rafinmd is on the way to the QV World Cruise

[rafinmd]

On March 21, I'll be boarding the Queen Victoria for the Bangkok Dubai segment of the World Cruise. I've chosen a bit of a detour to get there, crossing the Pacific on the Crystal Symphony (LA-Sydney); my first flight of the trip will be Sydney-Bangkok.

 

Since there are two cruise lines involved, I'll be posting my reports on a neutral forum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1134522

 

I'll post to this thread again when I get to Bangkok.

[imacruizer]

Thanks so much for letting us know about your wonderful journey which will include planes, trains, and ships. I look forward to reading your posts. Please consider an occassional post on this thread to remind us that we should check your blog. Best wishes!

 

Beth

[rafinmd]

Thanks so much for letting us know about your wonderful journey which will include planes, trains, and ships. I look forward to reading your posts. Please consider an occassional post on this thread to remind us that we should check your blog. Best wishes!

 

Beth

 

My next train's leaving too soon to do it now, but I'll try to put some occasional highlights here.

[rafinmd]

I have arrived at Long Beach and am staying on the Original Queen Mary. Since this may be of interest to some Cunarders, I'll post to this thread again before I board the Symphony. For now, I'll just include a few excerpts from what's on the other site:

 

Day 1: Washington DC

 

A blogger on the Crystal World Cruise Keith1010, closes each post with a quote of the day. I don't have near Keith's talent, but I'll try to come up with something at least occasionally. As I am now in Union Station preparing to leave, I'm less than 25 miles from home. To modify an old standard, a journey of a thousand miles, or an epic journey, begins with a single step (or perhaps a routine bus ride).

 

Day 2: Chicago

 

I left Washington yesterday afternoon following along the Potomac River and the towpath of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. This waterway served the region approximately 1820-1920 but was overtaken by the railroad and was never a great success. It did help open up our west and carried a lot of coal to the eastern seaboard. It was also plied by a number of "packet boats", very small, crude passenger vessels who transported settlers westward. How far we have come from these primitive vessels to today's luxury cruise ships.

 

As a followup to yesterday's post, my thought of the day today will relate to a definition: Faith is believing in what you cannot see, for example global warming today in Chicago.

 

Day 3: Albuquerque

 

While I don't regret my previous thoughts of the day, I don't think they really rise to the level of the title. A talk show host I know closes his show with a "parting shot", and I think that fits what I've been doing. So as my last "Thought of the day" and first "Parting shot", I'll close with "The thought of the day is back in the hands of people who master it, and the parting shot is my new order".

[rafinmd]

I arrived in Los Angeles well ahead of schedule. My accommodations on the train were cozy to say the least, my room was basically the size of a cot with about 9 inches of closet and free space on the aisle side. The bed folds up to convert to 2 seats facing each other, with the mattress stowed daytime in the upper bunk.

 

Despite a published 8:15 arrival, I retrieved, rearranged my bags, and was on the subway by 8:05. The first short ride into Los Angeles was extremely crowded, but the longer ride to Long Beach was against the rush hour flow and there was ample space. The shuttle bus to the Queen Mary showed up within 2 minutes of my arrival at the bus stop.

 

I arrived at the Queen Mary just before 10, and they had a room ready for me despite the published 4PM checkin. I went back into town for some shopping but spent most of the day on the ship.

 

This is my second stay on the Queen Mary, but the first was before I had actually sailed a Cunard ship, so my point of view had changed a bit. I was struck by the statements that the various classes on the Queen Mary never mingled except at Sunday services and marvelled at how much that has changed. I have enjoyed the Queen Mary's wonderful Promenade and Sun decks, and wonder what it must have been like to be a second or third class passenger and have no access to them. It seems to be a steady transition. QE2 was pretty much an open ship, but I think I recall the entrance to the Grills cabins being through a dedicated lounge or restaurant, so the Grills were very private. QM2 is very open, and Grill and Britannia guests may be right across the hallway from each other. It appears from some of my wanderings that First Class passengers were actually placed in inside cabins. Today, buying an upgrade always does get you the best of facilities. Overall, I think it's a big improvement.

 

I had dinner last night in Sir Winstons Restaurant. It is on one of the upper decks and very nice location and finish. I am told it was originally part of the engineers living space. It appears that even the engineers enjoyed a very stylish life.

 

For my parting shot today, I am thinking of my sea itinerary, which is from Long Beach to Dubai, with a break in the middle. At each end of the journey sits a retired legendary ship. The ship at the start of my journey has gone on to serve in a stellar second life as a hotel. The fate of the ship at the end is now an open question, but I can hope it will eventually go on to an equally stellar second life.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

The weather was not very cooperative today. It rained all night and continued into the day. A morning visit to the Aquarium of the Pacific was aborted when it began to pour as I waited in the ticket line. A return visit in the afternoon was a bit more successful, but between the crowds and a lingering drizzle it was not great. Continued exploration of the ship revealed a few other changes over time. While we now usually consider the upper decks to be the premium space, the class spaces on the Queen Mary ran pretty much top to bottom, with First Class taking pretty much the midship half of the vessel, and the other classes at the ends. Surprisingly, while I think of "steerage" as the aft end of the vessel, third class on the Queen Mary was at the bow. I also noted that you cannot look the length of some of the longer hallways. There is enough bowing of the vessel that the midship ceiling obscures the opposite end of the hallway. Presumably, modern naval engineering has eliminated the need for such a pronounced vertical curve on modern cruise ships.

 

I had dinner tonight in the "Promenade Restaurant". The original Promenade deck was enclosed along the sides of the vessel. A section of the starboard promenade deck has been converted to a fairly nice but very linear restaurant.

 

 

 

I'll need to provide some background for my parting shot, which comes from an observation I made on a previous trip, and I think it's appropriate here as I transition from rail to sea. In 2003 I had intended to circle the world without flying. I had booked a freighter across the Atlantic, the Trans-Siberia railroad from Helsinki to Beijing, the Crystal Harmony across to Vancouver, and a train home. When I got to Beijing, most of Crystal's Asian itineraries had been cancelled due to SARS concerns. I had to fly home, but flew back to Beijing a year later and completed the trip. While on the Harmony, I took an excursion on a bullet train in Japan and rode a maglev in Shanghai. One of the enrichment speakers was Andy Mills, a Concorde pilot, speaking about his aircraft (I've also enjoyed a similar presentation on QM2). The following was written while on the way from Japan to Hawaii. Cunarders will immediately that QM2 is much faster than what I stated, but I don't think it really affects the point of the story:

 

A strange thought has come over me after my emerging experience with a multitude of transportation systems. It seems that for many major forms of transportation, the faster you can go a progressively shorter distance can be sustained. We had Captain Mills telling us of his experience flying the Concorde 3500 miles from London to New York at Mach 2 in less than 4 hours. When I flew from Chicago to Beijing it was 6500 miles in 14 hours at Mach 0.85. I would have really appreciated getting there in 7 hours but even in it's heyday, the Concorde could not have made the trip.

 

I rode a Maglev train from Shanghai to the airport at 240 mph, a saving of perhaps 15 minutes from the driving time. A train the length of Japan, one of the fastest in the world, goes 150 mph, but a rail crossing of Siberia, North America, or Australia, where speed could make a big difference, goes about 70 mph. Finally, I have crossed the English Channel on a high speed catamaran at about 35 mph, while the Crystal Harmony, crossing the Pacific Ocean, does barely 20 mph. At least here, the extra time in transit is anything but a hardship.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I will also post this the next 2 days on the Cunard forum. While Hawaii is not prime Cunard cruising territory, the inaugural Queen Elizabeth World Cruise will call on Maui and Oahu.

My shore excursion today was Maui Waterfall and Hiking Adventure and I cut my morning walk on the Promenade Deck back to 3 miles. Most of the walk was before dawn with the lights of Lahina prominent over the bow. The day started very well with 2 whales swimming briefly about 50 feet from our tender as we made our way to shore. There were only 14 of us on the tour, and we divided into 2 groups of 7 for a very small group experience. We drove about 45 minutes along the beautiful Maui coast to the trail head. We were in a plantation shared by 4 families, with a variety of fruits and nuts in various stages of maturity. The destination was a pair of beautiful waterfalls where swimming is available, but there had been heavy rain up on the mountain and the water was quite murky, and none of our group actually did much swimming. We had a picnic lunch at the first of the waterfalls. There were several places where we had to ford small streams, and water shoes were provided.

Lahina is a quaint small village, about 8 blocks long, and would be a very pleasant place to spend an afternoon if not booked on a shore excursion. One of my table mates did a whale watch cruise with stunning viewing opportunities. On returning from my tour I strolled the town and spent about an hour at the local McDonalds, which had free and excellent wifi service.

After a wonderful dinner in the main dining room, the evening's entertainment was a bit of a switch. Regular Avenue Saloon Pianist performed a superb tribute to Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in the Galaxy theater while the Crystal trio performed in the early evening in the Avenue Saloon, and the Galaxy Orchestra did a late night jazz show there.

As my parting shot tonight, it's been a great pleasure to return this week to three of my favorites. the Big Island, Maui, and the Crystal Symphony.

Roy

[rafinmd]

Yesterday's walk on Maui was not quite as challenging as it could have been and today I lengthened my morning walk a bit to 4 miles. Today's "Waterfall Adventure Hike" proved a full complement to that walk. There were only 6 of us, and our guide Dante took us on a 20-minute drive to Kailua, where we parked on the grounds of First Presbyterian Church. The church actually owns a large parcel of land with a golf course and a substantial undeveloped area. We hiked about an hour and a half, eventually arriving at LoKayKay Falls, a spring fed waterfall with a constant supply of clear, cold water. On the way we walked portions of the original 1845 cross island road used by oxcarts and following the route of native walking trails, and the later 1919 road built for the Model T, but mostly rather muddy rain forest trails.

 

Crystal always provides a Catholic Priest who performs a daily mass on board and normally leads an interdenominational service on Sundays while at sea, It was a pleasant surprise to have Fr. Jim Melley include a 5:30 pm service even though we were in port. Unfortunately, attendance was very sparse with the Oscars, Sailaway, and the main seating at 6:00pm.

 

The evening's entertainment was harp virtuoso Shirley Dominguez. I believe I have seen Ms. Dominguez perform on previous Crystal cruises, but had forgotten just how stunning a harp performance can be. She performed tonight, mostly latin music but also a variety of other genres including a superb Mamma Mia, on a harp from Paraguay. The sound was quite distinctive with a flair reminiscent of a steel drum.

 

As my parting shot today I want to reflect on a comment made by one of our tour guides, I believe in Hilo. A major crop in the islands has been sugar, and it still is in Maui. The guide commented that a pound of white refined sugar requires a million gallons of water to create. I hope that was an exaggeration, but another guide also remarked on the water intensive nature of growing sugar. By the million gallon per pound rule, a simple packet of sugar would require almost 9,000 gallons of precious water to produce. Sometimes, it is the smallest things we do and use that have massive consequences.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I am trying not to compare the two lines I am sailing with, but will make one comparison today. There has been much talk on both the Cunard and Crystal boards, as well as others, about dress codes, and I've been surprised to come to the conclusion that Cunard is the most formal of the lines I have sailed. For my 17 nights on the Symphony and 15 on the Queen Victoria, there are 3 formal nights each, but there are 13 sea days on the Symphony and 6 on Queen Victoria. The Symphony has 1 extra night each in the Informal and Casual categories, but the big difference is in the definition of the categories. On Queen Victoria, the lowest classification is "Elegant Casual" with a jacket required for men every night, including embarkation and pre-disembarkation nights, and actually this code is close to what Crystal specifies for Informal. On some of the port nights, a jacket and tie is required. I'm not really a fan of the formality, but a cruise ship is a form of community which we join voluntarily, and living by the community's standards is an inherent part of belonging. My sense is that the issue is far more important to those who like the current standards than for those who may not totally agree but still choose to join that community, and with one slight exception to come later, I believe that these standards serve these 2 companies and their customers well. I have always been a dark suit person for formal nights, but there is a unique opportunity this year. Crystal Cruises is running a superb promotion this year called "As you wish credits". Since my shipboard expenses are generally limited, my credit for this cruise has been sufficient to embellish the suit with a more formal choice in trousers. When I board Serenity in October, a larger AYWC will cover the purchase of an appropriate formal jacket.

 

As my parting shot, there is one area where I think a change would be considered. Crystal now faces competitors like Oceania and Azumara which offer luxury cruising in a more relaxed atmosphere. If I were new to cruising hadn't experienced all the advantages Crystal has to offer, I can imagine myself getting hung up on the dress code and choosing one of those other lines. What I'd like to see is ONE casual cruise per year, probably in the Caribbean, where it could even be designated a "Caribbean lifestyle" theme. If someone experienced the Crystal amenities and still could not accept the formality, I think that would justifiably be their loss. That might apply to Cunard as well, although I am not aware of similar alternatives in their market.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I was one of about 30 polliwogs, initiated into the circle of those who have crossed the Equator by ship. The ceremony was held around the Seahorse pool on the Lido deck. With CD Scott Peterson presiding as King Neptune, we (in 4 separate groups), along with several crew members (grouped by department) were brought before King Neptune and charged with a crime. My group, for example, was "charged" with carrying a Holland America tote bag around the ship. All were convicted, and sentenced to be "slimed" with colored whipped cream, had to kiss a large fish, and were cut up with fake saw and scissors and were tossed in the pool.

 

My parting shot tonight starts with Jay Wolff's presentation. As past societies have migrated through the Pacific establishing their civilizations, I am traveling the same ocean in a different way, and have just experienced a special ceremony derived from crossing an imaginary but important line. In 9 days, I will join the Queen Victoria on a part of it's World Cruise. In past weeks, it has gone ahead of me, crossing the same equator I crossed today, actually crossing in both directions on it's way from California to Sydney to Bangkok. I am fortunate this year to be a part of both their journey and the Symphony's. What a Wonderful World.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

This holiday is a bit of a switch for me. I usually do crossings on Cunard rather than embarking on a crossing to get to Cunard:

 

My parting shot today is more of a question. By the time we reach Sydney, we will have crossed the International Dateline, the Equator, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and of course a great Ocean, so my question is "what defines a cruise vs. a crossing?" A fellow passenger has suggested that any voyage that begins at one port and ends at another is a crossing. While that may be technically true, I have difficulty finding it helpful, and have great difficulty imagining a voyage from say New York to Montreal as a crossing. A few of my thoughts: A crossing typically starts at one great land mass and ends at another, with few stops in between, especially few stops where no passengers embark or disembark. A cruise tends to be centered on the intermediate stops, but not always, and the onboard experience. I think for me the most significant difference is in the motivation behind the voyage; for a crossing the starting and end points fulfilling a practical purpose, while the motivation for a cruise is the ports and the onboard experience. That could suggest that while some people are experiencing a crossing, others on the same voyage could be experiencing a cruise. When I booked this voyage, I had a defined destination suggesting a true crossing, but would book a voyage to Sydney when my destination was Bangkok only for an exceptional ship so my crossing concept does not quite apply.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Now that I've made the transition from one ship to the other, I'll start duplicating my posts on the Cunard site.

 

The night in Lane Cove River Tourist Park was very quiet, with perfect weather except for a heavy dew delaying my departure while the tent dried out until just after 10AM. Despite being in a National Park, the campground is quite developed and there was little wildlife with the exception of a few very colorful birds.

 

After leaving Lane Cove River I explored the area between Sydney Central Station and Circular Quay on foot. Circular Quay looked pretty empty without the Symphony in it's berth. I went to the airport about 2 and began the LONG flight to Bangkok at 6. It was 9 hours but we had a 4 hour time gain, making our arrival just after 11.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

The "day" sort of starts with my arrival at the Four Seasons Bangkok, since that was about 12:30am. This is my most elegant accommodation of the trip, about the equivalent of the Crystal Penthouse or a Queens Grill Suite on the Queen Victoria, very impressive. My all-too-soon wakeup call came at 6, as my day touring started at 7:30. Opal and his driver Mr. Yo whisked me off to the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha. I had booked morning and afternoon group tours, but it turned out I was the only one in the group. The Grand Palace was originally built about 1760 when the King moved the seat of government across the river and has served 9 monarchs since then.

We also saw the Royal Guest Residence which has been visited by Queen Elizabeth II and by Presidents Bush and Clinton. The complex has been expanded regularly over the years and also holds several

temples, most notably the temple of the Emerald Buddha. It is an extremely ornate place, which is prominently used both as a tourist site and an active place of prayer.

 

During the break for lunch at the hotel, I also met with the Cunard Hospitality Desk and arranged a transfer to the pier. It is about a 2-hour drive to Laem Chebang, but there will be a period of sightseeing as well.

 

The afternoon tour was mostly by boat on the main river of Thailand and the canal system. The boat was like a long canoe, about 40 feet long and wide enough for 3 people to a bench. We went about a mile up the river and then through some canals for about 20 minutes. The river is heavily used in barge commerce, but not sufficient to support ship traffic. The canals are much smaller, about 100 feet wide, with several interconnecting waterways and some smaller feeder waterways. Many of the houses appeared to have only canal access, and a number of children were swimming in the canals, although the water did not look very clean. When we returned to the river we stopped at a landing across the river from the Grand Palace, at the site where the Palace had originally stood, and where there are a number of temples. We entered the Temple of Dawn, which is a very beautiful tourist site and also a very active place of prayer. An older temple had exterior steps leading up to a landing 76 meters above the ground with excellent views of the city.

 

We had been warned that there would be demonstrations in Bangkok this weekend. On my afternoon walk I encountered a couple parades of "red shirts" passing in the street. They formed quite a noisy procession of cars and motorcycles, with a number of spectators cheering from the sidewalk, but they caused no apparent problems.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

After breakfast in the hotel and a short walk my bus left the hotel about 9AM. Paul took us to several stops, starting with a walk around the flower market just outside of Chinatown, Along with a large assortment of beautiful flowers we passed a number of vegetable stands and a number of very primitive looking food stands/cafes. I then got a repeat visit to the beautiful Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha. One thing I learned on this visit is that this shrine is the Buddhist equivalent of Mecca in that all Buddhists aspire to visit the shrine sometime in their lives. We had the inevitable shopping stop at a handicraft place, with the main item being gems, and made an optional lunch stop at a local hotel. We arrived at the dock about 2:50 and I was on board Queen Victoria about 3:00. I had been concerned about my luggage since I had put it outside my hotel door by 7, and most had been collected before 8 but mine was still outside the door at 8:30. When I arrived at my cabin, it was in fact sitting on my bed. I am on deck at the aft of the ship, 5 decks above the dining room, one deck below the Lido Restaurant, and 5-7 decks above and the opposite end of the ship from the Royal Court theater. I will get in plenty of stair climbing on this voyage. My budget cabin is in prestigious surroundings with all Grill and Penthouse suites in the cabins behind me.

 

After exploring the ship a bit and a brief stop at afternoon tea, we had the inevitable muster drill, with a bit of a surprise. This is the first time I have not been sent to my muster station for the drill. We were sent to the Queens Room, apparently because so few passengers got on in Bangkok.

 

At the early seating I found the restaurant less elegant than expected. This may have been an impression clouded by my recent time on the Crystal Symphony, but I thought I remembered the Britannia Dining room on QM2 being much more elegant. In any case, the food was excellent. The Royal Court Theater made a great impression. It is 3 decks tall, and reminiscent of classic opera house design, very beautiful. The featured evening entertainment was a superb clarinet performance by Kenny Martin.

 

For my parting shot, I'll simply review my overall travels. My first voyage on the Crystal Symphony was about 7500 miles in 17 days. My next voyage on the Queen Victoria will be 5000 miles in 15 days. In between, I had a trip of 4500 miles in 9 hours. Air travel is often a necessity in today's world, which is really a shame. The life on a wonderful ship is impossible to beat.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

My usual morning walk got off to an early start with a few complications. The Queen Victoria unfortunately does not share the lovely wraparound Promenade Deck of the Crystal ships or the even better one of the QM2. The deck there is starts near the forward end of the ship outside the Royal Court Theater and runs around the back of the deck outside the upper Britannia Restaurant and ends on near the Royal Court Theater entrance on the opposite side of the ship. The total one-way walk around the U is 1/3 mile, where we retrace our steps in the opposite direction. The deck is plastic rather than teak, much less appealing (although apparently easier to keep clean with few hoses out washing it down to dodge in the early morning) and pretty much recessed into the body of the ship, usually under the lifeboats. The big problem with walking this morning was that the deck was roped off about 6:30 to lower the boats as tenders for our stop at Koh Samui.

 

This small Thai island (about 10 miles square, population 30,000) has no significant dock, and we anchored about 2 1/2 miles from the harbor, so my first-ever Cunard port call was a tendering stop. My "Around the Island" tour had been listed as a 9:30 start but we were told to be in the Queens Room at 8:30. We did not actually leave the Queens Room until nearly 9:30, and it was just after 10 when we boarded our busses. On our tour we made 4 stops. The first was a Buddhist shrine with 2 buildings. One was a temple containing the body of a beloved monk. Somehow, his body had not decomposed on his death, and he was placed in a glass coffin in a seated position. The second building was closed when we arrived but was a beautiful temple where new monks are ordained. Our second stop, a very short ride later was a coconut plantation. We learned that the work of harvesting coconuts is done by Macaque monkeys. They are trained to recognize coconuts ready for harvesting, and when they climb the trees to reach the coconuts they twirl them repeatedly until the stem breaks and they fall to the ground. Periodically they come back to the ground and place the fallen coconuts in boxes, each monkey harvesting about 800 coconuts per day for a working life of about 10 years followed by about 20 years of retirement. The monkeys become very close to their masters and eat with the family. We were also given a demonstration of the extraction of coconut juice and coconut milk.

 

After a longer ride we came to the shrine of the Big Buddha. This massive golden sculpture sits on a hill overlooking the ocean on a platform elevated about 50 feet up a stairway. This Buddha is probably 50 feet high, and there are about 20 bells situated around the platform. Ringing all 20 bells is supposed to be good luck.

 

Our final stop was for lunch at the Chaweng Resort Hotel. We had a beautiful buffet lunch in a beautiful outdoor pavilion overlooking the beach, with about 90 minutes afterwards to use the beach, sit around the pool, or stroll the quaint town. We returned to the tenders about 4:30, making just about enough time to get ready for dinner. The travel documents had listed this as a semi formal evening, but the Daily Programme announced it would be Tropical Casual, a welcome change in the tropics with high humidity and a temperature of about 90F. It was also my first dinner ever on a Cunard ship without a jacket expected. The evening's entertainment was vocalist and former star search winner Kenny James, followed by a tropical pool party on deck. The evening also marks a bit of an oddessy. On this generally Westbound Cruise, we are jogging a bit east along the Malay Peninsula towards Singapore, and must move our clocks forward tonight. While this is a temporary inconvenience, it means we will get one extra chance later for an extra hour of sleep.

 

For today's parting shot, today's port call in Koh Samui could be easily overshadowed by the wonders of Bangkok or Sydney. It is often the small, out of the way ports that can make cruising really special. Today I experienced a place with wonders that most people will never get to see.

 

Roy

[imacruizer]

Roy,

 

Thanks so much for the updates from your Crystal cruise and now your updates from the Queen Victoria. I have enjoyed each post and look forward to traveling with you as you continue your journey. I enjoyed your comparison of Crystal and Cunard and I love your "parting shots". I hope you enjoy every minute of the remainder of your voyage.

 

Beth

[rafinmd]

Thank you Beth. I am really enjoying my time on the Queen Victoria. With 3 straignt port days I'm getting behind a bit on posting but hope to catch up soon.

 

Today is a beautiful day at sea. While it got hot as the day progressed, conditions were perfect for my morning walk.

 

I came face to face today with one of Cunard's practices that you don't see often in the cruise industry. I'll find out more later, but especially on the World Cruise, they seem to be disembarking and boarding passengers every few days, rather than breaking the voyage up into uniform segments, and the segment definitions seem to be tailored to the British market. From Cunard's standpoint, this official segment runs from Hong Kong to Singapore, with the next segment going Singapore to Dubai. The segment marketed to us Americans straddles two of these. There will be big changes in passengers and staffing in Singapore. Apparently there will be a complete change of entertainers and lecturers as we pass through Singapore, but today I got at least a glimpse at some of those leaving.

 

After embarkation and a port day, the Cunard Insights program came on today with a bang. The morning started off with Destination Lecturer Gerald Davison speaking on "Singapore - the Lion City", followed by Margaret Gilmore on "How safe is our world? Our perception of risk versus the reality". While she touched on the hot topics of piracy and terrorism, she emphasized the perspective that today our major threats are disease, especially pandemic flu (and our sedentary lifestyle), flooding (especially related to global warming), and increasingly cybercrime, and that the things we worry about most are often the least dangerous. The final lecture of the day was on "The Life and Music of Al Jolson" by Musical Historian Roy Hunt.

 

In the afternoon we were treated to a special Big Band Extravaganza in the Royal Court Theater. The Royal Court Orchestra joined up with the Queens Room Orchestra in a superb performance hosted by and featuring our guest performer Kenny ******.

 

We had a wonderful evening comedy show by guest entertainer John Martin. He touched on a number of topics, including politics (mostly British but also international), growing up, and cruise ship life.

 

As my parting shot tonight, I note while walking around the ship many bags sitting outside stateroom doors. Normally, mine would be among them. How sweet it is that my bags are still tucked under my bed.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

The day was pleasant but quite hot. We are too big for the passenger terminal, so we were docked in the container port. Since my excursion took virtually the entire day this did not really matter to me but was a bit of a challenge for those going out on their own.

 

I was on the "Signature Heritage" tour our guide Alvin took us first to the National Arboretum. Singapore is the 2nd most densely populated country in the world, so the few natural areas remaining are deeply cherished, including lightning rods on a number of the trees.

 

When Singapore was founded there were a number of areas set aside to keep various ethnic groups segregated. We visit several of these. In Little India there were a number of small shops in quaint buildings. At our 3rd stop we visited a small museum showing some of the history and culture of Singapore. It included a display of the transition in Singapore housing, with a replica of a traditional ramshackle hut and one of today's apartments in a high-rise state subsidized building where the vast majority of the population lives today. Some are larger but the majority are about 650 square feet.

 

The site of Singapore was originally swamp land. It has been filled in, and also expanded outwards to the point where it can not be expanded outwards any more, but some new land is being created by filling in spaces between islands. We made a stop at the current waters edge near some of the major landmarks. Several of the older buildings surround a large grass square including the old supreme court building. Nearby is the performing arts center, a rather strange building resembling a large turtle shell, as unique if not as attractive as the Sydney Opera House. Just across the water, a spectacular new casino complex is under construction. The casino itself looks huge, even from a mile or so away, but right alongside is a hotel composed of 3 massive towers resembling inverted y's. These are nearing completion and on top there is a huge deck spanning the tops of all 3 towers and extending out probably 150 feet in either direction from the ends. The extension at one end is pretty well finished but barely started at the opposite end. When finished this will be an open air garden probably 200 meters in the air with a swimming pool.

 

In Chinatown we stopped at the Buddha's Tooth Temple and had about an hour for strolling or shopping. The Temple was a very active place of worship, but also very open and accommodating to visitors. Buddhism seems to share with many religions a real affinity for any article associated with the deity or prophets. Alvin believes that if all the places with Buddha's teeth were real, he must have had about 300 of them.

 

Our final stop was a hill overlooking the harbor. Singapore is pretty flat and this 300 meter hill is one of very few. The view of the city and neighboring islands was spectacular.

 

With 600 new passengers embarking a more traditional muster drill at the actual muster stations, and while optional I decided to participate. The Royal Cunard Singers and Dancers made their first brief appearance in my part of the voyage with a tribute to the music of Simon and Garfunkel, along with a performance by former Cats lead Jeri Sager.

 

My parting shot today takes on an unfortunately negative tone. We were 75 minutes late leaving Singapore today. The authorities there have rather strict documentation requirements. We were required to carry our passports while on shore and to return them along with our Singapore departure cards at the end of our time ashore. These requirements were very clearly spelled out in many ways, through the Daily Programme, discussion of the issue on the morning by CD (Entertainment Director in Cunard terminology) Alastair Greener, flyers delivered to staterooms, cards placed in the passports, reminders at the gangway, and PA announcements. Unfortunately a few of our people (apparently about 10, and hopefully first and last time Cunarders) could not be bothered following the rules and left us sitting at the dock for over an hour. May we never follow in their footsteps.

 

Roy

[Oahucruiser]

I got a chuckle out of the passengers embarking and disembarking at odd places. When we took a long segment of a QE2 world cruise we were amazed at people embarking in Tahiti, Auckland and other ports that weren't segment breaks and then, when we got to Australia we called it a ferry service as people got on all over the place, seemed to only spend a few nights, then disembarked. Never did understand it. Maybe you can find out why some are allowed to do that. Great journal / posts and really fun to read from the start! Thank you! Enjoy Cochin; we loved it there.

Aloha from Hawaii, Patti

[rafinmd]

The morning walk was pleasant but the day soon got quite hot. We were again docked at a container port at Port Kelang (pronounced clang, and named for the clanging of chains on the ox harnesses first used in loading and unloading ships). By the time we left the ship it was hot and so humid the feeling of stepping on shore was somewhere between entering fog and stepping into a steam bath. Our guide Julie Chang met us for the 45 minute drive into Kuala Lampur (KL) and our "Colorful Kuala Lampur" tour. On the way to our first stop, the botanical garden, we passed the Royal Palace. Malaysia has a number of states, with 9 under the leadership of Sultans. These 9 take turns in a 5-year rotation at being the monarch of the country.

 

Our first destination was the national botanical garden. We toured first the Orchard Garden, then went on to the Hibiscus Garden. This was a very elaborate garden since the hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia. It was a very short ride to the butterfly garden. I wasn't particularly impressed with the butterflies but the setting was beautiful and there were several unusual turtles; a long neck variety with a neck as long as it's shell, and several soft shell varieties.

 

We had a wonderful buffet lunch at a local restaurant, and visited one of the major squares of the city. While Malaysia is a mainly Islamic country all religions are accepted, and the one church we visited was the 100-year-old Anglican Cathedral. The square also houses several government buildings and the world's tallest flag pole. The Malaysian flag is modeled after the US flag, but with a 14th white stripe on the bottom, and a new moon rather than stars in the corner. Our inevitable shopping stop was at a very modern mall at the foot of the twin towers. The towers are extremely impressive stainless steel and glass structures, about 80 stories tall with a scenic sky bridge between the two on the 41st and 42nd floors. It would have been a very scenic spot, but tickets to go there are very popular and usually sold out by 9AM. The mall reminded me a lot of the Mall of America. While relatively compact, it is 6 levels with wide spaces in the middle so it feels very spacious. We returned to the ship about 5PM.

 

We gained back the hour we lost when we jogged to Singapore, and the time was used for an entertainment double bill. The show in the Royal Court Theater was Opera Interludes, a group of 4 singers and pianist performing a number of arias. It was a bit too high brow for my tastes. This was promptly followed by a concert in the Queens Room featuring the Royal Cunard Singers (with the dancers getting the night off), accompanied by the combined Royal Court and Queens Room Orchestras and a string quartet. They performed a number of medleys of popular music and were superb.

 

My parting shot will refer back to my Crystal Serenity Transatlantic Cruise in November 2008. One of the lecturers was a geographer who present a series on "Why Geography Matters", and he widened my horizons on what the subject encompasses. One of the examples he gave was from the 2004 Tsunami of some young tourists who observed the water level dropping on the beach and understood from their study of geography what was coming next. They were able to warn a number of people near them to get out of the way before the Tsunami hit. I was of course aware of the event but had not realized before the Daily Programme arrived exactly where the event had been. Even as on who claims to be relatively well educated, my knowledge of geography is woefully deficient, and I fear I am not alone. Travel should help us be more geographically aware, but so often we board a big metal cylinder at A and arrive at B a few hours later with no understanding of what lies in between. It took the Queen Victoria to put one memorable event into context for me.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

My morning walk went generally well with a minor hitch. Since this is a tender port the deck was closed off near the end of my walk. An officer at one of the ropes told me they were preparing the boats and would reopen the deck in 15 minutes. Since I was so close to the end, I decided to just judge the remainder of the walk by time instead of laps. The deck actually reopened in less than 10 minutes, so if this happens in the future, I'll simply head up to the lido for a cup of coffee and resume my walk later. On the morning show CD Greener interviewed the Security Chief, touching on the issue of piracy, and special steps will be taken after the ship leaves Dubai. He did indicate that the problems in the Strait of Malacca, where we are now, have improved recently.

 

We arrived about 10 and it was about 11 when I was ashore for my "Authentic Phuket" tour. Our guide was Sue, who had also been my guide in Koh Sumai. Phuket is an island, the largest in Thailand, almost directly across the peninsula from Koh Sumai, about 250 miles away by land. The island is about 50 km North to South and 20 km across, and is connected to the mainland by a causeway at the North end. We crossed a steep mountain pass to Phuket Town, one of the old settlements on the island. At the first stop, we walked through the local market, getting a look at a wide variety of local fruits and vegetables, and continued on to one of the oldest houses on the island, originally built 100 years ago by people in the tin mining business, which was the original livelihood on the island. It is of Sino-Portuguese design, and is in the 6th generation of the original family, occupied by a widow who lives on the second floor with the first floor open to the public. We were served tea and refreshments.

 

After visiting a pair of Buddhist temples we went on to a short shopping stop. The shopping was of little interest but we were served coffee and other beverages, and returned to the pier about 4. Sue explained that the dock our tenders used was pretty much ground zero for the Tsunami, which had made it's way up through most of the town.

 

The evening entertainment was Yalba, who performed music from around the world on a variety of instruments, including variations on percussion, fiddle, guitar, bagpipe, and flute, including a flute made from PVC pipe.

 

For my parting shot today, it was interesting to visit the site of the December 26, 2004 Tsunami. Despite the massive devastation and loss of life, the area has fully recovered and has come back probably better than before the event. It is a tribute to what dedicated people can do in the face of adversity.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

I got a chuckle out of the passengers embarking and disembarking at odd places. When we took a long segment of a QE2 world cruise we were amazed at people embarking in Tahiti, Auckland and other ports that weren't segment breaks and then, when we got to Australia we called it a ferry service as people got on all over the place, seemed to only spend a few nights, then disembarked. Never did understand it. Maybe you can find out why some are allowed to do that. Great journal / posts and really fun to read from the start! Thank you! Enjoy Cochin; we loved it there.

Aloha from Hawaii, Patti

 

I was talking to the Voyage Sales Person today, and at least now whend ile there are some start/end points close together, you cannot book very short voyages. For example, people get on and off the QE world voyage in Auckland and Sydney, but to get off in Sydney you nead to board before Auckland. You cannot do a really short voyage.

[rafinmd]

We are heading mostly westward but also a bit south so the heat remains rather oppressive. I did do a little extra walking, completing my 5 miles about sunrise, and also participating in the group walk a mile, also before the day's heat really kicked in. My activities today were primarily in the Royal Court Theater morning and evening, with a busy afternoon in the Queens Room. The Cunard Insights Lecture Program resumed in great form with a new set of speakers boarding in Singapore. Retired US diplomat Joseph Snyder spoke on "Singapore and Malaysia: Multiethnic Success Stories", followed by former British Chief Constable John Stalker on "From Rookie to the Top", and Political Analyst Jonathan Fenby on "China's Extraordinary History: Empire, Warlords, and Revolution".

 

Captain Rynd came on with 2 midday announcements. About 11:50am he let us know we were passing the last piece of land for a while, the Island of Great Nicobar. This island, a posession of India, is virtually closed to the public and was severely devastated by the 2004 Tsunami, with the loss of about 6000 lives. It marks our passage from the Andaman Sea to the less sheltered Bay of Bengal. This was soon followed by the traditional noon update, primarily communicating continued hot weather.

 

In the Queens Room we were treated to an early Dixieland concert by the Royal Court Theater Orchestra, Tea time, and the Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party.

 

The entertainment for this evening in the Royal Court Theater was a variety show of followup performances by 2 of out earlier headline acts, instrumentalist Yalba and singer Jeri Sager, featuring Broadway tunes that became pop standards. We get an extra half hour of sleep tonight as we prepare for our arrival in Cochin.

 

Since this is the first of 3 days of sea, my only multiple sea days on Queen Victoria, I will take my parting shot from the ship itself. After dinner I took one extra slow lap around the Promenade deck. There are signs posted at regular intervals, all under the heading of Quote Quest. One I liked was from English auto maker Sir Henry Royce, "Small things make perfection, but perfection is not a small thing".

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

The weather was quite pleasant for my morning walk with a very nice sunrise. Since it is Palm Sunday the Cunard Insights series has been cut back somewhat. While Cunard and Crystal both carry priests for daily Catholic, the traditions are different for other Christians. On Crystal the Priest holds a non-denominational service on Sundays at Sea, while the Cunard Sunday service is led by the Captain. While I'm sure Captain Rynd could have led a fine Palm Sunday service, he would have had difficulty holding an Easter Service while we were docking in Dubai. Our service today was performed by a retired Baptist Minister who will also lead services on Good Friday and Easter. Captain Rynd did assist with the service today, passing out palm crosses and reading the gospel. We are also have passover coming up and I know a Rabbi is on board and reservations are being taken for a Satyr, but I don't yet know any other details.

 

The Insights program did resume in late morning with a presentation by former diplomat Joseph Snyder on "A short history of India", and "China: the new superpower" by historian Jonathan Fenby.

 

My favorite lunch place on the Crystal Symphony was the Trident Grill with great burgers and grilled sandwiches. QM2 has the Boardwalk Cafe which seems like a good idea, but is unfortunately in a very exposed upper deck position and I've never seen it open. The Lido Pool Grill on QV is tucked neatly behind the Lido Cafe and was the source of a great burger today. It is unfortunate I have so many shore tours that overlap lunch and will not get there often.

 

Usual Commodore Club singer/pianist Graham Wellard gave an afternoon concert in the Queens Room featuring timeless songs from the 20's through 40's, followed by afternoon tea.

 

With Opera Interludes in the Royal Court Theater again, it was time to explore the full range of other evening entertainment. On deck 2 Pianist Greg Sampson played jazz with a healthy dose of ragtime in the Golden Lion Pub. There was ballroom dancing in the Queens Room. The Chart Room featured a variety of entertainment in shifts, including Ellen Smith on the harp, Ferry P Bedy on the piano with easy listening tunes, the Royal Court Theater Orchestra with jazz, and the Eos String Quartet. Up on deck 10 Graham Wellard performed on the piano in the Commodore Club and DJ Gary King hosted music in the Hemispheres Night Club.

 

I will probably take a number of my parting shots from the Promenade Quote Quest series. Today's is "Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them more", originally by Oscar Wilde.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

The day started out cloudy, although a sliver of space allowed the sunrise to show through, a half hour after we saw some lightning in the distance. By the 7:30 group walk we had a bit of rain on deck, but it didn't last.

 

The Cunard Insights resumed in full form. Joseph Snyder spoke on Indian Politics: How the World's Largest Democracy Functions". Constable John Stalker s;poke on his transition from a Chief Detective to a speaker and journalist. Hostage negotiator James Alverez started a series on "The Psychology of Persuasion". He started with a review of 6 essential concepts he considers essential to influencing others behavior, reciprocity, public commitment, social acceptance, authority, likability, and scarcity, and made the initial points that listening is the key more than talking and that we can't really change the behavior of others but our own behavior will have an influence on them.

 

I am not normally a devotee of specialty restaurants, but Todd English had a special offer so I had lunch there today. Most of the selections on the menu were a bit exotic for my tastes, but I had a lovely steak and the service and intimate setting on deck 2 midships were superb. In his noon report, Captain Rynd reported that the Indian Monsoon season can start in late March early April.

The Royal Cunard Singers and Dancers had their first full performance of my segment with Dance Passion, a display of dances from around the world, with the singers having a limited role.

 

Today's parting shot starts with remarks by Dr. Alverz. One of his points was that a tool in persuasion is the making of a public commitment. This certainly has an application to booking a cruise. Earlier in the week I had made a booking and part of the reasoning was "If I don't act now, I probably never will." I have had a tendency to sail great ships for the first time when they are on the verge of retirement, as I did with QE2 and Rotterdam V. I have no history as an early sailor on new ships, but hope to change that when QE does it's tandem crossing with QV in January. I'm not sure that will happen, but at least it's now on my priority list.

 

Roy