A Big Adventure

(This happened on) Sunday 19th December 2010

So the big day has arrived, the last time we went on a cruise was some 21 years ago on our honeymoon around the Mediterranean from Venice.

Now, with our Daughter living back in the UK and our Eldest Son working in Singapore all we had to do to have a holiday is find a home for our youngest Sabastian (14), luckily his Brother volunteered to have him over the Christmas and New Year period.

So, we could go away for Christmas, but where and how?

We could of course have stay put in Johor for the holiday but we fancied a change.

Sofia started re-searching sensible priced options and hey presto, here we are in a taxi heading over the causeway on the short trip to Singapore to catch a cruise ship that over the next two weeks will take us from Singapore to Malaysia and Thailand and back again and then up again and then down again.

It’s in truth not the most adventurous cruise as we are in our own backyard so to speak but we will be seeing many new places as well as some more familiar ones. The ride across the causeway always frustrates me as it always has the potential to be  a bottleneck.

Why cant Singapore and Malaysia sort something out so that at least for holders of their respective passports is a quicker process.

I accept the fact that as a foreigner I deserve more scrutiny but, come on people clear the bottleneck and everybody wins, many thousands of people from Malaysia travel into Singapore to work everyday and the queues are always long.

So, our first stop in Singapore is Queen Street taxi rank, this is where all the buses and taxis that travel between Malaysia and Singapore have to stop, you cannot just get a taxi from Malaysia to your hotel in Singapore, it doesn’t work like that. You cannot just stop a taxi in Singapore and tell them to take you to Johor. But, let me tell you  it’s no big deal.

Our arrival at Queen Street achieved we dragged our bags a few feet to the main road and hailed a taxi and then we were on our way to the harbor front, It’s an easy place to find as it is right next to the Vivo Centre one of Singapores biggest and best malls.

The taxi dropped us of and we checked our big bags in, in less than a minute, so easy.

The view from Vivo to Sentosa (Singapore)

We did not follow our bags onto the boat, deciding instead to go wandering around the mall. We have both been here many times before, it’s a useful place as also it’s the easiest way to get across to Sentosa Island, SIngapore’s playground island with it’s theme park, casino, beaches and much more.

We walked through the mall until we found a food pub called The Queen and Magosteen to get something to eat and drink. Sofia ordered a Caesar Salad and a Risotto plus a nice cold Bulmers cider, while I ordered a rib eye steak. The food was wonderful, the steak moist, properly medium rare and very tasty, it came with a little yorkshire pudding and big meaty chips (french fries are nothing like this) with a very nice pepper and mushroom gravy. Sofia also enjoyed her food, the risotto came with asparagus tips and very nice they were too. I think we will be back to eat there again.

We then continued on our wander around the mall until around 6:30pm when we headed over to the Ship.

I won’t say that joining the ship was easy, as there were a few issues as they seemed to want more than our passports and boarding cards, they kept asking for some blue card and also a copy of my passport, why they would need that when holding my real passport I don’t know. Eventually, they let us on as I kept repeating I had no idea what they were talking about.

We quickly found our room for the next couple of weeks and I was pleasantly surprised, it was like a small average level hotel room with a double bed, table and chairs, small TV and wardrobes etc. Most importantly it had a big three foot wide porthole letting lots of light in and offering us a nice view.

While Sofia unpacked her bags, I set off to explore the boat, it’s all very nice, clear and easy to get around with nice looking bars and restaurants and big sundecks.

That's our Ship. The Costa Classica

Later back in the cabin when Sofia was ready we headed out and I showed her around and then we sat down in a bar and had a few drinks and played some Kaluki, while people watching one of our favorite pastimes. We spent a long time deciding which famous personalities the other guests resembled.

Apart from a Nigella Lawson lookalike most of the people on the boat were decidedly unglamorous, so our conversations were not flattering. One couple we were arguing about, Sofia was convinced the woman was actually a man, I did not agree I felt she looked like a pug dog. I know we are mean but I am sure others do the same about us.

We had a snack and then with it getting late Sofia returned to the cabin and I went to th casino where I sat between pugwomans husband and Nigella Lawsonalike at the roulette table. I did quite well for a while having more than doubled my money but eventually I left having lost half my stake.

At 1:30am it was time for bed, Kuantan tomorrow.

All Aboard!