Voyager of the Seas - May 2012 - Dubai to Singapore with the Taj Mahal - Photo Review

[fireflies]

Time to recharge with a food stop. Penang is a great place for food with lots of local specialties. We had some bad luck as the place we wanted to try was closed on that particular so we went with our second choice.

 

 

 

 

The best char kuay teow noodles we've ever eaten. This was a medium plate, so good we could of eaten many more. We ate a lot of great food here but this dish was the best of the best.

 

 

Yummylicious fried oyster omelette.

 

 

 

 

The last stop was a demonstration for batik cloth making.

 

 

Some wares for purchase.

[IrishLassie]

Your pictures are BEAUTIFUL! Are you a professional photographer? My Dad was, and he would have loved all of these. Unfortunately I didn't inherit any of his talent!LOL Great job, loved your review. :D

[fireflies]

Following our busy day in Penang we had dinner reservations in the other dining alternative, the Italian specialty restaurant Portofino.

 

 

 

 

 

[fireflies]

The meal was enjoyable but found the desserts to be a little lacking. Maybe we were too full but they seemed awfully sweet (usually the case though on RC). Here's the food starting with the bread and spreads.

 

Ciopino seafood soup

 

 

Shrimp Risotto

 

 

Prosciutto and green apple with boccocini salad

 

 

Saltimboca. Like usual tasty.

 

 

Ossobucco with polenta.

 

It was dark by the time dessert rolled around so we didn't bother taking photos of them.

[relaxatsea]

Thanks so much for your great review and wonderful photos!

 

Your itinerary is so interesting and takes me to places I have never been before.

 

Loved seeing the Taj Mahal!

[avazah]

Wow! Still enjoying, restarted thread or not. Beautiful pictures, and this looks like such a unique and interesting cruise!!

[A&L_Ont]

Beautiful photos. Love your review.

 

Andrew

[LittleMissMagic]

Subbing! Love your style - beautiful photos - and I'm curious about the ports!

[fireflies]

morning everyone. thanxs, really appreciate all the nice comments. I'll try to finishing posting the rest of the photos in a couple of days

 

Fabulous photos! Can't wait to see more!

 

Thanks. It's wicked that you liked them

[fireflies]

How cool. I just booked this particular cruise this morning for next year May on the Mariner of the Seas.

 

It's a pretty awesome itinerary with the chance to see a different side of the world. Hope you have fun on the Mariner.

[fireflies]

Hello, i know that it is the person behind the camera that makes a picture but what kind of camera are you using? The pictures are vibrant and vivid!

 

Enjoying your picture review immensly. BTW i am from New Orleans and i wished i was on this cruise. Unfortunately there is this work thing is always getting in the way of fun. :)

 

We use a Pentax K-x with a prime lens and two zoom lens for the different occasions. Pentax seems to be a bit more film like than CaNikon and we like the contrasty and sometimes 3-d effect it has with shallow depth of field.

 

Yeah, work does really get in the way but New Orleans is a great place to kick back and chill after the day is done.

[fireflies]

Your pictures are BEAUTIFUL! Are you a professional photographer? My Dad was, and he would have loved all of these. Unfortunately I didn't inherit any of his talent!LOL Great job, loved your review. :D

 

Thanks:) I'm definitely not that good. I'm not a photographer just a hobbyist. Not much talent either but just learnt a few things with practice. Luckily had the chance to travel so I could practice a bit with shooting styles and figuring out how + what I like to shoot. Adobe Lightroom helps a lot too!

[fireflies]

Thanks so much for your great review and wonderful photos!

 

Your itinerary is so interesting and takes me to places I have never been before.

 

Loved seeing the Taj Mahal!

 

 

No prob, glad you liked them. The Taj Mahal is pretty jaw droppinging cool, def worth seeing if you have the chance/are in India.

[fireflies]

Wow! Still enjoying, restarted thread or not. Beautiful pictures, and this looks like such a unique and interesting cruise!!

 

Thanks again:) Yeah the ports were great.

 

I wasn't really that wanting to go on my first cruise but the ease + lifestyle of it can be super addictive and with all the new ships + new ports you get hooked. Have an awesome time on your first cruise/late honeymoon!

[fireflies]

Subbing! Love your style - beautiful photos - and I'm curious about the ports!

 

 

Thanxs so much, just a btw - I love your fun reviews since mine are kinda dry + boring. Keep rockin the Disney!

 

We usually find a cruise that we like based on the ports and then see what we can do in/near that port before/after the cruise. Dubai was a great starting point since we could see the Middle East (Jordan) and Singapore a great ending point (Indonesia).

[fireflies]

Beautiful photos. Love your review.

 

Andrew

 

Thanks Andrew appreciate the kind words

[juniorsmom]

I am glad I found your review again, beautiful pictures and a great review. Your cruise was a wonderful snapshot of places I don't think I will ever see. Wonderful.

[2tall]

I rarely read posts about the Dubai itineraries (typically only in the review section on the home page) and I've read two today! Both yours and the other one make it sound like something we should consider doing in the future, even though we never would have thought of it before. Thanks for adding a new perspective.

 

As an aside, I hope somebody took advantage of the batik prints in the shop and came home with them. They looked gorgeous!

[CAT GIRL]

Hi, I'm hoping you can help me with some of your expertise. I am

interested in more details on how to do the Taj trip on our own.

Can you fill me in on what time you took your flights, were they

non stop or with a connection, did you book yourself or online,

a guestimate on how much the flights cost, how long. What

would you have done differently since hindsight is 20/20. I guess I want to know it all.

$1900 per person would be a deal breaker for us so we're curious

as to your experience. Any details you are willing to share would

be great. Or feel free to email me privately at anita k 63 @

sbcglobal. net

Thank you so much and I'm looking forward to the rest of your review. I tried to find the

old thread incase some of these questions were already answered but couldn't find it.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review, great pictures..

[Melba51]

Loving your review and pics.

Its interesting to get another persons perspective on the VOS. We boarded in Singapore and sailed to Shanghai and found RC's organisation/logistics in the new ports to be less than perfect. Lots of long queues getting on and off ship and a few tense moments.

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[fireflies]

Hi, thanks again for the nice comments. Back to finishing up the review, the Dreamworks characters spruced things up a bit with the photo sessions and afternoon parade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even Dreamworks characters have to eat. Fun time getting up close and personal though the actual breakfast was the same as normal, thought they might have some "Po Pancakes" or an "Ogre Omelet"

 

 

 

 

 

[fireflies]

Some of the ups and downs on the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Down to

 

 

 

[Bluekat74]

Loved the review and was interesting to note we were at the same High Tea in Dubai.

[fireflies]

Back in Malaysia for our last cruise stop, in the capital of Kuala Lumpur. The port for Kuala Lumpur is Port Kelang and it's in the middle of nowhere in the sense that KLumpur is around 45 mins - 1 hr away and there is absolutely nothing if you walk off. You have to book an excursion/make other arrangements or just stay on the boat. Our first excursion choice was booked so we had to take the only one available which included an unusual stop at a restaurant serving a local soup.

 

 

 

It was optional to get the soup but it was before the dropoff point so if you didn't order anything you still had to wait for the group. Anyway, the soup is called "Bak Kut Teh" and translates as meat bone tea. It's very pungent and the restaurant we went to was overpriced and not really worth the stop/time especially since the ship isn't in KL very long.

 

 

 

A nearby produce vendor with the fragrant fruit durian.

 

 

Some rambutan and below mangosteen.