alicat58

Hi Tanya and Mishelle for your comments. I enjoyed doing this review and it makes it worthwhile if people make comments. Otherwise it would be a bit self indulgent I think. I spend far too much time on CC reading peoples reviews. I also searched high and low for information on the ports we visited and mostly find stuff on CC.

In a week we will be on the Diadema. I still cannot believe we are off again. Not really planned but who says no to a holiday. I am fortunate that I get lots of holidays and can at last afford them! There was a time when I was unable to take any holidays at all. Oh to be retired!

We had such a snowy week. It is unusual for us and the roads were awful. It is now thawing and like brown Slushies. Yuck.

Tanya I have never eaten one of those pomellos but they do have them in the supermarkets here. Very expensive though. I'd like to try one they sound delicious.

I'll try and scan and post the menu for one of the gala evenings but I need help from hubby and he is watching cricket.

Keep well.

Alicat(Riana)

Hi People from a very snowy UK. I don't work on Wednesdays but I am pretty much stuck.

So the last bit. of the cruise.

Singapore disembarkation day:

Our flight was very late in the evening 23h15 Singapore time to be exact. So the problem was what does one do whole day when you have suitcases. We decided to opt for a Costa excursion that ended at the airport. It was quite expensive at €55 each for a morning. It worked out quite well and we were at the airport early afternoon. So I would say an option to consider if you are stuck. If we knew we were going to Marina Bay International Cruise terminal we could have booked storage or delivery to the airport but Costa being Costa we did not.

We had to gather in the Grandbar and then left to go through Emigration again. It took a very long time yet again! Hubby's thumb prints did not work and he had to go to a little room with an officer. I had no idea why they took him off because we were split at the desks.

We then collected all our suitcases and were directed to our coach. Though we were told that we were in the French group , the guide spoke English. We visited the Botanical gardens(we did out own things as we already saw the orchid gardens), went to China town and then walked around the area where the Raffles statues are. We were supposed to go to the Merlion but it was covered for renovation. We also went up that hill that is supposed to be the highest in Singapore. Our bus driver was not great with gears!

The coach dropped up off at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and had to leave because of the preparations for Chinese New Year. This suited me because I still had not bought anything much to bring home.

The year of the dog. There were loads of these orange dogs. Various shapes and sizes.

Loads of shops selling a variety of decorations. I bought one of those little porcelain cats. I will use it on the Christmas tree.

More decorations. Lots of "golden" colours. The guide told us that everybody try and get an "orange tree" to keep at home as part of the celebrations. They are very expensive as a result. Lots were actually Kumquat. My dad used to have one in his garden.

Sir Raffles on his plinth and a guy who would not move.

At Changi airport.

Having wandered around in the humidity we were desperate for a shower. We used the Plaza Premium Lounge in Terminal 1. It cost $16 pp for a shower and a welcome drink (coffee or soft drink). If we knew how expensive drinks were in the terminal we would have booked 5 hrs for $58 pp. We pre-planned this though we had no idea where to go. Something else useful is that there is an early bag drop off so we were able to drop our large bag really early.

Gasp!!!!!!

Well that is finally the end of my story. I hope those who travelled along enjoyed it and found some useful bits. If there are any questions I can answer I would happily do so.

Alicat(Riana)

Hi

I am also wondering whether the "new" Brindiamo is the same as the "old" Piu Gusto as that does not seem to be an option on the comfort packages.

I'll try and find out when we are aboard soon and report back.

Alicat

Sihanoukville part 5:

One last temple to visit. This was up a hill. It was Wat Leu. We just went to the top bit and missed out on some good stuff lower down. Once again lots of beggars. All women and kids.

Part of the temple. Few more people here but not crowded at all.

Not as quirky as th eprevious temple but lots of statues dotted about in the gardens.

I thought this was amusing. Detail on top of building and the washing is on the porch.

A Bambi and an old man.

At the entrance.

And I leave you with a photo of a monkey.

We went back to the ship after this and has a quiet afternoon.

So that was Sihanoukville. Very different and such a pity that another culture is exploiting the place with all those Casinos they are building.

I might be back later but I have to do a bit of work now.

Alicat

Sihanoukville part4:

The market is packed and there are many entrances. I suggest you make sure you have a landmark to return to. The power went off a few times basically leaving us in pitch darkness.

This area had wider aisles. It was also brighter and close to an entrance. So you can see they sell the usual tat.

This is actually more like it. Narrow and packed to the rafters with stuff. There were tiny hair salons but I don't have a photo of that.

Lots of shops selling cold jewelry and some with the gold smiths sitting and making their wares. I wish I knew about this. I would have taken my ring to fix! A few of these shops also acted as money exchangers and we were able to get rid of some Baht we had left.

A shrine inside one of the shops.

Lunch. I think they eat a lot of offal because the smell was similar to the one I experienced in the first temple and it was not pleasant. On the shelf above the packet of cola is a tray of the stuff. We had to go outside because it made us feel queasy. Each to his own though.

The lady behind the counter does not look too happy.

I need to give credit to hubby for these photos.

Alicat

Sihanoukville part3:

Lots of amazing statues everywhere.

Look at the offering bottom left. Cups of tea and a teapot. I am guessing they were someones prized possessions.

I wish I knew what this place was called to find out about the statues. As you can see rather odd combinations of things.

Lots of shrines scatter all over the area.

I don't know whether these are bird feeder temples or not. Cute though.

We spent quite some time there because there were so many things to see.

Next stop was the market in town.

Alicat

I am back. So sad about Ron's kitties. I also lost one last year.

Sihanoukville part2: I spelt it wrong 1st time round.

We stopped off near a beach and walked along this pier to the end. There was a Russian couple right at the end and she was posing for him to take pics. It was a bit odd.

Walking towards the end there was a private beach on the right and public on the left. Public one was totally deserted and only few people swimming and sunbathing on the opposite side.

The private beach.

We left there and drove past an area with a few monkeys to a temple that was not visited by Costa. It was also nearly deserted and there were a few houses at the complex. The driver had to open a gate to the driveway to the temple. I am not able to find it on Google so once again I have no idea what it was called. It was one of the most fun ones we visited because there so many hidden bits to it.

Don't you just love this rat? It was a boy. Not sure whether you can see the wire whiskers.

I cannot quite get my head around the gods at the temples. This looks like Ganesh to me but he is Hindu.

The houses I mentioned.

I told you it was a fun place.

More to follow.

Alicat

Shianoukville:

For those of you who are planning the similar cruise next year, the evisa will be done on board even if you don't get off. We were charged on our ship bill, so in Euro. I think it was €30/40. Part there of was a handling charge by the company who came aboard to do them. For the pleasure of paying the money we got a whole page visa stuck in our passports.

You are unable to walk in this port but there were free shuttles into the outskirts of town outside a casino. At the casino it was teaming with taxis and tuk-tuks to take you about. We did not have much planned. A few temples and whatever they offered. We agreed a price with a chap and then he palmed us off on his friend who spoke minimal English.

Be prepared for squallor. The people are very poor and there is fly tipping everywhere. Building rubble in beauty spots, no problem. The Chinese are building loads of Casinos here. The driver told us when they visit they spend all their money in the casinos and not outside , so little goes to the country. Very sad I thought.

So temple number one. There were beggars everywhere. Lots of kids. If you take your shoes of get someone to look after them otherwise they will go walkies and you will have to pay a ransom to get them back. You gathered by now that hubby is not keen on taking his shoes off and I left him in charge of mine. He had to do a near rescue. He is a big guy so a finger wag was all that was needed.

Main hall. The priests were fed here. There was a bit of an assault on the olfactory senses here.

Beautiful buddha outside.

Reclining Buddha.

Priests

Sometimes I can do with so many arms.

No , not two faced but four faced!

I am going to leave you for today. I will be back with more tomorrow. Daughter is coming to visit and the trains on weekends are rubbish in our part of the UK so were are picking them up midway.

Byeeeee

Alicat

Bangkok day2:Part2

I had my doubts whether I would be able to get on/into one of the boats but decided to go and have a look.

Hahahaha, you have got to be joking! Not only would I not be able to get on it, once I got on I would not be able to get off those low seats. Plan B. Hubby decided he would rather come with me on the bus(coach) and miss whatever photo opportunities there were. So off we went with a driver and "bus boy"(I kid you not that is what the poor man was called by the guide) who could only speak Thai.

They took us to the floating market and we had a little free time to do some shopping before the rest of the group arrived. Have to say we did not see anything afloat and was hassled non-stop. They give you an outrageous price and when you say no, they give you a calculator to enter how much you will pay. Weird.

Thought people might like this too.

Then we got back on the bus and travelled to the opposite side of Bangkok and the port for lunch. The name of the place has changed. It used to be called The Rose garden. They still have "shows" there. It is absolutely gorgeous in the grounds and we actually had a very good lunch if a little hurried.

The dining room area.

The beautiful grounds.

We then hit the traffic again to get back to the ship. It took us over two hours and we got back with 15 minutes to spare to the ship leaving. As it turned out we left very late because many of the other excursions did not arrive back till two hours later.

My thoughts on this excursion:

It was crammed full of amazing places BUT we could have skipped a lot of the tourist rubbish like the show the night before. It could have been planned much better. We were crisscrossing Bangkok and the traffic is diabolical. Why on earth do they not plan for things closer together to be done and then only travel to the next place where other close together things are. Why on earth would you arrange lunch on the last day the furthest side of Bangkok , miles from the port.

This excursion was cheaper than the ones I looked at on line and we were not a very large group which was good. I think it is the only way you could cram so much in and get safely back to the ship even if you are hours late.

So Shianoukville next episode.

Alicat.

Morning All

It is weekend, hallelujah! The last two days at work wore me out. Thursday 13hours, home for 11hours and back on Friday. At least it was a slightly shorter day but still hectic.

Thanks MishelleMcc and Maryanne2 for your comments. Maryanne I am surrounded by daughters books from birth to recent. I have not come across The cat that travelled. I will look out for it. It reminded me of a cute book on the shelf called Toto in Rome. It's about a little boy who rescues a cat from a fountain in Rome. It has Italian words for younger kids to learn and the drawings are fab. I just looked through it. I have no grandchildren yet, daughter is only 24. She needs to wait a while and hopefully in a few years I will be in your position.

Looking forward to hearing when you get a kitten TJ.

OK, Bangkok day2:

We had to get up at 5.30 am to be in the lobby at 6.15. Initially they said 5.45. Yikes that is early when you are on holiday.

The first place we were going to visit was the "train market". Now what the hype is about this place I have no idea. So the train goes through a market and they move their stalls and then it leaves and the put them up again. Big deal. I have to add my dad was a train driver and trains hold no romance for me. He used to be on steam trains and then electic till he retired.

Fish and crabs. I have no idea what the red things are.

I love this photo. I unintentionally got the pensive stall holder in it. I actually took a pic of those massive fruits. I think they are pomelo. Like a massive grape fruit.

So here is the train with lots of people on the track.

And the train driver who high Five's people as he goes by. I suppose he is a bit of a celebrity.

Now what was much more interesting that it was some or other national day for school children and there was a massive parade through the main street. Our guide did not know it was going to happen but then realised and told us later. As I said before, he really was not great. Did not deserve the tip we gave him.

Part of the parade. I could not quite get my head around the themes. Some were planets and the girls were dressed up to the nines. Others were not dressed up and minimum effort made.

Some more.

We left here in a bit of a hurry. Our next stop was the floating market that is now totally for tourists. We were going on a Bum boat. Hmmm. Really?

Next episode to follow.

Alicat

Hi Ron

Also hope the flight is not too bad. Maybe you fly first and can sleep all the way.

Riana

Sent from my SM-G925F using Forums mobile app

Of course it makes you a beautiful person Ron. Have the most amazing cruise and tell us all about it when you come back. Diadema booked for 10 /3. Fortunately I get lots of leave.

Riana

Sent from my SM-G925F using Forums mobile app

Bangkok part 4:

By now we were all ready to go to the hotel to have a shower and get ready for the evening programme. No such luck. We had another boat ride and the found out bus. We had a choice, go to supper (very early) and wait for the show (Siam Niramit) and go to the night market after, or go to the night market first. Night market first please.

As it was late afternoon the night market was not really going but to be honest by now nobody cared. We managed to find a spot to have a beer to share. There were massive bottles.

We wandered around the market looking at the food. Lots looked amazing.

What looked less amazing were the amount of fat flies on the food.

Anyone peckish? Nice bugs and chillies.

I do hope we don't run out of alternative protein in my life time.

We used the underground to cross the road. There is no other way to get across. Our bus collected us here and took us to the Siam show.

We had another buffet supper. Served in what can only be described as a school hall. The food was not great and the show was really not our cup of tea. We had to stand for the national anthem before and sit through a film about the king.

We finally got to the hotel at 23h00. We were so tired, we showered and dropped into bed because we had to be in the hotel lobby at 6.15! We stayed in a Hyatt and it was actually really nice. We were a little worried that Costa will put us in some crummy old place. They supplied a breakfast box in the morning and some coffee if you wanted.

More Bangkok later. I'll try on the weekend but daughter and boy friend are visiting.

Bye for now.

Alicat

Ps. Ron I saw a programme with Passau in this morning. It is beautiful. Lucky you.

Bangkok part3:

The temple of the reclining buddha where I took my shoes off.

He is HUGE and long. His toes were covered.

His face.

Now, you walk along fight to get a photos with lots of people hogging the places were you can do so. All of them posing with selfie sticks. So rude and annoying.

I think this was a shutter panel at one of the windows.

Now this is where I nearly got into trouble. You exit after you have gone beyond the covered tootsies and go outside. I thought , OK get the shoes back on and was pounced upon by two people(guards). You go in and then walk behind the buddha. OK , so I did not expect that. Just a warning for the unexpecting visitors.

So after all that faff I had to take a photo of the back of his head.

There is actually loads to see at this temple and many areas were you did not have to take your shoes off. We also got a small bottle of cold water as part of our ticket. Lasted seconds.

Stupa and a bonsai.

And I saved the best photo for last. Is that not just adorable? TJ I always actively seek out kittens and I am not always a cat free zone at the time. I am sure I must have triggered the need for a kitten in the TJ and Luke house hold.

Alicat

Bangkok part 2:

I have bemoaned the fact that my hubby is not keen to eat anything ashore in the east. He had no choice this time but he probably lost a kilo because he had such miniscule portions.

The bus dropped us off a little way from the boat stop because the roads were too narrow for it. We walked to the restaurant but unfortunately I do not know what it was called. Only WiFi at the bottom and we were on the top floor. Buffet food. Thai curries etc. It was OK but not so that you would want to put it on Instagram. The two of us escaped and went for a walk. Some interesting shops but we did not buy anything. There were also some interesting smells. At one cafe the spices where so strong that it made my eyes burn.

You can see one of the boats in front of that temple. They guys driving are maniacs. They go very fast, there are loads of them and they swerve and go ballistic. One of our group got totally soaked. We went someway up the river which is called "King River". We saw the royal barges and lots of temples and a large water monitor(lizard). At our turning point the guide fed the fish and they were very keen.

We headed back and walked to the Grand Palace. The guide war worried that most of us would not get in because of the dress code. He was even worried at my sandals and my toes barely show out of them! We all got in no problem. It was absolute sensory overload.

Wow!

It was packed. Look at the guys tusks.

I told you it was sensory overload.

My photo does not do the intricate work justice.

I did not take many photos. I think because my jaw dropped so much that I could not manage my camera.

By now it started to rain. We were told we could get a tuk-tuk or walk 1km (or so) to the next temple.

I don't like being rained upon and we have already walked miles so off we went to get a tuk-tuk. Now I have mentioned that I am not exactly nimble. It was near enough impossible to get into the d8mn thing because there was no curb. I had a bruise on my shin for three weeks after.

We set off to the Temple of the reclining Buddha and met our fellow cruisers there.

Another episode to follow.

Alicat

Hi there

I have been appraised and good to go for 12 mnths!

Luke I am glad to hear you think the stuff I am posting is super cool. At least someone thinks it. My darling daughter thinks her mum is extremely boring cruising all the time. She is off to South Africa next month and plans to do shark cage diving. My personal opinion? It is seriously daft.

TJ I don't do beach any longer. Few reasons really. I am of certain proportions these days and struggle to get off loungers etc. There , I said it. Also I dislike the sand sticking to me. We used to do two types of holidays when I was a kid. One was beach. Loved it in those days but I have a very fair skin and usually burnt so badly on day one that I spent the rest of the holiday in the shade. Our second type was going on safari. It was during the winter, there was no sticky sand and I did not burn.

Wansbrough: Gosh you are quick off the mark. I hope he is as good as we found him.

Now I mentioned that rude word"Diadema" in one of my last posts. It is booked and we are leaving in just over two weeks. I have no intention of doing a review on that one but will report back on our experience.

Let me get on with this review. Our next port was Laem Chabang for Bangkok. We had an overnight stay and I convinced hubby to book an overnight Costa excursion. I looked at similar excursion on TA and they were way more expensive. The Costa excursion included the hotel as well and it turned out 2 lunches and supper. We were in a combined German and English group.

We were collected before the crack of dawn and grabbed breakfast in the buffet just after 6.30 am. The one side was an absolute scrum. We decided to get a juice from the bar at the back and hoped that they would open the other side of the buffet. We were lucky.

This area is outside once you have walked through the buffet. Lots of people sat there lunch times. It was very hot and humid out there. You can see just how dark it was. Later on they had two omelette/fried egg stations out here.

It is very much an industrial port.

So we met up in the grandbar I think and my goodness are some of the Costa staff rude! Well we all know that. We set off to our bus and they popped our overnight bags in the "hold". Our guide was multilingual and spoke German and English throughout. In fact it would have been good if he did not speak so much. We heard all about how Thais marry and divorce regularly. I cannot remember whether he was on wife two or three and we heard all about how much he had to pay his MinL. I thought of Ron.

Everything you have heard about Bangkok traffic is true and much worse than what you are told. It was crazy.

Our first stop was the temple complex with the Golden Buddha:

There are lots of kilos of gold in him.

Panel on the way up to the buddha.

He was inside that top section.

Some fake flowers inside. Pretty though.

Now Costa made it very clear on all the blurp that they gave us that we need to be respectfully dressed. Men with long trousers and shirts and women with legs and shoulders covered. Yes you have guessed it. Men in shorts and women in tank tops. So they had to go shopping just outside the temple complex to get trousers etc. Must say the three men looked quite ridiculous in their elephant print girly bloomers. Suits them right. We also had two stranglers who missed the bus at the port and we were forever waiting for them at every single stop for the two days.

The bus then dropped up off for a very early lunch because we were getting on a boat to look at the architecture from the water.

Next issue to follow.

Alicat

Welcome to CC and the Costa Boards.

Sorry that I cannot help you with info. I cannot recall that I have seen any cribs.Suggest you call Costa directly and ask them.

I hope you have an amazing time.

Alicat

Can't even see a 5/4 departure on the Costa UK. All starting at nearly £900!

I have not seen anything that cheap on Costa UK uless it was for 2d in ages. Maybe that is why the ships are even more full of Italians and French people.

Alicat

Koh Samui the final episode:

Now my dear husband thinks I am crazy but if there is a mummy to be found I will want to see it. I've been to see them in Egypt, Palermo, Bari, London and Koh Samui.

Wat Khunaram was the last temple we visited in Koh Samui. This monk apparently died in this position whilst meditating and then they mummified him and stuck him in this glass case. I used the boss's camera to take the photo because he was fed up with taking his shoes off.

I think the painting at the top might be when he was a young man.

Hmmm. I thought shoulders should be covered.

So I stole this one from the big camera.

Part of the complex. This was also pretty much deserted.

So that was Koh samui. We went back to port, grudgingly paid our crazy lady driver $100 and got a tender back to the ship.

Next stop in Bangkok. For those of you who are totally templed out. Sorry, much more to come later in the week.

Have a good week for those of you who still work and those who are slumming it at home, enjoy!

Alicat(Riana)

Sorry, Koh Samui part4:( I forgot to mark the previous entry)

Guan -Yu Shrine. This chap was a famous Chinese general. Fierce looking chap.

Amazing door.

Inside the shrine.

These puzzling things were at a lot of the temples. At one we visited they were throwing bangers

(Not the sausage type but fire crackers) into it and it caused one almighty racket. So if some clever person out there can enlighten us it would be appreciated. By the way look at the rain! Not torrential but I don't like to be rained upon. We have been very lucky though and this was the only day on the whole cruise(other than our pre-cruise time in Singapore) when it rained.

OK not 6 photos but the last episode of Koh Samui to follow.

Riana

According to Google this is Wat Sila Ngu. This is the one little issue if you don't go with an official guide. You look at stuff but you don't have the foggiest idea what the story is. Easily sorted by checking on Google when you get home. I do not enjoy the ship excursions much.

The outside is basically fired terracotta. My resident expert on that said it is extremely difficult to do.

Not blood thirsty at all.

I should have gone closer to get a decent photo but was a bit worried I would fall into that hole.

This is behind the temple. It is right on the coast on the ring road and there were beaches below and along this area. Not quite in focus but I like it anyway.

I assume these are funerary in nature. I don't think it was possible to go down those steps with the cobras on.

This place was deserted and amazing. Not a soul with a Costa sticker in sight.

Next lot to follow.

Riana

Koh Samui part2:

There are lots of big Buddha temples all over this area. Here is another one.

OK, I could have done better on the photographic front but was now drizzling and it was phone and brollie time.

Awwww.

It was a whole complex. If it was not wet I would have like to do some shopping here. There were loads of lovely looking stalls.

Another view from the top but towards the sea. It was so pretty. I can just imagine what amazing views there will be on a sunny day.

Look at the size of that tree trunk!

I honestly cannot remember how we got to this bit.

Part3 to follow.

Riana

Hi people

Tanja thanks for helping out with a response to the "mo-Rons". I agree 1 Ron is enough but I could not think of such a clever response.

Wansbrough: zaidii73@yahoo.com. He is also on the other big travel site and uses WhatsApp. He sent me a photo of him and his car(Toyota) before and greeted us with a card with my name on, in the port building. He was able to tell us lots of stuff about the country and actually understood a lot of the nuances English second language speakers find difficult. Hubby spoke to him about the country's finances and all sorts.

Now before I get back to my tale. I came back home from work(stressed as anything) on Friday evening. So whilst cooking hubby says to me: "Can you take time off in March then we can go on the Diadema for a week". Huh?! that is next month. Also we were not going to cruise so much this year to get one of those upgrades that irritates Tenpin so much. And the Diadema???? I thought we said we are not going on her again. So though we have not booked yet, I made sure our favourite restaurant in Palma is open in March: Yes they are. Look at availability of flights: Will have to be Ryanair from Stansted:Blegh. Check at work tomorrow whether it is going to be a huge disruption: Who cares!

OK enough of that.

Koh Samui part1:

I just looked at my Dropbox to see what I planned for the day and noticed I wrote: Dunno!

It was another tender port. So yet again taking our lives in hand on rickety tenders with local cowboys at the helm. That was an Oceania ship which went to a few of the same ports as us.

When we got off the tender there were loads of taxi drivers hustling for business. Totally taking chances asking for $170 for the day! You have got to be kidding. Considering that we paid a lot less at most of the other ports.We eventually managed to get a driver(Miss Nee) for $100. Total rip off.

I think this one is Wat Plai Laem

Lots of photos of the new king everywhere.

I think this is quite a fun photo.

There were loads of cats at this temple.

More to follow.

Riana

Hi people

Just a quick reply to some of your entries and thank you very much for following still.

Luke: The last page I posted of the menu which start with I piaci or something of the sort is the always available. So basically Spag bol, Pasta with tomato sauce, chicken and fish. I think I had the chicken once and it was nice enough. We had burgers from the grill at lunch time (once I think). Apart from not being piping hot they were pretty good. The chips were very good. I still have not tried a hot dog on Costa. Maybe next time. The grill was open till just before three.

Tenpin: I though the food in the MDR was actually good and varied. Our only disasters were the mouldy lobster and the tuna tartare. We ate in the MDR a few lunch times and enjoyed that too.

I will do a proper further entry tomorrow. I had a training day today (9.30 till 17.00) It would have been good if it was not for three morons who liked the sound of their own voices and asked irrelevant questions. Reminded me of those B8gg8rs who sat in the front row at uni and asked questions all the time.

Back tomorrow

Alicat

Just saying but I never do the i-Ron-ing. Training is possible.

Riana