Jewel Singapore to Hong Kong 3/4 to 3/16/19

[mugtech]

Background:

           My wife and I are both Platinum Plus on NCL, having sailed 10 previous cruises.  We have also done 4 cruises with RCI and one each on Princess and Carnival.  I am 70 and my wife is 65, both retired.  We live in Lehigh Valley, PA, USA, but generally spend mid October to mid April in our house in Ilocos Sur province on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. My wife was born there and is a dual citizen.  We flew from Manila to Singapore, a 3 hour 15 minute flight, on 3/2 and spent two nights in the V Hotel Lavender.

Embarkation Day:

             Checked out of the hotel at 10:30 AM, and a 15 minute cab ride got us to the ship.  We went early because the year before we took a Princess cruise out of the same port and the Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas also boarded that day.  Last year was a big traffic jam as the ships were side by side.  This year the RCI Voyager, same size as the Mariner, was also loading up same day and same time as the Jewel.  This time there was no traffic jam, and by 11 AM we were going through security.

              My wife attempted to bring two Thai mangoes onto the ship in her carryon, but was nabbed.  The staff said the fruit would have to be destroyed, so I waited behind security with all of our stuff while my wife went back out, ate the two mangoes, and then had to go through security again.  This took about 30 minutes, but otherwise check in was smooth.  Besides the I'm not sick medical form each cruiser had to fill out a Thai immigration form.  We had little wait to get our pictures taken, our seapass cards and by 12:05 PM we were waiting in group 3 to board the ship, group 1 having already been called.  By 12:20 We were headed to the ship.

             The last act before boarding is to give up your passports with the completed Thai immigration forms. Part of the check in included filling out a form saying we had obtained visas for Cambodia and Vietnam or requesting that NCL do it for us.  The cost was $89 each for Vietnam and $69 each for Cambodia, which was charged to our ship account.  When they took our passports we were told they would be returned on day 12 and if we went to guest services we could obtain photocopies of the passports.  We always carry photocopies of our passports, were told it could help expedite things if we were stranded somewhere without our actual passports.

             We took our carryon luggage with us to Garden Cafe for a lunch not as hectic as usual on day one.  We went to our cabin, inside 9559, at 1:15 Just as they announced the cabins were available.  

[mugtech]

               We have done 5 cruises on the Gem, a sister ship, so we knew what to expect.  We were not disappointed.  The recent drydock had made the Jewel very much like the Gem after her 2015 overhaul.  The colors were peaceful and mellow, nothing like the wild colors, busy jazz feeling we got from the pre 2015 Gem.  The Jewel was in great shape, no mechanical problems or rust that we could see.

               We don't drink alcohol or use the casino, so I won't be able to answer any questions about these events.  Hopefully I can give some incite into any questions anyone may have.  I am going to make a few general statements about the cruise and then later get into a day by day discussion in greater detail.

               My wife claims this was the best food we ever had on a cruise.  She is a lives to eat person, whereas I am more of a eat to live person, so her opinions probably mean more than mine concerning food.  Being a Filipina who worked in Hong Kong for 10 years she is naturally partial to Asian food.  There was plenty of food available from China, Thailand, Vietnam and India.

             The entertainment was more hit or miss this trip.  The wife enjoys most anything better than the drunken karaoke we sometimes must endure in the Philippines, but I am usually more discerning, avoiding disco music.  Neither one of us has any time for hypnotists, and we don't go to all the magic, juggling or comedian shows.  We like the Stardust Theatre entertainment because the singers have a live band, not taped music like on Princess and Carnival.

              Generally speaking the shore excursions were good and also expensive.  I bought all of our tours on board the first night.  Probably not a good idea.  Ko Samui, the first stop, was sold out.  There were only 3 tours, the desk person said that some tours had been cancelled by NCL because they involved the mistreatment of elephants.  Many of the tours are 9 or more hours long because the destinations are far from the ports.  In addition we found no WiFi in the ports, but some could be captured in the bigger cities.  Actually there was very little WiFi to be had on the tours we took and little time to use it.  Details to follow.

 

[mugtech]

Day 1 continued

              We got settled in rather quickly to 9559, it was fairly centrally located with no noise from decks 8 or 10.  The checked luggage arrived shortly after the 4:30 muster and then it was Garden Cafe for dinner.  When we returned to our cabin all of the Platinum Plus goodies were waiting for us, including:  bottle of sparkling wine, chocolate covered strawberries, an invitation to a wine and cheese party, the paperwork for dinner for 2 at Le Bistro and Maderno and the stub for 2 free bags of laundry.  Immediately took advantage of our 15% discount on all NCL items by purchasing a Jewel hat and t-shirt.  With any amount of luck it would be my last trip to Tradewinds Duty Free Shop.

               The first night Stardust entertainment was a magician/comedian from Oz.  Often the first night on other cruises was a preview of all the coming entertainment all over the ship.  Often saw Leo play on  stage the first night on the Gem.  Murray or Murphy or whatever his name was came off as corny sometimes and some of his tricks were old and lame.  We had a few laughs, but would not go to see him again.

[mugtech]

Day 2:

             First day at sea I love to get up on deck 13 or 14 before sunrise to pictures with my tablet.  I always take a 30 minute walk when I first rise, and another tradition with me is to walk decks 6,7 and 8 the first morning before sunrise.  Sunrise the first day was 7:15 AM still Singapore time, so it was easy to do the walk and get into deck 14 position.  Then I knew I was on a cruise.  Having been in small hotel rooms before, my wife claims she knows she is on a cruise the first time she hears a toilet flush..

               After breakfast I checked out the tv.  Besides all the usual NCL channels there were 4 movie channels, called Action, Drama, Comedy and Family Movies.  A schedule is available on the rack on deck 7 next to guest services.  The schedule covers the 7 days of the week, and on the comedy channel the same 9 movies are repeated over and over again the entire cruise.  Coincidently one of the movies was Ground Hog Day.  And the schedule was wrong, one day I tuned in to see Crazy Rich Asians and something else was on.  The sports channel had mostly football (soccer), but the NBA Saturday night game was shown on delayed tape on Sunday afternoon.  Got to enjoy watching the LA Lakers lose to the Celtics, and I am not a Celtics fan.  In the Philippines we had $20/month cable with an NBA channel that broadcast at least two live NBA games every morning, usually at 9 and 11:30.  Seeing only one game in 14 days was different for me.

               The wife decided to see the internet manager to make sure she was hooked up properly, not gonna be charged for any WiFi time.  We each got 60 minutes for being plat plus and we took 250 minutes as our freestyle freebie.  There was a long line of people but it was eventually resolved, only to create problems later.

              The Stardust show was very good, the band did 45 minutes of my kind of music, classic rock.  They started off with We Will Rock You and did two addition Queen songs later.  It reminded me that the best I have seen at sea was on Royal Caribbean Anthem when they performed the entire musical play We Will Rock You, all Queen music.  Some of the other songs performed this evening seem to be cruise industry standards.  I have often heard Born to be Wild, Life in the Fast Lane and the Tina Turner version of CCR's Proud Mary.  They did 3 songs by The Who, and the dancers for all the music were excellent.  It only slowed down in the middle for the lead singer to do a spotlight rendition of James Taylor's Fire and Rain.  Even though the music seems overdone these days, I would enjoy seeing the same show again.

[RussNJodi]

Thanks for this; going on Jewel to Alaska, so very interested in hearing about her post-refurbishment. 

[mugtech]

Day 3:

               We got an hour back on the clock as we headed to Ko Samui, Thailand.  It was listed as the only tender port on the cruise, but since we had no trip booked we were in no hurry to get to shore.  As plat plus we got to go in group 1 after all the priority shore excursion people got to go first.  We had a late breakfast and actually won 9 AM trivia, beating two other teams.  The Jewel has a system of rewarding cruisers who participate in certain activities.  Everyone gets and activities card and receives one staff signature for participating, 2 signatures if on the winning team.  We won trivia twice and shuffleboard once.  Prizes are awarded the final night based on how many signatures were accumulated.

               Group one was called at 9:15 AM while we were still playing trivia.  When we got to the stairs at deck 7 where everyone had to line up before going down to deck 4 to board the tenders, there were some unhappy campers.  They had shore excursions on non-NCL tours scheduled for 9 AM, it was 9:30, and they were still waiting to take a 20 minute tender trip to the dock.  The young staff member listened to their complaints with great sympathy, but explained there was nothing he could do about it.  One woman insisted he talk to his boss about this travesty.  He said he would when he got the chance, but right now he had a job to do.  Turns out the young man was born and raised in New Jersey, so he was a natural to listen to complaints.

               We were on a tender at 9:45 and on the dock shortly after 10.  As we headed into downtown we stopped at a mango and coconut shop to bargain prices.  The asking price for one mango started at 50 baht (30 baht = $1), but some friendly banter got the price down to $1 for one mango.  They skinned it, cut it into pieces and gave it to us in a plastic bag with a plastic fork.  As we stood there eating it and telling the sales people how good the mango was, other cruisers walked past.  We convinced a Brit, a Canadian and an American to buy a great mango for only one dollar.  Told them at such a great price we would not be requesting a sales commission.  The price was the same as we paid for the 3 Thai mangoes purchased in Singapore.  That fact had been part of my wife's negotiating.

               We went into town and started doing the typical tourist shopping, my wife loves jewelry and other trinkets.  When it started getting hot and humid we would stop in a jewelry store for some air con.  My wife would bargain with them, but once she was convinced she could not get what she wanted for a fair price plus we had cooled down, we would leave   I needed underwear,  so I picked up 3 shorts for $10.  I am 34 inch waist and took large sized, but it appears I should have gone extra large.  The wife managed to get me an extra large t-shirt with printing on the front and back for $7.

               As we headed back to the tender we stopped in to see the mango and coconut dealers again.  The wife could not get them to budge on the 40 baht price for a coconut.  They split the fruit open and gave her a plastic straw to suck out the juice.  Since she bought the entire coconut and their services, she asked them to split it in half so she could eat the meat inside.  They did it with a smile, unlike the salesman in San Juan, PR, who was very reluctant to split open a $3 coconut.  We were back on the tender by 12:45 and on the Jewel 20 minutes later.

               That night we ate a Le Bistro at 5:45 PM, and early arrival got us a window seat.  The ship was scheduled to be at sea by then.  The last tender was scheduled for 4, all aboard time 4:30 for a 5PM sail away.  Until 6:45 PM we saw tenders still going back and forth from ship to dock.  The Jewel pulled out about 7 PM.  Later we heard stories from people who got to the dock at 2:30 and waited 3 hours to get on a tender.  One person said the tide had gone out, had to switch docks to safely get the folks on the tenders.  They said they thought the tides were predictable.  Even CD Dan the Man with great joy and relief reminded everyone that Ko Samui was the only tender port this cruise.

              The food in La Bistro was very good, I love the 4 mushroom soup and scallops they serve.  Later that night we enjoyed Alex and Magdalena, Latin American dance champions from Poland.  Would go to see them again.

 

[mking8288]

Hi, there ... mucho thanks for doing this.  Following & welcome to HK, staying there for post-cruise visit/stay before coming back ?  Very nice narrative, loved to see pictures uploaded later if & when you got them and get a chance.   We got questions but going to wait to ask.  Looking at different Asian options & cruise/ship/port & itineraries for 2020 ourselves and this is helpful & informative.  

[mugtech]

9 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Hi, there ... mucho thanks for doing this.  Following & welcome to HK, staying there for post-cruise visit/stay before coming back ?  Very nice narrative, loved to see pictures uploaded later if & when you got them and get a chance.   We got questions but going to wait to ask.  Looking at different Asian options & cruise/ship/port & itineraries for 2020 ourselves and this is helpful & informative.  

Staying 4 nights at Cosmo Hotel at 375 Queens Road East, a few blocks walk from Wan Chai Market. Nice hotel on the 26th floor, great view of the neighboring cemetary.  Noisy plumbing.   It worked out to $110 USA/night.  Priced at $130 Saturday and Sunday nights and $90 for Monday and Tuesday night's, flying out to LA and then JFK on Wednesday.  Hope I can answer your questions.

[mugtech]

Day 4:

              The Jewel pulled into Laem Chabang, the port for ground transport to Bangkok, half an hour late because of the late start the night before.  So at 7:50 AM it was announced that everyone with an 8AM meeting time should come back at 8:30.  Our 9 hour tour left at 9 AM, returned at 6:20 PM, included a bottle of water and a great Thai lunch buffet at Royal River Hotel.  Free WiFi was available at the hotel.  It was a 2 hour and 30 minute bus ride to our first stop, including a 15 minute Happy Room stop.  Such a place is called the Comfort Room in the Philippines.  When we had our new house blessed 5 years ago the priest blessed every room but the Comfort rooms, did not ask him why.  The traffic in Bangkok was almost as bad as Manila.  It was a very mellow day despite the heat and humidity, the Buddhist temples and pagoda being quite sublime.  The Thais were very serious about no exposed shoulders, knees or ankles and the removal of shoes and hats to enter the temples and pagodas.  Vietnam was much more relaxed about said restrictions.  The ship was in port overnight, but with a 3:30 onboard time the next day it did not seem practical to stay over.

              The Stardust Theatre show was only one at 8:30, featured Thai classical dance and instruments, a very entertaining 45 minutes including audience participation.

 

Day 5:

             We took no excursion this day, played trivia a few times and attended a Thomas Kinkaid seminar in the Art Gallery at 6PM presented by Steven from Malaysia and Park West.  I had seen the presentation previously on RCI, but it was new for the wife and she thought it was a worthwhile 40 minutes.

              Later we went to see Groovin Guitar with Sean at Magnums.  My wife did not like the noisy bar crowd, so she ducked out to see Tony K Irving in concert at Stardust.  As soon as I read "Enjoy selections from KC and the Sunshine Band" in the freestyle daily I knew this was one to pass on.  The wife said it was great disco, making my point.

Day 6:

             Sihanoukville, Cambodia, was a 4 hour tour called Highlights of Sihanoukville.  Once again many Buddhist temples and pagodas were visited, ending with a 30 minute stop at a beautiful beach.  The Tap Pack, 4 Australians doing Rat Pack type of stuff while tap dancing was the Stardust show.  It was different, nice to see once as a novelty, but I cannot imagine going to see them again.

[mugtech]

Day 7:

               Evidently there were many German speaking people on this cruise, for many of the announcements were done in English and then German.  Often in the Garden Cafe it sounded like we were cruising the Rhine.  Today at lunch German food was featured, and we both enjoyed many dishes we have had back in our Pennsylvania Dutch homeland.

               During the day there was a 10AM tour presentation in Stardust about the 3 ports in Vietnam and disembarkation tours in Hong Kong.  It was informative and can be seen on tv, but going to the presentation allows for questions to be asked and answered afterwards.  At 11AM CruiseNext did a show in Spinnaker called Europe and Unique Cruises.  The info was right on, some different one off cruises by Jade and Spirit.  However, he failed to mention that some of the inside cabins on Spirit were selling for $6,000 and more two weeks ago.  Cannot imagine the prices have not gone up or been sold out.

               That night it was Velvet, billed as "Sheer entertainment set to a glittering disco soundtrack."  So I passed and listened to Strum Along with Sean in Magnums.  For me he is not as good as Leo was on the Gem,but it was enjoyable enough to listen to for 45 minutes.

[mking8288]

@mugtech Aside from a sizable German pax onboard this route, comments had come up as to whether the (mainland) Chinese were present & posed "challenges" for fellow cruisers & crews ?  Was the ship sailing full and was it an older/mature crowd ?    Going to hold my questions about VN ports until you are done, thanks again !

 

Are you getting around using MTR as it's quite a walk from/to the Cosmo Hotel ?   We've looked at it before for a friend planning a visit, ended up booking a harbourview at North Point, walking distance to the ferry as she didn't want to have a cemetery view ... although the nearby Happy Valley horserace track view would be fine.  

[mugtech]

5 hours ago, mking8288 said:

@mugtech Aside from a sizable German pax onboard this route, comments had come up as to whether the (mainland) Chinese were present & posed "challenges" for fellow cruisers & crews ?  Was the ship sailing full and was it an older/mature crowd ?    Going to hold my questions about VN ports until you are done, thanks again !

 

  

The previous cruise was a 19 day Sydney to Singapore, so the makeup of the pax had more of an Aussie and UK feel to it.  There were Asians, but from all over, especial Vietnamese and Filipinos.  The Chinese on board were more like the typical Hong Kong Chinese, saw none of the bad behaviors complained about on cruises out of Shanghai.  It sure seemed full, and there were few children.  The only cruise I saw with less children was the Sun 19 day from Tampa through the canal to Vancouver, counted 6 kids on that cruise.  The Jewel had maybe 20 children on board, never felt crowded.

[mugtech]

5 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Are you getting around using MTR as it's quite a walk from/to the Cosmo Hotel ?   We've looked at it before for a friend planning a visit, ended up booking a harbourview at North Point, walking distance to the ferry as she didn't want to have a cemetery view ... although the nearby Happy Valley horserace track view would be fine.  

My wife worked in Hong Kong for 11 years, so Wan Chai was her old stomping grounds.  We stayed in Traders hotel for 4 days in 2008, did all the usual Hong Kong stuff.  This time a niece working locally was our tour guide for Sunday, her day off, and we took the ferry to Lantau.  We got the Octopus card for 150 HK$, about $21.50 US.  It is good for ferries and MTR rides plus some food places accept it, so I am sure they will be zeroed out by Wednesday.  We have used the MTR and will probably take another ferry today or tomorrow, but the main emphasis will be strolling the old neighborhoods.  We will probably be back next February, so we feel we have plenty of time to do things at a mellow pace.

[mugtech]

Day 8:

               Headed to Saigon today, another over 2 hours to get there, mostly on 4 and 6 lane highways.  We did Saigon Highlights, a 9 hour tour which included no lunch and no water, so be prepared. When we were at Reunification Hall there was a list of all the foreign troops and their numbers in Vietnam in 1968.  The total was over 600,000, and the guide explained from where they came.  There was 1,828 listed as Phil, and the guide said they were from Africa.  I corrected him, told him they were from the Philippines. He apologized to everyone for his error.

               The traffic was ugly in Saigon, motorcycles weaving in and out everywhere.  Supposedly the limit is 3 to a bike.  I asked the guide if they didn't use sidecar on the cycles, what are referred to as tricycle in the Philippines.  He said you would only see them in museums in Vietnam.

               We had 85 minutes to buy our lunch and walk the downtown area, so we walked a few blocks and picked out a local restaurant.  The food was good enough for $16 and they took Visa.  The chicken on a stick I got was very fresh, and from the time it took to deliver it to me it may have still been alive when I placed my order.  With 65 of our 85 minutes gone we had little time to see much of downtown.  The visit to the Presidential Palace included going up and down about 100 steps at 3:30 PM, very hot and humid.  Some chose too just sit at the entrance and wait for everyone.

               It was a long, exhausting day, we skipped the Australian comedian Kenny Bennett.

[mugtech]

Day 9:

               Another day at sea, with trivia, walk a mile and more.  I took my morning walk completely around the entire ship outside on deck 7.  It was a little windy along some stretches, but few people were out and about at 6:30 AM on a sea day.  I also found out why there is no Name That Tune on NCL these days.  A staffer told me that two years ago they got a memo stating that another cruise line, whose name was not mentioned, had the rights to the name and the game.  We had not cruised NCL since November of 2016, so this was news to me.

               We had dinner at Chin Chin, the complimentary Asian restaurant.  It opens at 5:30 and they do not take reservations.  Located on deck 7 above Magnums, we had live music in the background for our 6 PM meal.  I enjoyed the Kung Pao chicken and  my wife enjoyed a few seafood dishes.  It was good food and service, but we agreed that the few options on the menu meant once a cruise was enough for Chin Chin.

               Soprano Mary-Jenn was featured that night and is worth hearing at least once.  My wife bought her CD so I will be hearing her more than once.  She is from the UK, learned Mandarin and won the Chinese X Factor on Beijing tv.  There were Chinese people in the audience who had seen her on tv.  She claims she is now old enough to start singing opera, is currently learning Italian.  Mary had no trouble hitting and sustaining the high notes.  The only negative for me was that her voice is so good it didn't sound right doing down home stuff.  Enjoyed the show.

[mugtech]

Day 10:

               We took a 7 hour tour to Imperial Hue.  More than any other destination this cruise, I was looking forward to seeing the citadel in Hue as a hot spot in the 1968 TET Offensive.  We stopped at some Buddhist temples and Pagodas, but just being there gave me a feeling of history.  The only place in Asia that gave me a stronger historical vibe was Corregidor Island at the mouth of Manila Bay.  In 1994 the island still looked like 1945, hope to get back there again soon.

              Once again we were not supplied with any water or lunch.  At every stop there were hundreds of other cruisers plus locals.  We did stop at Saigon Hotel for lunch on our own.  A big enough bowl of beef noodle soup was the lowest priced food on the menu, $10.  500ml bottles of water were $2.  The soup was good enough and they took Visa, but I would hope we could have gotten better food for less elsewhere.

               Stardust show was soulful Frenchie Davis singing for 40 minutes.  She sang What's Going On and some songs by Whitney Houston, Otis Redding and one from The Wiz.  She has a wonderful, tangy voice, worth seeing and seeing again. 

[mugtech]

Day 11:

               Arrival time was 9AM for Ha Long Bay with all aboard not until 8:30 PM.  A 10 hour tour to Hanoi was offered, which included 3 hours drive each way.  We decided to take the Junk Cruise Ha Long Bay.  The meeting time was 8:45 in Stardust, we arrived at 8:40 and got sticker #21.  Everyone in Stardust, about 550 people, were taking the same excursion.  At 9:10 they called #6, the last number, our #21, was called at 9:45.  By the time we got down to deck 4 and boarded the Junk directly like a tender it was 10 AM.

               The fog in the bay was very thick and lasted all day.  For the first 45 minutes all the 2,000 islands were far away and just ghosts in the fog.  It was like watching a bad movie in black and white.  When we got closer to the islands we could see things in greater detail, but the overall distant view was never there.  At 11:35 The sun made a cameo appearance for two minutes and then disappeared again, never to be seen again even after we got off the ship at 1:30 PM.  Bia Hanoi was for sale for $2 for a 500 ml can, cheaper by the ml than Jewel prices.  The junk stopped at Tien Cuno cave for 45 minutes, and 10 people did not visit the cave because the tour description said 100 steep steps needed to be negotiated.  The 1:30 PM junk tours had fog the whole day also.  It was an enjoyable, relaxing tour and the bay is beautiful.  I wonder how many days this time of year have all day fog.  It may be worthwhile to research the fog in the bay time wise if you are planning to visit.

               Our other dinner benefit was used this evening at Moderno.  The salad bar, soup and side dishes made it a very satisfying meal before the meats started coming.  After lobster brisk I tasted 3 different kinds of steak, lamb, and chicken white meat wrapped in bacon.  The service was very friendly and prompt.  We were there from 5:30 to 7 PM, saw a total of about 20 other diners in that time frame.

               Stardust presented an hour long show Le Cirque Bijou.  It was a typical cirque show with great high wire acts and plenty of stage dancing.  This one had some surprises, which included 20 seats that remained vacant in the first 5 rows.  I would say the seats in the center rows 6 to 12 had the best views.  Well done by the Jewel Production Staff, with a tribute to the entire staff at the end.  As usual the washy washy people got the most applause.

 

[mugtech]

Day 12:

               We had to pick up our passports at the deck 9 midship elevator landing between 10 and 11:30 AM.  Other decks had a similar setup for their pax.  Inserted was a Hong Kong arrival card which had to be filled out and signed and included in our passports when going through Hong Kong immigration.

               We spent the day scoring more activity card points to cash all the signatures between 7 and 9 PM in the Crystal Atrium.  The clocks were turned ahead one hour over night to get back on Singapore Hong Kong time.  With nothing going on until 9:45 AM, it was a good day for us to sleep in.  For our 60 signatures we were rewarded with a frisbee and a deck of official NCL playing cards.  Wahoo.  To get a coffee cup it required 100 signatures, 5 years ago I got a genuine NCL coffee cup for less than 50 signatures.  Not as bad as Venezuela, but still quite the inflation rate.  I could not imagine anyone paying the asking price of 70 signatures for a key chain.  Before the activity card set up I won more key chains that I have keys.  Royal Caribbean has pens and magic markers for individual game wins.

               At 4 PM I went to the Spinnaker to check out the last bingo game.  The expected return on buying the cheapest set of cards, $49, is terrible.  Those who buy the cards also get 6 raffle tickets while those who buy the $69 package get 9 cards per game instead of 6, 10 raffle tickets and a bingo t-shirt.  Someone won game one and got $120.  And then, drum roll please, they had the raffle drawing for the free cruise, a 5 day Caribbean cruise.  Used to be a 7 day cruise.  Must be present to win.  About 15 people exited after the raffle winner, who lives in Florida, expressed his gratitude.  What would someone living in Asia, there were a few on the ship, have done with a 5 day cruise 8,000 miles away?  The winner of the second game, a 4 corner quickie, got $157.  Then the fill the card game ended the day.  If someone could fill a card in 47 balls they would win $5,000.  Never seen it happen.  Only 7 of the first 47 were "G", so someone would have needed to have 5 of those 7 plus the other 19.  When they hit 50 without a winner I bailed out, going back to the cabin and then an early dinner.  It was so cold and windy that I wore a jacket and avoided walking outside on decks 12 and 13.

               I got to speak to piano player Tim, asking him if he knew The Sweetheart Tree, a Mercer/Mancini song from the movie The Great Race, 1965.  It was nominated for an academy award, but lost to Tom Jones singing What's New Pussycat.  Tim said he Never heard of it, and it was not on an online list he had.  I have asked at least one piano player on every cruise I have ever taken and no one has ever heard of it.  Tim suggested I make copies of the sheet music and hand it out.  I just might try that.  We skipped that night's juggler.

 

[mugtech]

Day 13:

              Breakfast started at 5:30 AM, shutting down at 9 AM in the Garden Cafe.  We prefer to drag all our stuff off the ship, are never in a hurry to leave.  We were taking a cab to a hotel with a 2PM check in time.  We walked off the ship at 9:10 AM and were in a cab 90 minutes later, at our hotel shortly after 11, so we had 3 hours of free WiFi waiting in the lobby.  I had 13 days of emails and other items to catch up plus wanted to get started on this review before Hong Kong gave me a new mind set.

             Hong Kong was as I remembered it, crowds and long lines but great speed and efficiency  to get things done.  There were people complaining about long lines, but with a Celebrity ship also in port I was impressed at the way it all flowed.  35 minutes was the wait for a cab, but the line was hundreds of people and moved well.  We waited longer for a cab in NYC in 2012 getting off the Gem on a Friday.  Looking forward to our next cruise.

[mugtech]

               Another thing I noticed was that I did not like visiting a communist country.  It wasn't anything like the nonsense one hears coming out of North Korea, but I got the feeling the guides were working for the state.  They were very reluctant to say anything that could be perceived as negative towards any aspect of Vietnam.  I was in college during the Vietnam War, have no bones to pick with anyone about it.  I just feel much better about being in Hong Kong, part of China but still like it was in 1997 in all outward appearances and actions.  I doubt that I would want to return to Vietnam, but would look forward to revisiting Singapore, Hong Kong, Cambodia and Thailand.

[mking8288]

Just a quick comment and a question on your stops in VN, did you look into or consider independent tours and what were NCL's prices for the tours that you booked ... feel free to answer later/when you have time, as it's Wednesday & a busy day coming home, checking out of the hotel & to the airport, etc. Have a safe trip !

 

We're in Ho Chi Ming City in 2010 for 4 days, booked a MB Sprinter Van w. driver/guide for 3 days, inexpensively via a local connection DW has; and leaning again of doing the same - over land is the better way to go ... spending 4 to 6 hours on a day stop to get to the attractions, and rushing isn't our thing these days.  It appeared you paid tourist prices as "foreigners" for your in-town meals & Visa card put you at a disadvantage.  We converted to VN "Dong" with good exchange rates on arrival.  A good French-VN iced coffee was $1 to no more than $2 USD and a bowl of "Pho" or beef noodles soup & other common dishes should not be more than $5 or $6 USD even at an upscale place.  Hue & Ha Long Bay are beautiful, on our - must do - bucket list ... more research & planning for 2020.  

 

Curious as to tour prices charged by NCL for your sailings, if you wish to share, as it will be useful for for planning & analysis.  One of our nieces is flying to VN in about 2 months and going to check out the new Uber service, known as "Grab" as a good taxi alternative for DIY sightseeing and getting around ... otherwise, we didn't have any issues hailing a taxi from the hotel and paying the metered fare rates,  

[herdingdogmom]

We were on the same cruise.  We enjoyed the 3 production shows and Frenchie Davis' show as well as the Thai dance show.

Thanks for your recap of the cruise. 

 

We also missed the return tender mess in Koh Samui, but heard the same stories you did about 3 hour waits in the hot sun and the use of the local tender boats to get everyone back onboard.  We agree with you about Vietnam, but loved Ha Long Bay and the cave.  We want to visit Singapore again and needed more time in Hong Kong.

[mugtech]

I am currently in LAX waiting to fly to JFK and then see what up in PA since October.  I do believe I saved a copy of the excursions price sheets.  If not, I could back into the gross prices by recalculating the amounts on our account which were minus the 15% platinum plus benefits.  The way it looks it may be Sunday before I have a relook at the cruise stuff, will do what I can when I can.

[herdingdogmom]

19 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Just a quick comment and a question on your stops in VN, did you look into or consider independent tours and what were NCL's prices for the tours that you booked.  Curious as to tour prices charged by NCL for your sailings, if you wish to share, as it will be useful for planning & analysis.  One of our nieces is flying to VN in about 2 months and going to check out the new Uber service, known as "Grab" as a good taxi alternative.  

We were on the same cruise as the OP and did ship tours and independent tours in Vietnam.  NCL's Cu Chi Tunnels excursion was $99 and Saigon Highlights was $85.  The 10 person independent tour of Saigon was $74 and the guide was excellent.  NCL's Imperial Hue tour was $99, Hoi An $89, Danang & Marble Mountain $65. Our independent tour of Hoi An & Marble Mountain was $74 - the guide wasn't good.  NCL's Junk Boat cruise in Ha Long Bay was $59 - the guide on the boat was excellent.

 

Grab motorbikes and cars were everywhere in Saigon.

Edited March 20, 2019 by herdingdogmom

[mugtech]

5 minutes ago, herdingdogmom said:

  We want to visit Singapore again and needed more time in Hong Kong.

For us it really enhanced the cruise to have such ports to start and end the cruise.  We love the way both cities work so well and are so international.  We got to spend time with a niece we had not seen since our previous visit to Hong Kong in 2008.  We found $110/night hotels in both cities, means looking at a cruise next year that goes from Hong Kong to Singapore by way of Japan and the Philippines.