Live Voyager Beijing to London

[s2000drvr]

S2000 -- thanks for the updates. Sounds like a great trip so far - I'm cruising vicariously through you! Enjoy your trip and please post when you can!!

 

Bill

 

PS - can I assume by your name that you're a fellow S2000 enthusiast? I have an '06 in Silverstone Metallic - waiting for warmer weather to get the top down! :D

 

Bill, we have a 2000 in red and we just love that car! We hear you about driving top down! Hope the weather warms up for you soon. Our weather is the same as it has been, gloomy, windy. I have no idea where the sun is these days and when we do see it, I can imagine how bright it will be to us.

[mesamis]

Funny thing that you should ask, as just yesterday morning we went to Destinations to ask about Rome and Luxor and were told that they were working on it and nothing has been finalized. As soon as we hear, I will definitely post here for you.

 

 

Many thanks.

[s2000drvr]

Today we arrived in Hong Kong about 1:15p at the China Merchant Wharf. The weather has finally changed and we welcomed the sun and the warmth. Regent offered a shuttle to the IFC mall which was not far, about 10 minutes depending upon traffic. We took the shuttle there, walked around in the mall and took the shuttle back.

 

We had the Victoria's Peak at Night tour tonight. It is a 3 hour tour. The coach takes you to the tram where you wait and wait and wait in long lines to board the tram up to the peak. It is a very short ride up the steep mountain. Once we got there, the view was terrific. Lots of buildings lit up and we were up so high. We then went to a restaurant for a drink and some appetizers. We were offered orange juice or coke.

 

Then we took the coach back down and thank goodness, as I did not want to wait in any more lines! The views were spectacular coming down. It was worth the tour just for the ride down. I would not do this again, once was enough.

 

Tomorrow we are doing the Living Traditions of Hong Kong. Hope there are no long lines.

[s2000drvr]

Overnight in HK. The weather has been the same, gloomy upon waking up, but turning sunny and a bit warm.

 

Today we took the Living Traditions of HK. This has got to be in the top ten of shore excursions. It was a 4 1/2 hour tour, but the best yet. We toured the Tin Hau Temple which is a temple for sailors. It had the largest spiral incense that I have ever seen. The temple was beautiful and peaceful.

 

All in all we saw the wet market which had the freshest fish. A fish was split in half, and the heart was still beating. Other fish were just flip flopping around in large trays. The dry market was full of duck kidneys, shark fins, fish mouths, shrimp, geckos, and anything else that could be dried. Wish you all could just smell the market as we did.

 

We went on the world's largest escalator, 900 meters long. We only did a very small portion of the ride. This escalator helps move along the many people that need to go to work in the morning and then takes them home at night. An estimated 2 million people take various transportation modes each day in HK.

 

We also visited a cafe where we were treated to a very strong tea and an egg dessert. The dessert was a custard round in a very flaky crust and was quite good. The tea was very strong, but tasty. We enjoyed it all.

 

HK is such a busy city with so many people. The buildings are incredible. If I knew how to put a picture in, then you could all see what we have been seeing.

 

More later.

[findacruise]

Wish we had been on your tour! Enjoyed Macau but nothing wonderful like your tour - guide mediocre and uninspiring.

[s2000drvr]

Wish we had been on your tour! Enjoyed Macau but nothing wonderful like your tour - guide mediocre and uninspiring.

 

Sorry to hear that, findacruise. Hope tomorrow your excursion is better. We will be doing the Monoliths.

[s2000drvr]

Today we have arrived at Halong Bay, Vietnam. The weather was a bit overcast and not as warm as I thought it would be. Later on the temps rose so it is considerably warmer now.

 

Today's excursion was Cruise the Monoliths. We took a coach for about 7 minutes where we got on these very comfortable boats that would take us around the bay. The boat had two sections, upstairs and main floor. The main floor had very nice seats and was covered. We cruised along in awe as these forms were just amazing. Some of the forms looked like a dog, cat, fish, fighting chickens.

 

We cruised around the inlets for about 2 1/2 hours, then back onto the ship. There was a market that we could take the shuttle to as we had the entire afternoon and this evening until 10:30p to do this. There are a few hotels nearby and some interesting looking restaurants.

 

Tonight is the deck BBQ so we thought we would hang around the ship.

[s2000drvr]

We enjoyed the deck BBQ so much tonight! The crew works so hard to present a beautiful venue full of all kinds of food. I tried some delicious fruit, ribs, tons of shrimp, cheeses. There were a few rain drops but nothing to take away the fun and excitement of eating great food on the open deck. What a night!

[s2000drvr]

Today is a sea day as we are heading into Saigon. The first time the sun was shining, humidity in the air, and blue skies above. It was a glorious day.

 

There was the mandatory lifeboat drill for everyone. It seems the rules have changed and now every 14 days, all must attend this drill.

 

The food has been terrific in CR as that is where we dine mostly for all the meals. We went to the Passover Dinner last night with friends. It was well attended.

 

We will be leaving the ship on Friday to go to Angkor Wat. I was told about 12 of us are going from the Grand Voyage. Seems like a small number of people. It seems like alot people were not aware of this side adventure.

 

More later.

[newlondon]

Hi s2000, The glorious day takes me back on board listening to Ray S:D

[s2000drvr]

We are here in Saigon, and it is hot, hot, and hot. Temps were 91 and humidity was a lovely 82 percent. Gotta love the heat. This is our cup of tea.

 

Love Saigon. Went on the Highlights of Saigon tour yesterday. It was a bit rushed seeing the History Museum and the Reunification Palace, but the water puppet show at the Museum was great. Along the ride around we saw so many motorcycles, some had the whole family on it. Amazing they don't seem to bump into each other. I felt safer in the bus. The tour was about 5 hours long and we were hungry and dripping with sweat by the time we returned.

 

We were hoping to be able to see more of Saigon, but that just means we will have to come back. People were friendly and not overly pushy, just trying to sell their wares.

 

Dined in Signatures last night, and what can I say. They had the Creamy Mushroom Soup. It was so good. Some of the staff remembered us from the Mariner so it was a nice welcome home sort of dinner.

 

The show on the pool deck was a Vietnamese dance troop and musicians. They were all excellent. Really enjoyed sitting outside in the balmy night.

 

Today we are leaving the ship and flying to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat for two nights, then one night in Bangkok.

 

More later.

[UUNetBill]

Today we are leaving the ship and flying to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat for two nights, then one night in Bangkok.

 

More later.

One night in Bangkok. Makes me want to sing for some reason. :p

 

All kidding aside, thank you so much for posting - since we don't cruise again until August this is getting me my fix for now. Sounds like a fantastic trip...

[s2000drvr]

We are back from our side trip to Cambodia, Angkor Wat. What an amazing trip it was. Regent was great. But, Angkor Wat was unbelievable. We even managed to climb up all those stairs to the top level. I think climbing up was a bit easier than climbing down. Just could not look down. The sunset was spectacular as the sun rays hit Angkor Wat and turned it a golden color.

 

We stayed at the Le Meridan Hotel in Siem Reap. It was a great hotel, wonderful, lavish breakfast buffets. The last night's dinner was Western, but was very good as well.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed this side trip. If anyone has questions, please ask. I will give a more detailed description later.

[s2000drvr]

In Singapore today, first time. It is in the 90's, sunny and humid.

 

We decided to do our own tour day as none of Regent's were going where we wanted to go.

 

First, we jumped on the MRT, the train system, and headed to Chinatown. It is so easy to use this system, I do not think one could get lost! We explored Chinatown and saw their market and had fun shopping.

 

Next stop was Raffle's Hotel for a Singapore Sling. The Long Bar is located on the 2nd floor. Our Sling was $28 Singapore Dollars, not cheap, but so refreshing. It is a quaint bar where there are baskets of peanuts on the table, and you just put the shells on the floor.

 

From Raffle's we trekked over to the Singapore Flyer. This is the world's largest giant observation Wheel. It took about 30 minutes to complete the ride. Each car holds up to 28 people, but we only had about 10 in ours. Very nice views if it was a clear day. We had some haze, but still were able to get some great pictures.

 

We took the train back to the ship and got there in about 10 minutes. This is the most convenient way to travel. Would love to visit Singapore again. Our stay here is much too short.

 

Dined in Prime 7 last night and it was very, very good.

 

More later...

[s2000drvr]

Today we are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We turned in our tour tickets as we did not want to ride in a bus for a total of 2 1/2 hours and just jump off/on to take pictures. We would have taken the train in, but that would have been a total of 2 hours and felt we will use this as a sea day instead. We do have some long tours coming up and the land trip to the Taj, so we really want to enjoy the Voyager.

 

The weather is nice, hot, and humid. We are enjoying the ship as many passengers are off. It seems there is a cold bug going around, but we are constantly washing our hands or using sanitizers.

 

We dine in CR for breakfast and lunch. Tonight we will try Sette Mari and see how it is. Internet right now is super speedy so we are taking advantage of it.

 

More later.

[OrpingtonT]

Wish you all could just smell the market as we did.

 

 

 

 

 

Just caught up with all the news in this superb thread and thank you for it.

 

But, what have we ever done to you to deserve that? :)

[s2000drvr]

Just caught up with all the news in this superb thread and thank you for it.

 

But, what have we ever done to you to deserve that? :)

 

We lived in Thailand over 40 years ago, and this was our first time back. Had forgotten what it really was like. The smells quickly brought us back. But the klongs have seemed to be cleaned up quite a bit and the smells were nothing compare to then!

 

Tomorrow we will be in Penang, Malaysia and will be doing the Georgetown Heritage and Tea at the E & O.

 

More later.

[dabear]

s2000drvr: we're on the Mumbai to Safaga portion of your cruise and have enjoyed reading your posts. We hope to meet you and perhaps pick up a few insites. We're having our meet and greet on 4/19 at 10:30am in the Observation lounge & you're welcome to join. It was nice of Regent to have a passover dinner onboard. Did you actually have a seder?

[newlondon]

s2000drvr, You are one brave soul. Our guide wanted to take us on the wheel and we both said one word-DW yes, yt NO. My no won.:p

[p010ne]

:cool: You are invited to join our group for the Elevator ride in that Kalifa Tower at 8:30 PM in Dubai, you will have to order your tickets by clicking on this! :D

[newlondon]

Better than a wheel because it doesn't stop:) but, a snowball's chance in h--- I'ld do it:eek:

[s2000drvr]

s2000drvr: we're on the Mumbai to Safaga portion of your cruise and have enjoyed reading your posts. We hope to meet you and perhaps pick up a few insites. We're having our meet and greet on 4/19 at 10:30am in the Observation lounge & you're welcome to join. It was nice of Regent to have a passover dinner onboard. Did you actually have a seder?

 

Thanks, dabear. We will mark the 19th on our calendar and meet you all there.

 

We are not Jewish, but wanted to attend the Passover dinner. We met up with a couple who is Jewish and we asked if we could attend. They graciously included us in this special event. Yes, we did have a seder as I checked with them today as I was not sure what that was. It was a very nice dinner and the readings were also nice. We really enjoyed that dinner.

 

See you all on the 19th.

[s2000drvr]

s2000drvr, You are one brave soul. Our guide wanted to take us on the wheel and we both said one word-DW yes, yt NO. My no won.:p

 

I am so not brave! But, this wheel moves ever so slowly one does not even realize where you are. We were so busy taking pictures and talking that before we knew it, we were on the downside! Really, it is so easy to do. The views were fantastic. If it had been clear, the pictures would have been terrific.

[s2000drvr]

:cool: You are invited to join our group for the Elevator ride in that Kalifa Tower at 8:30 PM in Dubai, you will have to order your tickets by clicking on this! :D

 

Thanks, p010ne. I will need to check that out. Right now we are going to do things on our own. Cannot wait to visit Dubai.

[s2000drvr]

The internet was spotty for me before and I had written about Phuket and lost it all, so will try one more time.

 

We arrived in Phuket under hazy skies, temps were hi and humidity was not that bad.

 

We decided to take the Spectacular Phang Nga Bay tour which was an 8 hour tour. We got on the coach and drove for a long while seeing the pineapple fields, rubber trees along the way. We love Thailand as we lived here 40 years ago, but not in this area.

 

We reached the pier where there were long tailed boats waiting to take us on our tour. If you have bad knees, think twice about jumping into this boat. I felt like a twisted pretzel when boarding.

 

The seats are wooden, no cushions and they are very close together. We had to sit sideways until the person in front of us decided to sit in the back of the boat. This gave us more room as we pushed his seat forward and our knees were now in front of us, instead of sideways. Minor inconvenience.

 

We went to James Bond Island where Man with the Golden Gun was filmed. Went through a very small cave where wishes are made and hopefully come true. Saw some monoliths, but not like in Halong Bay.

 

All in all in was a nice boat ride. We then had a huge buffet lunch at a hotel including soup, rice, chicken with cashews, fish, vegetables, shrimp, watermelon, pineapple and little bananas.

 

On the way back we stopped at a rubber plantation where we saw how rubber is made. The sap from the trees trickles down into these cups and then a milk is made. Very interesting process.

 

The last stop was the infamous shopping stop. Could have done away with that. We like the night market shopping or stalls. This was in a fancy building, not our cup of tea at all.

 

Glad we did this tour, but 8 hours in a long tour. Now we will have two sea days then onto Sri Lanka.

 

By the way, the food in CR has been excellent, as well as the wines and service. Maybe it is because we sit in the same area and the staff knows our likes.

 

More later.