Live from the Millennium sailing from Singapore Nov. 13

1. We left Ho Chi Ming/Saigon at 7:00pm, originally scheduled to leave at 8:00.

 

2. Muster Drill: 5:15

 

3. No meet & mingle. Not enough signed up. Our roll call was not very active.

 

4. Answered above

 

We may have an itinerary change after we leave Hong Kong, as there is a typhoon currently passing over the Philippines, and heading our way . . . Captain has told us he will do another report Saturday morning when we arrive in Hong Kong.

 

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Thank you so much

We are taking this cruise (Hong Kong to Singapore) departing Feb 4. Does anyone have experience with

getting the Visa for Vietnam on the ship? I'm assured by Celebrity that we can simply get that onboard for a very

nominal fee. We are also taking the flight excursion to Cambodia which will also require a Visa.

I'm very confidant that we can obtain those via the cruise, but I would hate to assume that...and then be in a real pickle.

 

Anybody have experience with this?

I think that the Cambodia visa is $50, but since the ship doesn't visit Cambodia, they may not be able to arrange it for you.

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All nationalities have to pay $6 for the Vietnam visa onboard.

Not true, because of visa agreements, German, French, Italian, Spanish and British passport holders (together with some other countries) do n ot require a visa to get Vietnam for 15 days or less.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Vietnam

Thank you, debshomespun, for posting and sharing all of this information! We are sailing on the 10 December...getting excited! This make it all seem 'real' :D

Thanks for sharing.

Debbie,

Did you leave out of Singapore at 5 or at 6 pm?

Did you have to pay any extra fees to use ports?

Thank you!

J

Not true, because of visa agreements, German, French, Italian, Spanish and British passport holders (together with some other countries) do n ot require a visa to get Vietnam for 15 days or less.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Vietnam

The point is that cruise passengers don't have to take the time or trouble to apply for a Vietnam visa in advance.

All nationalities who need a Vietnam visa, automatically get it ONBOARD for just $6, as Debbie, the OP (with first hand experience) has already mentioned.

"Vietnam visas were done through the ship. The room stewards put them on the bed the night before we arrived. Cost is $6.00 each, I think. No charge yet on our account"

Very convenient for all of us.

Great report thanks we are on the 7 Jan out of Hong Kong to Singapore we got a very nice roll call and hope to have Meet & Mingle if Celebrity get there web site sorted out. All looks very interesting how did you get on with Vietnam Dong did you become a millionaire ?.

Keep up the good work.

John

Debbie,

Did you leave out of Singapore at 5 or at 6 pm?

Did you have to pay any extra fees to use ports?

Thank you!

J

We left Singapore at 6:00. Once we boarded, we could not get back off. We have the premium drink pkg and didn't have to pay anything. I'm not sure if there was an extra tax on drinks or not.

Finally went to a show tonight. The Millennium Singers & Dancers. Performed the musical West End, Boogy Woogie

Had some rough seas today and mostly rainy

Up tomorrow is Manila, Philippines. We were taking s tour, but cancelled, as we are tired of riding a bus so long to get there, 2 hrs each way. Going to go out on our own into the city.

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Thank you Debbie.

Can you tell us about your experience travelling Around Hong Kong?

Ease of travel from port?

Thanks again.

In Hong Kong, We docked at the Kai Tak cruise terminal. There is nothing around there. Lots of construction. If you walk anywhere, it a very long walk just to get out of the terminal area.

Because if traffic and time constraints, we decided to do a ship excursion. Lantau Island and Ngong Ping 360 w/vegetation lunch at Po Lin Monastery. We took a tour bus from the terminal through the city and over to the Island. Then, we had to switch tour buses to continue up to a small fishing Village, Tai O

We then went to the big Buddah

Lunch was next

A little shopping on our walk over to the cable car ride to take us off the island (beside the airport) and got the bus back to the ship.

The tour was 7 hours, a long day. There was traffic everywhere. That is why we went with a ship tour. We didn't experience traffic on our own.

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Our day in Manila, Phillipines:

We had originally booked a tour through the ship, again because of the traffic. The Tagatay tour. This is 2 hours by bus and after all our other tours having been a great distance to travel from port, decided we didn't want to sit in a bus for 2 hrs each way. Also, the port is right in town. Very easily accessible. We walked out on our own and went to Rizal Park, about a 15-20 min walk

We then took a cycle ride with a side car to the walled city of Intramuros. Once there, they cannot enter, so we got a bicycle guide to show us around

We then walked back to the ship. We were gone for 4 hours and probably walked about 5 miles. At the terminal, there were a few souveniors being sold by locals

There was a beautiful sunset tonight

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In Hong Kong, We docked at the Kai Tak cruise terminal. There is nothing around there. Lots of construction. If you walk anywhere, it a very long walk just to get out of the terminal area.

 

Because if traffic and time constraints, we decided to do a ship excursion. Lantau Island and Ngong Ping 360 w/vegetation lunch at Po Lin Monastery. We took a tour bus from the terminal through the city and over to the Island. Then, we had to switch tour buses to continue up to a small fishing Village, Tai O

 

 

We then went to the big Buddah

 

Lunch was next

 

A little shopping on our walk over to the cable car ride to take us off the island (beside the airport) and got the bus back to the ship.

 

 

The tour was 7 hours, a long day. There was traffic everywhere. That is why we went with a ship tour. We didn't experience traffic on our own.

 

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Gorgeous sunset pics too! :)

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Just got off Mille in Singapore. Went on the Angkor Wat excursion. Paula was our guide from Celebrity. Need help. One of our Cameras malfunctioned. No pictures. I was the one with the walking cane. If you read this and can email some pictures I would really appreciate the response. wjcorban@gmail.com

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Excellent updates! Would you do the Hong Kong tour again or would you do something else if you could redo the day?

 

Gorgeous sunset pics too! :)

 

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We enjoyed our day, other than having to wait for all the people to get back to the bus. We don't normally do excursions through the ship. We have been spoiled by private excursions and having only our group on excursions (numbers vary depending on how many of us travel together).

The cable car ride had fabulous views. Well worth the time.

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We enjoyed our day, other than having to wait for all the people to get back to the bus. We don't normally do excursions through the ship. We have been spoiled by private excursions and having only our group on excursions (numbers vary depending on how many of us travel together).

 

The cable car ride had fabulous views. Well worth the time.

 

 

 

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Thank you! I don’t usually do ship excursions either, but I do have a bunch of OBC and our roll call has organized most of the other excursions already. Thanks again!:)

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Hi Debbie,

This has been such valuable information.

You mentioned you took the cable car. We were thinking of doing this on our own after checking in at the airport.

If we were at the cable car ride that you took would we be able to do it in 3 hours. Going up.. looking around and then coming back down? We would like to blow some time in the morning before taking a mid afternoon flight.

By any chance did you take a car with the transparent floor? We wanted to know if it was worth it.

Thank you so much

Jon

Hi Debbie,

 

This has been such valuable information.

You mentioned you took the cable car. We were thinking of doing this on our own after checking in at the airport.

If we were at the cable car ride that you took would we be able to do it in 3 hours. Going up.. looking around and then coming back down? We would like to blow some time in the morning before taking a mid afternoon flight.

 

By any chance did you take a car with the transparent floor? We wanted to know if it was worth it.

 

Thank you so much

Jon

I don't know how far the airport is from the cable car. The traffic is horrendous, and not sure of the time it would take to get to/from the cable cars and Airport. The 1 way ride on the cable car is 30 minutes. That would be 1 hr just in the cable car. The big Buddah is at the other end of the cable car, along with plenty of shopping. Even if you just did the round trip cable car, time would be close, in my opinion.

We did not do the glass bottom car. We have done many cable cars around the world and never paid for the extra with glass bottoms. I don't know the difference in price as this was included in our excursion.

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Our day in Boracay.

Absolute Paradise!!

This is a tender port. Being elite, we were able to meet at Tuscan, and were taken directly down to the tenders. When we arrived, there were women passing out nice necklaces from the Philippines tourism Dept, (like in Hawaii when they pass out the lei). Was a nice welcoming touch. They also had a local band playing to welcome us

We took a tuk tuk to White beach. Like this one:

They wanted $20. US$ for the 4 of us and I asked them how much in pesos. $300, which is only $6. US$.

Once on the beach, there are many local vendors trying to sell you sunglasses, hats, jewelry, and just tell them no. Also, they have many tours there. We decided on a 3 hour "island hopping & snorkle". They started at $4500. Pesos and I got them down to $3000. Pesos ($60 US) for 4 people. We went out to a snorkle spot, was somewhat rough and only 1 of us snorkeled. It was just ok, some coral and a few fish.

This was our little boat.

Then we went up the coast to a small beach, Puka beach.

Spent about half hour there and then back on the water. The scenery is beautiful

We then went all along the island to the other end near the ship. We were going to go to a bat cave, but to go it, would have been $200 pesos ($4.00) more pp, and we didn't care to do that. They took us back to the White beach.

We spent some time on the beach, and walked through some of the shops. Souveniors are very inexpensive here and you can bargain with them.

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Hi Debbie,

Are you disembarking in Hong Kong? Will you be staying overnight in Hong Kong?

I’m not sure if you leave and go home right away. I was wondering if you could give us a post to tell us how the disembarkation works. Normally on Celebrity you can roll off your luggage and the rest have to take a number. We need to be off the ship at 7:00 am. Do you have any advice on how we can get off the ship on time so we can meet our car and driver?

Thank you so much.

Jonathan

If anyone knows Debbie’s cruise schedule could you please let me know?

Hi Debbie,

 

Are you disembarking in Hong Kong? Will you be staying overnight in Hong Kong?

 

 

I’m not sure if you leave and go home right away. I was wondering if you could give us a post to tell us how the disembarkation works. Normally on Celebrity you can roll off your luggage and the rest have to take a number. We need to be off the ship at 7:00 am. Do you have any advice on how we can get off the ship on time so we can meet our car and driver?

 

 

Thank you so much.

Jonathan

 

If anyone knows Debbie’s cruise schedule could you please let me know?

Hi Jonathan! Debbie’s cruise is actually a round trip Singapore cruise,. Hong Kong was just to be a day stop for them. Like us, though, this cruise ends with an overnight in their final port. So even though it is a different city/country, we should get additional info on how the disembarkation process works when you have been in port for 24 hours! I believe this cruise has just a few more days (13th through 27th??) so I’m sure she will be able to share some additional info soon. :) I can believe our cruise is so close!!! :)

Debbie, Borocay looks every bit like paradise! And what gorgeous weather you had! :)

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Hi Debbie,

 

Are you disembarking in Hong Kong? Will you be staying overnight in Hong Kong?

 

 

I’m not sure if you leave and go home right away. I was wondering if you could give us a post to tell us how the disembarkation works. Normally on Celebrity you can roll off your luggage and the rest have to take a number. We need to be off the ship at 7:00 am. Do you have any advice on how we can get off the ship on time so we can meet our car and driver?

 

 

Thank you so much.

Jonathan

 

If anyone knows Debbie’s cruise schedule could you please let me know?

Debbie has already stopped in Hong Kong, midway on her voyage (see above posts). If you check her Nov. 12 sailing itinerary, you will see that she was in Manila today, and her voyage ends in Singapore on Nov. 25.

Debbie has already stopped in Hong Kong, midway on her voyage (see above posts). If you check her Nov. 12 sailing itinerary, you will see that she was in Manila today, and her voyage ends in Singapore on Nov. 25.

I have been trying to find the iterary. No worries.

My apologies my question to Debbie therefore is not valid. I thought Debbie’s Itierary was the opposit and for some reason was going singapore to Hongkong Manila and then back to Hong Kong.

It is difficult to find an itinerary on line once the cruise has started.

I have been trying to find the iterary. No worries.

 

My apologies my question to Debbie therefore is not valid. I thought Debbie’s Itierary was the opposit and for some reason was going singapore to Hongkong Manila and then back to Hong Kong.

 

It is difficult to find an itinerary on line once the cruise has started.

Actually, not at all. There are several sites where you can find just about any ship anywhere in the world, at any time, and its voyage itinerary. The one I like best is www.cruisemapper.com.

We used the MTR to get around Hong Kong. Very cheap, clean and efficient. Much quicker than road travel. We purchased Octopus cards which can also be used for all forms of public transport as well as in 7/11's and many other retail outlets. They are extremely good value for the over 65's. Cards can also be used on the Peak Tram, as well as the Airport Express. Station signs are all in English.

Read about it here:

http://www.hongkong.net/transportation/octopus-card

http://www.mtr.com.hk/en/customer/main/index.html