Bay of Bengal CRUISE

[Kruzermum]

Hi Everyone,

So lovely to be back after so long..............

 

I have just booked a cruise from Singapore cruising around some lovely places in Asia, including Penang, Port Blair, KL, Langkawi, Phuket and Burma. We are cruising on the Princess Daphne (not the Princess line we all know) this ship belongs to Classic International Cruises. Has anyone traveled on this ship? I am finding it very difficult to find a personal forum on her. I am sure she is beautiful and reads exceptionally well (bearing in mind 'it's the true classic cruising, not the glam of the bigger ships). Also can you give me some advise on the destinations and what we can do, what to look our for, shopping bargains ;-).

This cruise is a result of loving the Dawn Princess last July on a South Pac cruise. We had a ball as much as the ocean was throwing us around and we missed Noumea due to the SF saga, the greatest thing of all was we made the Best Friends ever who just happen to live only 4 suburbs away :-) . I'm looking forward hearing from you. Thanks in advance.

KM:)

[paul929207]

We sailed the Tahitian (now Ocean) Princess thru this area last fall. We overnighted in Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Burma). In addition, we spent a week in Myanmar in January, While the government is very repressive, the people are wonderful.

 

Everytime you enter a pagoda or temple, you will have to take off your shoes and socks, so it is good to have shoes that slide off. Also, have at least one large or two small towelletes per person per pagoda to clean your feet.

 

Myanmar is not set up for tourists the way many places are. The main place to chop was Scott's Market in downtown. Myanmar offerred us a shuttle between the ship and town that dropped us off about 2 blocks from this market. I cannot remember the Myanmar name for it.

 

Do NOT convert any money to the local currency. The official rate is about 6 to 1 US$. Black market rate is 1000 to 1.

 

If you buy clothes (like t-shirts), try them on. The people are much smaller than American, Europeans, etc. My wife is about 5 ft 6 in and weights 120 pounds of so. She had to buy an XXL blouse.

[Kruzermum]

Paul, thanks so much for your quick reply. I have been sitting here browsing other posts and frequently checking if anyone had responded to mine.

 

I am very excited about our up coming travel and spending two full days in Myanmar is sounding more enthralling as we speak. I really do appreciate your tips and look forward to any more info you may have for us. I actually did a Primary School assessment on Myanmar (Rangoon) when I was 12 or so :-) I am wrapped to be visiting.

Thanks again.

Stephanie

[paul929207]

I am not familiar with your ship, so I don't know how big it is. Our ship, the Tahitian now Ocean Princess, is about 30,000 grt and carries nearly 700 passengers. Our visit was cut short. Instead of arriving in the early morning and sailing the following evening, we arrived about 1pm and sailed about noon the next day. This was because the Yangon River is shallow, so we had to come and go over high tide.