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LIVE from SE Asia with Sungirl - 29 Nov16 Diamond Princess

KCSungirl

By KCSungirl,
in Princess Cruises

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Aussie Gal

Aussie Gal

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The drinks are an average price for a resort in Asia but the lunch was too expensive. The breakfast you have purchased is a great price.

 

You are a wonder at getting upgrades. We get them occasionally but I still I would love to know how you went from a beach pavilion to a villa!

 

Now enjoy yourselves, the travelling you have done will soon be a dream and remember you only have the sea plane plus the five hours back to Singapore when you leave "Paradise" which is nothing. As you know, we have to fly for hours before we can even leave Australia and of course you have your cruise to get over it!

 

Jennie

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KCSungirl

KCSungirl

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SeaCrystal, I think I keep writing because of you. 😀 Thanks for jumping from the HAL board to Princess to come along. AussieGal, I was just born lucky to get those upgrades. ❤️

Thanks for your encouragement and expertise.

 

Thanks for checking in so I know who is with me!

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TracieABD "Live from...." Rare

TracieABD

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Yes, Mr Roark and his entire staff were at the seaplane dock to great us. Cold towels, drinks, and a personal assistant. Racheal, from Malaysia is my assistant. Racheal got us checked in. Gave me a great free upgrade from a beach pavilion to a beach villa. Much larger and nicer. We declined the over-water bungalow offer. It was sweet, but we didn't like the set up. We might change our minds in a few days. We have stayed in over-water bungalows in Tahiti, so the novelty isn't a draw. We like toes in the sand, a beach walkout, and most importantly a sunset. It's very similar to the beach experience we had in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.

The resort houses approx. 550 workers from India and Malaysia mostly. So friendly, loving, and eager to please. Very few female employees, so girls if you like Indian men, come on down.

 

The atoll is about a mile long. We dropped our bags and wanted to immediately explore. We walked the resort and felt good about the location we chose. There are golf carts everywhere to give rides around. At 2pm, which was 5pm Singapore time, we were starting to crash. We went to one of the beach restaurants for a Thankgiving feast. Delicious, fresh wahoo. Our lunch was a bargain at $146. Not joking. The drinks are in line with luxury resorts across the world, the food is pricey. The New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs are $14/glass, $60/bottle. We aren't big drinkers, so it's not an issue. However, we love to eat! We went to the ice cream kiosk for dessert. Homemade ice cream in every flavor. I got mint chip, PC got chocolate and mint chip.

 

We went back to villa to get unpacked and organized. PC was asleep in 10 minutes. We are still pretty messed up on our day/time, but by tomorrow morning we will be fine. We took the breakfast option, so I hope it is a fabulous spread. It was another bargain at booking - $20pp

 

Off to dreamland on Fantasy Island.

 

Thank you for your continued updates- It sounds like a lovely day- hopefully capped by a peaceful sleepy night.

 

Congratulations on your amazing upgrade- I agree with others that you are very, very lucky in the upgrade department. I have found that a smile and an easy attitude often contribute to that luck... I think you have that on lock.:)

 

I hope you have a wonderful few days in one of the most remote corners of the world.

 

I look forward to your continued updates!

 

Tracie-Lynn:)

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jlf1

jlf1

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SeaCrystal, I think I keep writing because of you. 😀 Thanks for jumping from the HAL board to Princess to come along. AussieGal, I was just born lucky to get those upgrades. ❤️

Thanks for your encouragement and expertise.

 

Thanks for checking in so I know who is with me!

I' m here as well. I just love live from as well as well written reviews because that is not something that I could ever do well. I appreciate those folks that give their time to do both.

 

Thank you.

Judy

 

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

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KCSungirl

KCSungirl

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Jet Lag has officially kicked my butt. I am not in sync yet. As I always say, travel is not for sissies! The weather is dreadful at the moment. It has not stopped raining almost from the time we arrived. This was supposed to be the most expensive suntan I have ever had. Major bragging rights. I better have something to show for my efforts besides a lighter pocketbook. Nevertheless, we are having fun being castaways.

 

This is truly a surreal experience. A one mile stretch of land in the middle of the Indian Ocean. If I think about it too long I will have a panic attack. The rain becomes problematic because the Maldives sit low and floods easily. The flora and fauna is a lush incredible rainforest. I was expecting a scrub island. It must rain a lot because the vegetation is amazing.

 

We started the morning at one of the two buffet breakfast restaurants - Mixe. It's an international theme. The alternate restaurant is more Asian/Indian. Free latte! OMG, saving PC money everywhere. They produce their own coffee on the island. Delicious. The employees are fascinated with us. I would like to think it's because they think I am Christie Brinkley, but the truth is they see so few Americans. We are a novelty act. They all want to know about our election. We tell them we had to flee the regime. Breakfast was wonderful. Homemade croissants were heaven. The chef insisted I try his Dim Sum. I am a pretty basic eater and Asian food is not really my thing, especially at breakfast. PC was over the moon they had six or so flavors of gelato and sorbet.

 

After breakfast we took the "buggy" (aka golf cart) to reception. There is a London phone booth outside with a phone to call anywhere in the world for free. So cute. PC pranked my mom. He called her and said "collect call $25/minute". She said ok. Thanks mom. He then says "collect call $36/minute. She said ok. She loves me. He then says "collect call $100/minute. She says wait and starts arguing. I am not worth $100/minute! 😂 She has her limits. We cracked up. The phone quality is so good it sounds like they are next door.

 

I went shopping at the gift shop and bought some embellished sandals for myself, linen shirt for PC, and a st. Bart's looking top/cover-up for my 9 yr old niece. She is so spoiled by me.

 

I met with my personal assistant, Rachael, for an hour. We had a nice chat about her life in Borneo and working in the tourism industry. I was then honored to have the Boss man, Glenn, sit down with us for another hour chat. So much to be learned by chatting. I will share a very important fact with you - you can go to Chennai, India Apollo Hospital and have a gastric sleeve for $8500. Dentures and Lasiks also. I know people go abroad for medical procedures, but I just could not do that. Way too scared. Glenn and his family get the group discounts I am sure. 😂

 

We signed up for a super cool excursion tomorrow, but not confident with the weather it will go.

 

Fabulous internet and lots of movie channels definitely eases the pain of a rainy day. We napped and read late into the day. I was still feeling a bit sick tired, so we opted for in villa dining tonight. We are total room service freaks! Love it. PC didn't like his burger. The fries were under cooked and soggy. My chicken Caesar was great until what I thought was goat cheese turned out to be a fried egg, I almost hurled. The chicken noodle soup was Fantastic. We were just too tired in the rain to venture out.

 

Hoping for manageable weather tomorrow. I would hate to think I came all the way to the Maldives to sleep and watch movies. We are having a deja vu. We went to Rarotonga, Cook Islands a few years back and it poured for 5 days. It must be the time of year. This Harry Potter movie marathon is just not what I had in mind. Who is Harry Potter?😉

 

A few have asked about my FB travel page where I post pics/video. Fungirl Across America and Beyond. It's public. It's also listed below on my signature.

 

Cheers! See you tomorrow

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seacrystal

seacrystal

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The employees are fascinated with us. I would like to think it's because they think I am Christie Brinkley, but the truth is they see so few Americans. We are a novelty act. They all want to know about our election. We tell them we had to flee the regime.

 

This is why I LOVE your blogs. You have such a great sense of humor and I never know what to expect. Get your sleep and stay healthy!:D

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Aussie Gal

Aussie Gal

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Paige, that is what happened to us last month in Kao Lak in Thailand. It rained non stop and it was very heavy monsoonal rain for the entire 8 days we were at the resort. We had to go and buy thongs (flip flops) to get around the resort as the water was inches deep on the paths. Only on 3 days did the rain stop for an hour and so that we were able to get out on the patio lounges, but that was all. Last year at the same time, we had brilliant sunshine every day. Apparently the Monsoons are late this year!!

 

Still I know you are PC are making the best of it, but it is so disappointing for you both.

Hopefully tomorrow will be sunny and you will get back to getting your suntan.

 

Jennie

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KCSungirl

KCSungirl

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Good Morning Sunshine! Thank you God. I got up at 5:30am to watch the sunrise. Basically the sun rises and sets at 6am/6pm at the moment. The sun is trying to make an appearance, but still not quite sure. The sun rise stroll became a shelling expedition. So many beautiful small shells. I didn't take most of them, because the critter was alive and I didn't want my luggage/clothing to smell like dead fish. I thought about boiling them with the kettle, but the villa would stink.

 

We went to breakfast buffet at the alternate restaurant- East End Market. It is more of an Asian theme. I liked the atmosphere being on the water, but Asian food is just not my thing for the most part. Unless it comes from PF Changs. I am a noodleaholic, however. Never met a noodle I didn't like. I had a mushroom omelette and chicken noodle soup. Yum.

 

Our whale shark snorkel excursion is on schedule. Hooray. With the bad weather yesterday, I didn't think we would go out. The excursion ru s on Saturday mornings because the crowds are less on Saturday. That is the most popular check in/out day. Especially for divers and live-a-board vessels. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark Whale sharks live year round in the warm water of the Maldives. We rode a dhoni boat to the site, about 30 minutes off shore. It's 80/20 that you will find them on any given day. Tina from Vienna was our delightful guide. She is actually the excursion manager. She has worked for several properties in the Maldives. We drove around for two hours looking for the whale sharks, but it wasn't meant to be. Disappointing, but just gives me a reason to come back some day. I enjoyed the boat ride and we made a snorkel stop on the reef. Two turtles. The turtles are my favorite. The excursion is free if you don't see a whale shark. Saving PC more money. So I was a complete idiot and was too lazy to put on sun protection thinking it might rain. I am so mad at myself. Both PC and I got burned. We are too old to be damaging our skin and obviously too stupid to know better. Looks terrible in photos too. Back at the resort we return our snorkel equipment.

 

*******Warning*******Princess had an good idea ********* Sit down for this one **** The Lux* was formerly another resort. Lux* bought it and did a 30 million dollar rebuild. The had to close for three months over the summer for construction purposes. Upon reopening they needed an aggressive marketing campaign to get the word out they were open. They offered a lot of good introductory rates. There are 5 or 6 villa types in a variety of price ranges to chose from on property. I told you in a previous post I booked the cheapest villa, a steal under Maldives standards, at around $400/nt. I was upgraded at check-in to a larger beachfront villa. My personal Assistant, Rachael, also offered me an over water bungalow. Since the weather was bad and I was fried from traveling, I decided to take the Beach villa upgrade and consider myself lucky. I didn't ask about the price for the bungalow upgrade. Today, as soon as I saw the sun peaking through the clouds, the computer in my head went into action. I think I will inquire about those over water bungalows. As we were leaving for our snorkel excursion I hunted down Rachael and told her I would like to inquire about relocating to a water bungalow. I figured she would give me a good deal since the hotel was less than 75% booked. I was willing to pay a reasonable price.

Me: Rachael, I think I want to experience an over water bungalow.

Rachael: Princess, I already have one ready for you now.

Me: How much will you charge me?

Rachael: I am giving it to you.

Pick me up off the floor, because Rachael wasn't giving me the first tier bungalow. She was taking me to the top. For FREE. We are living so large. Lucky Princess.

 

It took an hour to get moved. The bungalow is a dream. Just like those pictures in luxury travel brochures. I will post a video on my FB page shortly. My excitement is through the roof that I am completely exhausted. We went to the bar so I could calm down. I was going to have a heart attack over my good fortune. Enjoyed a margarita and ordered a grouper sandwich.

 

By the time I settled down, showered, and rubbed lotion all over my Chernobyl glow, it was 8pm. We made our way back to Mixe for the international buffet. The two buffet restaurants are $70/pp. PC feasted on chicken curry, gourmet Gryos, and 6 scoops of gelato. I wasn't hungry after my late lunch, so I enjoyed wine. Well, Anthony, the chef who insisted I eat his dim sum for breakfast yesterday comes over to the table and begs me to let him cook me something. Seriously, this is just too sweet. I told him I would eat some noodles. He prepared me a soup to die for. Chicken with vegetables. We rode the buggy back to reception so I could phone home and share the news that I was really living lifestyles of the rich and famous. Robin Leach eat your heart out!

 

Rachael got a good tip and we all lived happily ever after......

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Aussie Gal

Aussie Gal

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Paige, you would have to be the luckiest girl alive! Only you could snare an overwater bungalow and the best one for no extra charge. Enjoy and I am looking forward to seeing the photos of this wonderful villa.

 

Do hope your sunburn is better in the morning. Please be careful as you don't want melanomas from too much sun exposure in later years!

 

Jennie

Edited by Aussie Gal
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