Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away~ :D

Yes, the family went on another cruise again this year over the week. xD

I guess we've fallen in love with this style of vacation - pure relaxation and a little isolation (since you have to cut all contact from the world; except.... I buy the Wi-Fi connection so not that much for me. :x) I bet my sister loves it for all the cheap alcohol though. xD

This time also because we wanted to give the new cruise a try!


The cruise!
Mariner of the Seas.

Way way way bigger than Legend of the Seas.
I can't remember the maximum capacity of Legend (probably less than a thousand) but Mariner could fit about 3500 of us!!!! :O


Took us about..... one full day to figure the place out.
But, we still got lost and would mix up the front and the back ends when we wanna go somewhere. /fail
Would plainly describe this cruise experience as........ mehh. It's not the cruise or the activities that made this vacation less perfect; but the period of our vacation and the people we were with.

We were there with my Dad's cousin's family (an almost horrible dinner experience for two nights with this aunt), a few of my mother's colleagues's family and with 2.4k other Singaporeans.

In both my previous experiences, we went onboard in February and March. The somewhat family-unfriendly period since there would be school for children........... But both times were a fantastic experience for us because there were way more Caucasians.

I am not being racist(?) here but........ we have to admit that Singaporeans are very more unfriendly than people from the Western countries.

Out of the ten people I smiled and greeted onboard this time, only one or two would return the gesture while the rest just simply look away. :(( In the previous two trips, I could randomly talk to anyone onboard! We even had fun with some Australians during Karaoke in the trip this year!

Most Singaporeans are also quite.......... typical(?) and a bit silly. Royal Caribbean is an international ship, obviously they would charge people USD. On the first day, I heard PLENTY of people asking the charging currency for Ben&Jerry's icecream and would walk away when they know it's USD. 2.50USD, ISN'T IT CHEAPER THAN WHAT WE BUY HERE ALREADY?! Zzz

It was really quite a scene to watch how these people react though. Lol.

There would also be this really long long queue in places with free food. LOL. My sister and I would avoid these places and only check them out when most people are asleep or just in the other parts of the boat. Seriously.

Despite all that, I am (very rudely) quite glad that we were only with 43 Chinese people. :x When the headcount for China population onboard was announced, I rudely exclaimed "Yes!" leaving my parents laughing at my happiness.

Thing is, we've heard bad things about them in two separate cruises before us. One with 800 of them and another with just 300 of them. (Them as in Mainland Chinese people) There were horrible things mentioned like them taking the entire plate of fruits from the buffet table AND EVEN THE ONES ON DISPLAY.. ?! Like as if they've never seen or eaten fruits before. And the other bad experience was how loud 300 of them were - to actually cover the noise created by a thousand Singaporeans. LOLOL. Won't you be glad if you were me too???? :x

But I admit, I was rude.

Not like I care. :/

ANYWAYZ!!!

The overall cruise experience was still good. :) &I would really like to go onboard Mariner of the Seas again before it sails away from Asia. (During non-peak period of course)

And the next time I sail on Mariner of the Seas, I hope it would be with my friends. Because I can imagine myself going crazy and actually go up to the dance floor with my friends and maybe play their games.... Lol.

Oh oh! Our cruise Director this time is Dan again......................... Not that I'm complaining but the activities were similar.

Okay okay. enough ranting.


The lift has the days on it!
Monday ~ Check-in












Sea Pass card with our muster station, room number and dining details stated.

I was very excited that day. I was cheery and a bit too jumpy. LOL.
When the security guard asked for my Seapass card to enter, I loudly exclaim "Tadaaaaaaah!!" while holding it up.
/facepalm


The first place and thing we would do.
PURCHASE THE UNLIMITED SODA PACKAGE!!
We didn't drink much this time though.


Sister checking out the activities for the day.
&then, we wandered around the entire cruise to familiarise ourselves.

I have to slap myself this time.
After going through what I've taken this time and checking out my other two experiences, I took too little pictures of the cruise and the food this time. Too little. :( Another reason for me to cruise again with Mariner of the Seas. xD




Shopping area!






Christmas feel came super early this year. xD


There were 15 decks in total! :O
















Outside "Windjammer" the buffet place onboard.
This time, their chef is said to be a Singaporean. I was wow-ed by the spread.
EVEN GOT KIMCHI LEH!!!
But this time, sister and I didn't even try it at all. LOL.
Too occupied by their other better food. :x


Casino ground.
Both my parents got a huge shock when they walk on this the first time.
JOKE OF THAT DAY. Their reactions were too freaking hilarious.


Dinner place!
It's a free fine dining place that serves nice 3-course meal for dinner, sometimes opened for lunch and breakfast too! Love their breakfast.
For all four nights, we eat until wanna puke. x,x






Three decks of dining!



This time, there's also a few places where we can pay to enjoy different/better food.


This place has a cover charge of 4.95USD for some burgers, floats and malts.
We didn't try it. :(
Should have! The place looks so retro and nice.


Ice Skating Rink!
Didn't get to do it because they only opened it for one night. :(
The other days were reserved for rehearsals.
And on the day it was opened to the public, they only allowed 35 per 30-minutes session. Even before the queue time started, there was a bloody long line for it. Zz So we gave up. :(














There were a lot of courts, I just didn't go in to snap pictures of them.


Wider but shorter rock climbing wall.










Jacuzzi at night!
So pretty.




There are also many arts displayed in this ship too...






One of my favourites. LOL.


This too!




Couldn't hear much singing this time. :( Cruise too bloody big. :((


THEY SERVE STARBUCKS LEH!!! Lol.

After checking out the cruise, we finally sat down to have our first meal.


WHOOP!!!

And then, we headed to check out our room. ^^






No window again.
But this time, we spent even lesser time in the room. lol.




Everyone was super happy to find that the toilet doesn't have curtains.
Means, NO STUPID CURTAINS STICKING TO OUR BODY WHEN WE BATHE!!!! Lol.


When the upper bunk was unleashed. HEHEH. Love it.
My sister kept pestering to swap places but I love the upper bunk!
End up requesting to have both bunk beds put down. xD

After resting a bit in the room, we quickly hurry out for the Dreamworks Parade! :O
Yes, this cruise is in collaboration with Dreamworks!




Huge crowd of audience with many many children!






PUSS IN BOOTS!!!

Mehh, not a fan. :x


















I swear Fiona looks really creepy with her face made like that!!

To prove my point, I secretly took a snapshot of her profile picture in the photo gallery.

.
.
.


Check out Fiona...
HOW IS THAT CUTE?! Definitely look more creepy than cute. LOL.


The first pig girl looks so happy. xD




Panda panda dancing infront.


The 15(?) minutes parade came to a messy end. :)

They even have meet-the-session throughout the cruise session.
Obviously, I didn't go for them... I've already met these mascots anywayz (Except Sherk.. boo!).


TADAAAAH!!!!

From this entry! :3


&Nothing will beat this shot. xD

Okay! Dinner was up!
This time, I didn't take pictures of our dinner. :x
Just our desserts. I know, it's a bit stupid. Zz


THIS IS SUPER NICE!
Crème Brûlée but a bit too sweet. I only ate it once. BUT I LOVE IT.
Now, I want some Crème Brûlée too. :(


Carrot Cake!




The "Welcome Aboard" show!
Also the place where they announce the number of people onboard. xD




Happy is me seeing my bed.


^^

Rested for a while and went for some drinks.

Sister and I spent quite a bit on drinks this time. :x But we manage to try as many cocktails as we can! ^^ Bad thing is, I would wake up every morning with alcohol in my body. /puke

I told my sister we have to take picture of every drink we order onboard. Failed to take pictures of at least 5 of our other drinks. Zz Either because I forgot my camera, or just out from the gym (yes, we actually gym-ed) or just too dark. :(


Sister's Brandy Dry. She's crazy. After the first night, she kept requesting for stronger alcohol. x,x












Tuesday ~ Penang Stop

The family didn't alight this time because the stop period was too short and we wanted to just enjoy the empty cruise.
(Not that empty though)


Breakfast menu!











I know, this is a freaking awkward picture posing with some bread art. Zzz
My mother is weird. LOL.








No more sexy Caucasians to watch as they sun-tan. :x

OH! The weather this time is quite wet too... December... x,x










I LOVE THIS HAIRDO!!!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!


♥






CUTEST PICTURE!! xD


Yoghurt icecream!

AH! At this deck, we spotted a celebrity!
Lina Ng (黄嫊方)! She looks almost exactly as how she looks from the TV! Quite skinny and quite friendly. :)


:D


Scoop so small......




Latte Latte for me! :D


Penang! :D


















Dad won mum!


I AM FREAKING BAD AT THIS. :(
I blame my blindness. lol.


Dad also won my sister. :O





After the games, everyone were sweaty and tired. LMAO!!!!
It was fun though. My first visit to the arcade with my parents after growing up. HEHE.


Back in the room to find a piggy towel! :)


Wednesday ~ Phuket

Woke up early to have breakfast with the family while my sister lazed in bed.
In this trip, I think I barely slept. Couldn't sleep in the first two nights and slept freaking late in the next two nights but waking up before 8am everyday. x,x


Eggs Benedict!
Not in the menu but can be ordered! :D
Nice uh! Theirs a bit sour because they added vinegar to their sauce.


Our ticket to go out!
Had to ride a boat out as per usual because the cruise is parked quite far from the jetty/pier.


Dad's gambling chips.
This time, the casino is quite crowded and very smoky! I don't remember Legend allowed smoking in the casino. :/








random border ftw! xD








Their tuktuk so cute.












LUNCH WAS FANTASTIC!
Everything we ordered tasted really really good. I wanna go there again! :/
But one thing, they were freaking slow with our orders because the person we took our orders messed up. x,x






The family has never finished a bowl of Tom Yum Soup.
We finished this. DAMN GOOD!!!


Talking about Sugar. Lol.




A bit silly to be going to shopping malls but there wasn't much we wanted to do. lol.




Lucky me because I BOUGHT A WATCH!!!
Saw another one onboard that was freaking cheap but I didn't really like it.
Honestly, I don't really wear watches. Lol. But my sister kept saying it looks nice on me and blahblahblah so yeah... :D


Super nice crepe. HEHE.


Rushing back onboard to have our dinner.
You do not have to luh, I just wanted to go back for their dinner. We paid for it anywayz, so why spend more outside, right right right? My sister wanted more Thai food though. :/ :p


Patong Beach!














Lamb Shack. (Y)!　(Y)!






Went to watch this multi-talented YouTube person... Indeed talented.


Spot me!!!!

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.

.

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Well, of course you won't be able to. I mentioned I didn't get to Iceskate right? :((


BACK TO THE ROOM TO THIS TOO FREAKING CUTE LA WTH. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH.


&This horrendous thing. WTH is this suppose to be huh?


Thursday ~ Laze on board!
& we did! Woke up at 7am but lazed on the bed till 11:30am. LOL.

OH YA! I wanted to go watch sunrise... Obviously didn't. lol. Next trip next trip. xD


Had lunch at this place.
Italian food.

&WE WERE SO REGRETFUL THAT WE TRIED IT SO LATE!!!!

FUCKING GOOD!!!!!!

Cost us only 20USD for a high standard 5-course meal. WTH.

THE DEAL IS OUT OF THIS WORLD.

Must bold and large-size the fonts because THIS EMOTION IS TOO DAMN REAL!!!

lol.

Worse thing is, we met this Thai father and son who told us the other restaurant is even better. WTF WE MISSED IT. TSSSSK!!!!!

It's something called "My Dining Time". Speciality restaurants that you have to pay. But confirm plus chop, worth it!

Before I go on with pictures of our order, I have to say it was a really pleasant experience. Revealed how silly I was too. LMAO. Initially, I thought we only had to order one dish from each side; there was "starters" and "soups" on one side and "entrées" and "pasta" on the other.

Being a Singaporean, I wondered "For just 20USD, how can it be order so much?" Clarified my doubt and I have never ever been so wrong. LOL. I forgot it was a 5-course meal. xD

BEST THING IS, you can order the items as many times as you want! But, obviously you won't, because your stomach would probably explode from all the good food. As in, too much food. LOL.


This is some vinegar for the bread they serve.
ps: They ALWAYS serve bread before ANY meals. &we have this favourite bun, die die must eat one. Carbs overload. lol.

So about this vinegar.... It sounds damn weird but it was actually not that bad? Just weird. LOL. I finished two slices of bread though. (Y)!


This is my face unaware of how much awesomeness is coming my way. LOL.


Starters!

We were giggling on the table because I made a stupid joke out of this dish - being a "cured" veal. Like... "It was sick but it was cured" LOLOL! Thinking about it make me feel stupid all over again. LMAO.


My sister's.


Order the same soup.


Nice linguine my sister had! But I'm not a fan of olive pasta. :/


My lasagne damn nice please!



and then........


8OZ BEEF THAT WAS FUCKING NICE!!!
Like... cm'on this would freaking cost us $59.90 in Singapore.
But no no no, it's only 20USD WITH FOUR OTHER NICE DISHES!!!!

LIKE WHUUUUUT?!!!!

But then, when this was served, my sister and I had our jaw dropped.

WE WERE DAMN FULL. LOL.

I finished all my food thus far while my sister learned the American way and left bits and pieces of her every dish. Zzz

I finished 9/10 of my beef though. LMAO.
Their truffle fries was also not bad (but I can't eat much potato so boohoo!)



Then...... desserts happened.


I had the chocolate tart while my sister ordered their Tiramisu.

Even though the Tiramisu looked like a mess, it taste no where like a mess! NO WHERE!

I couldn't finish my chocolate tart. But my sister(who didn't finish any of her 4 dishes up till here) ORDERED A SECOND SERVING!!!!!

I also ate some Tiramisu.

BEST TIRAMISU I'VE EVER TASTED!!!!

I always thought TCC has really decent Tiramisu since I'm not really a fan of it (because of the coffee). AND THEN THIS TIRAMISU HAPPENED. WHUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!!!!!!

Sigh, I'm missing it right now. x,x

Anyway, during this meal; when we're on our dessert, this Thai father and son(quite handsome) started conversing with us. Apparently, they are owners of some renowned Spa in Bangkok. They are so freaking rich that they didn't know there were free fine dining dinner where we common people dined in. Lol. They have been eating ALL THESE GOOD FOOD for every meal. WTF?! And they told us to try out the other one which is even better than this. WHUUUUT?! BETTER THAN THIS?!!!

AND FOR ONLY 30USD!! Omg I am so angry with myself just thinking about it now. x,x

Anyway, so yeah... then something ridiculous happened. The father asked me about the steak. BUT, I heard "stay". *^%$#$%^&&%$#@$^&*

Please go ahead and imagine how confused they would be and how freaking embarrassed I was when I answered his steak question with "It has been really good. Very relaxing" HAHAHAHHAHAHAHA. I wanted to bury my head into something when I realize I misheard him.

Sigh.

We continued to have a really normal conversation but I never stop feeling embarrassed. :( They showed us this picture of the handsome son lying on this really huge Tiger in Phuket. :O And then they proceeded to laugh at us shopping in Phuket. LOLOL.

The father also kept suggesting to give us their contact but we didn't bring our phones with us (what's the use of it when you have no connection right?!). The son didn't look that willing to give us his number though. :/ LOL.

Okay, enough about this father and son who stayed in Junior Suite. :O :O :O

-I need to calm down-

After lunch, we headed to catch the Iceskating show.

















&then back to the room to wash up a bit.




Also to tip our stateroom attendant for his really good service. ^^
We continued the day doing a lot of other things and then came back to the room to change into "formal" wears for dinner. Didn't think we have the space for dinner after our awesome lunch right? Apparently, we felt damn bloated while eating. But when we exited the restaurant, we felt like we could stuff more Tiramisu. :(

About the formal wear... Most Singaporeans, sadly, can't be bothered to dress up. I think at least one third of the people there were in Polo T-shirts. Seriously, no respect for the theme, the people serving you and the people you're dining with. TSK! I remember seeing plenty of Caucasians very well dressed in long sleeve shirts AND COATS for the formal night dinner. Even we were dressed down back then. Of course, I'm not expecting people to all wear coats but at the very least, wear shirts and not stupid Polo T-shirts?! Zzz






ps: I order beef without fail every night. Lol.


Their parade again! :3 So fun!






Surprisingly damn good! Ordered a second serving with extra icecream. HEHE.

After dinner, we were looking for places to take pictures.

My mother spotted this really nice backdrop in front of the casino.


lol






Would you like to Tango? ;)


:')













I have no idea what's my mother up to. LOL.






Chillax somewhere thereafter.




:)
A friend of my parents since he enlisted into army. Was in the same unit as my mother and introduced to my Dad after he ORD. They are currently business partners. :) And the pretty lady above is his wife, pretty girl below is his daughter.

He still has a picture of me when I was 3 and wearing red lipstick. OMG!!!!




Last show for the trip!




&The activity I can imagine doing with my friends. Lol.
Especially Karena. :)


This Korean couple damn funny.
The guy kept dancing really vigorously and even did Gangnam style. Lol.





♥

&Then, our trip came to an end. :'(

A bit abrupt. LOL! But no more pictures....

Here are my favourite shots from this trip

















SUNSET ON THE LAST NIGHT! :)




Okay, byebye. LOL.