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Day 4 - Bangkok in the Evening

After we freshen up, using trip advisor we find a restaurant for dinner that’s walking distance. It was delicious.....my favorite of all the thai eats we had over the last 2 days and that’s saying a lot as everything was amazing.

It’s called Than Ying Restaurant - our meal was 2 appetizers, pad Thai, a curry dish, white rice and Diet Coke. Meal came to about $50 USD (with tip). Highly recommended - I would take a taxi to eat here.

One of the appetizers, sticky noodle

the restaurant has a nice ambiance

We then take the sky train to the Asiatique Market and walk around for a bit. Unlike Singapore there are no hosts to help you purchase tickets and most people do not speak English. Adds a little adventure to the trip. We already knew what stop we had to get off at, and with sign language, watching others, we figured out how to purchase the tickets we needed.

On the way back we took a tuk tuk - holy crap, sitting in the back, no windows, no seatbelts, crazy driving - yet somehow felt safe. Cost for this thrill ride was 200 baht (about $3 usd).

Here’s a pic of our Thai Mario Andretti

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I’m a little concerned about this passport business. I will be on the Jewel next week. I have already purchased Shanghai Disney tickets and JR pass... but both state at the bottom that i need a valid passport when collecting tickets. I wonder how big of a problem this will be.

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I will find out what you have to do to get your passport back. Who knows, maybe they don’t collect it on your leg.

LOVE this review. We too are going to be on the NCL Jewel as of November 5....

 

I have a couple questions-

1) Why do they keep your passport during the entire trip? We've done about a dozen cruises and I've never seen/heard that before.

2) As part of your suite benefits, do you get to eat in Cagneys for breakfast & lunch? We were in an aft suite on the Jewel a few years ago for a Pacific Coastal cruise and we had that benefit which I love for breakfast.

3) I do not understand why they could not escort you to your cabin. You said it was immigration procedures but couldn't a staff meet you on the ship at the gangway and meet you and bring you the rest of the way? We did a Haven suite on the NCL Baltic cruise last year and no one escorted us. It's not that I need handholding but we have found that initial conversation we learn ALOT about what benefits we get.

4) On a couple of the comments section on the sheet what you'll need at each port, it says "bring....any original government photo ID when going ashore". I assume that means maybe a drivers license since you don't have an "original" passport in hand?

 

Keep up the great reporting!!!

Bill

1. I assumed they keep the passports as the ship personnel clear customs for us. We just walk off the ship, do not meet a customs agent. I expect when I get my passport back there will be a stamp for Thailand and Vietnam in it. These are my assumptions, but since there is enough interest I’m going to ask Bruno and get back to everyone. I’m also going to ask if we could get our passports back if needed.

2. Yes you get the suite breakfast/lunch but it is hosted in Moderno’s. We actually ate there for breakfast the first 2 mornings. Have yet to make lunch.

3. We are like you and don’t care if we are escorted to our room. I want to assure you that you will have all your questions addressed in the boarding lounge area in Singapore (at least this was our experience). We have a good understanding of the benefits that come with a suite but Bruno still spent several minutes with us going over everything, ensuring we didn’t have any questions.

4. Yes, Drivers License, Green Card etc. I always bring ID

You were lucky to be able to do this tour. I have just had contact with BKK Tours and they are not now operating excursions out of Laem Chabang as it is too far from Bangkok.

I agree, we were lucky...We are sitting in the van with BKK on the way back to the ship as I type this so I ask our guide to confirm your post.

She says they have stopped going to the port to pickup groups organized on cruise critic roll calls. I guess they have enough demand in the Bangkok area that it is no longer worth the headache (these are my words, she was more gracious) of going to get groups where people don’t show up or are late which has caused fighting between the cruisers. In short, a few bad apples ruined it for those who are following.

She said they would still consider picking up private tours at the port (where the group all knows each other and has one contact person) if they had availability.

She says what cruisers from roll calls have been doing is catching a bus to Bangkok, then BKK picks them up at the bus station - and the touring begins. Tours are identical except pickup/drop off is the bus station instead of the port.

I am doing Jewel Yokohama to Singapore in October - it also has the overnight stay in Laem chabang.

 

Did NCL have any overnight tours and what arrangements if any, did you have to make with the ship for your overnight stay on your private tour.

 

Enjoying your thread very much

The only NCL excursions offered to Bangkok were day trips, did not see any overnight trips.

We did not make any special arrangements with the ship for staying overnight.

The only little hiccup we could have had was with our “overnight bag”. We thought it would be easier to just take our smaller suitcase, as it on rollers, than to have to haul our carry on bags over our shoulders. Bruno told us we may have to be searched on the way out (why? not sure. It was busy that morning so didn’t ask, if I remember will ask him at a later time). We were not searched but they did question us to make sure we were planning to return.

Day 4 - Bangkok (overnight)

The ship docks in Laem Chabang - which this morning was a 3 hour drive to Bangkok. We knew from research that the drive was long so decided on doing overnight in Bangkok. Using mainly tripadvisor & the Asia thread on cruise critic we booked BKK Tours for a 2 day Bangkok Highlights Tour.

The cost of this tour was 21300THB (about $680 USD) for the 2 of us. This includes pickup and drop off at the port, lunch both days - water, and all entrance fees. We prepaid - but you can pay cash/credit card the day of the tour.

Does not include overnight hotel cost.

We met this morning for priority disembarkation but did not need it. At 815am there already was no one in line to disembark. We were scheduled to meet our guide at 830am - we were a bit early, but so was the guide so we got a head start to the day.

Around the 1/2 way mark we stopped for a bathroom break & Thai coffee. **Tip: have some tissue with you when you use a bathroom, toilet paper not always supplied**

As I mentioned earlier - it took 3 hours to get to our first stop today.

The ride was a pleasant surprise. Incredibly comfortable, wifi available along with a charger!

The seats almost fully recline - would have been no problem taking a nap if needed.

There is room in this van for 8. I know this company caters to cruise critic groups organized on roll calls - would strongly consider them as an option if you want a smaller group tour.

This photo shows you the leg room we had as well as the charger on the right hand side.

There is not much to see on the drive so these little extras made the drive go by quickly.

Our first stop is the Grand Palace - the pictures do not reflect how amazing/ornate this place is.

We tour this area for about an hour. A highlight of this property is Wat Phra Kaeo (the emerald Buddha) - pictures are only allowed from the outside - hence my excuse for this poor quality photo

We then go for lunch....fantastic!!! We had 5 dishes - my favorite was the Pad Thai and Green Curry.

The Green Curry

After lunch we have a canal tour by a long tailed boat - just my hubby, the tour guide and myself as passengers.

It’s tricky getting in & out of the boat with the movement of the waves - we were a little awkward but did not fall into the river so success!

At one point we stop and feed the catfish - I know, a real “touristy” thing to do but it was fun! They even swam up and took the bread from your hand in the water.

We the head to the Vegetable & Flower Market. The heat must have been getting to me because I only have one photo and it’s of the vegetables not the flowers!

Our guide pointed out various spices, vegetables etc. The eggplant looks completely different than the eggplant in North America and no photos to share.

We finish the days touring by going to Wat Pho (the reclining Buddha temple). He’s quite large - 15 x 46 meters (if my memory is correct, I may be off by a meter or two). They built him first, then the building around him.

We sweated through our clothes a bit today - the tour company provides plenty of water throughout the day and every time you return to the car cold towels are given to you.

The touring has come to an end and we are taken to our hotel. The Eastin Grand Hotel Sathorn. This hotel was picked to give us as much time as possible tomorrow. With last boarding at 330p, to be safe the tour company recommends we target a 2pm return - for unexpected traffic.

In so, the Eastin Grand is easy on/off from the freeway which we need to be on for our first stop tomorrow.

For one night with breakfast the cost was $143 USD(with tax) - best price was through hotels.com. With our hotel in Singapore the best price was directly with the hotel web site - forgot to mention this.

Nice hotel - Lobby of Eastin Grand

Some room pictures

Fyi.... coffee is instant, which is why you do not see a coffee maker (surprising as this is at least a 4 start hotel).

The hotel apparently has a beautiful infinity pool, we did not bring our swim wear, but if I remember I’ll try to snap a photo. We are hoping to get to one of the night markets tonight.

**Tip: have a copy of your passport with you (remember the ship has your actual passport) - we did (by dumb luck bc. our tour instructions said at times a copy of your passport is needed for the Grand Palace)- the hotel said that we would not have been able to check in without it.

They also said this is the case for all hotels. On our hotel confirmation it just said government issued ID needed - I didn’t argue the point - but to avoid any issues I would just bring copies**

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Freestyle Daily Day 3

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Dinner on Day 3 - La Cucina

On this cruise we have 4SDP plus our 2 platinum dinners. We decided to use our platinum certificate tonight at La Cucina as we were only in the mood for a lighter dinner and the platinum certificate has more restrictions.

My husband for his appetizer had a pizza & chicken cacciatore for his entree.

I’m not sure if pizza is back fleet wide in La Cucina or only available on the Jewel, but it definitely was not available on our cruise a few months ago on the Getaway.

I had the shrimp risotto and the lasagne. Both appetizer sizes at my request - one of them could have been entree sized.

I purposely ordered the meat lasagne to see if it was the same as the meat lasagne that I had in the main dining room on the first night.

It is not the same - much preferred the lasagne at La Cucina. I know La Cucina gets a lot of negative reviews but I really enjoy the food there.

We passed on desert.

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The tour of Koh Samui

Let me start by saying we had incredibly active, seasoned, experienced cruises on our roll call. Many different tours with many different options were organized. I only hope that your roll call for these unique itineraries has people like this for advice etc.

Having said that, we did not join any of the group tours. We just don’t think we will ever get back to this part of the world so decided to do truly private tours at each port - just my husband & I. This gives us the flexibility to stay longer in an area if we want - skip something all together, get an earlier start etc.

For Koh Samui we booked a few months ahead with a company called Tours Koh Samui. The Private 4x4 off Road Island Safari tour.

Total cost for the 2 of us $8700 THB (about $280 USD). Deposit of $4000THB was paid at the time of booking online. Remainder was paid in cash today (stopped at an atm).

The tour started at 845am and were back at the tender at 3p. I feel like we got a good sense of the Island. The guide sat in the back with us.

Here is our guide and the driver with our “safari” truck

Our first stop was at an elephant camp - per our guide there are quite a few camps on the island and the one we went to was the one where the elephants are treated the best. At this camp we could have gone trekking through the jungle for 30 mins on the back of the elephant, but we saw a documentary about elephant abuse some time ago and how it actually is bad for them to carry weight on their backs- so we skipped the ride - instead just petted/fed and hung out with our elephant for a bit. The elephants looked good (no scars) and seemed relaxed, calm. No signs of distress.

Then we went to the grandma/grandpa rocks. It was high tide, one of the rocks could not be viewed. I’ll let you guess which one was visible

We stopped and did a walk through the Muslim fishing village and it’s local market

We saw a demonstration of how monkeys pick coconuts, and then later on the drive saw actual harvesting of coconuts by the locals using monkeys.

Stopped to see the mummified Monk.

Toured the magic garden

Saw the Big Buddha on the top of the mountain - it had just stopped raining so the views were a bit misty - have no good pictures of the view.

Saw my first live scorpion

And in the middle of this had lunch on the top of a mountain (which was delicious).

Fresh squeezed watermelon juice - highly recommended

This port was the hardest to plan for. I would recommend this tour to get a sense of the island.

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Day 3 - Koh Samui

Breakfast

The buffet is very full this morning at 7am - we headed to moderno’s and cut through. It would have been a challenge to find a table.

I had a light breakfast, just a muffin from the self serve area.

My husband had the waffles with fruit.

We both enjoy the French press coffee

Tendering

1st tender was supposed to be at 8am. We had arranged to meet our tour guide at 830am so needed to be on the first tender. This is the best part of being in a suite for us - met at the designated spot & time and we were on the first tender - the tender took about 20 mins.

I am typing this review while laying on the stone chairs in the spa and just realized only have 4% left in my iPad battery - signing off and will continue with the actual tour later.

The view from my heated stone chair

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Today is day 3 - Koh Samui

We have a tour planned and will report back at a later time but I just wanted to share this amazing summary sheet that what given out with the Daily on day 1.

This makes it so much easier to organize what documentation is needed for each port.

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Freestyle Daily Day 2

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Freestyle Daily Day 1

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Day 2 - Sea day

So yesterday the sea was a little rough - walking like you are drunk. I really do mean just a little - I’m sure others would report not rough at all. Unfortunately for me I am a lightweight with motion - I did take medications and did venture out. The ship was incredibly empty - maybe others felt the same way.

So I spent most of the day in the room - when I lay on the bed I feel fine. We really aren’t sea day people - usually just eat, hang out in the casino, have a spa treatment of some sort & go to the thermal spa. I find the sea days a day to recoup/relax - maybe even a little boring.

We have a thermal spa pass - but I have learned from previous experiences the front of the ship is the worst place for me when feeling this way.

I am typing this at 5am on day 3. Sitting on the balcony in the dark - happy to report seas are calm - no issues this am with motion sickness!

Food so far:

It’s strange but I am not eating Iike I normally can - I think the time change is still playing a factor in this. Today wide awake at 430am so getting better.

We had dinner on Day 1 at the Azure dining room. I had the meat lasagne & my husband had 3 appetizers as his meal, salad, French onion soup, & the beef slider. He was hoping the beef slider would have been like the one they used to have at Cagneys - it was not. My meal was satisfactory - at an Applebee’s level for those in North America as a reference.

Day 2 - because of the motion sickness missed breakfast and had a late lunch/early dinner at the Great Outdoors around 3pm. It was delicious!! I made myself a sandwich, the bread was so fresh. I’m forgetting to bring my iPad with me - will try to remember for pictures.

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Internet

Usually the 250 minute free internet is enough for us. This time we upgraded to the unlimited because my 81 yr old father recently learned how to use FaceTime and I now FaceTime him everyday!

We were not sure if it would work on the ship - happy to report it does!

You get a $125 dollar credit towards the unlimited plan - for the 11 day cruise it was $204.93 for the upgrade. The rate was 29.99/day. Bruno (the concierge) arranged this for us - otherwise you just have to go to the Internet cafe when the internet manager has office hours to get this done.

The speed of the internet on the cruise is incredibly fast compared to our previous cruise experiences. Almost as fast as on land - not kidding.

I’m guessing that’s because many of the passengers are on this cruise for 40 days - and unlimited plan would cost $1200 - that cost may be prohibitive for many. Also the age of the cruises on this trip is older, many I am assuming are retired so don’t need to email for work etc. So overall I’m thinking less users means faster speeds.

The Freestyle Dailies

I do have the pictures of the Freestyle Daily but did not know if anyone would be interested in them - if you are, let me know and I will post them.

The Cabin

We are in an aft penthouse. I think we’ve done about 12 cruises with NCL and we bounce between balconies to suites. The biggest perk of a suite to me is priority tendering/disembarkation in ports. Gets us off exploring ASAP. We tend to book suites for the “overseas” cruises, the ones that are more port intensive for that reason.

So the Jewel is going into dry dock for a refurbishment soon and our room does need it. I knew this going in from doing research but even if I didn’t I would have been okay with it. It takes quite a bit to ruin a vacation for me. The room is worn and tired looking BUT very clean and we are pleased with the space. The balcony is big.

Here’s some photos - only snapped a few but happy to take more if you want to see the vanity/bathroom area.

Still have the lavazza espresso maker - love making my own lattes, my understanding is this will be replaced with an nespresso machine with the refurbishment

We did have the opportunity to upgrade through the bidding process - for us the minimum bid for the haven courtyard penthouse was $400pp. This would have given as a bigger cabin (which is always nice) and access to the haven area. For us, on this cruise, it was not worth it. We did have offers for the other suites also but sorry cannot recall what the minimum bids were.

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Wow...that is good! Did you have to search long to find those flights?

This is the standard award cost when booking with Alaska Airline Mileage program. We didn’t have to “search” per se, its just what the cost is through Alaska’s program. But seats are very few - we booked as soon as they became available, about 10 months out.

Embarkation day

Sail away was 5pm. We grabbed the metro to Little India this morning and did some exploring.

I have to say that people in Singapore are incredibly friendly. If you look at all confused someone stops and asks if you need help. We had the equivalent of 2 full days - in retrospect I could have used one more full day in Singapore - unfortunately can only take so much time off work!

We grab a taxi to the airport - $12 SGD. Arrive around 2pm. Dropped our bags curb side and went in.

1st stop is security. Prior to clearing security you are given a health questionnaire (for those who have sailed with NCL before, it’s unchanged). And also you fill out a customs form for Thailand.

There is no line for security.

What makes this cruise different is that not everybody is embarking in Singapore - we are only doing 11 days but there are people who are doing the full 40 day cruise (I believe it started in Sydney). That is why I think the lines were all so short.

After security, check in

And again line is reasonable

We are in a suite (non haven) so checked in the suite/haven check in.

A nice little lounge - we didn’t wait at all but if we had to wait it would have been comfortable.

Your passport is collected at the beginning of the cruise and given back to you at the end. We have never been close to missing the ship but I asked Bruno (the concierge) what happens as we always bring our passports “just in case”. If by chance you miss the ship your passports will be handed over to the port authority. Hopefully I will not be reviewing my experience with this procedure in a later post!

As Canadians we do not need a Visa for Thailand but they did collect our customs form (1st port of call is Thailand). I believe the same is for American citizens.

We do need a Visa for Vietnam - the ship will do this for you if you don’t want to do it on your own ahead of time. I know that this is true for USA & Canada - check if you are a citizen of another country. We took advantage of this service - one less thing to do ahead of time. We filled out the forms and our room account will be charged $69pp.

My husband filled out the form, I only glanced at it but I saw there was a charge for assistance with Thailand Visa - if you are from a country that needs a Thai Visa - look into it.

Then we board the ship. Because of immigration procedures we were not allowed to be escorted to our room - instead they stuck a big VIP sticker on your lapel and this would bypass any line you encountered. There was one fairly short line just before the gangplank where passengers who use general boarding were handing in their passports/Thai customs forms. As we had already handed our in we walked right by right onto the ship.

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Lounge at Royal Plaza on Scotts

Got back to the hotel after a full day of touring and dropped into the lounge - as promised here are some photos

It was “happy hour” so free alcohol and some snacks were out.

Samy’s Curry for dinner

We had dinner at Samy’s Curry (highly recommended by a coworker that was here last month)- unfortunately it was not on the metro line - we did have the option of a bus - but was starting to get tired again and did not feel spending 30mins on a bus to go 3km and after a full day of walking - could not muster another 3km out of my feet.

The cab ride was $24 SGD (return) - dinner was $54 with beer - it was delicious.

I took one photo, then started to eat and took no further pictures (sorry was hungry and forgot! Middle aged and new to this blogging is my excuse)

Samy’s is very simple - almost like a cafeteria but you do have table service - no table cloths, nothing fancy -just great food served on your bamboo place mat. Too cool. The address is 25 Dempsey Street for those who want to check it out.

Well today we board the ship - hope to get tour of Little India in before we board.

Day 2 in Singapore

Day 2 was yesterday - writing this the next day again. I am happy to report that today I woke up at 4am - yesterday was wide awake at 2am. Making progress. It’s actually a nice way to start the day - reminiscing about the previous day’s adventures while sipping coffee.

We booked the HippoTours HOHO (hop on-hop off) bus with guided 2 hr tour of Chinatown & Little India. The cost was $43 SGD pp.

We started the day by taking the metro to ChinaTown - it is super easy to use and inexpensive. It was $1.60 each on the metro and a cab would have cost about $10.

Do not be intimated in using this system - there are “hosts” at every ticket machine to help you purchase your tickets/explain how to get where you want to go.

We bought our HOHO tickets at their booth in Chinatown but you can purchase on any bus - they have many, many different packages - take a look on line ahead of time for what will fit your needs.

Our tour guide for Chinatown was Aaron - there were 24 in our group, a little large for me but Aaron had a microphone so easy to hear. Very good tour - would recommend it.

We were able to see a prayer service in the Buddhist Temple

Then jumped on the HOHO bus. I am not usually a fan of this type of touring - my experiences have just been okay - but I have to say this this time I actually enjoyed it. The guided tour on the headset was relevant, easy to hear.

I found the architecture of this city amazing - I’m sure this contributed to me actually enjoying the bus portion of the HOHO

Chinese New Year was last month - the year of the dog - so you will see sculptures of dogs scattered about the city

We got off the bus at Kampong Glam (Muslim district) and visited the Mosque

Stopped and had the best blueberry tea ever - husband had a SIngapore Beer - the cost for these 2 items was $20. I think we were in a “trendy” area which was reflected in the prices.

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Have fun! You've got to love points + business class = flat beds.

Well said :)

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Can you do a USD-SGD conversion for us?

Nice review so far. Take care of the Jewel...I’ll be cruising on her in Alaska in July. [emoji1]

 

 

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Of course the exchange rate changes daily but as an example we withdrew $100 SGD today from an atm and $76.12 USD was taken out our account.

We have yet to pay a service fee to withdraw money in Singapore. Usually there are 2-4 atms next to each other (like in the underground train system). If you find that a atm wants to charge you a service charge, cancel the transaction and try the one next to it. The first atm we tried this morning wanted to charge us $5.

Breakfast at Royal Plaza on Scotts - Carousel Buffet

So the buffet is quite impressive. A ton of selections, I forgot to snap a photo of the Indian section, the dim sum station and the cappuccino maker but I think I got the rest. My husband said that the “North American” breakfast items were a little on the cold side - I didn’t have any - I only sampled the local flavors- my guess is the standard North American cuisine doesn’t turn over as quickly so it gets cold.

The price is $32 SGD per person. Would I go there if it wasn’t included in the price of the room .... undecided.

Surprisingly the automated cappuccino maker makes a very good latte.

Some of the hot Asian selections....

A few of the hot North American dishes

Cold cereal selection (also have a hot cereal)

Pastry section

Fruit/yogurt and juice section

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Gym in the Hotel - Royal Plaza on Scotts

So I got up crazy early today - no surprise, I was asleep by 7p, so decided to hit the gym - it’s open 24hrs - for those considering this hotel - its small but has good quality machines

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