Far East Adventure Part 1

I have just returned from a great experience out in the Far East with my colleague Ruth to sample Royal Caribbean’s programme out in the Far East. We flew both ways with Singapore Airlines and was lucky enough to be upgrade to Premium on the way out which was a lovely surprise, I don’t sleep on planes so the extra space was much appreciated the entertainment offered was great and kept me going doing the long flight.

We arrived very tired but excited to see the sights of Singapore, driving from the airport to the Hotel was a lovely experience I have never been down a motorway where there are beautiful flowers everywhere hanging over the bridges it just made it look so very pretty, we arrived at the Shangri La Hotel which was spectacular and everything I could have imagined and more, the Christmas decorations where fabulous and they had an amazing centre piece of all dolls in a shape of a Christmas Tree, but which we later found out are dolls made of icing by the chefs at the hotel, I have never seen anything like it.

We had a fabulous guide from the local tourist board who took us to explore Singapore, we went to little China and walked round the local markets and visited the Temples which was a great experience, watching he Monks pray and just taking in the local culture and atmosphere, one thing whilst walking around was feeling of security and how safe I did feel in a city I have never been to and how clean everywhere was for such a big city, the guide told us that if you left your bag somewhere and went back hours later it still would be there !! Which in the this day and age is amazing, learning there laws and how they wok makes you realise we could do with some of their policies over her.

We went for lunch at this former Sultans home which just looked amazing and is a famous restaurant in Singapore, feeling very hungry and couldn’t wait to tuck in we got a local platter to share with various different dishes and I decided to dive into what I thought was beef but was a cows lung !!! I can’t say was the best thing I have ever tasted in my life and don’t think will try again, so after that stuck to the rice which was lovely.

We had a an hour or so free time to walk round Orchard road before Hotel visit to Orchard Jen Hotel which has the most amazing infinity pool on the roof with spectacular views over the city.

Shangri La Singapore has the most amazing beds and pillows I have ever slept on you just melt into them, the rooms they have on offer are beautiful, the pool area is great and laying by the pool you wouldn’t feel you are in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Singapore.

After breakfast we take the short Journey to the Marina Bay Cruise Terminal to board Mariner Of The Seas, which is one of 2 terminals in Singapore this one is new and modern and has been built for the larger Cruise Ships, however I don’t think it caters for such huge numbers of people it became very busy and full and communication wasn’t the best, we were lucky enough to get priority boarding so we got straight onto the ship.

I have been on a Voyager class of ship so I thought everything would be the same as I have experienced before, this wasn’t the case they had adapted the ship to the local market which this ship caters for around 95% Asian so signs around the ship are all in Chinese but do not be afraid they have computerised screens to guide you around the ship which is a bonus.

TBC