Davita's Cruise/ Positive or Negative

[Daniel50]

Davita reported he was going on a cruise to I believe, Vietnam etc.. How did this go? Was it worthwhile? Perhaps we can help judge this for you?

 

[waarmstrong]

Perhaps the boat sank on the passage over; would explain why there have been no follow up reports from Davita.

 

[Puspawarna]

Perhaps we can help judge this for you?

"Judge"? "JUDGE" you say? Nonsense. Who would ever dream of judging on a forum?

 

[Daniel50]

This is probably not representative.

 

[Davita]

I didn't drown and the ship didn't sink but my liver needs attention.
We're back in Jakarta for Xmas and New Year but have a crappy old laptop in my apartment here. I planned to report when I return to Bali next week and can type on my 3 in one desktop....but here goes anyway.

This Celebrity cruise was 12 days from Singapore to Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh to Danang to Hong Kong.
We had another couple from Vancouver who we've known for years join us. She is Indonesian and a retired Flight Attendant as is my wife; the husband originally from Scotland like myself. The crew were mainly Indonesians, and most were Balinese, so we were treated like VIP's when they realized the two pretty ladies were their kin.
Like all cruises the first thing is to get acquainted with the boat so we started to walk around but quickly found the Martini bar.... it had this stainless steel top which had refrigeration underneath which chilled the air and created a frosted top...we were intrigued and ordered a martini to see if it actually kept the drink cool...we never left. It took a week before I found there was a swimming pool!
We settled into a routine as soon as the ship sailed...
Late breakfast a la carte buffet with an unbelievable assorted layout. I had black pudding (a Scottish delight) with everything including a bloody mary. Did I mention we all purchased the free-flow drinks package and was determined to get our money's worth. This is a Celebrity thing which I highly recommend, if you like a tipple, as wine can be about US$10 a glass.
We tried the sit down breakfast once but preferred the buffet.
Late lunch with a few glasses of Chardonney, again buffet style.
Walk around the deck and look-see at the shopping, they sell everything at discount from branded watches to handbags to duty-free booze. The Casino is open all day at sea as many others like to gamble....but not our thing.
An afternoon snooze, or coffee and a book or, as my wife likes, the gym.... or listen to some lecture...also good for a snooze...then 5 PM cocktail time. 7pm dinner in the dining room or, as we did 3 times, the speciality Italian dining for a little extra elegance and excellent food....5 star stuff... don't buy that treat up-front as they offer discounts (30-50%) after the ship sails.
9pm would see us settled into seats for the evening variety show, with a glass or two of cabernet.
Show over.....quickly back to the Martini bar to get seats before the rest of the motley gang we had met...similar people always seem to get together and these drinking and chatty people were no exception....just like ourselves.
Evening snack then back to the cabin...really nice comfy bed, plenty space and a verandah.

We docked in Laem Chabang for Bangkok. The dock is for containers and not interesting. Lucky we had another retired Flight Attendant, who lives in Bangkok, pick us up and showed us the Bangkok sights....it's a 2 hours drive into the city.
Next stop was Phu My for Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)...again a 2 hour drive and US$100 for a taxi tour.
The weather was unkind between Phu My to Chan May (Danang) and a lot of people became sea sick...not us...but the martini bar did seem to be floating....and the barman's Tom Cruise bottle juggling act missed a few times.
The Captain decided it was too windy to dock so we continued onto Hong Kong. I was happy as I thought we'd get another day in Hong Kong...our old stomping ground (lived there 1974-1990) but no...he slowed down and we got there on schedule.
Hong Kong was the brightest part of the cruise as we stayed on board for 2 nights before disembarking. We found another bar on board (imagine that) which had a commanding view of the Hong Kong skyline and we sat reminiscing, the girls giggling over chocolate martinis, my pal sipping gin tonic and me with my red wine...I teared-up as I realized we were docked against the old Kai Tak runway where I had landed/took-off hundreds of times in the past.

A great cruise well worth the US$3000+ we spent as a couple. The ship, staff, food and entertainment was excellent but the ports of call were not so interesting and maybe 12 days was a little too long. We were lucky to have our friends with us but there are opportunities to make friends on board.....everyone seems more friendly and cheerful on a cruise ship.

I'm sure we have many members who have cruised and maybe we can start a thread so others can get a feeling and advice on worthwhile cruises. Wot you guys think?

I'll be singing tonight watching the Jakarta fireworks from our balcony....it is our annual event to invite friends to see how millions of Jakartans brighten up the sky on new year at midnight.
So Happy New Year everyone and hope 2017 is better than last year when I had 2 major surgeries in Bali.....but now all is good.

 

[Nasigan]

Nice cruise report David, take care of your liver and Happy New Year. (I wish I had a Martini bar around the corner here)

 

[Anglian]

Have a good new year Dave, no more ops, my last cruise was on the Oxfordshire, no ladies on that cruise,

 

[Davita]

Have a good new year Dave, no more ops, my last cruise was on the Oxfordshire, no ladies on that cruise,

I was on the maiden voyage of the SS Oxfordshire....Liverpool to Singapore around South Africa as Nasser closed the Suez. Cannot blame him...I helped bomb his airfields a few months earlier.

 

[Daniel50]

So Happy New Year everyone and hope 2017 is better than last year when I had 2 major surgeries in Bali.....but now all is good.[/Q

Happy New Year Davita. Happy to hear you did not go down with the ship, as Waarmstrong had suggested. Hopefully no more surgeries in 2017.

 

[waarmstrong]

... I'll be singing tonight watching the Jakarta fireworks from our balcony....it is our annual event to invite friends to see how millions of Jakartans brighten up the sky on new year at midnight.

So Happy New Year everyone and hope 2017 is better than last year when I had 2 major surgeries in Bali.....but now all is good.

Thanks for the update. I envy your cruise experience. My wife is not comfortable on boats, even big ones.

Take care not to fall off the balcony and plan an escape route should local careless fireworks bugs start neighborhood on fire.

We will be sharing the event with a group of Indonesian-American couples -- booze and football (American style) but no fireworks.