Iluvcruising2

I would think that the Australia to Singapore leg of the cruise would be less Asian than the Singapore to China leg.

We have sailed from Singapore to China twice, once on the Legend and once the Voyager (before she was refurbished). See my picture reviews (links in my signature). I thought the cruises were good. More Asians on board, of course, compared to the cruises we take out of Europe. But by and large, it was the same Royal Caribbean product, more or less.

Well, give it a try and spend more days in Singapore! :):)

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PS: I have never sailed on a round-trip from China cruise. I did hear that the experience could be quite different from a round-trip Singapore or even Singapore to China re-positioning cruise. The main reason is the different passenger profile. I don't want to offend anybody here but let me just say that as a Singaporean Chinese, I am not planning to take a round-trip China cruise anytime soon.

We flew into London Gatwick and quickly made our way from the North Terminal to the South Terminal in order to catch the easyBus, which we had booked in advance. We had to take these driverless train, which was cool.

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We didn't know our way very well, so we had to look for the way to the bus terminal. Thankfully, it wasn't too difficult to find, and we got there in good time for our bus. I think the easyBus is the cheapest way to get into central London from Gatwick, however, be prepared for a rather long ride that might not be the most comfortable. The next time, we would rather pay more and take the Gatwick Express. Here we were, waiting for the bus.

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We would stay at the Premier Inn, Waterloo, for a few nights before heading back to Singapore. The easyBus brought us to near Waterloo station, and from the bus-stop, it was probably a 200M to 300M walk to the hotel. Premier Inn is our favourite hotel to stay in London because it has Family Rooms with 4 beds and the price is reasonable, given that we are staying in central london. By now, we are very familiar with the Premier Inn product, though this is our first time in this particular Premier Inn. Here is a video I made of the Premier Inn Waterloo room. We managed to get a room right on the top floor of the hotel!

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The restaurant at this Premier Inn was located inn the basement. The cost was 10.5GBP per adult. Up to 2 kids eat free with 1 paying adult. We had breakfast almost every day we stayed there, since our kids would eat free. This video shows you the food available for breakfast - a decent spread.

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Wonderful!... With another wonderful music! Thanks!... :)

Thanks for your support!

Have fun!

Back to the holiday, flight review.

I had more important work to do than wonder about masking tape. I had to fill up landing cards for our arrival. Let's get this sorted out first so that I can rest for the rest of the flight.

A short while later, cabin crew came around with drinks service plus a sandwich. I asked for a Tiger Beer as well as a coffee. Very nice.

The inflight magazine proved to be an interesting read on this flight. This article was about Baron Haussmann, credited with inventing modern Paris. Apparently, he died a hated man! Reading the article, I think Haussmann was just ahead of this time. He had a beautiful vision for Paris, that wasn't shared at that time by his contemporaries.

On another page, the magazine profiled this British Asian model, wearing expensive pieces of clothes.

I made a short video of this feature in the British Airways High Life inflight magazine.

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Wee Nam Kee Hainanese Chicken rice. A crowd favourite. Chicken rice is widely available in Singapore.

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...We have all the time in the world in the next months to come!... :) Cruising is great as is great to remember our great cruising memories!... :) Cheers!... :)

Been busy with work, but I found time to make a summary video, but not of this cruise but of food from my country! Singapore.

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I thought you did a fantastic job on your review and I really enjoyed reading it! I was curious as to how MSC would be in the Med as I love cruising over there and your review showed me how absolutely great it would be! So thank you so much for all the hard work you did on your review! It was AWESOME!

 

You might look at Gambee's review for details of the changes made on Divina:

http://www.cruisewithgambee.com/msc-divina-review/

 

It seems to be some menu changes mainly and possibly shows to include Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson music and removal of the Opera production (I'm disappointed about that.) I'll try to remember to take photos of the YC menus and the buffet spreads in the YC - the YC is the one thing Gambee didn't have access to.

Thanks very much and I'm glad you enjoyed my review of the MSC Preziosa experience in the Yacht Club.

The bar menu from Preziosa. This should help.

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Care for some chicken rice?

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What about some Tori Q - japanese inspired, teriyaki chicken.

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And this is chicken curry. A local favourite. Not the healthiest of dishes but it tastes so good!

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Video not made by me, but showcases our gorgeous skyline!

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Here is the website - http://www.marinabaycountdown.sg/

Booked a cruise aboard The Mariner March 2017, we have added 4 nights pre-cruise in Singapore, so looking forward in reading all the information posted, to formulate an itinerary to maximise our adventure

Welcome in advance to Singapore! :):)

Compilation video of some food that I've been having recently. Decided to put this together for the fun of it. Thank God for Singapore food!

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Yes, they do. And a huge crowd puller too.

Looks like this. (First 5 minutes)

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Had a chance to attend an outreach event of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, of the National University of Singapore. This event was for kids, and called 'Make a musical friend'. They introduce the various sections of an orchestra and then play the Harry Potter theme. Good fun.

Here are some videos.

Woodwinds Part 1 Let's Make A Musical Friend

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Brass Part 2 Let's Make A Musical Friend

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Strings Part 3 Let's Make A Musical Friend

Percussion Part 4 Let's Make A Musical Friend

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Harry Potter Theme Part 5 Let's Make A Musical Friend

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Woodwinds Sections Let's Make A Musical Friend

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Another V Log, mostly food related.

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A couple pleads guilty to sedition charge.

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Exactly! That is the idea, but for the cruise with the debarkation song that could be a wonderful song to describe the YC!

 

Oh! And another wonderful song on the plane video! Thank you!... :)

Thanks for the idea. It is a good idea and I hope to find the time to be able to do what you suggest. Cheers!

Wonderful review! Forgive me, moderators, but I need to congratulate the OP for his wonderful music choice, especially his fabulous debarkation music! OP: Is it posibel for you to share with us what is and whom sings this wonderful music?... And... Well... If it is not too much can I give you a suggestion? Is it possible for you to give us a summary video of all your wonderful YC experience as a bonus video with just the full version of this wonderful song? Many thanks for your wonderful job!... :)

Thanks for your compliment. Your idea is very interesting. Is what you are thinking similar to this video I made on a summary of flights I took in 2015?

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Looks like you're having lots of fun! Legend of the Seas was the first Royal ship to come to Asia and we have sailed on her twice. Brings back fond memories. Keep the review going!

We sailed on the Jade in late 2014 and had a very good time. This was after several cruises on Royal.

I enjoyed the poolside party - paella!

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I found the dinner buffet to be pretty good. Loved the nutella crepes. (see 5:10 of this video). Not sure if they still do this.

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We enjoyed our coffee machine in the 2 bedroom penthouse suite on the NCL Jade. Here is a video I made featuring the coffee machine in our cabin.

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We sailed on the Jade in 2014 and found the atmosphere to be very casual. So you would be ok. Here is a video I made of the food experience in the main dining.

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For the flight from Genoa to London Gatwick, I made the following videos. Here is Part 1 covering boarding, taxi and takeoff - [YOUTUBE]ItcxxHrJqgw[/YOUTUBE]

Here is Part 2 (sandwich service and landing) - [YOUTUBE]lf0Ecgak_hE[/YOUTUBE]

Overall, the flight was smooth and uneventful, which is always a good thing when it comes to air travel. Here is the obligatory leg-room shot.

The aircraft operated was a relatively small Airbus A319.

The plane had left the gate and was now taxi-ing to the runway. No congestion and we could take off immediately.

Take off was smooth and we were on our way. Then my kid told to look up at the ceiling of the plane (as I was trying to look out the window). I wondered what my kid was up to and I soon realized why he asked me to look up. Check this out.

What do you see? "Papa, why is there masking tape on the plane?" Frankly, I didn't know the answer and told him to ignore it, since the plane was already flying and the pilot knows what to do. So we left it as that.

I made a short clip of this Alitalia advertisement - now in partnership with Etihad.

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The magazine had some flight schedules. Ryanair doesn't fly everyday to Genoa.

Patiently waiting for our flight. It turned out that our fight was full and from what I can tell, most of the passengers were from the cruise ship!

In the aerobridge, I took this photo.

And we board the aircraft. Time to get back to London where we will stay for a few nights before flying back to Singapore.

Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport Italy Waiting for BA Flight to London. Genoa, Italy has is a relatively small international airport. Built on an artificial peninsular, the airport served about 1.2 million pax in 2014, according to wiki. On this day, I counted only 10 flights out of the airport, and I think these were all single aisle aircraft. The airport was near the cruise terminal, about a 15 to 20 minute taxi ride.

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We got to the airport early so we were the first in line for the only British Airways flight out of Genoa to London Gatwick that morning. I was very glad we were first because later on, a large tour bus arrived and there was a long line for check-in! For some reason, the check-in process was very slow. That said, nobody missed the flight. This picture was taken shortly after we arrived, when the airport was very empty.

These were the lines set up for entry into the restricted area. Nobody in line. After we checked in, we got through very quickly.

Some history of the airport on the second floor. There is an MSC lounge on the 2nd floor but there is really nothing in that lounge other than a few sofas. Not sure why MSC bothers with the lounge there. The MSC lounge was in the public area, not the restricted area.

In the waiting area, we had nothing much to do Thankfully, the airport provided free wifi so we could catch up with news and emails from home, using our personal devices. That kept us occupied for a bit. I got bored and picked up this airport magazine to read. Attractive advertisement. Looks like Alitalia was upping their game with a modern business class product.