Today was supposed to be an easy day with a tour through the ship. Supposed to be.
I woke up early today (arrival is at 7 AM) and set up my GoPro for a time lapse.
The sail in to Jeju Island was scenic with a few large rocks (some may even call them islands).
Today’s port guide:
Today’s onboard activities:
When we finally docked at the pier close to the cruise terminal (yes, there is space for another ship in front of ours) it was clear that it would take quite a bit of time to get from the ship to the temrinal. Luckily they have a moving walk inside the long building (and an actual building).
I took a few more photos from the ship after we docked. They had a cool piece of art that looked like a giant squid / ocotopus.
The meeting time for my tour was 7:30 AM in the Explorer’s lounge.
After we were released it was a 500+ meter moving walkway down the pier just to get to the terminal. I’m not making this up, the ship actually docked close to the terminal as the second berth was another 500 meters away.
Eventually I got to immigration and they put the sticker over my old one from Busan. At least I got a picture of it. I am using my second passport for a reason – there is no way a 10 year passport would have any pages left after maybe 5 years with the way I travel.
Immediately after going through immigration I boarded bus #1. Nothing special about the bus, but luckily Princess didn’t pack every seat full like some cruise lines.
I did my best to take some pictures on the bus, but you can only do so much while it is moving, especially with window glare.
The first stop was Yakcheonsa Temple. We had 40 minutes to wander around and take photos. It’s a recent temple, finished in 1996, but was still nice and similar to the ancient ones. The official website is http://www.yakchunsa.org/ , but it doesn’t seem to be working.
The next stop was the Cheonjeyeon waterfall. The tour guide gave us a warning so I had my camera, neutral density filter and tripod already prepared before getting off the bus. It was a lot of walking and not much time at the actual waterfall. We first walked over a nice pedestrian bridge (Seonimgyo bridge) before walking down a bunch of steps to the waterfall. I did the best I could do with the horde of people taking selfies in such a small platform.
The next stop was a large indoor / outdoor botanical garden. Yeomiji Botanical Garden does not have an actual website as far as I can tell. It was nice, and I did enjoy the observation deck in the center, but it wasn’t really cultural or unique to Korea. I did take a few photos of the water lillies.
After leaving the botanical garden the bus drove by the World Cup football (soccer for you ‘mericans) stadium.
The next stop was lunch. It was a buffet with a bunch of Korean food, including bulgogi at a local hotel, Park Sunshine Jeju. It was pretty good.
The next stop was a view of the grandma rock (Oedolgae Rock) on the ocean. It was a nice stop and the view was nice.
Finally we went to the market which was a mixture of a tourist trap and local market. They were selling orange / tangerine hats for 10,000 Won. I resisted my strong urge to buy one, but I did find dalgona candy and had to buy it. If you haven’t watched Squid Game yet, then you really need to and then you will understand why I bought Dalgona candy (and why I even know what it is).
A few last photos of South Korea from the bus…
The bus got back just before the all aboard time, however since the ship was 500+ meters away I was late by the time I got to the ship. Luckily there were hundreds of others that were also late.
I took a few pictures during the sailaway.
I had dinner at the main dining room again tonight. It was Italian night. I had the Prosciutto and Melon and their attempt at a Caesar Salad (no anchovies) for my starters. I decided to have the Ebi Furai (panko prawns) for my main.
And then there is always dessert… crème brulee is my kryptonite.
Today’s timeline:
