Traveler

Yom Kippur was last week , I guess maybe they are trying to promote some Jewel of the seas cruises to the holy land or the security officer got a punishment from the captain ?

I think the discount was due to the fact that the locals almost fo not drink anything beside beers and Sodas. That's why they also came out with the 12 drinking card for 68$ at day 4. There was also discount on the refreshment package , do not remember how much but I think it was less dramatic. As always no guarantee they will offer it again. Take into account you will need to go to the bars for drinks , not many bar waitress are roaming around. My JS was with one bathroom , but it called J1 Silver JS with big balcony (13722) , SPA was not part of the name.

Following , have a lovely cruise

I went several times to the Botanic garden , love them but it was too hot this time so we just went to the gardens by the bay. Love the chili crab and the rice chicken which I usually eat at China town.

Yokohama , it's only 30 minutes drive

I had hopes wonder will do as Harmony and Symphony Europe first for few month but it seems it will not happen , so or I will try to book one of its first cruise , but that will depends on the routes as I am not sure we will allow to do some of the ports on the way. Or to fly again to Shanghai ? , I wonder when they will open wonder for booking.

Day 9 Singapore. I have been many time in this small city state, most the on business trip and I learned to like this crazy combination that exist here. It's a very orgnized country very clean and most of the time . There any attractions which are very close by , the only problem is the weather which is always warm and can be very expensive. We checked in to night before to the Marina Bay sands which is attraction by itself we got a wonderful room with excellent view on the gardens and the bay which I shared yesterday but here some more pics. Another member to the family It's not trees what you see in the window but some plants in the balcony. We eat branch in one of the resturants and went to visit the garden by the bay. It's a very large gardens which are free to enter , there three things that requires admission : the skyway between the the trees , the cloud dome and the flower dome The path from the hotel to the gardens. The tree structures and the , the yellow line is the skyway which you can walk between the trees The skyway We visit the gardens and went to the flower dome , the best thing is that they have a good air conditioning inside , it contains flower from around the world. Our next stop was the second dome ( we bought combined ticket) which is just near the first one , this is the cloud dome which contains a rain forest , not all the plants there are real but many are , very impressive , it contains also a small museum and a theater. If you choose to go to only one dome go to this one After the visit we went back to the hotel for some pool time and took the subway to one of the center to buy some fruits in the supermarket , ear very late lunch in the food court and visit the lucky fountain. We went back to the hotel , it was already dark so we returned to the gardens which are illuminated and looks total different. Evey hour they also have a light show with music , very recommended. We took the elevator to the skyway which you need to secure time slot for. It's very beautiful view from up there but not recommend for people that fear from heights. We have one more day here before going to Thailand to continue our vacation .

Any shoes will do , even during formal nights.

Day 8 - every good thing must come to its end . We planned for 5 PM flight (that was the cheapest time slot when I booked it) since we had to kill few hours I booked a shore excursion to take us to Shanghai to some panoramic tour with drop at the airport. a day before I got a call telling me that due of lack of participate the tour was canceled. We had a disembarkation time of 8:30 am , so I set a clock for 7 , this time the alarm was working well , we start to get organized and I went down to 270 to bring something to eat , I saw the lines of the self disembarkation it was very very long and went all the way from one end of the ship to the other , I guess many choose to do self disembarkation and I was glad we chosen not to do so this time. Came back to the room and got a call from the photo gallery to come and pick our pictures , I forgot to do it yesterday so it was quite nice of them to give me the chance to collect them on the last day. we finish our last packing and went to our meeting point which was the music hall. Apparently it was the meeting point of all the international guest , at 8:35 they took us out and let us disembark. It was quite quick , we pass the immigration , pick our suitcases and pass the custom , took something like 15 minutes. I must say everything was well organized. We went out from the terminal to find a taxi , there was one guy who tried to convince us to come with him as he like Chinese Uber, we refused and continued to the taxi stand which is quite a walk from the terminal. after short line we were on a taxi that took us to the airport. it was almost one hour ride and cost something like 35 $. We had to wait for the counters to be opened , once they were I asked them if its possible to catch the earlier flight and what do you know they had open seat. We paid 50$ for the change and even got the emergency exit which was better seat from our original flight. We went to the China Air lounge which serves all the star alliance , we eat lunch and went to catch our 5 hours Singapore airline flight. Flight went fast , they have very good service (full alcohol option, private screens and not bad food , although we were full from the food at the lounge). The good think was that although its just day 8 for us its still the middle of vacation , we landed , got our suitcases and after 20 minutes ride we got to our new home for the next 3 days . Here are some pictures from our room on the 37 floor and yes its has a balcony , crazy. I will add some summary about the ship in the coming few days , for now going to the pool. And a day view Oh , this one was waiting for us in the room , just to let us feel we still on a cruise Let me know if you want me to share more information and pictures from Singapore although it's not a cruise already

Yes it had , we did not tried it there as we are in Singapore next and there are excellent Hot Pot places we want to go back to.

Day 7 - sea day and see day. We all know the problem on a 7 day cruise is the 7 day, I think they should always do it X +1 until we say enough is enough or we will become super Mario. We again woke up up early and eat breakfast at 270 , the buffet breakfast is an experience I can leave without. We went to the Captain correner which always includes interesting information again it was done in English follow by Mandarin translation . The Captain explain about the Typhoon and why he decided to go passing near it . It was only category 1 and no were to hide from it , the port also not allowing to have the ship staying at port so nothing really could have been done. We also got explanation about how the Chinese environment lows are very strict , for example the ship is not allowed to dump any treated water while entering the Shanghai channel or in port so they need to store it. Many questions were asked and the 270 was quite full during this event. We went to check the Seaplex for the bumping cars but lines were big so we just relaxed at the Solarium for a while On the way back we notice the mobile piano, the ship has almost everything the same as other ships but still different. For lunch we went to the Silver dining room which offered sea food buffet, it had chilled lobster salads , some ceviche and fried shrimps which were very good. Even the red velvet cake is back Past through the Casino which was packed so we did not stayed too long and went to Schooner bar to listen to some melodies. As we did not sleep that good we took some nap , hey that's what you have sea days for, not ? It was time to try the Fencing again so we went to the SeaPlex , no lines we just join few people. First they give you some protect gear and you suit up. They start by teaching you the basic move (ready, stop , move forward , move backwards and attack ) then we practice them first without the swords and then with swords against electronic board. The last step is to practice against each other. I was against my spouse , now the suites dose not contain sensors so it's hard to track score but I am quite sure I won and lost at the same time. You see I was blamed for taking it too seriously. Oh well after years of practicing by watching movies like "The three musketeers", Star wars and game of thrones (maybe not the last one as I did not try to decapitated her ? ) what you can expect ? I must say it was very intensive practice. Post the fencing lession we finally got to the bumping cars as everyone was eating dinner. Some night time view of the ship My spouse had to rest as she felt weak , so we went to the room to enjoy the balcony. As we already mentioned missed dinner we ordered in , must say it was not bad at all. Believe it or not at our 12 cruise it was our first time for using room service. We went to see for the last time the let it be AC/DC , here you can see two new fans Back at the room , what you see here is not lights are on the shore but lines of ships waiting to get to Shanghai port. Very busy route. Well , it's the last day so we packed and called it off early .

Well, I always try things at least once ?

Day 3Day 6 , sea day or the day I got tired fighting the "fastest internet in the seas". Woke up much too early for the a sea day tried to do some work overt the internet just to find once more it's not working. I know it can be all due to coverage but if you know your coverage is bad at this area and when it is connected you provide 300-600 KB how dare you ask for 20$ per day ? Oh well it saved me from joining several meetings, I watch the morning show instead , on the morning show they speak English and then translate it to Mandrin , but it always seems they say one sentence in English and translate it to 50 sentence in Mandarin , even the Captain lough on this subject in the Captain corner. Here is a picture of Fanf the cruise director (and the only Mandarin speaking CD in RCL per him , well it's a good job security ? ) and the activity director that I think named Rafael or Bonnie , maybe I missed or maybe she change it every second day , not sure. I think both are doing good job , it's not easy to run a bilingual operation and they try very hard. By the way if you asked yourselves , not all the cruise employee require to know Mandarin , actually most of them do not. You see the regular mix from all around the world (it's interesting to write a post one time on how the jobs divided between employee from certain countries). we went to 270 for breakfast which we enjoyed while watching the Silk team practice (it's a new team) . We went to deck 15 to watch the Isky and the flowrider (from the Isky you have very nice view over the flowrider. The flowrider allow both standing and non standing boards during the time it's open , lines were normal Our next stop was to see if we can catch a ride in the bumping cars lines were too long , one of the cars was taken by the CD and he orgnized a compition between everyone , getting points by hitting him. Next we went to check the SkyPad VR experience. Firstlet me just say it better to do this at the beginning of the cruise as they wight you before you can ride, second glad to say I did not gain weight ? . The experience is nice , the VR did not cost me any seasick feeling or anything like that , the harness are not that comfortable on certain areas (one very specific ). I might try it again with different pants. We took light lunch as we had big dinner plans. We took some nap , some ship tour , our favorite cafe Leafs and beans to drink another cheese tea and start to organize for dinner. Dinner was in Wonderland which I booked on the cruise planner . We wanted to taste something different , we both eat in the regular Wonderland before and quite enjoyed it. Here the consept is different. It's a tasting menu which you can not choose what and how much to eat. The menu comes with the regular magic presentation So we started with the Geoduck which was first time for me , it was interesting. Second was the Avocado role that came smoked (like in wonderland eggs) this was very good. The next one was the leafs salads which was escorted with son peanut souces. Following by cuttlefish soup , it was strange black soup. We got the lobster , which was good lobster over a risotto The next sample was a filet which came with abalone souce. It was delicious and we were sad it finished. We got the duck which came with do it yourself tacos , we found it very good. Last was the Chinese Noodles which I could skip For dessert we got ice cream , it was good but not special. All in all its was good , it was rushed and it was something to try , will I go again , not so sure He agreed with me

This is very simple , Each plate has different color/pattern each color has its own price , while you eat you stuck them per the color , at the end the waiter just count the number of plates and calculate the price. people can always try to cheat but train waiter will see it.

I thought it could be something like taking of the pilot but it was two hours after sailing , although it can be we were sailing in some area which require the pilot to be on board , not sure but I quite sure I saw people going from the boat to the ship . I am quite sure it was not a late RCL shore excursion since they try to finish them way before time and if they would be late the ship would just wait for them at port or not wait at all. The issue is that people on the ship which requires Visa to Japan are getting temporary visa which not allow them to stay after the ship leave , I will try to see if they have captain corner today so I can ask.

I must say , people on this ship go to sleep early also all the activities ends around 12 am. Its a sea day and we have another sea day coming so people can not say they are tired from the port or need to go up early ... Most of the bars are closed at 12 am or early not that anyone use them ... The only thing still active is the Casino, which is very packed, oh and Sorento . Oh well I had thought it will be like that as many families on board.

Day 5 Tokyo , Was waiting for this port (well we arrived to Yokohama to be more precises) , been to Tokyo something like 19 years ago and waited to see what changed. The ship arrived to port at 12:30 , making sure we have enough time to sleep and recover from the last night, it was very hot day , the sun was out (to make sure it will happen I bought umbrellas, this always works. After Breakfast/lunch at 270/silver dining room we went went to get organized and catch the bumping car before going to the excursion, we arrived to the meeting point at 12:20 (lesson learned) jut to wait to 1 PM (30 minutes post time) for the tour to depart to the custom hall, over there we had to go bag checks so it took some time but not that terrible, there were nice dogs sniffing us to see if no one brought some food from the ship , after all Japan is an island and they want to make sure nothing will harm the local producers. The ride to Tokyo took something like 30 minutes and our first station was the imperial palace, as you are not allowed in we just stay on the park near the palace , although the park is nice it was quite a waste of time which I thought will be better spend somewhere else , oh well at least we tried the golden ice-cream which a nice vanilla ice cream that they cover with a real golden leaf (which explained the 8 $ price) hey , we need to try at least once. Next we went to Asakua area to see the big temple , the temple is very nice and contains several building , we got some information about the temple from the guide that really try hard to give us information abut the places we so and in general about life in Japan. We got some free time which we used to roam around the area , this area is part of Tokyo downtown and contain many stores , markets and restaurants, after a while we decided we should eat something and how can we be in Japan without eating sushi ? so we found a nice train sushi location and set down, do not expect to eat Makis with cream cheese or fried sushi but if you like Sashimi and nigiri this is the place for you .Everything was fresh a tasty , the total cost for us was around 32 $ and we tried many plates. Here you can see a view on the tree tower which is around 600 M , next to it you can see the building with what suppose to be a golden flame but if you ask me it looks like if the architect wanted it to be like that but at the end it looks like something else , lets just said I remembered the golden ice- cream and I will leave it liked that. As it was becoming dark we went back to temple which was our meeting point , I must say the temple looks even nicer during the evening we roam around some more and started our way back to the port to meet our lovely ship. We went to dinner , which was at the WJ buffet , it had nice selections of food including very nice Indian food corner . It was time for the Silk Road show at 270 so went to see it , they are selling VIP seats to the show but I saw only 4 using it, Although it was empty they kept it roped and not allowed anyone to enter , I guess they did not want to devalued it for people who paid the 29$ The show is OK , not so clear but lots of dancers and some acrobats , not something I will try to see again. We continued to see again the let it be ACDC , this time there were more people , its was good as the first time . We went up to contribute some more to the Casino and as we thought we contribute enough we went to the solarium and checked the observation deck there we saw a new concept , boat runners. It looked as if some people were missing the ship and they brought them to us (around 2 hours after we already sail , well at least I think that i what happened, As it become late , we called it for the day .

Sorry , but I missed it by 10 minutes , will tomorrow if they will still offer it.

Thanks, So , yes , all the activities are USD , as the ship is register still in the Bahamas, not sure how it is working with the Chinese government but I guess they are allowing it as they are getting Ship port taxes, maybe RC committed to hire % of employees from China and some other arrangements.

We started today two sea days on our way back to Shanghai. Good time to check some ship activities. Let me know if you want me to check something specific or to take a picture of one of the locations. Weather is very good ,not too hot and too windy so perfect sea day. Currently they have Fencing which I will try if the lines are not long , as I know its first time they have this activity , they also have the bumping cars but lines are crazy (as expected) and later archery and laser tag (extra money for the laser Tag). Few word about the Casino , as expected , most of the space in the Casino is being taken by the Baccarat tables , but they are not the most poplar , it seems that the 3 card poker is the most poplar table as its always full. No Crap tables , some roulette tables. There very few slots machines , less than 100 and most as expected are more from the Chinese type. On this cruise , 3 out of the 7 days the Casino was closed due to port regulations. As all the rest of the activities on the ship the currency is US Dollars.

Yes, make me sorry for buying the UDP although it came in a very low rate comparing other sails .

No long at all on most of the times I have checked , 5 - 10 minutes , even less , I will re check today in a sea day .

Observation - Day 4 drinking card - 12 drinks up to 12 $ - cost 68 $ ! I talked to some people at the bar (they have allot of time to talk as many times we are the only customers) most of the people on the ship just do not drink and if they drink they drink beer , so they try to do whatever they can , seem that not many even bought the drinking card . Oh well , more alcohol left for us.

Day 4 Kobe . We left Osaka at 4 am and arrived Kobe at 7 am, that's what we have been told but we were sleeping as we did not planned any excursion for Kobe. We woke up late and most of the places were already closed so we went to 270 which always a nice late breakfast option. We then went to get orgnized for the port and went to catch a shuttle to the city. The port arrange free shuttle the downtown Kobe or you can take the subway. At port I exchanged 20$ to Yens as there some street food stands which will no accept credit cards. The exchange rate was better than Google rate , welcome to Japan , they really trying here. After 10 minute ride we got to China town , since we just arrived from Chains we continued to o a covered street near by with tons of shops and restaurants. Typical Japanese sign We shopped for some souvenirs (Sake sets and some chopsticks) and got some Japanese cosmetics/medicines which you do not anywhere else beside Japan , you might find it online but price is much higher. Not sure what works and what not but hey they have the highest average lifespan so they must do something right :-). We thought to eat some Kobe beef in Kobe but after I read about the way they grow the cows for this meet we skipped it , don't get me wrong I have not a vegetarian and enjoy meet but its just did not sound right to us, so sorry no resturants stories from Kobe. We catched the shuttle back before big lines started to form. Got to to the ship , sign off the Sake bottle we bought and went to eat something. We went to bean &leave to drink cheese dragon fruit tea and cheese strawberry Drinks , it's much better than it sounds and we made it our daily drink , it also can come instead of a meal We had 6 PM appointment at the North star, apperently many other had and li es was around 30 minutes , shame on you RC. This is how it looked few hours before I asked for 6 PM to catch the sunset but as someone said once , "they now how to take the reservation but not to hold it" oh well we went up around 18:30, it was nice but for some reason the lights inside the gondola is really making me it hard to take pictures , here what I got At least it's nice to take a picture of it from the outside Dinner was in the MDR , we love the service , everything is super quick and they fill our wine glasses before it finished. Not like the silver dining room the menu is changing daily and contains lots of western options and some far east Finally an animal Next we went to see the headliner show which was the Golden duo which are combination of dancers ,acrobats and comedians. It was nice to watch. The post activities was a wild west party which apparently was one of the most popular events. Well it was time to call it of , Tommorow Tokyo.

I went to check about the internet yesterday , (beside the Voom is 600 KB for download) to understand why the blog site is blocked . The WIFI expert tried it from her phone and got same result but when she tried from the laptop it worked which mean it's not blocked in the cooperate level bus some were in some " nerd talk warning" ACL in the router/FW/Proxy between the guest WIFI and the ship internet connection, I asked her if she can run some traceroutes for me , she looked very confused and told me she will call IT tommorow. I understood asking for TCP dumps on their router will be too much. Anyway I will check it again later on today but it's very annoying not be able to update when I want and we have tow more sea days ahead of us.