Singapore Disembarkation

Boy, I wish we could have stayed longer. Who wouldn't want to, after a month on a ship, continue to sail on her as she visits Bali, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand? Unfortunately there were just too many reasons why we had to go home.

You know you've seen too many spectacular buildings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi
when the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore winds up being just another pretty building.

Disembarkation was ahead of schedule which is always nice. In Singapore, once you leave the ship you go through immigration and hand over an immigration form the ship had delivered to passengers a couple days before. After immigration you pick up your luggage and then go through customs. Red line = something to declare. Green line = nothing to declare. All went smoothly until our Princess transfers bus to the airport showed up at the cruise terminal late. Then passengers showed up late. It all worked out in the end, but not without some passengers getting frustrated and stressed.

Singapore's beautiful Changi airport, Terminal 3

Once we arrived at the airport, we found out we were still too early for check in. (It seemed that more than 3 hours was too early.) There was one very long early check in line with just one representative working and having to take care of all those cruise passengers and their tons of luggage.

We also found security wasn't what came next. Immigration came next, and here we had to have scans of both thumbs taken. Immigration led to an open area with lots of shops and restaurants. No security screening there. We found the security screening happening at the gate - a gate that doesn't open its seating until one hour before the flight leaves. Something to know if you're traveling there in the future - there are no restaurants or shops near any of the gates. If you want to eat, drink, or shop it needs to happen right after immigration. Another thing to note - you cannot take beverages to your gate seating with you. Metal detectors, pat downs, liquid size requirements, and no beverages, just like you'd expect for security in the US. There were seats outside the gates where you could wait for it to open. But again, no places around the area to purchase food or drink.

But if you have plenty of time at the airport, there's a better place to hang out. Earlier this year the airport launched a $1.3 billion (that with a B!) mall complex called Jewel. It’s connected to the airport, but you don’t have to be flying to enjoy it and you don't have to go through immigration or security to get to it. Since we had hours to kill before our flight, we took a look. The most amazing part of the space is the tallest indoor waterfall in the world. The thing is huge at 130 feet. 

Take a closer look at the picture below. See the teeny tiny people near the bottom? The waterfall is so big you can hardly find them.

Finally some Christmas decorations.  

Who knew Singapore was so industrial? Not me.

Who knew there were beautiful islands between Singapore and Taiwan? Not me.

Ever see the approach to Taipei, Taiwan at night? You sure have.

It has been a long day (I guess it's actually been two days?) and we aren’t even home yet. Today we've crossed a double digit number of time zones (I think) and the International Date Line. After leaving the ship at 9 am Singapore time, hanging at their airport for most of the day, flying over four hours to get to Taipei, a stopover there of over three hours, then another 10 ½ hours flying to Seattle, I'm so confused about what time it is (or was). I just know we can’t get home tonight so we are in a hotel near the Seattle airport. While we slept better than expected on the plane, we still need some sleep. Hopefully enough to get us home tomorrow!

I'll be getting a cruise wrap-up summary posted in the next few days so if you're interested, keep an eye out for it. 

Port Kelang, Malaysia

It was almost over. The last port and last tour on the month-long cruise. All through the night three words permeated my brain. Must. Press. On.

When I woke up several times drenched in sweat. Must. Press. On.
As I tossed and turned, trying to find the right spot for my painful knee. Must. Press. On.
During the coughing attacks. Must. Press. On.
As I woke up in a start, trying to gasp for breath. Must. Press. On.
While attempting to drown out the sound of the blowers outside our cabin. Must. Press. On.
When the alarm went off at 5:30 this morning. Must. Press. On.

So when E came out of the bathroom and said let’s not go today I had only three words for him.

That sounds great.

He felt the need to defend his decision but he really didn’t need to tell me. I knew what he was going to say.

• We had a long walk to get to the terminal building.
• To take a three hour roundtrip bus ride just to get to the city of Kuala Lumpur.
• To start a tour lasting a good chunk of the day.
• With one of the stops requiring 50 steps with no handrails.
• In stinkin’ hot weather.
• And the most important one - we needed to save our energy for two very long travel days ahead.

Yes, I knew. When I booked this cruise I worked hard at making sure I only scheduled tours I knew he could handle. Ones that wouldn’t wear him down. Tours not too taxing for him. I think I’ve done a great job at it and he’s been a trouper. But here, in this last port, I’m faced with the whole hindsight is 20/20 thing. I shouldn’t have booked a tour on the last day of the last port. It was a moment of selfishness, I guess. An I know I won’t get back here ever so I want to see it now selfishness. Lesson learned.

While I could have gone to the medical center to get the excursion tickets stamped in order to get a refund, I didn’t want to. There are sick people in the waiting room down there and I don’t need any additional germs in my system. Anyway they would have mostly likely prescribed me a Z-Pak, which I already have thanks to my multiple cruises to Mexico this year. And I’d rather not have to pay for a doctor visit, submit it to my health insurance, wait for the denial letter, then have to submit it to the travel insurance company. I was just fine eating the cost of the excursion instead and start taking my straight-from-Mexico Z-Pak.

So we stayed onboard where I saw nothing resembling Kuala Lumpur.

It looks like a long hot walk just to get to the terminal.

There is a bit of a smoke smell in the air but it may be from the chemical plants near the port.
I later learned the area has a significant number of illegal plastic recycling factories -
factories that many times just burn the plastic instead of recycling it.

I can attest it really is stickin’ hot today. I can also attest I started on my Z-Pak this morning. And that yes, I really am sick because I can’t bring myself to get dressed in my swimsuit and spend the day at my go-to spot for the cruise. 

I love this pool.

I also couldn’t stay in bed all day, so I did manage to make my way to the Internet Café to get some cell service so I could use my phone as a hotspot to get the blog posted. I remember this Internet Café from our first cruises years ago when there wasn’t Wi-Fi throughout the ship. The days when we had to come down here to Deck 7 to go online. (Which we never did back then. How did we ever do without the Internet?) 

It’s nice and big and bright with plenty of seating and open space. Makes you realize how times have changed. Heck, we didn’t even have a cell phone back in those days.

Tomorrow we’re off to Singapore where we’ll be disembarking the ship. Yep, still sad. I’ll be back in the next couple days to finish up the trip reporting and will be posting a trip wrap-up as well. See ya then.