Super Star Virgo

[ssv]

Vera - Those are preserved eggs. With black/translucent outer layer(the egg white) and black brownish core(the egg yolk). Even though they are available everywhere, I've never tried one.

 

Mooncakes are available year-round in Singapore at selected bakery however it is everywhere during the Mid-Autumn Festival. I like the ones from Shangri-La and Park Hotel(Previously Crown Hotel). 1 White Lotus mooncake w/o yolk cost ~10SGD at Park Hotel, available in sets of 4(No, I dont work there!)

 

Lisa - 1 Utama is the typical mall just that its bigger. I prefer Suria KLCC actually which has all the stores that 1 Utama has and theres more food and option to go over to Jalan Bukit Bintang(4 big malls!).

 

Boeckli - Try to buy those from Bengawan Solo(theres one in Harbourfront Centre) which has outlets everywhere. Its just my mentality that food item(except tidbit/frozen goods) are not as good in supermarket. But if you happen to come across mooncakes from hotels, they are usually better. I recommend Shangri-La for its funky mooncakes(non-traditional).

[J33JWA]

Hi Folks,

 

All this discussion about the exotic local food of the Far East makes my mouth water eventhough we just came back from Pangkor, KL in Malaysia.

 

Vera - I will come from Bucks to Hampshire to pick up the rest of the uneaten mooncakes! as I'm much nearer than Taiwan and Australia.:p

 

Mike - nice appetising pictures of the 1000 y.o egg and tofu and mooncakes. When will you be sailing the SSV again now that you have SSL at your doorstep! in Taipei. We will be off to Venice soon to sample the pastas and ice cream before boarding the RCI Splendour for a Greek and Turkey cruise.;)

 

SSV - while in KL we shopped in Utama 1 & 2 and found it less crowded than KLCC or Mid Valley mega mall. Utama is much nearer to our holiday condo in Damansara, PJ.

 

Glad that this thread has gone from strength to strength with you guys contributing and chatting.

 

Latest......................James:)

[ssv]

James - Welcome back! I missed many trips organised by friends and family to Pangkor, now the place is like a forbidden fruit to me.

 

1 Utama is quite out of the way for me as I usually stay just beside KLCC and only the killer combination of KLCC/Bukit Bintang can satisfy me(more variety and shops to browse!). Occasional visit there will be nice though.

 

Italy strongly reminds me of shopping, their world-famous Gelatos and the romantic night-outs with the special one(even more so than Paris!). I hope you have a great time there!

 

Anyway, Nov 18/Dec 24/Dec 30 cruise is experiencing slower than usual booking rate, no idea why as they are usually the most popular dates. I'm booked on Nov 18 and Dec 30, look forward to meeting any fellow cruisers onboard.

 

Another long day tomorrow, good night ! =)

[Lisa-UK]

Hi all

 

Nice to hear all about shopping and eating - my fave 2 pastimes!!!

 

Those 100, 1,000 year old eggs look appetising NOT:rolleyes: But as they say 'don't knock it until you try it' :p Mike - thanks for the link - you have put me off totally!!!!

 

I was going to do a nice egg-mayo sarnie for tomorrow's lunch, but am now having tuna instead!!!!

 

Night all......

 

Lisa

[Lisa-UK]

Oooh and forgot - James..............

 

come on down to lovely Fleet, Hampshire to collect your Mooncakes anytime!!! :D

[J33JWA]

Whoops:D and apologies .......... addressed Lisa as 'Vera' earlier.

Thanks for the offer but I have to work downtown next couple of days, so the mooncakes have to wait or put back in the fridge. Pink salmon sarnie was my lunch earlier, but DW cooked beef rendang curry and brown rice for dinner.

 

Just watched England beat the Russians 3-0 at footie, so pleased that we are back on track again.

 

SSV will you be doing 2 cruises in 2 months? mid Nov.and then another to see out the new year on 30/12. Have a great time.

 

Well it's good-night from this part of the world.

 

Cheerio..........James:)

[deck 9 001]

Hi James, great hearing from you. You will love Splendour of the Seas and your itinerary as well. Wish I was going. Hope you really enjoy it.

 

Mike

[deck 9 001]

Lisa, you put me in the mood for a grilled tuna salad and cheese sandwich with English mustard. Now I have to make a fresh batch of mayo, thanks to you.:D

 

Mike

[Lisa-UK]

Mike

 

Your sarnie sounds better than mine - ;) Can you send one across???

[ssv]

SSVirgo's homeport will not be Singapore anymore starting Mid-March 08. She will be homeported in Hong Kong for at least six-months. SSQ will take over Virgo ex-Singapore.

 

I have to say, Star Cruises is killing itself with this move and the sale of Gemini.

[boeckli]

ssv - now that's interesting if not perplexing news ... :confused: I also read your post on the Gemini thread about it being sold and re-chartered ...

Wonder whether they will be offering any interesting routes for the Virgo ex HK.

[ssv]

SSV will operate routes ala former-Leos.

 

SSQ will operate SSV's routes, this will not work and I dare say will lose loads of $$ definitely.

 

WSQ is on the market, but there are no buyers

 

SSG is sold, to a South Korean conglomerate, short-term cash but long-term damage. Her charm is what makes Star Cruise attractive to Australians/NZlanders/British.

 

 

With 2 of the most profitable ships moved/sold, I'll expect Star Cruises to be in red ink for years to come. Reason given for SSV/SSQ swap is a supposed surge in travel due to 2008 Summer Olympics, but I see a more egoistic reason behind it.

[boeckli]

ssv - can you see another ex-NCL ship joining Starcruise in the foreseeable future? (maybe to replace SSG with somewhat larger capacity?)

[ssv]

2 ships ex-NCL will definitely join Star Cruises. I wasn't told when or what ship, but I'm guessing NCL Dream early-Nov 08 and NCL Majesty early 2010.

 

There is only 1 ship in the Group(Asia, NCL/A) that can replace Gemini, the Libra.

[kuldalai]

Does all this show a sort of lack of planning or panic at Star/NCL in relation to their current financial position , knee jerk reactions ? The Beijing Olympics have been known for over 5 years so why was'nt that factored in already and not at this late stage ? With the overcapacity in the NCL/NCLA fleet one would have thought the logical thing to do would be to drag Norwegian Spirit out of NCL for a while and base it in Asia for Olympics as (ex SS LEO) it was built for the Asian market .

 

SS Aquarius (ex Norwegian Wind) as short term replacement for SS Virgo should be OK as I found it a very nice vessel in Alaska, provided that it wasn't altered too drastically for the gambling market . Does it still have a pool ? as without one on the Straits of Malacca it would be a disaster IMO ?

[ssv]

The problem is that the Aquarius' public spaces are transformed into Casinos thus facilities are extremely lacking that it doesn't suit Virgo's itinerary.

 

I dont think 2 restaurant with capacity of max 500, 1 buffet 200pax can satisfy Singaporeans, not to mention Indians; Japanese; Australians. There is only 1 ala-carte restaurant - Blue Lagoon. Taipan with about 80-100 seat is reserved for VVIPs only. When there can be a max of 1900pax.

 

Another problem is that, Aquarius' lower decks are not refurbished, carpets smelling, toilet leaking. It is THE most unpopular ship in fleet, Hong Kong passengers prefer the smaller-Pisces to Aquarius(even the president admitted the ship is merely satisfactory)

 

Well, I might sound biased but its factual. Some passengers already complain about the Virgo, I cant imagine what the Aquarius will receive especially on trips with Ports-of-call and more than 2 nights.

 

 

NCL Group currently has no problem with capacity, just right. The reason given for Virgo/Aquarius swap was as above - Summer Olympics but I don't believe thats the 'real' reason unless Virgo in Singapore again after the promised 6 months.

[seasick_in_a_bathtub]

That's so disappointing to hear about the SSV. We were looking forward to our cruise in July 2008. Any idea when Star Cruises will post the itineraries for the HK Virgo sailings?

 

Cheers

 

Justine

[ssv]

Release of itinerary is pretty soon I guess with the swap almost/already official(just lacking an official fleetwide email and press release). Staff were told to learn Cantonese already ;) or will face a transfer to other ships.

 

I would guess mid-October.

 

Why not try Gemini instead? Almost the same port-of-call unless you are sailing for the ship only. Its also her last season.

[casu1]

I may be cynical - but would the upcoming change in operations have anything to do with the planned opening of casino's in Singapore ?

 

Not happy with the decision to relocate - was planning on teh Vietnam cruise in 08

[boeckli]

I may be cynical - but would the upcoming change in operations have anything to do with the planned opening of casino's in Singapore ?

 

Not happy with the decision to relocate - was planning on teh Vietnam cruise in 08

 

Don't think you could have been sure of the Virgo going to Vietnam in 2008 anyway - that was special itinerary which I think only happened in 2003 and again 2007

[ssv]

Nope, nothing to do with the new Resort World @ Sentosa that will only be completed in 2009/2010. In fact when the resort is open, I'll expect even more passengers on cruises as part of a tourism promotion. Kinda like Singapore as a first experience of Asia, then venture out on cruises to Thailand/Malaysia/Vietnam.

 

SC feels that with the Beijing Olympics, travel market will be hot. And with Virgo as the only ship that can be used as a show piece to attract potential cruisers, it is being transferred to where the action is. 6 months in Hong Kong is what I've heard, might be longer but many think they will not want to risk losing Singapore to RCCL(Rhapsody of the Seas) and other cruise lines.

 

Also, drydock in January 09 is planned for Virgo, so she will be back latest by December 08 I guess. Who knows, maybe NCL might loan SC a brand-new ship to replace Virgo. I'll rather have the Virgo though. :D

 

BTW, I'm hoping SC will open up Virgo's relocation as a cruise. I'll definitely go then(unless its HCMC/Sanya ala SSQ)

[kuldalai]

Casu 1 you can go to Vietnam with SS Gemini in 2008, better ship for that trip anyway. Northbound you can do Singapore - Koh Samui - Ho Chi Minh City - Da Nang - Hong Kong (11 nights); or Southbound Hong Kong , Halong Bay, Nha Trang, then over to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching onto Singapore (10 nights). Or do the full 21 night round trip Singpaore - Hong Kong - Singapore (6 departures) or as round trip ex Hong Kong for 21 nights (3 departures).

 

Star Press release and iitinerary here . Bookings are open now .

 

http://www.starcruises.com/News/2007/20070905.html

[Deck10 007]

You are making very bad decisions for your company.

It just doesn't make sense to interchange the Virgo with the Aquarius. You are taking a 5 star cruise ship from Singapore and replacing it with a 3 star casino ship. For Singaporean cruisers it would be a huge disappointment and you just watch your occupancy rate drop. For the local gamblers the Virgo is doing an adequate job already. The casino is only very crowded on some weekend gambling cruises to nowhere. We don't need the 2 storey casinos on the Aquarius.

For the foreign tourist like the Indians, Australians and other nationalities the star appeal of the Virgo will be gone. You had over 1000 Indians on the Virgo on some cruises even though the Libra was sailing out of India. That must tell you something.

Just got of the Gemini this morning and you have sold it and replacing it with the NCL Dream. The Gemini is an icon with the Australians and you still have 90% of them as pax on this last cruise. The Dream is not the same type of ship as the Gemini.

Maybe the rumour I hear from the hotel manager of the Gemini that you would bring in another new 5 star ship from NCLA would come through.

[cheeky_minx]

Hi guys

This is all very interesting news about SSV and the Gemini sell off. Would be interested in the Hong Kong itineraries, but from the Singapore for me it was all about the ships and I know people have their preferences Gemini v Virgo, but to essentially lose them both ....

 

Casu1, as for Vietnam did the June trip on SSV, fantastic trip and am sure it would be just as good on Gemini if they run that itinerary in 08 - we just loved the fact that we were at sea for days on end ... and Vietnam was a real eye-opener and Vietnam put on a really good show at the dock to welcome us.

 

Have a question, if anyone can help. Went to a message board re meditarranean cruises, but was full of infighting - not full of nice helpful, respectful people like this one, and thought you guys might be able to help me out. Am planning NCL Norwegian Gem Barcelona roundtrip in May 08 and I know Gem is a new/or renamed ship, but can anyone comment on either NCL or that itinerary. Chose this one because of SSV experiences, similar size to SSV and the freestyle dining etc...

 

Also, planning Hong Kong crusie September 08, but will wait and see what happens in the washup of Star Cruises ...

 

Jane

[seasick_in_a_bathtub]

Cheeky_minx,

 

If you can email me at justine_251@hotmail.com, I have plenty of info regarding Norwegian Cruiselines.

 

Cheers

 

Justine

Perth, WA