Financial District from our room last night.

 

 

One of the Grab drivers said that there is a $120,000 SGD fee for buying a car in Singapore (and that the fee requires renewing ever so many years--I can't remember what it was).  Consequently, there is very little traffic on the roads in Singapore including rush hour.

Edited December 19, 2023 by mahdnc

[mchell810]

Lovely photos!

[hawkesbaynz]

We did the cruise in November. Although we exchanged currency in Vietnam there was no need. Everyone was happy to take small denomination dollars. However HK dollars were required to get a taxi on disembarkation. There was a change kiosk at the port adjacent to the taxi queue although we had very little currency of any kind to change as no ATM. UBER did not work at the port but did elsewhere??
 

The old Botanical Park is great in Singapore too.

[billc23]

Amazing photos! 

[mahdnc]

Yesterday we took a trip to the Singapore Zoo ($25 SGD by Grab).  It is surprisingly not crowded but there was quite a bit of walking involved.  The exhibits are well done.  The zoo has a lot of areas with dense flora and so it felt like you were walking through a tropical forest sometimes which was unique.  My wife was quite amazed at the fiddleheads on many of the ferns.

 

 

However the high humidity quickly wore us down and so we did not spend more than 2-3 hours there.  But that was plenty of time to see the highlights.

 

 

 

 

After visiting the Galapagos last month, it was a bit different to see the Giant Tortoises behind bars at the zoo.  The zoo is overrun with small wild monkeys.  When the Giant Tortoises were being fed, there were at least four zoo employees armed with 8 foot poles needed to keep them from harassing the tortoises along with the family that paid money to feed them.  The monkeys were quite aggressive constantly probing the security team for weaknesses.  It was quite the sight.

Edited December 20, 2023 by mahdnc

[Barwick Cruiser]

On 12/15/2023 at 11:56 AM, mahdnc said:

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

Next sailing is on Silhouette in May to the Baltics with five days precruise in the Netherlands. Next trip tho is a land trip next month to NZ for four weeks visiting with our son and granddaughter. Very excited for that…once we recover from the long flights lol.

Been away for a few days so now I’m eager to catch up with your trip! 

[mahdnc]

We went back to the hotel in the middle afternoon to seek refuge from the humidity and to take a nap as our bodies were still not adjusted to the new time zone.  The only tour that I had purchased for our time in Singapore was a three hour night time tour which we did last night that included dinner at the Lau Pa Sat hawker center.  The tour cost $163 for both of us + tip.  There were a total of 10 people in our tour--all of them from the western hemisphere (UK, USA, and Mexico) with varying amounts of severe jet lag.

 

 

 

 

We also walked along the water front which had beautiful views of Marina Bay Sands.  We watched the light show from there which occurred at 8 pm.

 

 

When the tour was finished at 9:30 pm, we headed back to the hotel and collapsed because we were finished as well.  Then the most wonderful thing happened that night--we slept through the entire night and woke up at 8:30 am instead of the usual 3 am on the previous nights (mornings).

Edited December 20, 2023 by mahdnc