2018 "Song of India" Adventure - Days 5 & 6 - Singapore and Aboard Celebrity Constellation
Day 5 –
Saturday, February 24th - Singapore
(Steve
writing) Before leaving Singapore, I had a goal to pick up a few new
short-sleeve shirts. TANGS department
store was just a few short blocks away at the corner of Scotts and Orchard
Roads, and we arrived just as the doors were opening (10:30). Staff were still
organizing the displays as we made our way up to the men’s department.
We eventually
found shirts worth trying on at The Shirt Bar, which was staffed by a
delightful young lady. In Singapore, my shirt size was XXXL, which was
thoroughly deflating (normally it’s an L). But it’s just a designation, right? The
Shirt Bar is a Singapore-based brand, (manufactured
in Vietnam – AFK) and they had some great selections. I ended up buying two
shirts, and Allan got a couple as well. Eventually you’ll see me in one or more
of these shirts somewhere along the way.
We had plenty of
time to kill until we had to leave for the ship, so we continued ambling down
Orchard Road. We saw a 100” Sony OLED 4K television on sale for SGD $85,000,
and the picture was awesome. We got some nice cool refreshments at Starbucks,
and managed to find some food items (he
doesn’t want to give away what said items are ;-) – AFK) to bring back to
the States at the local equivalent of Whole Foods.
After final
packing and checking out of the hotel, we took a taxi to the Marina Bay Cruise Centre. This facility opened
a few years ago, and from the outside looks like a set of squared-off waves
breaking on the shore. It wasn’t quite as spectacular on the inside, and certainly
less so as the crowd of passengers checking in started to grow. The Cruise
Centre staff were very friendly, and we chatted up a nice English couple as we
made our way through the queue. (You know me, I’ll talk to anyone).
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| Marina Bay Cruise Centre - Interior |
The next queue
was for Singapore immigrations, and despite the fact that some people were
shunted to automated stations, we ended up in two manned stations that moved at
different paces. For a place like Singapore, it was a surprising misfire. We
dodged the Celebrity photo op and eventually made our way on board the
Celebrity Constellation, where we were instantly bombarded with opportunities
to upsell (Drink packages! Dining packages! Spa packages!). While every cruise
line does this, it was shocking to have it as the very first thing you encountered
when walking inside, notwithstanding the glass of bubbly being handed out.
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| Celebrity Constellation - At Anchor in Phuket, Thailand |
This was our
first time aboard the Constellation, although we had traveled on its sister
ship the Millennium, on our first Mediterranean cruise in 2006, and I had been
on another sister ship, the Infinity, to Alaska in 2001. These ships were
updated in the last few years to match some of the features of the newer of
ships, the Solstice-class. That meant the modification of some restaurants to
new themes, changes in some bars, and a general sprucing up. It also meant the
addition of another partial deck of staterooms on the top stern of the ship
(Deck 11), which is where our stateroom1122 could be found.
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| Cabin 1122 |
We like to
travel Aqua Class on Celebrity because of access to some of the spa features
(the infamous “stone benches”), upgraded amenities in the cabin, and exclusive
access to Blu, a restaurant offering “healthier” fare (it ties into the spa
thing). Our comfortable cabin includes a couch, and a nice balcony with an
unobstructed view down to the water (and out to sea of course). Oddly, the
bathroom has no electrical outlet. Compared to Princess Cruise’s mini-suite,
however, it’s small. And when it came time to unpack, we managed to fill up
nearly every available bit of space. We might have over packed a tad for this
voyage. Just a tad.
Our room steward
Maksym introduced himself with a thick Eastern European accent and a sweet
smile. He’s taken very good care of us, and is always warm to us. We told him
that we’d ask very little of him, which is true. We never leave the cabin a
mess, and rarely ask for anything out of the ordinary.
We wandered
about for a while, getting our bearings. The 16-year old ship looked in great
shape (it was last dry-docked in May 2017). We stopped at the coffee bar, Café Il
Bacio, and the very sweet server Hannah, a Filipina, talked Allan into getting
a drink package that included any coffee beverage as well as soda and sparkling
water. I’m sure it’ll get well used. Hannah was tickled at my limited knowledge
of Tagalog, until I repeated the one swear word I know. She gasped.
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| Allan enjoying a drink at Cafe Il Bacio |
I was curious to
see how the demographics would work out for this trip. The ship holds around
two thousand passengers. It turned out to be a lot of English pensioners, a
fair number of retired Americans, and a smattering of German and Spanish
travelers. I really thought there would be more Asians, given the departure point.
There were very few kids aboard (I think I’d counted about three or four), and
very few people under the age of 30.
In the early evening,
we went to the Martini Bar for the first LGBTQ gathering. It’s always interesting
to see how many people show up for these things. In our case, there were two
other male couples there: Peter and Ron from England, and Gregg and Richard
from Miami. Over time, we’d pick up some more. Nevertheless, we enjoyed getting
to know one another and then headed our separate ways for dinner.
We’ve always
enjoyed Blu for its breakfasts, and wasn’t until the previous cruise on the
Equinox (with Mike and Chuck), that we started going for dinner. Tonight wasn’t
a great start. I had some sort of deconstructed vegetarian lasagna that was
plentiful but bland. Allan had a New York strip steak, which he said was good
(but not as good as what he makes at home). We enjoyed interacting with our
waitress Yulia, and in the last few days have enjoyed our banter with the maître
d’ Lilyana, from Macedonia.
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| Blu |
While dining,
the ship left the pier and started its journey north along the Straits of
Malacca. Seas were calm, and when we went to bed the lights of Malaysia were on
the horizon.
Day 6
- Sunday, February 25th – At Sea Aboard the Constellation
A very lazy day,
so this entry will be short.
Seas remained
calm as we continued on a northwest track toward Thailand. It was still warm
and sticky outside, and sometimes it seemed that the ship was over-air conditioned.
Our cabin seemed to run the gamut between a little too warm and frigid. It’s taken
a bit of finessing to get the thermostat settings just where we wanted them. (The trick, we found, is to leave the
thermostat a few points into the A/C from the middle and use the fan setting as
the modifier – AFK)
I had a heap of clothes
to send to the ship’s laundry, and Allan had his new shirts pressed. Unlike
Princess, there are no laundromats on Celebrity ships, so you either hand-wash
it, or send it out. Being the lazy person I am, the laundry will make a mint
off of me over the next two weeks.
We had breakfast
in Blu, with Richard and Gregg seated next to us just after we received our
menus. We enjoyed a long, leisurely meal as we became better acquainted. The
custom-made omelet was good. After breakfast, we swung by the Shore Excursions
office to get booked on the Elephanta Island excursion in Mumbai. Later, I went
out on our balcony to read for a while, and Allan worked on the prior entry to
this blog (it takes effort, dear readers, but you’re worth it).
For lunch, we
ate in the Aqua Spa to have some “healthier” food. I think “healthy” in the
eyes of Celebrity is “small portions”. I get the whole notion of portion
control, but don’t call something a tuna salad when it’s a 2” smear of tuna on
a plate. (Yes, this sounds whiny, but I’m comparing this to our experience on
the Equinox a few years ago, and the Aqua Spa food was much better). Indeed it was better - AFK
The afternoon was spent napping and getting
something at Café Il Bacio (Allan has to use his card to its fullest!). The evening
was the first of three formal nights, or as Celebrity has downgraded it, “Evening
Chic”. This meant no more tuxes for the gentlemen, but collared shirts, maybe a
jacket, maybe a tie. I rather like dressing up, but left the tux at home. It
was a white shirt with a beautiful blue geometric patterned tie and a gray
jacket for me. Allan wore his ETRO “animals” shirt along with his blue Robert
Graham jacket with a subtle floral pattern. Very snappy.
No one said
anything about meeting for drinks, but we ran into Peter and Ron at the Martini
Bar. We ended up joining them in the main dining room (the San Marco
Restaurant) for a dinner that was much better than the previous night at Blu. I
had escargots and beef tournedos, and Allan enjoyed Shrimp Scampi over
linguine. I’m afraid all of my good eating habits since Christmas have gone out
the window. It’ll take months to get back to where I was before we left. Sigh….
We went to bed
early, as tomorrow would be a very early awakening for a very long day’s
sightseeing in Phuket, Thailand.
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