The last few days have been a bit of a blur. You see when you start eating all this spicy food something is going to break, in this case it was my stomach. The other night after my last post I had a very unpleasant night. My stomach let me know in no uncertain terms. I felt fine for the most part but my stomach told me I dare you to have one more spicy dish. I listened to its wishes and stayed in for the day. It also didn’t help that Claudia has come down with a nasty cough. It was getting bad so I broke out the Buckley’s Cough Syrup and gave her the warning and said it works. If you are from Canada you know what this stuff tastes like. If you are reading this from elsewhere the slogan for this stuff it tastes bad but it works. Let’s say as a kid this was the last thing you wanted your Mom to bring out if you had a cold.
I have to say Claudia took it and said it isn’t that bad, but it did work.
I hate to admit it but early that evening I had to have something to eat. Now staying in Little India poses a problem where spice rains supreme. Hmmm look at the map and notice 15 minute walk away there is a McDonalds. I decided the walk was needed and off I went. Along the way I passed by a Food Tent, A Geocache at a Temple and the Temple itself.
Biryani
Temple looking in
Tent of Food
Arriving there proved a bit more of a challenge because what would I order? The Samurai Burger looked good but who the heck knows what my stomach would take. It was back to Chicken Burger and fries and a Coke Zero. I also bought a Filet of Fish for Claudia. The walk back was a bit of a challenge though. You see carrying a bag of McDonald’s gets many restaurateur owners saying things to you like where you can go etc. because you are in a food mecca and you are carrying McDonald’s. Arriving back at the room was nice because we sat and ate. It was when we looked at the fries and they included Seaweed Seasoning for the Fries. We both said pass on this one.
After eating this I felt much better.
I have to say Singapore has so much to offer. I felt safe at all times and noticed no aggression at all while here. While we walked 11,000 to 13,000 steps a day it was very had on the old body with the heat and humidity. Pick what you want to see and don’t try and see it all in one day. Don’t be afraid to use the MRT as it is easy, safe and clean. It is also cheap. There is an MRT App that you can use to figure out how to get around the country. Yes, don’t forget Singapore is not only a City but also a Country. It is growing by leaps and bounds. They keep reclaiming the ocean to build on
Day 1 of the Cruise:
Today brought us to the BIG day of boarding the ship. Princess had pushed back the boarding time by 3 hours. We were not to start until 3PM. All this was because the Coral Princess had just come out of a 3 week major dry dock. (More on this later)
We left our Apartment at 2PM and headed to the pier. We were amazed that they had just started boarding as we arrived at 2:30 PM. It was a quick process except my Passport could not be read my the Automatic Passport scanner that Singapore uses. Back to the manual way of doing things.
We boarded the ship and went up to our cabin and to find the door open and a carpet dryer working overtime in front of the bathroom. Oh this can’t be good we thought. Our Room Steward Ivan, arrived on scene and said yes the carpet was wet and the ship is looking into it. The carpet guys will be by to lift the carpet and find out where the water is coming from.
From here it was upstairs to Horizons to find some food. There is a very noticeable smell of solvent and paint in the air.
It was fresh fruit and a Guinness Pie for me.
From here it was a short rest and visit our muster stations.
We went to dinner at 8:30 PM to open seating and if there were 6 tables there that would be lucky.
I have to say dinner was just dinner not anything fancy but it did the trick.
Leaving Singapore
Day 2 At Sea
Today we had a get together of those from the Cruise Critic Roll Call for this cruise at 10:00AM. It was well attended and Princess had about a dozen department heads attend.
Now the scoop on the dry dock. It had been a 6 year project to make some major changes mostly to bring the ADA Standards up to date as this ship was built 20 years ago. The Horizon Buffet was gutted and rebuilt with lower/higher tables for those needing them. All new decor was also put in place.
All chairs throughout the ship were redone. The pool area was brought down to steel and redone.It looks great so far. This included new tables and chairs and loungers. The Bayou Restaurant was removed and Crown Grill was added in it’s place. The Wheelhouse Bar was removed and a new bar was added that allowed those in wheel chairs to sit at the bar. All the shops were gutted and rebuilt. All the electronics in the various venues was brought up to date.
The casino was redone and new machines added.
Now with all this comes teething problems. There are different items still stuck in storage and we were told they will surface over the next 2 weeks such as some wines.
This morning at breakfast I saw a pale of Marmite (think Costco size here) in the Horizon Buffet.
For the most of the day I have been around the pool where not many people are sitting. It says it is 29C but the wind is cool. I had to have my afternoon Pizza which was good.
Tonight is Formal Night and tomorrow we are in Thailand.