5 Night Spice of Southeast Asia - New Year's Eve Cruise

[EllaDuChien]

So from our driver dropping us off, to sitting in the Windjammer eating lunch took less than 30 minutes. That includes stopping at our muster station.

 

You do need to give up your passport on the way in, which understandably makes some people uncomfortable. This is the third cruise I have been on where I have had to do that so I am mostly over being stressed about it.

 

The options at the Windjammer are expectedly eastern. Plenty of Asian and Indian options. It is funny to see the hamburger and hotdogs stations listed as International options.

 

We took a walk around deck 14 just to get a feel for the pool deck and also to peek into the Silver Dining area, we are in a JS do we are able to access this area although since my brother and BIL are not able, I can’t imagine we will eat any meals there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The desserts did look really good though!!

 

[EllaDuChien]

Well it was pouring down rain during sail away so festivities were in the 270 area. I am still not totally acclimated to the time change so we pretty much just had dinner in the MDR, and went to bed. 
 

Here are some pics around the ship.

 

Main Dining Room 

 

 

 

 

Music Hall

 

 

270

 

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by EllaDuChien

[Airbear232]

Beautiful review and pictures, have a wonderful trip.  I’m looking forward to reading about your excursion in Phuket!

[EllaDuChien]

Port Klang, Malaysia is our first stop. I have reserved a ships tour called Instagramable Hotspots of Kuala Lumpur. After about a 90 minute drive from the port to the city, our first stop is a Chinese temple. We had about an hour here. If you take this tour, please note that you must take off your shoes to enter the temple, plan your sock wear accordingly.

 

 

Next we headed to Chinatown for about an hour. Here you could get lunch or shop for authentic fake designer fashion and other trinkets. Or if you wanted to, you could get something to eat. The “Instagramable” part of this stop was some murals painted on the alley walls. That part was cool. The rest of Chinatown was like many other tourist shopping areas: pushy vendors, the same merchandise at every stall, and crowded. We tried to get something to eat, but none of the hawker stalls took credit and we were unable to find an ATM to get local currency.

we ended up at a tea shop outside of the pedestrian area for cold brew teas and sesame balls, both were delicious!

 

 

 

Next we had a photo stop at the Patronus Towers. There were tours that ventured inside the towers, but for us just a stop then on to Batu Caves for our final stop. 

 

 

The Batu caves house a Hindu temple and if you want to go pray to these Gods, you’re gonna have to sacrifice. 272 steps to the top only to find more steps into the actual cave.

 

Two small notes on this: first, ladies must have their shoulders and knees covered. There are guards at the bottom of the steps enforcing this. There are sarongs available for purchase but not for free. Second: 272 steps is NO JOKE!!

 

They are steep and keep in mind that once you get to the top, you have to climb back down. While the climb up was exhausting, the trek back down was kind of scary. The steps are narrow, only about the length of my foot. By the time I made it up and back down, I was done for the day! Fortunately, that was our last stop so I had an hour’s ride back to port to catch my breath.

 

 

Dinner was MDR again. Coconut shrimp was delicious as an appetizer but the pesto tagliatelle was a miss. No discernible pesto sauce, but a weird combination of tomatoes, mushrooms and red and green peppers. 
 

 

We went to the production show, Showgirls, which was good. Then off to bed to recover from the day and get a good night’s sleep before Penang.

[Coralc]

Beautiful photos. Re: Batu caves. I would just be taking photos from the bottom. 😄

[bailda]

9 hours ago, EllaDuChien said:

Port Klang, Malaysia is our first stop. I have reserved a ships tour called Instagramable Hotspots of Kuala Lumpur. After about a 90 minute drive from the port to the city, our first stop is a Chinese temple. We had about an hour here. If you take this tour, please note that you must take off your shoes to enter the temple, plan your sock wear accordingly.

 

 

Next we headed to Chinatown for about an hour. Here you could get lunch or shop for authentic fake designer fashion and other trinkets. Or if you wanted to, you could get something to eat. The “Instagramable” part of this stop was some murals painted on the alley walls. That part was cool. The rest of Chinatown was like many other tourist shopping areas: pushy vendors, the same merchandise at every stall, and crowded. We tried to get something to eat, but none of the hawker stalls took credit and we were unable to find an ATM to get local currency.

we ended up at a tea shop outside of the pedestrian area for cold brew teas and sesame balls, both were delicious!

 

 

 

Next we had a photo stop at the Patronus Towers. There were tours that ventured inside the towers, but for us just a stop then on to Batu Caves for our final stop. 

 

 

The Batu caves house a Hindu temple and if you want to go pray to these Gods, you’re gonna have to sacrifice. 272 steps to the top only to find more steps into the actual cave.

 

Two small notes on this: first, ladies must have their shoulders and knees covered. There are guards at the bottom of the steps enforcing this. There are sarongs available for purchase but not for free. Second: 272 steps is NO JOKE!!

 

They are steep and keep in mind that once you get to the top, you have to climb back down. While the climb up was exhausting, the trek back down was kind of scary. The steps are narrow, only about the length of my foot. By the time I made it up and back down, I was done for the day! Fortunately, that was our last stop so I had an hour’s ride back to port to catch my breath.

 

 

Dinner was MDR again. Coconut shrimp was delicious as an appetizer but the pesto tagliatelle was a miss. No discernible pesto sauce, but a weird combination of tomatoes, mushrooms and red and green peppers. 
 

 

We went to the production show, Showgirls, which was good. Then off to bed to recover from the day and get a good night’s sleep before Penang.

Did you have to reserve for this show as I keep checking on the app and it doesn't give an option to do so. We have reserved Silk Road show. 

[aussielozzie18]

8 hours ago, Coralc said:

Beautiful photos. Re: Batu caves. I would just be taking photos from the bottom. 😄

You & me both!🤣

[aussielozzie18]

How long did they give you at the Caves? And do you recall how long it took you to walk up all those stairs & return?

[EllaDuChien]

2 hours ago, bailda said:

Did you have to reserve for this show as I keep checking on the app and it doesn't give an option to do so. We have reserved Silk Road show. 

No reservations needed for Showgirls, only for Silk Road. That being said, show up early enough to get a seat. 15-20 minutes or so is plenty of time.

[EllaDuChien]

40 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

How long did they give you at the Caves? And do you recall how long it took you to walk up all those stairs & return?

It took me about 10 minutes to climb up the stairs, and 15 minutes to come back down. On our tour, we were given an hour and fifteen minutes at this stop. Our guide told us that this would be the best place to eat lunch as we had the most time there. Be aware that since it is a Hindu temple, the only food offerings are vegetarian. I did not eat, but my mom and BIL had a delicious dessert roti while they waited for us.

[EllaDuChien]

Yesterday’s tour in Penang was called “Taste of Penang.” What I expected was several stops with small tastings at each stop. What it actually was, was a couple of stops at local Malaysian stores, then one final stop at a hawker market for lunch. That being said, while it wasn’t what I expected I really enjoyed the day.
 

First up was a stop at a nutmeg shop. We learned about the medicinal uses for nutmeg as well as the many ways to use it in food. We started with a nutmeg/garlic soup that was savory and delicious. Then we were given the chance to try a medicinal nutmeg balm if you had aches and pains. I didn’t try it but those who did said it got HOT! I ended up buying some unique nutmeg products…although there were some that were just too unique for me!

 

 

 

Next up was the Malaysian chocolate experience. I thoroughly enjoyed this stop at the chocolate experience and spent way more than I needed to considering I don’t really like sweets. At least the kids will like it when I get home!

 

 

Our third stop was two separate stores: a batik shop and a tea shop. The batik process is interesting, but I did not end up buying anything there. However the tea store got a good bit of money from me. I am thinking I may need to get a second suitcase for everything I’ve bought!

 

 

 

Finally we stopped at the hawker center for lunch. We wandered around and got the lay of the land, then we ordered enough food for a small army. Every single bite was delicious! We left uncomfortably full and were delivered fat and happy back to the ship. 

 

 

 

 

I had dinner at Wonderland, while the rest of the family stayed in the MDR as the Wonderland shtick is not their thing. 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner, we had reservations for Silk Road. I thought it was a good show. The lead female singer was absolutely amazing. There is a lot going on and it is sometimes overwhelming but still worth making the reservation.

 

One more port day, Phuket, before a sea day heading back to Singapore.

[topanga49er]

On 12/24/2023 at 11:14 PM, EllaDuChien said:

I have not seen very many reviews of the Spectrum of the Seas, mostly because it is in Asia full time I would imagine, so I thought I would try and do a semi-live review of my family holiday cruise December 28 – January 2.  This will be my first time sailing on a Quantum class ship, much less a “Quantum Ultra” class.  Overall, this will be my 49^th cruise, my 24^th Royal Caribbean cruise, and my 2^nd time sailing from Singapore.

 

Joining me on this cruise will be my mother, my brother, my brother-in-law, and my 12-year-old daughter. My mother and I sailed on Oceania out of Singapore this past March and that kind of started this trip.  Many (many, many!) years ago, my brother worked in Singapore for a time.  He loved everything about it and has always wanted to return.  When mom and I announced we were sailing from there, he was definitely a touch jealous.  We had wanted to do a holiday cruise because that is easier on everyone’s work/school schedule so we saw this one and decided it would be a perfect opportunity.  My BIL and daughter just love to travel and are happy to go anywhere!

 

Packing – I have to work while on vacation (I don’t ever mind doing this, it lets me travel without using PTO) so I have to bring my laptops.  Yes, laptops…two of them.  Of course it is hot and humid in Singapore...Its the rainy season so expect lots of frizzy hair pics of me!

 

Our Flight – Qatar Airlines: Charlotte -->Miami --> Doha, Qatar--> Singapore.  23.5 hours actual flight time, 6.5 hours layover times for a total travel time of 30 hours!  We leave Christmas Day and arrive in Singapore at 9am on December 27.  We land at 9am and should be through immigration by 10am.  We will all have our SG Arrival Card for entry into Singapore.  We use the MyICA Mobile App and it is super easy and quick.  This needs to be done no more than 3 days before arrival.  Since there are 5 of us travelling with luggage, I pre-reserved transportation from the airport to our hotel.  Hotel check in time is not until 2pm so depending on how we all feel, we may drop our bags and head to Raffels for a Singapore Sling or just hang out at the hotel until our room is ready.  Which brings us to…

 

Our Hotel – Four Points by Sheraton Singapore, Riverview

 

I have stayed here before in Singapore and the hotel was perfectly acceptable.  The breakfast buffet is delicious (although not included), and the pub has great atmosphere and really good food.  We are also staying here for 2 nights after the cruise.  The location is good, right on the Singapore River just down from Clark Quay.  There is a bus stop right outside the hotel as well as a subway station (HAVELOCK TE16) within walking distance.  In addition, taxis and Ubers (actually called Grab in Singapore) are easy and plentiful. We really do not have anything planned for this first day, everything will depend on how we feel. 

 

On Thursday morning, we have an 11am check in time for the Spectrum.  The cruise port in Singapore is lovely.  There is a shopping mall attached for any last minute shopping needs before boarding, however I don’t think we need anything this time.

 

Mom and I and my DD have a JS on deck 9 and the rest are in an OV on deck 3 as my BIL needs an accessible room and that’s what was left.  We have MTD and I have made reservations for every night between 6:45-7:15pm.  The one exception is the one night I eat by myself at Wonderland.  I have never eaten there and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, but no one else wanted to join me so I am solo that night. 

 

Our Itinerary:

 

Except Singapore, I have never been to any of the ports.  We have Royal Caribbean excursions scheduled in each of the ports, mostly together except I wander off on my own once again in Phuket because I wanted to do a tour that no one else wanted to do.   

 

In Port Klang we are doing: Instagrammable Hot Spots in Kuala Lumpur - Delight in Malaysia's historic capital city, Kuala Lumpur, as you visit the temple of a Chinese sea goddess, have a photo stop in Bukit Bintang, and Petronas Twin Towers, savor authentic cuisine and go shopping (time permitting) in Chinatown, gaze at beautiful street art near Masjid Jamek, and climb the 272 steps to the famous Batu Caves, a popular Hindu shrine.

 

In Penang we are doing: Taste of Penang - Step into Penang's food obsession on a tour that gives you a caffeinated kick at a popular purveyor of coffee and teas, hits the streets with the eclectic vendors of street foods and flies through the local food court scene at a legendary hawker center.

 

And finally in Phuket I am heading out solo to the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary - Enjoy an opportunity to spend quality time with elephants in their natural home. Witness stunning views of the surrounding jungle and mountains while interacting with friendly, happy elephants in a safe and sustainable environment. Enjoy walking with your guide through the Sanctuary, where you will find free-roaming elephants and hear their individual stories. You can touch, feed, photograph, and interact with the elephants at your leisure while you learn about their lifestyle and behaviors. After you have met all the elephants, you will accompany them to a nearby mud spa. Get muddy with the elephants as you apply a healthy cosmetic mud treatment to their skin. Next, you will walk with the elephants to a nearby river and join them in the water for a refreshing bath. Take a swim and help bathe and brush the elephants while they wade through and play in the water. Before returning to the ship enjoy stops a Thai craft shop to take in a little more of what Phuket has to offer.

 

But no one else wanted to do that, so the rest of the fam is doing:  Thainess Experience at Srisuwan House - Delve into Thai culture on a visit to a wooden Thai house, where you can see and participate in local customs like batik painting, flower garland making, and traditional cooking, followed by a traditional Thai lunch.

 

As you can tell, I have no issues going off by myself even though I really love travelling with my family.  I just couldn’t pass up spending time with the Elephants!

 

We then have one Sea Day on our way back to Singapore, on New Year's Day.  Probably a good day to not have to do much!

 

Once we get back to Singapore we have two tours scheduled:

 

January 2^nd - You will begin the tour by visiting Singapore Botanic Gardens, a 158-year-old tropical garden located at the fringe of Singapore's Orchard Road shopping district. It is also the first and only tropical gardens inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site. Our guide will bring you through the garden and share interesting facts and information with you. In between, we can also arrange a visit to National Orchid Gardens. Thereafter, our guide will bring you to visit Orchard Road, which began as a home for nutmeg, pepper, and fruit orchards that gave it its name and is now arguably Asia's most famous shopping street. Spend some time to find out about the Peranakans who reside in now a picturesque enclave of heritage architecture off the main Orchard Road strip called Emerald Hill and take those "Instagramable" photos of the area.  During Marina Bay and Gardens by the Bay Car Tour, you will take a scenic stroll with our guides on the Marina Bay walking tour and marvel at the architectural icons that dot the city's skyline. Be wowed by impressive views as you tour within Gardens by the Bay and the highlights of the Marina Bay walk that surrounds the dazzling waterfront promenade. This tour is perfect for you as our guide will bring you to places within the mall that cannot be accessed publicly. You will also be visiting Flower Dome and Cloud Forest where you will see the world's largest indoor waterfalls and a lush mountain clad with plants from around the world.

 

And:

January 3^rd - On this Guided Ethnic Quarters and Civic District Car Tour, you will visit our main ethnic quarters (i.e. Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam) where our local guide will share with you tales of our early immigrants, learn about local heritage and culture and for you to experience first-hand why Singapore is a multicultural country with a diverse local community. You will discover traditional shops plying their trade beside hipster cafes in Haji Lane, be captivated by insta-worthy spots that are covered with impressive street art and get up close to the spectacular mosques in Kampong Glam Feast your senses with the wonders of Indian fragrances, food and spices around Little India. There will even be an opportunity to taste many local "must-try" food in these areas which include top favorites such as Chicken Rice, Laksa, etc. Thereafter, you will visit Civic District, where you will learn more about our rich history through inspiring stories that have shaped our Lion City. In between, we will bring you to visit Marina Bay Sands SkyPark observation deck, where they will get to view iconic landmarks such as Gardens by the Bay, Singapore Flyer etc.

 

Then we begin our long journey back to Charlotte via Doha and Washington DC on the way home.  Fortunately, we get home on a Friday so I have the weekend to recover before going back to work.

 

So that is our schedule.  We leave tomorrow morning for the airport, we had our Christmas celebration tonight so that we could spend holiday time with the members of the family not going with us.  I am all packed and ready, and my ride to the airport is at 10:30am.  Hopefully I will get some sleep tonight!

 

 

[topanga49er]

Just now, topanga49er said:

Great choice!  That elephant excursion sounds amazing!  I would jump at that.  Have a great time and we will follow along..

 

[Aaron3]

Super interested to hear about the NYE on Phuket. 
we are currently looking at the 5 night on anthem from 28th. Penang and Phuket (overnight at Phuket). We’ve done KL before for a few days so penang and longer in Phuket appeals. We’ve sailed anthem before too. 
do you actually leave Phuket at 8pm on the NYE sailing? Do you stay close enough to see fireworks etc at midnight?

[Aaron3]

Also nice to see the difference of ships. The kids swimming on anthem has no slides but our daughter loved the tiny fast “lazy river”

[EllaDuChien]

15 hours ago, Aaron3 said:

Super interested to hear about the NYE on Phuket. 
we are currently looking at the 5 night on anthem from 28th. Penang and Phuket (overnight at Phuket). We’ve done KL before for a few days so penang and longer in Phuket appeals. We’ve sailed anthem before too. 
do you actually leave Phuket at 8pm on the NYE sailing? Do you stay close enough to see fireworks etc at midnight?

 

Hi Aaron - yep, we really left at 8pm and we did not see any fireworks. They had virtual 

fireworks at the 270 theater, but that was all. There was a big party in the esplanade and other venues with balloons and champagne. 
 

 

15 hours ago, Aaron3 said:

Also nice to see the difference of ships. The kids swimming on anthem has no slides but our daughter loved the tiny fast “lazy river”

My daughter loved the pools, she swam every night after our excursion, 

[sgmn]

How is the food on board?  I'm hoping for a good stir fry station in the buffet. 

As its only four nights we're not doing any specialist restaurants when we cruise next month

[EllaDuChien]

Our final port stop was Phuket. More than anything, I wanted to visit the elephant sanctuary. I had held off on purchasing the excursion while I tried to convince anyone else to join me but by the time they all flatly refused, the excursion was sold out. I resigned myself to a less exciting tour and was just browsing on Black Friday when the elephant sanctuary popped up with one spot remaining, I grabbed it! The rest of the family did a Scenic Tour with Lunch. 
 

 

Phuket is a tender port so of course everyone has to hop on a small boat to get to shore. That process, for me at least, went very smoothly, no issues at all. Once ashore, you run the gamut of taxi drivers and tour hawkers as well as typical pushy vendors. 
 

 

 

I met our guide and we headed to the bus area, which is a schlep from the pier…this will come more into play on the way back to the ship. 
 

The morning started with a bit of a SNAFU for me: I hopped on a tender and met my group guide about 45 minutes early so I decided to go to an ATM and get some local cash. My mistake was in not checking the exchange rate while I was on ship’s WiFi, but I didn’t so I had no idea what was an appropriate amount of money to take. The options were 1000 Baht or 10,000 baht. Guess which one I chose!

 

Then, armed with an obscene amount of Thai money, I headed back to the meeting spot only to find that the group had left 30 minutes early to head to the bus!! Fortunately, I could still see the group so I was able to hurry to catch up with them. Our group had a bus and a van. Since I was trailing behind I got directed to the van, which ended up having just a family of six and me. They were super nice but I certainly felt like I intruded a bit!

 

Since we were early, we stopped at a scenic overlook for photos…

 

 

 

and a Buddhist temple for a bit before heading to the sanctuary.

 

 

 

Edited January 2 by EllaDuChien

[bailda]

On 12/29/2023 at 10:29 PM, EllaDuChien said:

Port Klang, Malaysia is our first stop. I have reserved a ships tour called Instagramable Hotspots of Kuala Lumpur. After about a 90 minute drive from the port to the city, our first stop is a Chinese temple. We had about an hour here. If you take this tour, please note that you must take off your shoes to enter the temple, plan your sock wear accordingly.

 

 

Next we headed to Chinatown for about an hour. Here you could get lunch or shop for authentic fake designer fashion and other trinkets. Or if you wanted to, you could get something to eat. The “Instagramable” part of this stop was some murals painted on the alley walls. That part was cool. The rest of Chinatown was like many other tourist shopping areas: pushy vendors, the same merchandise at every stall, and crowded. We tried to get something to eat, but none of the hawker stalls took credit and we were unable to find an ATM to get local currency.

we ended up at a tea shop outside of the pedestrian area for cold brew teas and sesame balls, both were delicious!

 

 

 

Next we had a photo stop at the Patronus Towers. There were tours that ventured inside the towers, but for us just a stop then on to Batu Caves for our final stop. 

 

 

The Batu caves house a Hindu temple and if you want to go pray to these Gods, you’re gonna have to sacrifice. 272 steps to the top only to find more steps into the actual cave.

 

Two small notes on this: first, ladies must have their shoulders and knees covered. There are guards at the bottom of the steps enforcing this. There are sarongs available for purchase but not for free. Second: 272 steps is NO JOKE!!

 

They are steep and keep in mind that once you get to the top, you have to climb back down. While the climb up was exhausting, the trek back down was kind of scary. The steps are narrow, only about the length of my foot. By the time I made it up and back down, I was done for the day! Fortunately, that was our last stop so I had an hour’s ride back to port to catch my breath.

 

 

Dinner was MDR again. Coconut shrimp was delicious as an appetizer but the pesto tagliatelle was a miss. No discernible pesto sauce, but a weird combination of tomatoes, mushrooms and red and green peppers. 
 

 

We went to the production show, Showgirls, which was good. Then off to bed to recover from the day and get a good night’s sleep before Penang.

Did you have to reserve for this show as I keep checking on the app and it doesn't give an option to do so. We have reserved Silk Road show. 

[bailda]

Can I ask. Did  you go ashore at Patong Beach in Phuket as I've heard it can stop at other places there.

[EllaDuChien]

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

How is the food on board?  I'm hoping for a good stir fry station in the buffet. 

As its only four nights we're not doing any specialist restaurants when we cruise next month

I would say the food was “okay.” There is not a stir fry station in the buffet, but there is a noodle bar. It looked like they were custom making ramen. We ate in the main dining room several nights and always found something to eat. I will say that every single meal that we had off ship, either on our excursions or in Singapore before the cruise, was way better than the ships food. I’m not complaining, the ship has to cook for thousands at every meal, but the local food was exceptional.

 

10 minutes ago, bailda said:

Did you have to reserve for this show as I keep checking on the app and it doesn't give an option to do so. We have reserved Silk Road show. 

No. The only show that requires reservations is Silk Road. The rest are first come first served.

 

9 minutes ago, bailda said:

Can I ask. Did  you go ashore at Patong Beach in Phuket as I've heard it can stop at other places there.

Yes, the tender came ashore at Patong Beach. Way down on one end. 
 

[bailda]

Thankyou for that. I just wondered as we stayed there for a week a few years back and know the area well. We did the elephant trip from there at that time and it was the highlight of our week. 

[mugtech]

Sounds like you did not try the onboard Sechuan restaurant.

[EllaDuChien]

1 hour ago, mugtech said:

Sounds like you did not try the onboard Sechuan restaurant.

 

Hi mug,

No, we ended up choosing teppanyaki instead. I lobbied for Sechuan, but I was overruled! 😁

[firefly333]

Did you get any pictures of the elephants?