AzzaNJenny

We brought the kids there before :D

That's cool a definite Thai experience :eek:

Thanks mate I'm thinking Simon Cabaret might be the type of cultural difference we look for even though it is a bit commercial/touristy.

Thanks for the tip

Does anyone have tips for cultural or Hawker style food places to visit in our 2 days in port on Phuket?

We really are not interested in the overtly commercial touristy stuff, the beach, island tours or getting drunk on Bangla road etc.

We would rather see a traditional dance show, watch locals carving wood products or eat a proper Thai meal in some pokey little place where all the locals eat away from the tourist areas etc.

if you can recommend anything like this i would appreciate it as i prefer to travel on word of mouth than just doing stuff the commercial tourism websites advertise.

Thanks in advance for any help;)

Thanks guys that has cleared that up for me, couldn't find FAQ in the link on the Australian version of the website :confused:

After extensive research on the RCCL website, YouTube and google about bringing drinks on-board i have found a plethora of responses to what alcohol is and isn't allowed on-board but I'm unable to establish if bottled water, cool drink/pop/fizzy drink is allowed!!!

Finding the Royal Caribbean website frustratingly vague on a lot of topics :rolleyes:

Can anyone please confirm either way for me?

Singapore Duty free alcohol is quite reasonable and certainly less than you will pay in Perth airport on your return. Suggest you buy there and that will save you time and money when you arrive back in Perth

yeah i normally do that but the bottles from Langkawi were going to be for our stay in Singapore on the completion of the cruise because as you probably know it is super expensive to buy in Singapore city :(

oh well them's the breaks :rolleyes:

I have tried all the different ways of travelling to the night safari and zoo from the city area and don't recommend public transport even though it is normally really efficient to go to many other places the location of the wildlife parks mean you have to make train line changes and then get a bus from the nearest station which can take as long as an hour and a half depending where you start from and then you would have a dilemma getting back if you leave too late as services stop for the night.

I find the taxi fare cheap enough and I have personally never paid more than 35 SGD each way even with late hour surcharge and CBD surcharge, here is a link to one of my favorite tools for planning travel in Singapore gothere.sg i have already entered the details in for you and it gives you the estimated times /costs and details for the method of transport (you can also get the app for your phone).

http://gothere.sg/maps#q:marina%20bay%20cruise%20centre%20to%20singapore%20zoological%20gardens%20(zoo)%20%2F%20night%20safari

There is another option to get there with entry price included which would only require you to make your way to Suntec or The Singapore Flyer from the cruise terminal (neither are that far away).

http://www.ducktours.com.sg/nightsafari.php

Make sure you don't take any alcohol off the ship when disembarking. If you have been to Malaysia, the duty they charge is double the cost of the bottle. Other than that, anything Singaporeans do is always efficiently done and fairly pleasant to go through.

Wow I'm glad i read your tip on the alcohol as i had planned to pick up some bottles in Langkawi while on our cruise that returns to Singapore.

Appreciate the heads up;)

I'm far from experienced at this as i have only booked 1 cruise and haven't even cruised yet but my mother and her boyfriend are very frequent cruisers and had some great advice for me which was

1: pick where and when you want cruise before you start your research online so as was mentioned previously you compare apples with apples.

2: the best time to book a cruise price wise usually (not always) will be 9 to 6 months prior to cruise date, now in saying that I'm sure there are possibly some good last minute prices on cruises BUT i know i can't manage to organize time of work etc etc at last minute and you get left with the cabin choice of all the cabins no one else wanted and since booking my cruise at the start of July for sailing in January have watched the same cruise slowly rise in price from $700 for 7 nights to $1500 or more for the same cabin type

so i guess there is some truth to this tip.

3: you will with enough research and persistence always be able to find a cheaper deal online rather than going to a travel agent as they have to make money, this is something i have proved time and time again with regular holidays i booked myself after visiting a travel agent first.

Like i said I'm not that experienced with cruises but i always book my own regular holidays overseas online and the advice above i received seems to have helped me get a good deal, now I'm sure there may be exceptions and some people may find it easier to just have someone else to sort it out for you but i really enjoy the research and the feeling i get when i put a holiday together by myself for a cheap price.

Hope this helps somewhat.

Azza

It's still on Youtube :) - https://youtu.be/gstBVinuI_o

Cheers for he link mate this is the only episode i haven't seen yet ;)

Thanks AzzanJenny - sounds very cute!

my pleasure, if you have any other questions regarding Singapore feel free to send me a private message as we are quite experienced after travelling there 7 times already and heading back for the 8th time in January ;)

I definitely recommend UWW as the Dolphin show is also entertaining especially when they bring in the little fur seals they were so funny and cute I paid extra to get pictures with one of them.

Pink dolphins can be found on Sentosa Island at underwater world and bottle nose Dolphins at the water park at resorts world ( the name of the park escapes me ) both places offer time in the water with the Dolphins at a cost and info on both is easy to find on the net.

The other tour option i would recommend would be the Hippo bus which is a hop on - hop off tour bus with great on board commentary, this one is a paid service that runs out of Suntec City now i believe, but we took this tour the first time we visited Singapore and found it enjoyable and good value for money the only problem would be your luggage but Singapore is geared for tourism so it would be worth checking with the Duck & Hippo company and see if they are able to take care of your luggage

http://www.ducktours.com.sg/

Thanks for sharing although we are not sailing with Costa we are visiting these ports on RCCL in January and every bit of port info helps

Changi airport offers free city tours for layover travelers and you can check your luggage in up to 12 hours before your flight with most airlines otherwise they have luggage storage facilities.

changi airport have a expansive website and youtube channel which are very helpful ;)

Thanks for answering that for just made my decision easier [emoji106]

Thanks that answers 1 of my questions, I appreciate your help [emoji106]

Ok thanks [emoji106] I'm new to the forum and didn't realise there were such boards but will look further and post there

Hi there I was just wondering if anyone knows exactly where off the beach\coastline the RCCL ships anchor while in Phuket and also what time the tenders would run until when the ship is anchoring over night.

Thanks in advance for any replies :)

are spirits included in the packages? for example bourbon and cola or scotch on the rocks.

I refer to Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.