**Solo to Singapore! Live From the Diamond- January 17, 2017**

[TracieABD]

OK, fun cruising friends- I need of bit of help! Where can you get a latte on the Diamond? I know there is no International Cafe, but I could not find any other close substitute... Annnnnnndddddd..... Go!

 

 

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[goofy559]

OK, fun cruising friends- I need of bit of help! Where can you get a latte on the Diamond? I know there is no International Cafe, but I could not find any other close substitute... Annnnnnndddddd..... Go!

 

 

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Lobby bar on deck 5 apparently is the place.

[KCSungirl]

It's so fun to re-live Singapore and the cruise. Love your reports. You accomplished so much in Singapore! You did the two things I didn't do - Gardens By the Bay and Sentosa. I will get there next time. How you had time to navigate the MRT and walk 19 miles is a mystery! Isn't the Raffles Hotel beautiful? What neighborhood was your hotel located? Looked very nice.

 

Glad you signed up for the Sanctuary. AKA Escape from the mass of humanity! Might not need the Lysol. 😂😂

 

Hope you found the Lattes. Looking forward to your reports

 

Hugs, Sungirl

[Colo Cruiser]

[shredie]

Lobby bar on deck 5 apparently is the place.

Yep. It's a nice place to sit and look out the window, too.

[Pushka]

Lobby bar on deck 5 apparently is the place.

 

 

That's where we went to last week.

[TracieABD]

An Abundance of Kindness...

 

... Otherwise known as an embarrassment of riches.

 

For those of you who do not know (and why would you?), I will celebrate a birthday on this cruise. For the most part, my birthday is just another day in my life- not because it is not special- but because when you are married to Bradley- every day is your birthday! (I love you, honey)

 

So, when I arrived yesterday, my cabin looked like this:

And then these arrived:

 

Flowers from Bradley- and nice flowers, too! That smell really great! And are tropical (my favorite!) I love them, and they do so much to perk up the space. (It is so hard to focus on a spot on the carpet, when all you can see it the bright Reds, oranges, pinks, and purples of lovely flowers. (Did I mention that I love you, honey?)

 

And then, I found cards in my door from one the CC M&G friends. Thank you, CD!

 

Oh! And strawberries from Neville, Maitre'd -- which I think may be the direct doings of two of my favorites here on board! (You two hooligans know who you are!)

 

Needless to say, thank you for making my day, cabin, and pending birthday special! I am grateful to you and for you!

 

This is turning out to be an amazing vacation!

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Tracie-Lynn

 

 

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Edited January 18, 2017 by TracieABD

[TracieABD]

January 18, 2017

Sea Day!

 

Good morning, friends-

 

What was it George Thoroughgood said? "Boom! Boom! Out go the lights!" That was me, last night. After getting through two loads of laundry and putting it away- I settled into bed before 9 pm and woke up with my iPad on my chest at 1 am. Moved the iPad, rolled over and slept until around 5 am. I was really tired. I vaguely remembering asking where to get a nice latte at some point, but that is really it.

 

I found said coffee spot this morning- and gave them my super OCD version of an iced latte- to which they followed directions to a T-- see no grumpy face here! (You all have heard my previous rants on pouring hot espresso over ice- and what do you get??? Sloppy, watered down, lukewarm coffee. You gotta mix the espresso and milk first- then add the ice! Then the espresso maintains its integrity. Try it- you will like it!)

 

I wandered to the International Dining Room (TD aft) for breakfast. This is the first time I have ever seen the daytime dining room meals served in the aft dining room. I am having a tough time getting them to seat me alone. The head waiter is sort of taking it personally that I have no desire to join a group of 7 or 9 complete strangers. My idea of wonderful is to eat and relax and write. I think that one of the issues in the International Dining rooms is that there seems to be an absolute dirth of tables for two. And I get it- I hate to take a table for four. I just wish they would work it out a tiny bit for us solos who prefer to dine that way... (I hope they get used to me soon here- so I don't have to continue to refuse the big tables).

 

I ordered the fruit plate (no apples):

 

The oatmeal skim milk (that was heated- nice touch!) and bacon:

 

I will probably order this most mornings, so I will only post the pictures this once.

 

Once I finish breakfast, I plan to spend some time in the Sanctuary, then it will be time for our CC Meet and Greet in Skywalkers. I am always curious to se how many people show up. I organized it, with the caveat that I would not be the one sending the letters to ship's staff. No one else volunteered, so it may just be me and my mystery friends- which is fine. Tonight is also formal night for which I will wear my jeans, flip flops, and robe to the main dining room... Hahaha- just kidding! Ya'all know better!

 

Oh! And I have the cruise stats in!

Blue: 1115

Gold: 522

Ruby: 338

Platinum: 595

Elite: 236

The cut-off for the Most Traveled Passenger Luncheon is 300 days. Yep, that would NOT be me!

 

I cut this here in order to prep the next post--

Thank you for joining me for breakfast- You were the table for 10 that I wanted to join!

Tracie-Lynn :) :)

 

 

 

 

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[red4lisa]

Thanks for the detailed review, I am enjoying following along. I am also being inspired to take a cruise by myself. I did a couple by myself a couple years ago but, following your review is giving me a huge dose of wanderlust! Thanks Tracie!

 

Lisa

[Guest arowe6]

Hope you're having a blast Tracie :D

 

-Andrew

[Florida_gal_50]

What a wonderful thread. Thank you for your time and effort.

[Cairn Mom]

Have a great trip, Tracie-Lynn. Thanks for letting me tag along.

 

 

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Edited January 18, 2017 by Cairn Mom

[easyboy]

Really a nice read and photos.

[cheznandy]

Awww, your hubby is really thoughtful Tracie -Lynn, mine would not know how to order anything like that!!

 

Hope you continue to have a wonderful cruise, what is your itinerary? We were so amazed cruising in those waters of all the ships/containers that passed in the night! We had flat calm seas and red setting suns, just beautiful.

[tingyyy]

OK, fun cruising friends- I need of bit of help! Where can you get a latte on the Diamond? I know there is no International Cafe, but I could not find any other close substitute... Annnnnnndddddd..... Go!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

When i was last on the Diamond Princess in September i could order my morning lattes from the roaming servers in the Horizon Court. I'd hand my coffee card over to them and they would bring my latte and my coffee card back with a punch in it.

[Pushka]

When i was last on the Diamond Princess in September i could order my morning lattes from the roaming servers in the Horizon Court. I'd hand my coffee card over to them and they would bring my latte and my coffee card back with a punch in it.

 

 

Yes. That's true. They make latte at the bar in the covered pool area next to the buffet.

[TracieABD]

Hi fun friends-

I have a question for those of you have been to Benoa, Bali recently on Princess...

Do you know if there is a shuttle to Kuta at the port?

 

TIA,

TL

 

 

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[Pushka]

Hi fun friends-

I have a question for those of you have been to Benoa, Bali recently on Princess...

Do you know if there is a shuttle to Kuta at the port?

 

TIA,

TL

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

No shuttle last December. A paid for excursion though. It's actually quite some distance and traffic awful. Don't go to Kuta - it's a place to avoid. Nusa Dua has great beach resorts and is close by. Everyone who went to Kuta said they turned round and came back. We've been to Bali on land trips multiple times and avoid Kuta like the plague. ESP during Aussie holidays.

[cjcruiser27]

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!" Your flowers are beautiful!!

[TracieABD]

January 18, 2017

Still a Sea Day and Formal Night!

 

Hi Friends-

It has been a busy one- whew!

After breakfast, I went to the Sanctuary and promptly fell asleep... Until about 9:15 am. I was slithering back to my stateroom when I ran into Bill B- who was on his way to trivia. And I tagged along. As we were selecting our pencils and score sheet- a nice young gentleman asked us to join his team of four- or maybe I invited myself- who really keeps up with this stuff... Any who- I joined the team of four- and so did Bill B- and guess what happened? We won! We won a carabiner! So, I have now found my people. The other amazing coinkidink- that young gentleman is Charles- one of the Cruise Critic Roll Call members who is doing some of the shore excursions with me! Oh! And did I mention? We won!

 

I headed to lunch- but took no pictures, because I sat at a table for 6. It was nice and I did not die. And while I would not like this to be an every moment experience- it was actually fun to eat with other people.

 

I tried the Izumi Baths. I will do a much more comprehensive review in an upcoming post- but suffice it to say- I am really glad that I purchased the 5 visit pass. It was a lovely way to spend two hours.

 

I wandered back to the Sanctuary for tea- I also joined the Book Club (wow... I am becoming all kinds of social here- what has gotten into me?!?!) So I read the first couple of chapters in the book. Jury's still out.

 

Then, I had to go meet the gang for trivia- Yep. We are an item. We just can't seem to come up with a great name for ourselves. After a delayed start due to technical issues- guess what happened??? We tied! So, there was a tie-breaker. And guess what happened??? We tied again. So there was ANOTHER tie-breaker. And guess what happened???? The trivia host could not judge the tie breaker, so both teams won! And guess what we got? A flashlight! And the flashlight matches the carabiner perfectly! It is like they were always meant to be together.... Call it fate. Or kismet. Or serendipity....

 

Well, with all of this new found success in trivia- I ended up needing to rush back to the room to get ready for Formal Night. I slapped on some make-up, put on some sparkly clothes and ran back down stairs to the dining room.

 

I thought I would have ample opportunity to write, but the couple at the table next to me (two tops all in a row sharing the same bench seat configuration)- were so interesting, that we chatted through the whole meal. Except for when I took pictures of my food.

 

I had the French Onion Soup- which I could eat about 1/2 of:

 

A salad- that I did not take a picture of- because it is, well..., a salad.

 

The farfalle pasta with veal- which was surprisingly delicious.

 

And, don't tell Bradley, but my boyfriend is on board the ship- You know. My boyfriend-- Norman. Norman Love. And he made a lovely hazelnut dessert just for me (and 2600 other people). Except for I forgot to take a picture of it.

It was wonderful. Much lighter than it appeared. Of course, just like all Norman Love desserts, I have to dismantle it. And I did.

 

I wandered a bit, but I am very, very tired, and will probably be asleep before 9 again- though I did get my nickel out of the day!

 

Tomorrow the plan is to meet with the trivia team again- I do hope we win- because mama needs a new magnet! I got stuff to stick on the walls!

 

Ok- that is enough of this chit chat...

 

More later,

Tracie-Lynn :):)

 

 

 

 

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[FraudBroad]

Is this the Normal Love desert from last night?

 

 

Now hopefully I've posted MY first picture!

 

I'm so excited for you...keep having a great time!

 

- Nat

 

 

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[OhioDogLover]

Thanks for posting. Looks like a great trip.

 

Ohiodoglover

[Colo Cruiser]

[newbie53]

Have a wonderful birthday! Thanks for sharing your cruise with us. You are a wonderful writer.

 

Sue

[RJ2002]

Thoroughly enjoying your wonderful review, and the pictures are great!

 

We were on the Diamond last May for the Circle Hokkaido cruise, and really enjoyed the ship and the itinerary.

 

Keep posting! :)