Miaminice

At the bay we allowed ourselves a rest at a Starbucks. We couldn’t resist the view - and a cold drink. After saying hello to our old friend the Merlion we continued to the Albert Center in Bugis. For weeks we had already been looking forward to having Popiahs there again. Of course they didn’t come all alone. Fried carrot cake was our second course.

We decided to walk towards Clark Quay and then to Marina Bay. Of course we walked through the grand building of the Fullerton Hotel. The Fullerton is the former general post office. Now it was beautifully decorated for Christmas and postal bears were omnipresent. Even the Christmas Tree was made of bears.

Celebrity Solstice - December 2023 - Day 1 - Singapore We were happy to finally get to fly with our favorite airline Singapore Airlines again. Seats at the emergency exit, a good entertainment system and the renowned friendliness of the crew made the 12 hour flight a pleasant one. Getting through immigration at Singapore’s amazing airport was a breeze. We had already completed the arrival cards online at home and entry was completely automated. Our luggage appeared on the belt just a few minutes after we got there. So we headed to the exit, used the Grab app to call a ride into town (€18) and enjoyed the ride to our hotel. Although we always highly recommend the Andaz Hotel in Singapore, we had chosen a small boutique hotel this time. We simply restricted ourselves to a lower budget. When we reached the Scarlet Singapore we felt it wasn’t a mistake at all. The small hotel in one of the iconic shophouse style streets was very charming. It was just around 9am. Too early to check in. So we dropped our luggage off and started to explore… The hotel is very close to China Town‘s Buddha Tooth Temple. At this early time the temple was still empty. A chance to take in the beautiful architecture and to admire the countless statues undisturbed.

Dear Travellovers 😁 We are on our way to our next adventure. Happy to fly with our favourite airline again, we are currently on board of a Singapore Airlines 777 on our way to Singapore. We have one day to explore our favourite places in Singapore again before we embark on Celebrity Solstice on the 22nd. She’ll take us to Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong. As always, we would be happy to take you along 😁 Happy holidays and much love ❤️ Birgit & Oliver

Short answer: Yes, why not?!

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

Our favorite Hawkers are Albert Center and People’s Park Complex. Not touristy and it’s where some Singaporian friends go with their families. We also like Makansutra Gluttons Bay… try the Coffee Pork. Lau Pa Sat is nice but too touristy for us.

We have and we probably will again - we are on the same cruise. it works just the same as uber… you use the app to choose where you want to go. You’ll see what’s available. Then you book your ride. Pretty simple.

IMHO - especially for M class - that is a question difficult to answer. On an unrefurbished M class we really dislike the old fashioned and dark dining room. A bit better on the refurbished ones like Millennium. However, we greatly enjoyed Blu on Millennium on our last cruise. Plus, on M class there are no real alternatives. Maybe Tuscan to bite the bullet. LPC - no thanks ☺️ in June we did a cruise on Infinity and ended up dining at Tuscan almost every night because we couldn’t stand the dining room. Dark, loud, hectic… Tuscan was OK, but we really regretted not having booked Aqua class.

I hear you... however, any cruise ship copying local food is still not the real thing 🙂 So having lunch or a snack at local restaurants is just part of the whole experience. And one thing is guaranteed - you won´t stay hungry in Japan 🙂

Except for Ramen on the last day`s buffet, there was no focus on Japanese food. It was the usual variety.

Thank you! You might find some of your other ports in our older reviews linked in post #178. I was ready to book another cruise to Japan. Birgit persuaded me to book something different. I am already sorry I listened to her 🙂

You need to join the roll call for this kind of info:

When it comes to beverage package the Xpress pass will say CALL for Classic and PALL for Premium. Spelled out Classic on the top - as the OP mentioned - is the loyalty level and has nothing to to with beverage package.

It is! Stateroom category, Loyalty Level and Casino Level are the three things... Pearl seems to be the lowest and basic level at the casino. I never gamble. A few years ago I played roulette only once with $20 onboard credit. Since then it says Pearl on my card.

You lost me on e class 🙂 E class don´t have to go through revolution... they are the revolution. With the old M class TVs (unrevolutionized) you can´t even check the account. That´s why I doubt you can do anything there - without hacking into the HDMI. Refurbished Millennium has the new software, ethernet and all - Infinity and Constellation have exactly what you said: dumb displays - only connected with old fashioned coax cables.

The question was for Constellation. She has not had any upgrades yet and the old TVs are still used. So I doubt it would work. We were on Infinity in Juen. Same thing... old TVs, no interactive system etc.

I think you are mixing up two things here. Yes, E class ships have no set dining times anymore. But of course you can make reservations for a time on the app and they are recognized on board. Worked fine for us. But making reservations is not a must. We only did for some nights and didn´t have any problems on the other nights without a reservation. So in the future I won´t bother making reservations.

Yes, this was from when they started E class…. Then they stopped it because people didn’t want to be assigned to one restaurant. But this has also been discussed for month and months…

Assigning tables and fixed dining times are separate things. of course you can ask for the same table to be reserved for you at the same time. However, everyone can jus come as they like. On Apex we witnessed the usual long lines on embarkation day at the dining desk next to guest relations. All the people who weren’t happy with either the early or late seating they got. All received the same answer which was: Come whenever you want, dining times don’t apply on E class. So I can only relay what staff on board said and what I heard on board… not on CC or FB but from guest relations staff. 🤷🏻

No fixed dinging times on E class anymore. just a thing of the IT system.

Nice to hear that we could entice you to choose Japan. I am sure you won´t regred it. We stayed at the Oakwood Suites Hotel in Yokohama and were positively surprised. Huge rooms, great view and friendly service - for a very reasonabe price. We paid €113 for the night and it was well worth it.

Hi, tbh I really dislike the ship tours with big groups and following a number. So I would always recommend a private guide for a small group. You can always find people to join you on the cruise critic roll calls. However, you need to be able to manage some stairs and steps. Not just at the sights themselves but also getting there via the train stations etc. Oliver

Currently my number 1 recommendation would be Japan. We just returned from our third cruise to Japan and we are already contemplating a next trip - maybe even just on land. Japan is absolutely beautiful! However, choose local guides over ship tours to get the authentic experience.

TBH, having done all the ports this is not an itinerary I´d recommend. Southeast Asia, yes... great cruise. Japan, beyond fabulous!!! But mixed up like this you won´t get to appreciate the freeling of one or the other. We just did Japan (our review was linked above) and we have done Asia before. And we´ll do Asia again in December. But I wouldn´t do this mix.