LIVE - An Epic Journey - Rhapsody - Singapore to Istanbul

[cinnamon]

Thanks for the thread Raina which I picked up from a link by Norbertsniece.

We are Brits and I loved your description of visiting England. We are cruising on Rhapsody on 12th June out of Istanbul, hence my particular interest but now I am hooked on your wonderful pictures and intrepid travel writing. Many thanks. :)

[AussieVisi2r]

BRUGES

 

Is a quaint little city just inland in western Flanders about a one hr train trip from Brussels and is very much a cruise ship port. The historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is one of the best preserved Medievial cities left.

It’s a canal-based city and one time, it was considered the "chief commercial city" of the world. It was the gateway to the Amber Route (up through the Baltic's and was an important city to the Hanseatic League (German traders).

 

 

I spent the day walking around the city centre and on a boat trip. The boat trips last about 40 minutes and cost 8 Euro. Great trip.

 

 

 

 

 

There was a city tour bus – but I felt I saw enough just wandering around. There were also lots of horse carriage rides some with some excellent Freshians and Belgium Drafts.

 

I ate at nice place in the square - where Audrey Hepburn had eaten! A three course deal with a glass of wine was 18 Euro. Nice food and 'local' dishes! All the places had similar deals.

 

The the train back to Brussels.

[AussieVisi2r]

Next morning was onto the Eurostar and back to London.The Eurostar was 50 Euro and took under 2 hrs to London.

 

I then headed out to Heathrow and met up with the sister and BIL. Also had a quick catch up with a few from the CC group who were on the same flight.

I flew on a BA flight in premium economy. Sorry Brits but BA does not compare to Qantas in regards to food, service on space on the plane. Qantas has more toilets and big spaces nearby where you can stretch.

 

The flight to Singapore was a bit over 12 hours and was as painful as any long haul flight. But I did get a bulkhead row so with the aid of my wheelie bag and the Flamingo ball i did manage to keep my feet up!

 

SINGAPORE

 

So now I was in Singapore.

 

And WOW. Amazing. All the things you hear are true - clean, pretty, organised ...just great.

 

We arrived at 4 pm so had to keep busy until bedtime.

We stayed at Swissotel Merchant Court in Clarke Quay. It was a great choice. On the river, 5 minutes to the Metro (which is the best train system I've used. Underground, easy to work out, cheap.) 10 minutes from the Hop On Hop Off buses. A stop for the 'bumboats'. So many bars and food places. The closest bar had Happy hour till 11pm with two for one (on many) drinks including cocktails like Mojitos.

 

The hotel itself was great and had all we needed. Pool, self serve laundry and very comfortable.

 

Clarke Quay is pretty stunning.

 

 

 

 

That night we ate at Jumbo Seafood as we wanted the famous and signature dish - Black Pepper Crab. It was sensational. All the food we had was amazing. VERY expensive but so good. If you think about going there try to make a booking before hand. For people without bookings you get a number and wait. We waited at a nearby bar and took turns at checking the number. Our wait was over 90 minutes. But it was great!

 

 

Edited May 4, 2015 by AussieVisi2r

[AussieVisi2r]

Singapore is hot - disgustingly hot. But there is no avoiding it. You will get hot. You will have sweat running down your body. You will not get to wear your clothes twice without washing.

But it is so worth it and there is so much to see and do.

 

day 2 - I went on the HOHO bus. 32 Singapore dollars so about $25US.

 

I did a few laps and saw many of the major attractions.

 

Botanic Gardens.

Spectacular. Free entry and one of only 2 cities to have a rainforest in the CBD.

 

 

Then I went into the Orchid Garden (5 Singapore $) and it was spectacular. many of them looked like aliens.

 

 

 

 

 

After much walking around, sweating and drinking water I found the "Cold room" a room where the orchids need to be cold to survive. Oh wow! It was hard to leave.

But off I went back to the bus and to my next stop.

[Setting sail for fun]

Following your review. The photos are lovely! Thanks for sharing your adventure.

 

Debbie

[critterchick]

Off to a great start!

[AussieVisi2r]

Singapore Continued

 

Lots of great sites.

 

 

I hopped off at Marina Sands Hotel to have a look. Very impressive.

 

 

I wakled across the walkway and looked at the "Garden by the Sea". It looked amazing. Huge metal structures with ferns etc growing up them. There was a sky walk up the top. Huge domes that were greenhouses with things like tulips growing in them.

 

 

 

All the talk you hear about Singapore being so clean..........

.........this guy was using a squeegee to clean the bottom of a fountain.

 

 

And so many amazing buildings.

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Singapore continued.

 

That evening we went back to "Gardens by the Sea". They were absolutely spectacular as the night got darker and the lights came on.

 

 

 

At 7.45pm the real show began. EVERY night the city puts on this show.This would be my must do activity for Singapore. It's free. It's suitable for all ages. Many people had picnics. We just lay on the grass and were amazed. It is set to music and was brilliant.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't love fireworks. Too much wasted money! I loved this.

[AussieVisi2r]

Singapore continued

 

There was also a wonderful kids zone with lights and fountains that the kids played under - had to use a lot of self control not to run in there.

 

 

About a 10 minute walk from the lights is a food place called "Satay by the Sea". Its a big outdoor food place with many different local foods. A huge number of local people ate there which is always an indication of good food.

 

We had a large amount of food and a beer each and the cost was about $30US (for 3).

 

 

 

They had a great wash station. Thought I'd include it as it was so sensible.

 

 

 

This was a brilliant night out. Highly recommend it.

 

Taxi's here are excellent and cheap.

 

Airport to Clarke Quay in a van was $35US.

 

To and from Gardens by the sea was about $7 each way.

[AussieVisi2r]

Boarding.

 

Taxi to the ship was $6. Boarding went really well. Very fast in the priority line. The slow part was Singapore immigration. There was three different steps for them.

 

Luggage got to the rooms really quickly.

 

And there we were - on board! It was so good to be inside with air conditioning.

 

Dinner was great. The welcome show was a magician that was very clever.

 

There are really large numbers of D and D+ as well as a number of Pinnacles. The CL doesn't seem to be coping with the numbers and the wait for drinks has been very slow- 45min plus. :(

 

Mainly Aussies on board. Around 700?? people are doing B2B2B from Sydney to Istanbul. Many more are doing B2B Singapore to Istanbul. Most of the Aussie boarded in Singapore. More than a few are doing a fourth leg through the Greek Islands.

 

Many staff have stayed on from the Australian season but there were a few hundred changes in Singapore.

 

A CAUTIONARY TALE

There are a few people on board who didn't realise we needed Visa's for India. This visa was a very frustrating process and took people from a week to 4 or 5 weeks. Costs ranged from just under $100 for Aussies to many hundreds for Brits. India are on a high alert with immigration so there is no leeway with the visas. No visas on arrival. There people were eventually let onto the ship but will not be getting off in India. India is 4 days!!!!!! and is one of the main draw cards of this trip. Of course the people are furious! But it is very much a case of "Buyer Beware". It really is our responsibility to check your visa requirements.

 

I use a site to check visa requirements. This is for Aussies...but there must be one for other nationalities. http://visalink.com.au/visa-quick-check#M

 

Muster was slow - as a number of people were very slow to arrive - some had to be reminded.

 

We also had to surrender passports - after we were on the ship. Normally they are collected at check in but Singapore immigration required to see them again as we boarded. We had to drop them off in the main dinning room as we boarded. Of course a few people didn't do this so sailaway was delayed until they brought them down. They even had to announce that we would not be leaving until they were surrendered. Finally we got away.

 

There was a sailaway party with a band on deck etc. We don't get them out of Sydney due to noise restriction laws.

 

So here I go.....I'm off on the cruise! :D

 

Raina

Edited May 5, 2015 by AussieVisi2r

[ace1zoe2]

Enjoying your trip report. I followed you last year on the trip with your dad. Looking forward to this one as I have yet to visit any of these ports.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cruisegirl1]

I LOVED the Singapore photos. The buildings are amazing. We had an active roll call for the Dubai-Istanbul portion but it seems many of the active posters are on board with you now, as the roll call has really quieted down.

 

ENJOY

 

M

[joand452]

Just found your new blog! So interesting and the photos have been wonderful!

 

I'm so glad you posted about the entry/exit visas. I would have had no idea. So I went to the State Department's website and found this: http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country.html Enter your destination and you'll be given all the information you need to know. Of course, we won't be doing much more than a 7-10 cruise until DH retires in 2017.

 

Have a wonderful cruise, and I'll be following along!

[AussieVisi2r]

Just found your new blog! So interesting and the photos have been wonderful!

 

I'm so glad you posted about the entry/exit visas. I would have had no idea. So I went to the State Department's website and found this: http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country.html Enter your destination and you'll be given all the information you need to know. Of course, we won't be doing much more than a 7-10 cruise until DH retires in 2017.

 

Have a wonderful cruise, and I'll be following along!

 

Great that you found a site for other nationalities. Thanks for sharing.

 

There is a growing number of people you met who didn't get visas for India.

 

There are also lots who did get them for Sri Lanka but the ship is organising them. So I guess there will be people at guest services who did their own but were charged by the ship for them as well.

This is Royals first time to many of these ports so there is a learning curve happening.

 

Raina

[Iluvcruising2]

Glad that you enjoyed Singapore.

 

Wonderful photos. Just a small correction, the place you visited is called Gardens by the Bay and not Gardens by the Sea - http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/home.html

 

The daily light shows are 7:45pm and 8:45pm, and they are free. You are right, fireworks are expensive. This type of light show is much better, from a cost point of view.

 

I see you found your way to Satay by the Bay and had a good dinner there. Well done! http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/dining/satay-by-the-bay.html

 

Thanks for visiting my country.

[AussieVisi2r]

Thanks Iluvcruising2,

 

I hate it when I get something wrong and cannot get into it to change it.

 

Gardens by the Bay were brilliant.

 

In fact I loved Singapore. Highly recommend a visit here.

I will be back in November!!

 

Raina

[AussieVisi2r]

It's always great heading off on a cruise. Meeting people you know and people you don't.

I was on Rhapsody in December and am amazed by the huge change over in staff. So few that were there then. It would be the big change out for the European market.

 

I am D+ so spend a lot of time the Concierge Lounge.

There are 19 Pinnacle on board. 149 D+ and 269 D. Over 1200 G&A. Fairly obviously the D and C Lounges are crowded. CL is using all of the front of the open Lounge for overflow and D is using Half of Shall We Dance.

 

The first few nights they were incredibly disorganised and slow with drinks. They had only one bar tender on in the CL. We waited over 45 minutes for drinks on many occasions. They are now up to three bar tenders.

 

It didn't worry me that much - I still see D+ as a Privilege. I did feel sorry for suite people who had paid so much for this Right. But they do seem to have got it under control now.

 

The CL is a weird space - small long and split level. It makes it difficult to begin with. But this is the first ship they refitted with a CL and a Diamond lounge and have learnt a lot from this.

 

The Diamond Lounge is lovely space with great views - although can be very loud when a band is playing in Shall we Dance. They too were very crowded with slow service.

 

Main dinning room was great with lovely food. I am My Time Dining and love it. Wait was about 5 minutes for a table.

 

Magician Show was great.

 

Internet packages. 24 hrs. $50 5 Day consecutive $100, Unlimited one devise $200 and 2 devises $294. They had a first day special on - which brought the 1 device down to $160.

All of these were less the C&A discount.

Raina

Edited May 7, 2015 by AussieVisi2r

[jimbri]

Great review and fantastic photos!

[joand452]

...Singapore Continued

 

Lots of great sites.

 

I hopped off at Marina Sands Hotel to have a look. Very impressive.

 

 

I wakled across the walkway and looked at the "Garden by the Sea". It looked amazing. Huge metal structures with ferns etc growing up them. There was a sky walk up the top. Huge domes that were greenhouses with things like tulips growing in them.

 

And so many amazing buildings....

 

Is this the Marina Sands Hotel? The top looks like a very shallow ship, doesn't it?

 

If not, what is it?

[AussieVisi2r]

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 4th May

 

We arrived at Port Klang to another rather warm day.

 

The walk off the ship was across a long long bridge. It was quite beautiful.

 

 

There was a naval vessel next to it...with some guys you wouldn't argue with.

 

 

I had heard terrible stories about "the taxi's being run by mafia...etc" My booked driver had double booked me so bad luck! i walked out to the taxi rank expecting to it to be not good.

 

It was the best taxi rank for tourists ever. Taxis drive into a loop park adn are given in order. There are two kinds of taxis. Older 4 cylinder sedans and new vans with 6 or 7 seats. All prices were printed on a big board. Drivers wore a uniform and all was great. We had 5 people so wanted a van.

So yes it was controlled - don;t know by whom but it gave a better product to us!

 

The vans were stunning vehicles. Fantastic air conditioning, great seats etc.

We had the biggest deal you could get. A full day in a big car. Cost was $160 US (paid in US) and he was at our disposal all day.

 

It was a 45 minute drive into KL and it was fun. The roads are excellent. Although the roads do have white lines painted on them, they are more of a guideline than a rule - same with the colour of the traffic lights. Red means stop if it suits you. I think poor Tim, sitting in the front would have had a very sore brake pedal foot. I know sitting in the back I was slamming on the brakes!

 

If the vehicle in front was not going fast enough the driver would roar up behind them at over 100ks to about 500mm behind them until they changed lanes.

 

 

We didn't really scream!!!!! I just had fun taking photos like this as we drove along. And we didn't even nearly crash. He was a great driver - by Malaysian standards.

 

First stop was the Petronas Towers, or the Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 and remain the tallest twin towers in the world. And they are really pretty and shiny!

The sky bridge is 170 meters above the ground - being the highest of its kind.

 

Stunning

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Building.

[AussieVisi2r]

Kuala Lumpur - continued

 

Next stop was to the Menara Tower. 421 metres high. That's about no 10 inthe world.

 

The view was spectacular.

 

 

 

This is not a pond. It's a flooded construction site...with cranes underwater. OOOPS.

 

 

Who know Kuala Lumpur had its own Uluru (Ayers Rock)!

 

 

There was a golf course down there. Nominations were $18,000US. Then annual membership fees and green fees.

 

 

The trip up the tower was about $18 US each. They tried to up sell tickets to the next level with an open air deck but we were happy with windows. But well worth it. You got a great over site of the city.

 

When we gt the the tower we realised the driver had forgotten to take us to a money machine. No worries. He pulls a few thousand Ringgit out of his wallet and lends it to us!

 

It was quiet weird that it didn't have one big CBD.As far as the eye could see there were clusters of skyscrappers. Not just one or two but a bunch. Then flat low density, then bamm another cluster of high density.

 

 

Quite unusual.

[AussieVisi2r]

Kuala Lumpur continued.

 

Next stop was to the gardens. There was a huge bird garden AND I MEAN HUGE. Acres all fenced in with very high roofing. Looks like it would have been spectacular.

 

But we went to the botanic gardens with an orchid display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Kuala Lumpur continued.

 

Next stop was to the gardens. There was a huge bird garden AND I MEAN HUGE. Acres all fenced in with very high roofing. Looks like it would have been spectacular.

 

But we went to the botanic gardens with an orchid display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AussieVisi2r]

Kuala Lumpur continued

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can now see why people love growing orchids now. What a sense of achievement to gro something like this.

[AussieVisi2r]

Kuala Lumpur continued

 

 

 

 

We went to the central market for lunch. A huge inside market with many little shops selling everything - trinkets, statues, material, clothing etc. AIr Conditioned! Up stairs was a food hall used by locals.

 

My Sesame Chicken was much better than it looks in this photo. It was great. Cost just under $2.00 US. A bottle of water was .50c. Pretty happy.

 

 

Cool police uniform.

 

 

A really diverse city with a huge range of architecture. And so cheap. People with us bought t shirts up the tower. Normally that would be a hugely expensive place to buy things. But they were under $5 US and the same quality as you would get anywhere.

 

I loved our day in KL but don't think I would rush back.