To cut it short on what was going on, I was busy welcoming my mom home from her short stint of work in a land of greener pasture, entertaining guests from elsewhere for few days, going for the much awaited long break, and recovering from the exhaustive trip.
So tired now! Adjusting back to the routine life. Anyway, though the trip was hectic, it was nonetheless, awesome! The cruise on Virgo had been lingering in our mind since years before we married. And now, we went on our "maiden trip" with our 3 children and their paternal grandparents (plus a friend, cum part-timer nanny! How nice!)
The journey to Spore was nothing less than monotonous and in-adventurous, except for the excitement and anticipation to see the ship. We drove leisurely a day before and didn't have much time to go round as we got lost a bit on that little island. The next day, I met my good friend from the uni days for breakfast. My goody nice big brother drove me and some of us to the Harbourfront to meet the rest of our group at about noon time. We were so excited! Finally!
Checked in our luggage before getting our boarding pass. How considerate! We don't need to drag our few pieces of luggage while hanging tight to the children's hands in that crowded area!
The group leader went to check in for all of us, while we hang around away from the queue. It took some half an hour to get it done, considerably a short wait, judging from the long queue.
After getting the pass, we couldn't wait to get on the ship. How small Gemini is hanging around right beside her big sister. It was no regrets going for the magnificient 13 storeys ship.
We walked some passageways leading to the doorway. There were a mascot, and a Hawaiian-style-dressed up girl tricking us to take pictures with all fellow passengers, and (yes, we guessed it right) later, trying to make another hole in our pockets from buying their expensive pictures and keychains.
Flirting was one of the main agenda! It starts right here when we stepped onboard.
We can't wait to find our rooms. It looked like long tunnels running along the length of the ship. In any case, it wasn't difficult locating our rooms, we are quite smart people indeed (ahem!).
After dumping our remaining pieces of hand luggage into the room, and enough admiring the view off the room's balcony (at least, for the moment), we charged to the Mediterranean buffet at Level 12. We passed through the pool on the top deck, the one we saw many times on the flyers. There were some people cleaning the deck, I started to wonder if we were not allowed to be at that place. Anyway, we soon found the restaurant and ate to our hearts desire. The food was good.
After having a good time there, we walked around to check the place out. First, we walked over to the other side of the ship at that same level. Found some library, a room for mahjong-addicts (come on! play mahjong on the ship? Well, not for me), board games for loan, and a cosy lounge called "Galaxy of the Stars". In there, there's a spiral staircase leading down to "the Bridge", where we can observe the captain and his crew swing into action operating the whole ship. KT said there's even a monitor showing the condition beneath the ship itself. I didn't see that though. It was amazing and exhilarating.
We waited for the ship to depart at 4.30pm in our room. Almost deciding to let the children have a nap, when the drill started, and we pulled them out, with our life jackets on. Chloe fell asleep during the drill.. shows how boring it was.
The kids and nanny went to sleep right after the drill, and we went off to book our table for the Gala Dinner for Tuesday. We heard there would be abalone served in that Gala Nite, but disappointed it was only meant for Balcony Class people. Though we had balcony room, but as we paid for it at Matta promotions, we were the 2nd class citizens of the ship. So, have to settle for something less glorious. Sigh! Meanwhile, the ship began to move, and the "Sail Away" party started in full swing. Everyone is encouraged to dance and chacha with the crew...
We walked around, lost each other, and I went back to our room and sat in the balcony. It was really awful wonderful, seaview rooms like this, where to get??? I could feel the sweet aroma of the breeze as the ship sails. It was perfect, blue skies and everything nice.
Enough of nap! We mustn't waste time like that. We woke the kids and let's go.. to the swimming pool. But wait.. how sad, children under 12 are not allowed here in Parthenon Pool (No wonder Chloe was complaining!). There's another special place for them called "Neptune Wet and Wild" on 2 floors down though, to the Aft. (See the rainbow in the background? So pretty, hoh?" )
This is where all the fun begins (for them). The wind might be chilling the water, but hey! this is so warm and lovely, dipping in these water is so shiok. The hot jacuzzi tub was great, albeit a bit too crowded at times.
This is the trail the ship leaves behind. The view from the Aft.
We went back to shower, dressed up a bit, and went to the Chinese "Pavilion" for chinese servings. I love the stewed sea cucumber with brinjals. It was so delicious. We were allowed to choose from 3 restaurants for all our meals, chinese, international buffet and western. The food from the "pavilion" gets the thumbs up compared to the earlier lunch, and we decided to come back for the next day's breakfast.
We then watched the live performance "Kingdom of Kungfu". It was something like Broadway, but they injected shaolin masters, chinese acrobats into it with the caucasian sexy dancers. Rather peculiar mix, but no complaints, at least we need not pay for the entrance. Well, can say, we paid for it for the whole package though, but least, we do not need to fork up another few bucks for that.
The show went on for about 45 mins, I think, no cameras were allowed. After the show was over, we were given a chance to pose with the shaolin masters on stage. Thought they looked pretty pathetic with their moody looks on their faces, as if being forced. We gave it a pass and took a walk on the promenade instead. The wind was blowing gently and comfortably.
On this level 7, is where the "Grand Piazza" lies. The bubble lifts were the favorite place for the children. Hence, it became more like their "playground".
It was tough to take a picture with all 3 of them sitting and smiling nicely for you. But this pic was rather cute and funny though.
Off we go to the highest deck. The whole ship looks like a brightly lit-up party place from there.
See? Even Chloe was shouting "Hold me tight! I'm being blown away by the wind" (I think!)
We retired for the night. Pondered to go for the Ladies Nite at "Celebrity Disco", but too lazy and tired.
For those who want to know, there were a lot more activities on board than what we had. Every day, we would be given the day's itinerary and activities. You won't have the chance to wonder what to do next. It's all planned to suit everyone's needs.
There are musicians rendering "love notes dedication", salsa dance class for beginners, "the oasis club" for those who wants to try get their money back, programmes for teens and children, cooking classes, karaoke lounge, spa and massage, gym, aquapool (something like the treadmill, where you swim against the current and never gets to the other end), video arcade, childcare centre (SGD6 for each hour), and picture house showing blockbuster movies. Massaging and aquapool are chargeable though.
Please drop by for the 2nd instalment of the cruise trip..
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