Today was the only tendered port of the cruise. The ship was scheduled to arrive at 9:00 AM. I had scheduled a private tour through Viator that was to start at 9:00 AM. I set up my GoPro for a timelapse video as entering the harbor was quite scenic. The ship anchored very near to…
This morning we arrived in Phu My, Vietnam. This is the port for Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City), however since I have visited Saigon before I decided to visit the Cu Chi tunnels. The bus ride to the tunnels took us through Saigon, so the trip was over 3 hours each way. Once we…
Today was the second sea day of the cruise. I rested in the morning and woke up in time for lunch. The menu in the main dining room wasn’t too appealing, so I got some pizza and made myself a tuna salad sandwich in the buffet. I was lazy most of the day. I went…
This morning I arrived in Cambodia for the first time. The ship arrived on time, around 9:00 AM. I got the first shuttle bus to the port gate. We were instantly mobbed by locals with taxis looking for passengers. I quickly found my tour guide and was told there were 4 more passengers on my…
Another early morning. The meeting time for my tour was 7:00 AM. The tour left quickly and the bus was on the way to Bangkok at 7:20 AM. I met a couple who also planned to go to the Grand Palace. I got some cash from the ATM and we attempted to get a cab…
Today was the first of 3 sea days. Unfortunately I had to wake up early. The Platinum latitudes ‘behind the scenes’ tour meeting time was at 8:50 am. The tour was very good. We started in the laundry, then visited the dressing rooms and finally one of the main dining room galleys. I was still…
Gardens by the Bay and first day aboard the NCL Jade
Today will be a short day. My first flight departs at 0615 for Los Angeles [LAX] where I will board a flight to Japan that departs at 1030. I won’t get off that plane until after 3pm tomorrow, but it’s only about 10 hours from LAX to HND [Tokyo]. I left the house at around…
This morning I was pleasantly surprised to receive an upgrade to business class on my flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo before checking in for the flight. Iwasn’t surprised about the upgrade – yesterday they had seven available seats in business class on the flight, just surprised it cleared before checking in. I have the…
The ship sails in 5 days. My flight leaves in two. I only booked the cruise on New Year’s Eve. From the NCL app: I’m taking advantage of my status on American Airlines and hope to get upgraded most of the way there and back. I’ve been confirmed in business class on the return from…
Today I booked a Hawaiian island cruise. This cruise is special because it only visits Hawaii and no foreign port. Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America is a US registered ship. Most other cruise ships are registered in foreign countries and are required to visit a foreign port due to the ‘Passenger Services Act’ which…
Unfortunately it’s time to disembark. The cruise was great with the exception of one tour. I dragged my bags for 20 minutes to the Sheraton. I walked back to the Queens wharf to find the tour guide. The tour visited many of the places I already had seen already walking to the tour. After the…
It appeared that it would be another chilly and rainy day. I had reservations to tour the Hobbiton Movie Set at 12:30, so it was a bit of a struggle to find things to do in the rain. I did find a small aviation museum near the airport. Like all aviation museums they had a…
I spent part of today resting, and part of it going through a few photos from Sydney. Tonight was the fancy formal dinner complete with prime rib and lobster. The lobster was fantastic. My prime rib was also good. For the starter I had French onion soup. For dessert I had baked Alaska and creme…
I woke up this morning to a cold, windy and rainy morning. I was nearly covered in Gore-Tex from head to toe when I left the ship in the morning (my Red Wing boots are waterproof, but not Gore-Tex unlike my pants, coat (with a hood), and gloves. Mysteriously the rain let up almost immediately…
Today’s weather is cold and rainy. I went on an excursion by boat through Queen Charlotte Sound. The sound here is very inspiring, lots of green ferns and other trees. After the cruise they took us back to the bus after making a comfort stop. The only interesting thing at the comfort stop was this…
This morning the ship used the life boats to tender us to shore. I took the Christchurch on your own tour. I was a bit disappointed in the late meeting time. Once we got on the bus the driver said we were supposed to have 4 hours of free time in Christchurch, but we wouldn’t…
Today is my first day on land since boarding the ship. I chose the Taeri Gorge Train and Dunedin Highlights tour. The weather didn’t cooperate today, it was chilly, rainy and a bit foggy. I walked onto the train from the ship. There were a few outside areas between the cars that allowed for better…
I’ve technically arrived in New Zealand today, although I didn’t get off the ship. I set up my GoPro to create time lapse videos. The first Fiord was Milford Sound. We entered about 7:30 AM after the Princess ship. We stopped briefly to let a few passengers off that was doing an overnight experience. I…
Finally able to catch back up. Sea is cold and choppy. The ship will be sailing through the Fjords tomorrow. I’ll have the GoPro set up.