Our final morning on the ship had us up with a 7am alarm to allow time for one last breakfast before disembarking. We had managed to secure the very last slot for leaving the ship, between 9.00 and 9.15am.
By the time we reached the Lido buffet, people were already streaming off the ship, which meant we easily secured a table to enjoy our final freshly prepared Eggs Benedict.
Back in our cupboard, we waited for Green Tag 3 to be called — which happened almost 30 minutes early. I would happily have waited, but Karen was already anxious about being separated from her luggage for too long, so off we went.
And so we left the ship for the final time and walked through the terminal to Immigration, which was surprisingly manual rather than the automatic scanning we’d expected. This was all the more surprising given that the Cruise Terminal is a relatively new Norman Foster–designed building, completed in 2013 and built on the site of the notorious old Hong Kong airport.
The immigration officer was efficiency personified and we soon wandered into the baggage hall, where suitcases were neatly sorted by colour and tag number. As we approached, I spotted a section marked “untagged” and found myself thinking, “Which idiots would put their bags outside their cabin without a tag?” — just as I realised mine were sitting proudly amongst them. Both of my tags, boarding and disembarkation, had somehow been torn off. Karen immediately panicked about hers, but thankfully we found it exactly where it should have been with the other Green Tag 3 luggage.
Disaster averted, we headed up to the rideshare area and I ordered an Uber. It was busy, and although my phone confidently announced that our car had arrived, it took quite some time to actually locate it.
We arrived at the Marco Polo Hotel a full five hours before check-in. Despite some polite pleading, we were told our room wasn’t ready — although for an upgrade of £60 per night we could have a harbour-view room immediately. We declined their generous offer and left our bags with the concierge.
When I booked this bargain hotel, I knew it was centrally located, but I hadn’t appreciated how central. It sits right on the harbour, next to the Star Ferry building, with incredible views of the Hong Kong skyline. It’s also attached to the enormous Harbour City shopping complex — which I knew contained a Starbucks, if only I could find it. The maps were baffling until you cracked the numbering system.
Eventually, after being in the wrong wing and then the wrong floor, we found it and settled in with a much-needed cuppa while I waited for the caffeine to kick in for Karen. I also managed to connect properly to the complex WiFi, only to discover I had been blocked from my own website thanks to my many failed login attempts while onboard the ship. A quick chat with the hosting company’s online support sorted it — all from the comfort of Starbucks.
Just as we were about to leave, Karen noticed the surprisingly tempting food offerings at the Starbucks counter, so we ordered sandwiches (and a blueberry scone for Karen) and sat down again for a while longer.
We then went in search of a Skechers store for Karen, but the prices were higher than at home, so no purchase was made. After that, we wandered outside for our first on-foot views of the Hong Kong skyline — and it did not disappoint.
I decided to try my luck and see if our room was ready around 90 minutes early — and it was. Even better, it had been upgraded and felt like a mansion compared to our ship’s cupboard. After settling into our 12th-floor room with a view, we then headed up to the 17th-floor Executive Lounge, which we were allowed to use.
Here, a complimentary afternoon tea was being served: freshly made and delicious, complete with proper large pots of tea each. There were warm scones, desserts, cheeses, biscuits, and even free cans of fizzy pop. We were extremely happy with this particular perk.
Rather than being completely decadent and eating our way through the afternoon, we headed out to the Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower for a walk along the Avenue of the Stars. We were met by thousands upon thousands of Asian visitors enjoying the glorious weather. Whether they were locals or tourists from elsewhere in Asia was hard to tell — I suggested they should all wear little lapel flags to make it easier for me to know.
What was obvious was how much our Western faces stood out. Aside from the usual scrums for the best photo opportunities (the trend now seems to be bringing your own large camera stand for selfies), everyone was cheerful, and it all felt far safer and less edgy than, say, London’s South Bank.
We found the Bruce Lee statue — and another Starbucks, which I suspect we’ll revisit. Across the bay, we could see the Westerdam still moored. As we watched, it began to move, completed a graceful 180-degree turn, and sailed out of the harbour. We waved, feeling unexpectedly moved as it disappeared from view, imagining our friends onboard enjoying their sail-away party.
Back at the hotel, we changed for dinner. As we were ready early, we had a quick FaceTime with Barry before heading out to the Harbourside Grill, which I had booked because it was covered by our Amex credit, served Western food, and was — in theory — close by. In reality, it wasn’t quite as close as hoped, especially since we initially walked in completely the wrong direction. It turned out to be at the far end of the shopping mall, several floors up, but with a marvellous view over the now illuminated skyline.
As expected for a restaurant offering Amex credit, it was eye-wateringly expensive, with mains and sides well north of £60 each. We had £100 to spend, so when the waitress suggested a three-course set menu for £98 between us, I was delighted. Karen was less impressed — largely because the starter was a shared seafood platter, and she only liked two items on it, whereas I would happily eat the lot, which apparently wasn’t fair. I tried to argue that I was convinced the apple tart would contain evil cinnamon and therefore she could have mine, but this did not help my case.
The seafood platter arrived and was fabulous. On a bed of crushed ice were oysters, clams, mussels, yabby, crab mayo, raw scallops, tuna, salmon, and sea bass tartare. I dread to think what that would cost in the UK. Karen picked her favourites while I hoovered up the rest.
The steaks that followed were just okay. My homemade chips were excellent; Karen declared hers underdone. As predicted, the apple tart did contain cinnamon (why?) so Karen had my apple while I ate the filo pastry, which was still rather good. I then remembered I may have casually mentioned it was our anniversary when booking, which explained the extra surprise sweet treat they brought us.
Once the Amex credit is applied, the total cost will be under £10 — which pleased me enormously.
And with that, we headed back to our room. It had been a bit of a bitty day, we were both tired, and so shortly after 10pm the lights were out, ready for our first proper day in Hong Kong tomorrow.
