We_like_to_cruise

We have had a reserved time and table every day since day two of the cruise. There were no issues with that. In fact it was encouraged to help cut down on the long lines for tables during the first couple of weeks of the cruise.

Thanks for your comments. But according to online data, tourism ranges around 4 percent of its GDP and does not seem likely to change much in the near future: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1079842/singapore-tourism-direct-contribution-to-gdp/

We book by itinerary and destination. Although older, we have had very few (insignificant) issues with the Island Princess. You will get more information if you read through the first few pages of this thread.

Singapore Opportunities After navigating immigration we follow the well-marked covered walkway from the pier to the MRT station. Although our destination is within a healthy walking distance, we elect to try out the local transportation. Two stops later and we are at Gardens by the Bay, a large complex that includes numerous botanical attractions. It is one of the most popular tourist sites in Singapore. Interestingly, not one word of Gardens by the Bay is mentioned in the Princess Port Guide and no excursions go there. We walk the grounds for a bit and then show our ticket to enter the Flower Dome. (Tickets were pre-purchased a few days before, although not really necessary as the ticket queue was not too long). The Flower Dome is the world’s largest indoor greenhouse housing thousands of exotic plants and flowers and many exhibits. It is easy to spend a few hours admiring and photographing. It is air conditioned and very comfortable and the crowds are spread out. The adjoining building holds the Cloud Forest, an indoor tropical rainforest. It also has comfortable temps but much higher misty humidity levels as might be expected. Upon entering, one of the world’s largest indoor waterfalls astounds. An elevator leads to the top of the forest (almost nine stories high) and we follow the Cloud Walk down, seemingly suspended in air over the plants below. At different levels escalators assist. It is now early afternoon, so we pause for an outdoor lunch in the Gardens by the Bay. Sated, we walk over the famed pedestrian Helix Bridge, past the Esplanade, the performing arts center. It is nicknamed “The Durian” as its exterior mimics the spiked fruit. Around the bend is the spouting Merlion in the heart of Marina Bay. The Merlion, half lion and half fish, is the national symbol of Singapore. Many congregate here for their requisite selfies. We do as well. Across the boulevard we make our way past the huge Fullerton Hotel and take the MRT to Orchard Road, the upscale shopping district. All the luxury big names are there, too numerous to name. We window shop, saving money for our next cruise. Our next train ride takes us to a very large Chinatown. Dozens of restaurants, fruit stands, market stalls and shops that sell everything from durian to digital cameras. The narrow streets are very crowded. At the outskirts we marvel at the colorful entry tower of Sri Mariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in the city. Its five tiers host numerous bright colorful figures. As luck would have it, we are in the right place to view a religious procession going on inside the temple. The weather forecast had been 70% chance of thunderstorms all day. But, we have been lucky only being subjected to a few sprinkles here and there. We were fortunate to miss the drenching downpours fellow passengers later told us about. We pop back to the ship to change our shoes and grab a jacket and a quick bite to eat. (And a cold beer). Again, post immigration, we take the MRT to a Marina Bay Sands hotel station. The crowds outside the Shoppes are already waiting for the famous Spectra light and water show. A half hour early, we manage to grab the last viewing area right in front. Promptly at 8 pm the futuristic water / light / laser / sound show begins. They even have holograms projected onto the water. The magical show lasts 15 minutes. We have been to the Bellagio, Las Vegas, water show many times. Spectra was that and much more. All aboard is 9:30 pm and we are back at 9:10 having experienced the obstacles and opportunities of a visit to Singapore.

Singapore – a mixed bag There was a lot to like about visiting this port. There was also a lot of frustration. Following is the good/bad, pro/con, and positive/negative. We will start with the obstacles followed by the opportunities. Singapore Obstacles The day before we reached this port, we receive a letter in our cabin that everyone needs to complete a Singapore Arrival Card to proceed ashore. The document included a 43 character (I counted) complicated hyperlink you must type into your browser. Of course this would have been much simpler (one click) if Princess had also emailed us the information. Princess provided zero information on how to fill out specific parts of the electronic arrival card once logged into the website. E.g., there was an option for “Group Submission”. Should we use that for a couple traveling together? E.g., what was our last port? There are many options for Indonesia, none being Komodo Island. As you can imagine pax arrived en masse at the Internet Café for assistance and guidance. Princess you dropped the ball on this one. To make it even worse, this card can be filled out up to three days before arrival! The next day we must bring our passports (and carry them around all day) and go through immigration. As DW and I had left early we only waited an hour in line. From where we stood outside the immigration hall, you could see the line stretching behind us, apparently through the enclosed gangway and lined up on the exit queue on the ship itself. Others we spoke with waited two to even three hours to get through immigration. As a result some tours were cancelled. Many crew members spent their precious few hours of leave on line and never made it to shore. Some friends gave up and went back to the ship. Immigration involved scanning your passport, standing steady for the facial recognition camera and providing both thumb prints on another device. Like many others, after numerous failed attempts I was sent to a second line to try again. More waiting. Later in the evening, DW and I came back to the ship and went out again (more on that in part two) and oh boy, what confusion that caused. “Don’t move” we are brusquely ordered, as if we could, being trapped between two barriers. Supervisors consulted and telephone calls ensued before we were cleared to enter Singapore again. There was no line at that later time, but once again I was forced to stand on a second line as the equipment failed to do its job. Immigration woes were the most talked about part of our visit to Singapore among the passengers. Perhaps since tourism is only a very small percentage of their GDP being cruise visitor-friendly is not a priority? The MRT subway system is modern, very clean, extensive and pretty easy to follow. And it was rarely crowded on this Sunday in Singapore. However, we repeatedly received error messages using our contactless credit card at the turnstiles to pay for rides. Invariably we would need to walk to one of the customer service desks and they would open a gate for us. At one stop the agent apologized and explained there were ongoing technical difficulties with foreign credit cards. In fact he was so concerned that I wouldn’t be able to tap out after that trip that he offered me cash out of his own pocket to pay for the trip! At the end of the day, after each taking a half dozen rides to various stations around town our total credit card charge was only a bit over $5.00 for both of us combined. So I guess it ended up being to our advantage. I had pre-conceived notions of Singapore being a pristine and law-abiding city due to some of its well-known strict laws. Yet, when we attempted to walk down posh Orchard Road, many groups of young people - ranging from four to twenty or more - were gathered outside the shops, socializing while sitting on and blocking the sidewalks. The numerous signs prohibiting such actions were ignored. We saw this at other locations including the covered walkway from the ship terminal to the MRT train station. And, to make it even worse, the latter groups left behind many bags of garbage that were spilled all over the ground and the walkway. Not what I expected. Finally, when we climbed up the stairs from the MRT station to Chinatown, an Instagram zombie was posing and completely blocking the exit as her boyfriend took pictures. Despite my “Excuse me” as we attempted to get by, she turned around and gave me the finger. Welcome to friendly Singapore. Addendum. Three days after leaving Singapore we receive a Singapore visa in our email. ???

Yes, very much so. And I noticed many more new items as well as replacements. For example, today we had peaches and plums in the buffet fruit area.

Yes, you are absolutely correct. Our port in Langkawi, Malaysia was changed to Penang, Malaysia. Apparently there was some issue in Langkawi about accessing the road into and out of the port.

Yes, when wandering around I have seen smokers in that small area of the casino. However, unlike every other ship board casino I never noticed the smell of smoke when walking by the casino or in any other adjacent public areas.

Yes, the Churchill Lounge had a big sign with closed doors and there was no indoor smoking allowed during our time in Australia.

Hi Mustang GT. The coffee cups in the Horizon Court buffet are plastic. They do have clear glass coffee mugs in the Amuletto Cafe (which is part of the same buffet area) for specialty coffees. Although honestly I don't recall anyone using them - everyone gets their drink in a to-go cup. I do see some other buffet patrons using their own ceramic cups brought from home. You probably could also snag a ceramic mug from the MDR if you don't mind washing it yourself or replacing frequently.

Komodo Island, Indonesia “They hardly ever eat people” was a casual remark about the Komodo Dragons during the port talk on Komodo Island. Yikes ! With that thought bouncing around our brains, we waited a little nervously in the Wheelhouse Bar for our tender to this port. Only guests with pre-booked Princess or private excursions would be allowed to visit the island. In fact we had to leave our passports for the Indonesian officials, had to show proof of an excursion to Guest Services and fill out a customs document to get the opportunity to go ashore. Komodo National Park is composed of numerous smaller islands and the larger islands of Rinca, Padar and Komodo. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the sole natural home to a few thousand giant monitor lizards known as Komodo Dragons due to their appearance and fierce nature. The park is also home to a large variety of other marine life and flora and fauna – but we are here for the namesake lizards. The dragons can grow to nearly ten feet long and weigh 150 – 200 pounds or more. Opportunistic carnivores, they can eat 80% of their body weight in one meal. Whole ! (Hmm, give me a second to do a little math here. Whew, unless he comes back for seconds, I am in the clear. But DW might be just the right weight for a hungry dragon’s lunch.) Passengers are warned that any excursion here will be strenuous, and that starts at tender disembarkation. We need to make our way off the tender and then up steep stone stairs to reach land. Once we make our way down the long pier, we meet up with our tour group. This private tour consists of 15 passengers, a guide from the National Park, and two guards. Armed with sticks! Not to worry, the sticks have prongs at the end of them. Oh boy. One guard will be in the lead, the other taking the rear, to presumably protect us from sneaky human seeking dragons. The tour is very well organized, we all arrive at nearly the same time, our guide checks our names on his clipboard and off we go. We make our way through the rustic path which is often muddy and filled with rocks, roots and tree branches we must dodge. All at once we are greeted by our first dragon that seems to be waiting patiently and posing for photos from the paparazzi. Look at those claws! We round a corner and the big guy is only ten feet away. Earlier this morning I had put a large zoom lens on my camera anticipating we would be some distance away from the dragons. I needed to switch to my regular lens since we are so close. As we follow the path to the watering hole we see a few more dragons and we all take many pictures. No one attempts a too-close selfie thank goodness. We walk on and stop occasionally to learn about the island and its inhabitants from our tour guide. At times the trail narrows down and we march single file. We visit an abandoned Komodo Dragon nesting site and learn about their life cycle. The weather is very warm, but not too sunny, and no precipitation in the morning forecast. Eventually we reach a fork in the road and the guide asks who wants to climb up further to a grassy observation point. Most continue up the hill and climb the rudimentary steps. Some wait and we join them later. At the top we get a nice view of the harbor and the Island Princess far in the distance. I chat with our guide and he says we are very lucky. We have probably already seen at least a half dozen large dragons. He has sometimes taken tours out and they have unfortunately seen no dragons. The dragons we have encountered seem more sedentary than I expected. His reply was that was because they had recently eaten. Hmm, I wonder if someone slipped some gummies into the Purina Dragon Chow. At the conclusion of the tour we are left outside the “gift shop.” This is a large tarp covered area with about 20 or more tables on each side. Each vendor sold almost the identical items and all promised to give me the best price, lol. I looked interestingly at one handmade item and the quoted price of $50 dropped to $40 and then $35 before I could even say anything. On my return, after visiting many other booths, the price offered to me was $20. Sold! We both were happy. On our return to the tender pier we noted a few baby dragons only a few feet long darting across the walkway. There is also a very large mature dragon sitting under a tree. The rangers feel he is too close to the public walking area, so they gently prod and guide him as he slowly lumbers towards the beach area. I take a final picture as he gazes out to the sea.

Princess did process our visa-on-arrival for Indonesia. Many were surprised / upset that the cost applied to their account was $60 per person. However, this upcoming charge was noted in my Travel Summary of Jan. 4, 2023.

Hi Jeno, I posted this on CC a couple of days ago. Hope it helps. I have no further updates.

I honestly do not know the answer to that. Perhaps the announcement came at a bad time when we just had a cancelled port in Australia (after three cancelled ports in NZ). Frustrations levels are high. We also do not have much coming up in the way of new entertainment as we were supposed to get new entertainers in Darwin. As mentioned earlier, we have been happy with our cabin, the internet service, the food is good (albeit repetitive) and the staff is amazing. The cruise has met our expectations and any minor issues we experienced were resolved to our satisfaction. Other more seasoned WC travelers perhaps had higher expectations? It might be a case that we cannot compare this cruise to those past cruises. (We don't know what we are missing).

Other posted segments include 101 day LA to FLL, 66 day FLL to Dubai, 51 day LA to Dubai, 50 day Dubai to FLL and 65 day Dubai to LA.

Great map, thank you for posting. I was trying to find a WC2025 graphic.

I am writing a Live From thread on WC 2023. Last night we were provided early info about WC 2025 which you can read about here:

Great timing on your part. See the above post. 🙂

World Cruise 2025 Yesterday’s Princess Event Listings (the Patter) noted an event at 9:15 pm “Cruising with Princess: A Special Announcement”. We were already in the Explorer’s Lounge for a trivia game, so stayed when it ended. The dance band played Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration” and then the Princess Dancers performed while decked out in nautical themed costumes. A large cake decorated with the writing “World Cruise 2025” was wheeled out and the Future Cruise Director addressed the audience. World Cruise 2025 will be 116 days RT from Fort Lauderdale (Jan. 5) or LA (Jan. 20). The full WC will encompass 51 destinations in 27 countries on six continents. There will be first time visits to Bar, Montenegro, Taranto, Italy, Patmos and Volos, Greece and 11 late night port calls. Princess will return to Alexandria for visits to Cairo and the pyramids and Giza. The gentleman gave his spiel and when he finished someone from the audience yelled out “What ship??” “Island Princess” was the reply. There were some audible groans from the audience and he quickly answered “After a six week dry-dock it will be Island Princess 2.0” Not entirely satisfied, someone else answered “We’ve heard that before.” So obviously passengers feel some angst about this voyage and ship. We have encountered numerous passengers who have a number of world cruises already under their belt. So, our newbie experiences (which have generally been good) obviously cannot compare to theirs. There was no information at this time on pricing. We provided our email and cabin number and expect further information in the next few days. So, when that occurs I will update this thread. Here is a pic of the itinerary from the handout we received.

Itinerary Change Due to the strong winds and weather conditions forecast, the captain has cancelled our port of Darwin, Australia. This additional sea day will make it six sea days between our last port of Cairns, Australia and our next port of Komodo Island, Indonesia. Of course we are all disappointed.

That is amazing, thank you for sharing your story. We keep waiting to hear from our credit card company for updated charges, but so far only $0.69 for a 45 minute round trip bus ride!

Thank you for your kind words! I try to post as often as I can when the circumstances allow. It is a bit time consuming with going through pictures, editing them for size, writing up reports and posting. Although the great majority of the time the internet works fine (better than I expected), sometimes I submit an entire post to CC but it never makes it. Not sure of the issue, but then I need to start over, ugh. Anyway it has been fun, so thanks again.

We have "tablemates" at adjacent tables who are always dining at the same time. So, we interact with each other, although not technically sitting together. You can also get a reserved table/time for your own group or opt to walk up and sit at any open shared table with new people each night.

We also have only two outlets by the desk. However, if you reach and stretch we can access two more behind the television. Used an adapter to add a US outlet to the outlet behind my bed. All of our outlets have small extension cords attached (no surge protectors) and it is working out.

There were a couple of our ports that required proof of vaccination or you could not get off the ship.