I had half a plan in my mind to try and call British Airways at exactly 8am this morning to see if I could upgrade our 2027 flights. This failed miserably, partly because I very deliberately didn’t set an alarm, and partly because I then didn’t wake up until 8.30am. A flawless strategy.
I woke Karen up at 9am, who said she had slept dreadfully – which I had already deduced, given that she woke me up twice by getting up in the night and then twice more by reading her phone at around 3am. She frequently clicks on links without realising they include sound clips, then panics while trying to turn the volume down. This happens in public as well as when I am asleep at 3am, which keeps life exciting.
Our final breakfast in Singapore was the same fare as previous days. The Asian options this morning felt deliberately provocative, and I’m not convinced any of it was actually edible or, indeed, suitable for breakfast.
Rather than having a frantic few hours going out of the hotel and worrying about getting back in time, we decided to sit by the 7th-floor infinity pool. It was very relaxing as the temperature started to rise. As the pool was a decent depth, Karen decided to try her walking exercises in the water for her hip. She managed a very respectable 35 minutes and felt better for it.
At about 12.30pm we headed back to our room. As usual, despite having a late checkout as part of our package, our keys no longer worked past the normal checkout time. I was despatched 19 floors down to reception to get it sorted, where Ivan was on duty. He was like an excited puppy when he saw me, and I briefly wondered if he’d deliberately cancelled my key just to force me down to see him. After shaking my hand twice and standing so close he was almost sharing my oxygen, he eventually reactivated my key. I had to reassure him repeatedly that we did not require any further assistance.
Back in the room we finished packing and got ourselves sorted for the 2pm Grab pickup to take us to the Cruise Port Terminal. Our staggered boarding time had been pushed back to 3.30pm, but we figured the main rush would have cleared by 2.30pm – and we were right. We could see the massive holding queue areas they’d been using, but we walked straight through the many-stage boarding and immigration process.
In no time at all we were on board and heading to our cabin, 1072, which would be our own private cupboard for the next two weeks. It all felt very familiar and exciting. We sorted out our hand luggage and then went up to the Lido Buffet for a late lunch. I went for their primitive version of Subway and had egg mayo rolls, while Karen had a Chop Chop salad. We then headed to the outdoor pool area to secure seats for the sail-away party.
We ordered our first cocktails of the day – and of the trip. We both had strawberry margaritas, which I followed up with another, while Karen went straight onto the bubbles.
Entertainment was provided by a Filipino Ed Sheeran who, armed with his own loop pedal, kept us entertained with some modern classics. The sail-away party was hosted by Jose, who sounded exactly like the parrot from the Tiki Bird show in Disney World. He introduced managers from various parts of the ship and raised a laugh when he described the kids’ club manager as having the easiest job on board, with only four children among the 2,000 passengers.
Sadly, the party ended with a whimper when the captain announced that we couldn’t actually sail away, as one of the mooring ropes was entangled under the ship. He had no idea how long it would take to resolve. I joked to Karen that we might spend all 14 days here in Singapore.
We had another drink while enjoying the Singapore skyline and stood at the rail at the back of the ship. I noticed port workers taking a great interest in whatever was happening between the ship and the dock, and suddenly they all cheered and ran to the various mooring points. I confidently predicted the captain’s announcement, and one hour later than scheduled we finally pulled away from Singapore.
Eventually we headed back to our room, where Karen was delighted to find our cases had already been delivered. She was less happy when I managed to get oil on my T-shirt while lifting a suitcase onto the bed by one of its wheels. I think she suspected this was deliberate.
We got ourselves ready for dinner and headed to the dining room. This is our fourth cruise, and we have never seen such a queue to get in. I sincerely hope this won’t be a regular occurrence. We didn’t move for ages, but then things began to shuffle forward, and we were seated upstairs within 15 minutes.
After ordering our old favourite, the Dutch 150 (gin, sparkling wine and lemon), we both ordered exactly the same thing for all three courses. Everything was very edible and well presented. In the end we gulped down our hot drinks so as not to miss too much of the show on the World Stage.
We found seats easily enough and noticed many people arriving after us. One such couple sat next to Karen and then proceeded to talk loudly throughout. It took me leaning forward and deploying my best Paddington hard stare to get them both to shut up.
The show was OK in parts and excellent in others. There was an “Italian” section with songs by Puccini and others that really showed off the cast’s voices. Some of the more contemporary numbers didn’t suit them quite so well. The dancers, however, were all of a very high standard.
Afterwards we headed to Billboard Onboard, which on this ship consists of just one piano player. Fortunately, he had a great personality and could really play and sing. We arrived for the all-request hour, settled in, and ordered some Baileys.
Now, not to say anything about our fellow cruisers, but for the first 40 minutes the newest song requested was Space Oddity from 1969 (and what a strange request anyway). Then, out of the blue, he leapt forward to 1989 with Simply the Best, before retreating to the early 1960s and before. Disappointingly, he only played part of Piano Manas his closing number.
We ordered another Baileys and headed to the Rolling Stone Lounge to catch the last of the resident band’s final set of the night. They were a tight unit, and the lead female singer really belted out Lady Marmalade. And with that, we headed back to our cabin.
Trying to work out how to switch the lights off was a performance in itself. There is clearly a knack to the order, as some switches appear to do different things depending on what other lights are on or off. I was woken three times by Karen’s getting-ready-for-bed ritual, which seemed to take half the night before all the switches were finally turned off in the correct sequence and she got into bed, just as the ship rolled us gently to sleep through the South China sea.
