We are back from the fantastic cruise by Royal Caribbean on "The Legend of the Seas" and I will be posting posts about our cruise experience over the coming days/weeks. There will most certainly be quite a lot of posts about our cruise experience as a young family. And here it goes, the first post of the series. You can view all posts for this cruise trip by clicking here or on the Royal Caribbean Cruise 2012 label.
The day didn't really start that well. It was raining to begin with and we had no choice but to call a taxi. It has been quite some time since I did any advance booking for a taxi and I was shocked at the booking price. $8 gone and I have not even boarded the taxi. But we were quite lucky that the rain stopped when we boarded the taxi. At least, we managed to load up the luggage into the taxi without getting wet. But that didn't stop us from being stuck in the slow traffic. Two accidents happened on AYE, one each on both directions.
When we arrived at the Singapore Cruise Center, it was quite difficult not to know where to go. Staff from the Royal Caribbean International (RCI) were all over the place giving directions. We tagged our one and only check in baggage at the entrance and proceeded to check in the luggage. Quick, simple and easy. In fact, a little too quick that I was worried that our luggage will get lost!
Like I mentioned in my previous posts, we had completed the online check in via Royal Caribbean website and it did ease the process. There was no filling one any other details except that we need to fill in the immigrant card for arrival in Phuket and also some declaration form by Royal Caribbean International. (Strange that we need not fill in the white card for Malaysia)
Also, thanks to one comment that we decided to bring along the stroller to the cruise. The stroller was said to give us priority advantage against normal passengers. We actually had already discussed and agreed between ourselves that we will not bring a stroller along as it is so cumbersome but on hindsight now, THANK GOD FOR THE STROLLER. More on the stroller on other posts. We were a little kiasu, we arrived at the Singapore Cruise Center at about 1100hrs and there wasn't much of a queue. Also, note that if you are staying in a suite, you will have priority check in services. Same goes to those that have travelled with RCI before.
So once you checked in, you will be given a sea pass card. This sea pass card is for all passengers, including infants like Jayden. Essentially, it is a means of paying any and everything on board the vessel and also as a means of security. As the passport will be kept by the crew, this is the only other identification that you will have. We are sure to keep it safe! I had also earlier linked the card to my credit card so that it will be a hassle free process for us. No queuing up to settle the bill. Any item that you charge to your sea pass card will be charged automatically to the credit card.
Boarding was quick and smooth for us. Behold the mighty and luxurious "Legend of the Seas". This will be our home for the next 5 days.
Upon boarding, the first thing that we knew was that our luggage will not be ready in our stateroom that early. So, we proceeded to the Windjammers cafe at Deck 9 for our lunch! It was good that we were rather early too. Just approximately half an hour later, the entire cafe was jammed pack with people and there wasn't enough indoor seating space for all of them.
I like the selection of food that they provided. It is mainly a very local Singaporean asian and western selection of food. You have chinese, malay, indian and western cuisines but it is devout of korean, japanese cuisines. A little strange since they expect quite a number of japanese and korean passengers and all signs are in English, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean.
What attracted me the most was their selection of desserts and they were really yummy! I think I have eaten probably almost one piece of each and every single dessert available for that day!
But unfortunately, Jayden was starting to cough and having runny nose again. This made him very very cranky during the trip, especially during meal times and traveling time. He will be okay as long as we were carrying him walking around or letting him run loose. By the way, check out the soda package in the picture. Soda drinks are not free on the cruise. Strange? I think so too! The drinks that are free are normal water, orange/apple "juice", regular coffee and tea. You have to pay for the rest. And we did pay for one soda package. It is USD$65.0 per person per day. Why? The free bottle looks kinda nice though I am not sure if we will ever use it. ^_^
After a nice filling lunch, we head on to the pool just outside of the windjammers cafe. Yups, we were still in Singapore as the ship is only going to depart at 1700hrs. There are two pools on board. The outdoor pool seen here and another indoor pool on the same deck together with four heated whirlpools.
And Jayden was "let loose". He went frantically fiddling with the pool chairs, trying to lift up and push every single one of them.
My future heavyweight champion - Jayden Ang
And just one last shot, a family photo of us!
This concludes Part 1 of Day 1 on board Royal Caribbean, Legend of the Seas. Be sure to come back for more posts on our family cruise trip!
More photos are on our Facebook Page @ Daddy NiVleK. Click on "Like" today!
