Singapore

Our mid-morning sail-in to Singapore was nice, but much less than spectacular. So near the equator, it was quite warm with high humidity, so we had the ‘thick’, soupy atmosphere to go with it. As planned, we were off the ship by 10:15 and walked over to Sentosa Island – a beautiful, very modern park with lush gardens, water features, and our ultimate destination, Universal Studios. Many passengers were surprised that we wanted to spend the day there, but having visited Singapore on two recent occasions, we’d taken all the ship-sponsored tours plus spent a day on our own touring the city.

Before recapping our stay, I’ll share with you that Singapore remains #1 on our list in terms of city cleanliness, style, refinement, & elegance. Sydney continues our favorite in terms of her people…but Singapore is a shining example of a municipal blueprint that we from America should aspire to become. Mind you, many strict local rules – no hand guns, no chewing gum, no pornography, and if you’re caught with drugs of any sort, it’s the automatic death penalty. I would take Cheryl and walk alone in ANY part of the city at any hour of day or night and not think twice. With over 5 million folks, it’s a destination I’d encourage everyone to put on their bucket lists. It’s a challenge to describe…one needs to experience it.

We arrived at Universal’s ticket booth around 10:45. This was the worst part of our day, as the ticket lines were long, it was very hot, and only three booths were open. It took us 30 minutes to get into the park. Once past the main entrance, we had an awesome day. Singapore’s Universal is MUCH better than Hong Kong Disney, and we both agree it’s one of the best theme parks we’ve ever visited. It’s a cross between Epcot & Universal back home. The attractions were great and I think of all the rides we experienced, our two favorites were Transformers & Revenge of the Mummy – the latter, similar to Space Mountain at Disney, but much more creative, great graphics, awesome special effects, and blinding speed. Our grandsons Mason & Miles would’ve loved Transformers…though it was a 3-D, quite turbulent trip. Yes…we had to do that one twice, along with Revenge of the Mummy. The water attractions were great also – we got totally soaked on Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, but as hot as it was we didn’t mind at all. The ‘live’ WaterWorld show was spectacular with death-defying stunts, explosions, and we purposely sat in row #3 to get sprayed with water – several times! We sound like a couple of kids, huh?! Well…why not. We had fun & that’s what it’s all about. We stopped on two occasions and had ice cold beer in air-conditioned pubs – very refreshing. We left the park around 6:00 and by 7:00, we were out back on deck #8 enjoying a few drinks and listening to our favorite entertainer, Debby Bacon, playing under the stars – she’s so awesome! We showered and by 8:30, it was lights out – exhausted.

Up early on Thursday morning, we had a quick breakfast and caught a cab to the Singapore Flyer – the world’s tallest Ferris wheel. Most all of the city photos you see were taken from this famous landmark – it stands 545 feet tall, and I’d be less than honest if I said I wasn’t a little queasy. It takes 30 minutes to cycle around and while it’s very stable, I still found it to be scary. Cheryl was walking around our ‘car’ from one side to the other without hesitation…while yours truly was lying on the floor at one point!

From the Ferris wheel, we walked about a half-mile to the Marina Sands Bay Hotel – you can see it from many of the photos we took…a 3-tower complex with what appears to be a curved canoe across the top. The observation deck is 650 feet high and we went up just long enough to take a few pictures. We caught a cab off the main lobby and by 10:30, we were back on the ship just long enough to drop off our cameras and water bottles. We then headed back down to the adjacent, attached mall and found a grocery store. We replenished our supply of Pringles, picked up a birthday card for one of our tablemates, and two ‘noodle cups’ for our cabin steward – his favorite dish. We returned just in time to see the end of the World Series, game #7. Giants win! We showered and took short naps. All aboard at 4:00 – we went to Happy Hour at 4:30 with our friends, then the sail-away party at 5:30. By 7:00 we were well away from the city lights, decided to skip dinner altogether and called it a night. 

As I write, it’s midday on Friday…and Halloween on the ship. We crossed the equator at 4:30 this morning - sailing between Singapore and Jakarta, Indonesia in the South China Sea, scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning at 8:00. The costumes come out at 4:00 this afternoon and the fun begins – we plan to attend 4 different functions, the last at 9:00 (costume contest), well past my bedtime - not sure I can stay awake that long, but will give it a try! 

Very much looking forward to tomorrow. Many of our crew have families in Jakarta – family members many haven’t seen in several months. They expect hundreds of folks at the pier to greet us, and I’ll try to get as many good ‘reunion’ photos as I can – it’s always heartwarming to see. We have a short, 5-hour tour booked…”Jakarta Highlights”…will be our first visit to the city and those who’ve been there before say the traffic alone is a sight to see – that it’s even worse than Saigon. Hard to believe.