Iluvcruising2

Day 4 afternoon - they held 2 ice shows. In total there would be 4 ice shows. There were 3,200 pax on board. The ice venue (Studio B) could hold 750. So they divided us into 4 groups.

Our group was the very first ice show on Day 4. Show started at 1:30pm. Doors opened at 1pm. By 12:50pm, there was already a long line.

We went early to get good seats. Managed to get front row but not in the main block.

Taking videos and photos were allowed, as long as flash was not used. Show was fast-paced and entertaining.

The ice-skaters invited the woman to be part of the performance. Now you know where to sit if you want to get involved!

The show was certainly one of the highlights of our cruise. I have never seen anything like it before.

Looking at this picture, you'd think the entire cruise was made up of Caucasians.

Drink of the day @ 6.25 before gratuity.

It is no longer a secret. We cruise to eat the desserts! We ordered every dessert on the menu - there were 4. The waitress magically turned up with 5!

AWESOME. Here we go:

The crepes - highly addictive.

Praline chocolate crunch.

Almond Polenta Cake

The banana thingy.

And the bonus cake.

Barramundi Fish was good.

Tomato Risotto not bad too.

Lunch time. This is the other MDR menu for lunch. As mentioned earlier, there were only 2 MDR lunch menus.

We loved the salad bar. We had it every time we ate in the MDR for lunch.

This was our first cruise as Platinum members. Our lapel pins were delivered to the stateroom. Nice.

The Crown & Anchor welcome back party was today. It was held in La Scala! Captain announced the top cruiser - Supermario! He went on stage to give a short introduction and also got a bottle of champagne. Apparently he would be sailing on the Voyager for a total of 55 nights. He boarded the ship in Barcelona and will sail to Shanghai, including one cruise out of Shanghai.

Supermario had more than 3,500 cruise points. The second top cruiser had 400+. The 3rd was below 200.

The Top Tier Party was on Day 6.

Even though Day 4 was a sea day, we woke up early to join the Dreamworks breakfast! We had to be there at 0745.

Here is the menu. You can get free chocolate milk shakes.

The kids doing some warm-up before the characters appeared.

3 characters came out - Fiona, Puss in boots and Shrek.

Day 4 Cruise compass. Sea day.

I recall I was rather full that day, because we had a very late lunch (call it High Tea) after we came back from Ho Chi Minh.

Still, dinner was good. (as usual)

I took the chilled cherry bisque.

And then the beef.

We got this from the kids' menu. Tasted rather good! (the guacamole)

For Day 3 - Vietnam, we took dinner in the MDR as usual.

Here are the menus.

Starters:

Mains:

Desserts:

Enjoyed all the pictures!!!

We took the ship from NOLA to Dubai, and these brought back many memories!

I was interested to know about how you liked activities on the ship. When we got off, some of the activities staff were being changed, and the replacements were Chinese, with some language problems, made trivia rough, as they didn't understand the questions.

Also, how were the bands? When we left there was a very good southern rock band in the Viking Crown, and in the lounge was the Music Box Trio - terrible!!

Unfortunately we didn't take part in very many activities. Most of the time we were looking after the kids!

This was the menu from Day 1.

My wife & I dined at Portofino on Day 1. Hence, for Day 2 Formal dinner, we chose the Asian options for the mains.

This was the duck. Not too bad. A huge portion.

This was the steamed cod fish, cooked in a fusion style (Asian garnishes)

And we took the wok fried noodles to share.

Ok here is our greedy secret. We order many different Mains to share, family style. Very fun to do with 4 adults and 2 kids. No way we can finish so much food. Please don't ban us, Royal.

To mourn the lack of Escargot, my friend the cabbage-chicken dumpling volunteered to pose for a photo on the metal plate. RIP, Escargot.

They call this Bay Scallop Gratin. Duh. I propose to rename it to "Escargot no more!" Seconders please raise your hands!

Escargot no MORE!

Now we proceed to dinner on Day 2 - Formal Night.

This is the Starter menu:

These are the Mains menu. No more escargo!! :(

Dessert menu:

I think many of the menu items are very similar to those offered on a typical Med. or Caribbean cruise yah?

Now for the lunch desserts. My family loves the desserts. We usually order everything. Burp......

Giandula Cake

Warm spiced rum cake

Raspberry Chocolate Ganache Tart - this was heavenly!!

The above desserts were awesome.

My family enjoys lunch in the MDR and we try to have lunch there as often as we can. For this cruise, they only had 2 different menus.

This was the menu for the 1st sea day (i.e. Day 2).

Turkish-style chicken wrap.

Empanada

Now, if you have kids, the good news is the kids' menu looks exactly the same as those you would find on all other RCI cruises.

Quite interesting to see some American families having Mac & Cheese for lunch from the kids' menu in the MDR, adults included!

We did not buy any food in Saigon. We packeted some food from the ship and ate that along the way. We came back for lunch at the Windjammer.

Now, food was very interesting during this cruise. You can see from my lunch that there are substantial Asian options. Almost felt like home.

But don't worry, there were plenty of non-Asian options, but definitely fewer than what you would find in a Med or Caribbean cruise.

Windjammer Desserts were still all non-Asian though! (We like the desserts.)

So, that's it for our day trip to Ho Chi Minh. Definitely it was worth the trip even though the ride from the port to the city was 2 hours each way! Thankfully the 6 of us were riding very comfortably in a Mercedes van which could easily take 10. My kids could lie flat and snooze along the way.

Ok, let me continue with some food pics, as there were requests earlier.

Final stop - Ben Thanh Market

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%E1%BA%BFn_Th%C3%A0nh_Market

Guide said that tourists love this market. They spend hours here. Some spend days! Well, with 2 young kids in tow, we spent about 30 minutes.

Lots of clothes. You can try to bargain, but the prices were already quite reasonable. So we didn't.

More shops selling handicraft. In Vietnam, everybody is a millionaire, yet there was plenty of bargaining. :)

Plenty of shops selling food too. We didn't eat any though, not too sure about the hygiene. Eater's beware! I did get some Coke for 15,000 Dong a can. Yes, 15 grand! Ding-Dong...

After the Post office (we were there only for 15 minutes), we proceeded to the final stop - the market!

Before that, some pictures of the scenery along the way.

Hotel Intercontinental Saigon

Good evening. Let me continue with our visit to Saigon, Ho Chi Minh.

This was the Central Post office, in the tourist area. Guide told us it was built by the French. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saigon_Central_Post_Office

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