travel4fun_sd

Great idea and good advice to have hard printed copy of the visa approval on hand.  I wasn't able to pull up the app at the cruise terminal, therefore, unable to show my visa.  I was directed to stand in another line so that Princess can verify my visa.  Luckily, I had wifi for a brief moment (wifi in OPT is aweful, non-existent) and was able to pull up the approval email!  

I was on Majestic Princess in early January.  Princess provided complimentary shuttle bus service from the pier to Lyttelton and Port Chalmers. This complimentary shuttle bus service does not take to Christchurch and Dunedin, respectively.

To get to Christchurch and Dunedin, I purchased private shuttle bus tickets from the shuttle bus company at the pier.  These shuttle buses leave directly from the pier to the city (Christchurch or Octagon/Dunedin) and drop you off at the pier in the afternoon.  Very convenient! Prices are the same in Christchurch and Dunedin: NZ$20 one way or NZ$35 return per person. I used credit card to pay for the tickets. 

In Christchurch, you can consider buying a one-way private shuttle bus ticket to Christchurch for NZ$25/person and buy a public bus ticket for bus#28 from the main bus terminal in Christchurch to get back to Lyttelton.  Then take the Princess complimentary shuttle bus from Lyttelton back to the pier. Bus#28 also stops at the Gondola station.  The cost for the public bus is NZ$2.60 one way or a day pass for NZ$5 if you plan to visit the Gondola or anywhere within a zone.  Day pass can only be purchased at the main bus terminal in Christchurch. Gondola and Lyttelton are in the same zone.  If you have local currency, you can take the Princess complimentary shuttle to Lyttelton downtown in the morning and catch bus #28 to Christchurch.  It will save alot of money if you have more than one person in your group.  I learned that bus drivers give priority to locals first.  So you might need to wait a bit to get on the bus during peak hours in the morning or afternoon.  The queue at the main bus terminal in Christchurch gets long starting around 2pm.  Budget extra time to get ticket and the queue.  I bought my tickets in the morning (because I walked by the bus terminal) to avoid queue in the afternoon.  Lastly, you can buy a single ticket from the bus driver if you have local currency.  I can't remember if they give change or not so best to have exact change.  The public bus ticket prices are going up in February I think, so the prices I mentioned earlier may be higher.  Princess gave us very good information about how to get around town using both private shuttle buses and public buses.  

If you choose to take the public bus, please keep in mind that there might a separate queue for locals.  Don't be alarmed if someone jumps the queue.  They might be locals :-).

Thank you for the helpful review! Could you tell us if the Princess menus were the same on the South East Asia cruise as on other destinations? Someone told me it's mostly Asian seafood dishes.... I was surprised as we've been on a few different cruises and the menu has always remained the same.

Hello,

I think there were some standard dishes like salmon, chicken and NY steak that are available on most destinations. On this cruise though, there were definitely more Asian dishes which was probably due to 80% of the passengers were from Asia. But there are also enough western dishes to choose from.

I can tell you that there was always a local dish on the dinner menu and at the buffet. For example, I had surprisingly good Hainan Chicken, steamed fish with ginger and scallion. At the buffet, they offered Pho which looked really authentic but unfortunately I didn't find it until it was closed :-( They also offered congee in the morning with all the trimmings. I had it most days. In the dinning room, they offered grilled salmon with miso soup and rice.

Happy Sailing!

Thanks for the great review. Wondering about air quality in the ports. Was it bothersome to anyone on the ship that you talked to? We were supposed to be on the 17-day cruise but had to cancel at the last minute. Happy to hear it was good for you!

Sorry for the late reply. I did not have any issues w/ air quality in the ports. It was definitely hot and humid but manageable. If you haven't gone on your cruise yet, it will be great. If you have already gone, hope you had a great time!

Thanks for the great review. Wondering about air quality in the ports. Was it bothersome to anyone on the ship that you talked to? We were supposed to be on the 17-day cruise but had to cancel at the last minute. Happy to hear it was good for you!

Hi JueauGal,

No, I didn’t hear anyone being bothered by air quality in the ports. It wasn’t an issue for me. Sorry to hear that you had to cancel your trip and hope you will have a chance to it in the future.

Thanks for ideas! Work dictated our trip start date, but we will sleep on the flight.

We are experienced international travelers & cruisers - never had anything like this awful situation.

Cruise is Singapore-HK; we (not cruise ship) booked round trip DFW-HKG; then bought ($, no award miles) HKG-SIN via UA's flight after 9 p.m. UA cancelled, subsequently twice put us on flights we didn't want. UA says Singapore Air releases empty seats to UA as they see fit. SA won't allow us to change the flight because UA, not we, booked it. We are caught in the middle.

Our plan now is to 1) book a flight on our own; 2) cancel the flight U made; 3) try to get our $ back w/help from suggestions made.

If we fly on to Singapore the evening of the 9th, can anyone tell me what the process will be since we won't be leaving the airport? Do we go through both Security and Immigration before rechecking our bags?

 

 

Thanks!

I would not think you need to pick up your luggage if you are flying on the same airline. You would just check your bag all the way to SIN from DFW. Your airline should be able to help you with this question or check HK Airport website for info.

What if you fly from DFW to SIN then purchase a one-way ticket from SIN to HKG? There are flights from DFW to LAX to SIN.

Good luck. I hope everything works out for you.

We are caught between 2 airlines. Our American flight from the US is due at HKG at 5:30 p.m. More than 6 months ago, we booked a United flight from HKG to Singapore leaving around 9 p.m. Later United cancelled their flight and booked us on Singapore Air leaving HKG at 7:55 p.m., a tight connection for us particularly since we won’t be able to check bags through.

 

Singapore Airlines would not deal with us directly because United had made the reservation. We asked to be on the next day 8 a,m, flight, but United put us on the 9:05 a.m. flight, arriving at Singapore’s airport 1 hour and 55 minutes before our cruise ship (NCLJewel) says we must be on board.

 

 

There are 50+ seats left on the 8 a.m. Singapore flight. Singapore Air-says they’re available but must be bought by United since they did the original booking. United says they can’t book the flight because Singapore doesn’t let them have access to all the inventory. United tells us to continue to call in case something becomes available. Both airlines say they’re so sorry, but neither one will budge.

 

 

This is way too much information. Can anyone tell me about how long it takes to get our bags and go through Immigration in Singapore? Google says the distance to the port is 19.3 km. Are 115 minutes enough time to get our bags through Immigration and reach the port?

Also please consider jet lag :-( I met a couple who flew from Dallas to Singapore arriving the day of the cruise. They were jet lagged the first few days of their 7-day cruise and missed dinner and shows. If you arrive a day or two ahead, you will be adjusted to the time change and take full advantage of what the cruise has to offer.

Great review - thank you!

 

One bit of advice for the future - take a smaller ship which would take you up closer to the city center. Of course you are trading size for convenience.

Thanks for the tip! I will also do better research next time on where the ship docks and tour drop off location.

Thanks for the great review!

 

Just a couple of questions regarding the taxi. How did you pay? Did you arrive with Singapore dollars already in you wallet?

 

We are arriving with no Singapore dollars, we were planning on using an atm at the airport to pull out some cash but if we could pay by credit card that would be our preference.

 

So looking forward to this trip!

We did not have any Singapore $ when we arrived. We exchanged US$50 at the airport currency exchange. For taxi, we paid by cash w/ local currency but most taxi accepts credit card and apple pay. There may be a nominal fee like S$1. But it's a good idea to withdraw money from ATM at airport or get some from Currency Exchange counter. I found the best rate is by using my credit card which has no foreign transaction fee.

We returned from our 7-day cruise on Sapphire Princess from Singapore which departed Singapore on 2/18/18. Ports of call: Koh Samui, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.

We live in Los Angeles and decided to arrive Singapore a couple of days before sailing since it's a 17-hour plane ride and we have never been there! The plane ride was great even though it was long. Flight arrived on time. Immigration was a breeze. Bags came out pretty quick. Customs was no issue.

We took a taxi to our hotel (Orchard Parade Hotel). It was about 25 minutes and approximately US$20. Please note that there are two taxi lines at the airport; one for regular taxi and one for premium taxi. We took the regular taxi.

Pre-cruise hotel: Orchard Parade Hotel - booked on our own. Excellent hotel in a central location and close to shopping centers, restaurants and MRT station. Hotel staff was very friendly. Service was excellent. We got a Deluxe Superior room and it was very roomy, comparable to most hotel rooms in the US. All rooms were recently renovated! My room was very clean and bed was very comfortable. It took no more than 15 minutes to get the pier using Uber and it was ~US$10 on Sunday.

Embarkation: We arrived at the pier around 2pm and were surprised the check-in line was still quite long. We got on the ship around 3ish and were instructed to go to our muster station for the drill right away. We were pleasantly surprised that the drill was done inside one of the bars which was GREAT because it was hot and humid that day!

Ship - The ship was built in 2004 and I believe it was renovated a few years back and due for dry dock in the next couple of months. So it is a little older but it was obvious that the maintenance staff does a great job maintaining condition of the ship. Ship was clean throughout.

Cabin: We got an inside cabin and first impression it was larger than other cruise lines we have been on. I think it is because there was no sofa. Everything worked great in the cabin.

Public areas: Well maintained and clean.

Staff: This is the best cruise staff I have ever encountered and I have been on about 9 cruises. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. Mgmt level staff were "on the floor" working w/ the staff and I think that might have made a difference in the service level. We were impressed with the service level.

Food: Overall, we thought the food was great on this cruise.

Horizon Court - the Buffet: We thought food was great for a buffet. Very flavorful. We tried late night snacks once and were surprised how great the Indian dishes were! There is congee for breakfast too! During the times we went, we found most dishes were fresh.

Dining room - We had Anytime dining and it worked out great for us. Food and service in the dining room was great. During busy times, service could get a little slow. We only had breakfast in the dining room. Breakfast menu is kind of limited so we went to the buffet for better selections.

International Cafe - We bought a coffee card and found it a good value. You get 15 specialty drinks and unlimited premium tea and coffee. Service at the cafe was excellent.

Pizza on deck 14 - Best pizza! I had one slice everyday.

Burgers, brats and hot dogs on deck 14 - also great!

Entertainment - we attended two shows both on formal nights and both were great! We also saw performers in the Piazza in the afternoon and before dinner.

Port of calls:

Koh Samui - great island. We hire Mr. Samui for a private tour and it was the highlight of our trip. It was a 5-hour tour of the island. We visited all the main attractions and a 30-min elephant ride (cost not included in the tour). Driver spoke good English and very pleasant. We would definitely use them again.

Bangkok - The bus ride to the city was about 2 hours and 20 minutes. We did the Bangkok on Your Own through the ship. There are two BoYO options; one w/ a stop at Wat Po for $10 extra and one without. If I have to do it again, I would definitely pay $10 more for the Wat Po stop. The bus drop you off at Asia hotel downtown on one side of the river. Most main attractions we were interested in were on the other side of the river which was no easy task to get to. It took a metro ride and then water taxi! The water taxi was a great experience and you feel like you are in Venice! We barely have enough time to visit the Grand Palace. Water taxi is 50Baht one way or you can buy an all-day pass for 180Baht. We made a mistake of buying the all-day pass since we were able to utilize it due to time constraints. Bangkok is an amazing city, beautiful and impressive skyline!

Ho Chi Minh City - The bus ride to the city is about 1 hour and 30 minutes. We did HCM on Your Own and it was more manageable than in Bangkok. Bus dropped us off in downtown and it was a walkable distance to most attractions. The tour bus provides a local map which was very useful. For shopping, I'd recommend the Ban Thanh Market as vendors are willing to negotiate with you. The vendors by the pier will not and their prices are higher.

Disembarkation - Very well organized. We were scheduled to get off the ship at 9:30 and it was on time. We got through immigration and got our bags in less than 30 minutes. Easy taxi ride back to Orchard Parade hotel for a 2-night stay before flying back to LA.

Overall it was a great cruise! Glad we did it even though it was a long way from home for a 7-day cruise. Wish we had time to do the 17-day version. Next time :-)

I personally think it's too risky. Since your flight was cancelled, I assumed you are able to get full refund from United? If so, do you have an option to book on another airline or arrive Singapore the day before the cruise?

Thanks for Sharing Richard, your site contains a lot of useful info.

 

 

 

I intend to do a short time lapse of the HK skyline from a high vantage point overlooking the harbour - on either side. (Using GoPro pressed against the glass) Are there time limits on how long you can stay there viewing?

At SKY101 - I am not aware of a time limit. But I know that you cannot leave and come back. We had forgotten to get batteries or something and wanted to go back down to the mall to get some but was told once we left, we couldn't return. They seem to be quite strict about that. Another thing I like to share with you is that the windows were a little dirty. Check out their website for special offers but read the fine prints as some of the offers have a time window (like from 5 to 6pm).

At the Ritz's bar, I am not sure if there is a time limit or a place to set your camera.

Great pictures!!

Do you have a recommendation for something to do in the evening? Our ship docks at the far away Kai Tak terminal.

If you have not visited SKY101 on Kowloon side, I'd recommend it. For similar views, you could go to the bar atop of the Ritz (same building) to enjoy the view and a cocktail!

Yes, US Citizens will need a Visa, which your ship SHOULD issue. You should contact your

cruiseline, and inquire with them to be sure. We were on Celebrity Millennium, and the ship did our Visa's. It was $6.00 pp, and was charged to our sea pass. I had contacted Celebrity before we sailed, to be sure.

@debshomespun - Thank you for your advice.

Hello fellow cruisers with US passports:

Do we need a visa to take a tour in HCMC? If yes, did you get it from the ship?

Thank you.