Sungei Buloh

I had not expected to disembark so early from the cruise; Star cruises used to reach the shores at about noon. It was merely 10ish when we arrived home after a delicious bfast at the ABC market. The food somehow tasted better than what we had on the cruise. I must be hungry.

The kids were sent to dip in the pool while Daddy Lim eyeballed them as I got on with the unpacking. I am getting super efficient with the packing and unpacking after so many practices that I even found time to do the treadmill before picking the prune-like kids from the pool.

Bcos we were so early, we decided to do something in the late afternoon. It was a battle between cycling and a nature walk. The kids eventually decided on the latter and we targeted Sungei Buloh, which we had always wanted to visit but never getting down to doing so. Lil Shauna’s Science Teacher also asked us to bring her out more to see what they learnt in the classroom. We tried to date my brother’s family but only Felicia could join us.

The kids were happy to have companion, which makes a whole world of difference. We saw on the map that there are 2 walks to explore and they aren’t long. Right after we picked Felicia, it started to drizzle and dark clouds rolled across the sky. What the… Throughout the car drive, I was hoping that the sky would hold, at least for a little while. We went over the reservoir (via the bridge) and I was reminded of the earlier cruise. No need to any so much, same same.

It did hold for a while. When we started the walk, we could hear thunder rolling in the far end and see a storm brewing. We totally ignored the sign to warn about entering the park in thunderstorm. It is just too wasted to go home without doing some exploring.

It was good that we did. We saw crabs, spiders and many squirrels.

Special tree with roots outside of the soil.

Even a horseshoe crab but a very dead one.

Probably midway through the walk, the raindrops started coming down. The rain wasn't heavy but we could hear the thunders rolling very frequently though some distance away. It didn't help that we constantly see this sign. It made the kids, especially Felicia very jumpy. Lol.

We hurried to the Visitor Center for some shelter and to explore the exhibits a little.
We hid in the shelter for a good 30 mins and the drizzle didn't stop. We asked the staff and she confirmed that the only way back was the route that we took. Despite the warning on the thunderstorm, we didn't have much choice if we want our car back. Lol.

The rain did mellow a little by the time we finished all the snacks that I bought and we headed back. This time, we stopped and spent more time trying to spot the frog that made the sound like a dog’s bark, the bird perched on the fence, the bird nest in the tree, the mudskippers, etc. The kids were still worried about crocodiles though. Lol.

We had to rush off bcos it was getting late and we were supposed to meet the rest for dinner. We will definitely be back again and spend more time listening and exploring; we only managed to walk one trail this time. Hopefully there would be more people and if there are really crocodiles, it will have more varieties on its menu and bigger survival chances for us. Lol.

Mummy Lim

Voyager of the Seas: Day 3

I had muscle ache and am amazed at the muscle I worked simply by running. Remembering the hard work, I headed to the gym instead and stuck to my faithful treadmill. I did feel a little funny at 1st, losing my balance bcos I was looking out to the sea and the ship was moving.

Bfast was slightly later given the late night before. We looked through the program sheet to realise that the activities were fairly similar and decided to sign the kids up for sushi making class at usd 15 each. The class was conducted in the restaurant located on deck 14. The sight that greeted us was marvellous. Even the kids were in awe.

The class was really fun for the kids. We ate most of the sushi for lunch.

That seemed to be the only highlight for the kids bcos they rather stay in the room for most of the rest of the day to watch TV. It was so difficult to convince them to leave the room. That was like so wasted, right? Moreover, it was irritating to have so many kids in the tiny room and they seem to like our room alot. Whatever noise that they made seem to be amplified and then bounced off the walls, echoed a few times. So painful. At one point I snapped. I left the room to go swimming; I invited the kids to join me but nobody wanted to swim in the salty water.

I had a good peaceful 30 mins. I didn't last long swimming too; the pool was seriously salty. I was so happy to be under the running tap to rinse off the salt. I spent the rest of the time on the sun chair listening to the band. It was nice.

We had dinner at that formal restaurant again. We were all dressed up bcos the dress code was smart casual only to realise that people were ignoring the dress code, going in T-short, shorts and slippers. Chey.

I was dreading that 2 hour dinner especially when the kids snacked too much and were not hungry. Fortunately, the novelty ran out and the restaurant was not too crowded. We had the full attention of the 2 waiters assigned to us and food was served so quickly. I had the lamb shank. It was nice.

In between waiting, we gave the kids "missions" to entertain them. One of which was to write a thank you message for the waiters.

The waiters even had time to teach the kids tricks.

With that, we almost ended our day. The highlight for me was to catch the Dog's Purpose on the big screen on the open deck. It was nice.

There was another 70s party in the night but I was too tired to wait and had an earlier night. I don't think I enjoy dancing with the Indians too. I finally had an earlier  night at 10.30pm.

This morning, I had intended to go on the treadmill only to realise that the bill was wrong. It took a good 30 mins to rectify and I heard that we had to leave the cabin by 8.30am and disembark latest by 10am. I rushed back to the room to do last minute packing and soon, we were on our way out of the cruise. The system was so efficient. The only long wait was at the immigration.

We decided to have bfast at ABC market and realised that the food was a lot more delicious than the cuisine we had on the ship.

Overall, it was way below my expectations. I probably had too much expectations given the huge advertising budget that Carribean cruise invested. Would we go back in the near future? Probably not. I rather spend my money somewhere else travelling add exploring another country.

Mummy Lim

Voyager of the Seas

Truth be told, I was disappointed with the cruise. I had expected it to be a lot more exciting but found it fairly similar to the Star Virgo. I have decided to give it another chance and waited for the Day 2 activities. The ship will dock at Port Klang but we would stay onboard, hoping for lesser crowd and more fun.

I am seriously worried about having to roll home. I had been struggling with my weight the recent months and I blame it on the lower metabolism. Haiz, signs of aging. To compensate for the food galore, I went for a morning jog on the open deck. It was really tiring. I am a treadmill runner and not used to weather conditions. Lol. But I saw sunrise! I felt so much better; at least healthier than the ones were still sleeping in the dark room when I returned. Bcos there was no window, they can probably sleep forever.

I headed back to the deck for more pictures since the rest were still dead asleep. It was wonderful me time with my music.

We had a nice bfast and played some basketball. We also tried swimming, which was very popular with the Indians only to realised that it was sea water!

The kids refused to swim and I can't help wondering how the Indians can soak in that salty pool to no ends.

We also tried ice skating. Each session was only for 30 mins and it was a tiny rink. The kids had fun though. We attempted to go back for a second session in the late afternoon to meet impossible q. Daddy Lim Q for an hour but people (many Indians) started rushing and pushing when the door opened. It was extremely fustrating. Luckily we still managed to get tickets for 3 slots later. The 2nd session wasn't that interesting bcos Zaky had a blister from the earlier session and was whiney. He had to get out of the rink earlier and refused to let me skate. Daddy Lim tied Lil Shauna's skate too tightly and her feet hurt. She also found the 2nd session more boring without us to skate with her.

The kids tried rock climbing too but it was tough for the kids. There was a long q and they were only allowed 2 attempts, which ended in like less than 3 mins. It was totally not worth the Q. T.T

The kids didn't want to try the surf rider; it looked seriously difficult and there was a huge spectator crowd; it wouldnt be nice to fall in front of the crowd. We caught a musical in the evening only to find it boring and we left midway.

The highlight of the day for me must be the dancing under the stars in the late night at 10.45pm. Fionne and Zaky didn't like it though, unlike the Indians who were grooving and copying the crew leading the dance. At the very end, only Lil Shauna and Felicia survived.

They got bored when the band started playing music from decades ago and started waddling in the pool.

We left soon after bcos I was bored too and found it disturbing that the 2 Indian men in the pool were ogling at the girls. Arrgghhhh! See, it wasnt bcos I was simply racist.

It was another late night. Yawn.

Mummy Lim

Start of Fun Fun School Holiday: Voyager of the Sea

It had been a long, long time since we took a cruise holiday; we just to visit Star Virgo until the kids came along and we found confining to a ship painful and boring. While adults love to chill and do nothing when possible, kids get bored and grumpy in the same scenario.

There was so much rave about Royal Carribean cruises. My colleague frequents those cruise liners and was all praises. I have always wanted to go on one but found them too expensive. For the same budget, I could fly somewhere neighbouring. I was told that the trick is the roadshows, where there would be discounts and perks with early booking. We found one such with the Voyager of the Seas - the kids sail free! We paid about $1.6k for our family of 4 for a 3D3N cruise in an inner stateroom.

The plan was to take half day leave on Friday bcos leave is so precious to Daddy Lim now. The kids were having fitness fiesta in school and had normal dismissal time. We snatched them right after school and headed to the Marina Cruise Center. My brother's family and Popo headed to the cruise before us.

We were all excited when we spotted the huge cruise! It was waiting for us! Woohoo.

My brother's family and Popo were already on the cruise while we were still on our way. They said that there was no Q in the immigration and check-in was a breeze.

We just had to take these iconic pictures. Yes, the kids were still in their school uniform.

I was hoping to breeze through the custom too but we were met with huge lines. Sob. At the same time, we saw many Indians in the Q. Sorry, I am probably racist; I dislike how they lack personal space awareness and general manners. The family behind us in the Q was talking so loudly and standing so close to us, constantly bumping into my bag. Seriously, I don't understand Tamil/ Hindu and am not interested in what you were talking about. It was probably an hour later before we finally enter the cruise.

Our room was ready. Though there was no window or balcony, it had a huge king size bed and 2 bunk beds. The king size bed took up most of the space in the room but no complaints.

We were all raving to go, go, go, only to find that there weren't that many program for the rest of the evening. There was some Madagascar parade but the kids were surprising not keen. That was the 1st and last parade the entire crusie. They weren't even keen to take pictures with the mascots.

We did had a nice sit down dinner. The table was set up specifically for our group. Unfortunately the restaurant was super packed the 1st day and the dinner took 2 freaking hours! We had to keep the kids from getting bored and noisy. 

For the rest of the time, we were exploring the ship and plenty of pictures.

The highlight of the day must be the magic show at 9.30pm and the ice skating show at 10.30pm. By the middle of the show, the 2 youngest kids had drifted off to lala land. 

We didn't hit the bed until midnight. I was told by that same colleague that the interesting activities only happened in the night. 

Mummy Lim