Singapore 2021 Day 3/4 – Jacuzzi again, kids’ club, VR experience, Bingo game and fireworks and Home Sweet Home

It was another night of waking up but far less as all were tired from the lack of sleep. When we woke up, the sun was already high above the horizon and it was already 8. Getting out wasn’t too difficult and it a matter of time, we were at the Dining Room upper level having Chinese Dim Sum for breakfast. Again everything came in a set and while there was a variety of food to choose from, it really didn’t taste good. 

Then we went over to the Kid’s club one more time to try our luck for the morning session, thinking that maybe it would be less popular so early in the day but we were wrong. It was again fully booked. We were offered to put in our names for a 11am session but at 45mins playtime so we just entered K’s name after he took a tour around and said he was interested to play in there.

Since we didn’t have any other activities planned, and we had a jacuzzi slot at the Zouk beach bar, we just changed into our swim wear and went for it. Retrieved the towels at the counter at the beach bar, we were thrilled to find the only 2 jacuzzi there and we had one to ourselves. It had an awesome view of the sea, a not too good view to the screen but I guessed having a dip there was still enjoyable (thankfully it wasn’t super hot yet). Mommy just enjoyed the sea breeze on the chairs by the deck, sheltered from the sun.

We returned to the Kid’s club at on time (and mommy returned to the room since only K and I can enter) and once we got in, we got our hands on the WII Nintendo consoles and were racing with another kid on the Mario Kart. 45mins zoomed by pretty quickly and we couldn’t even complete the second cup before the staff got us all packing.

Mommy was waiting for us at the entrance and we proceeded to the Lido to queue for lunch. There was a rather fast moving queue and soon we got ourselves a table too. K got himself some fries and table, I was having pizza and salad and mommy her Chinese dishes. At this point, I was not going to go for quantity as I felt pretty bloated from all the meals on the ship, although most were complimentary. After some fruits and ice cream of course, we went to the VR experience lab to enjoy a promotion that was happening.

At 1pm, there was a 40bucks for unlimited play promotion which we thought was quite worth it since most of the games there was 15bucks per play. So we got 1 for myself and 1 for K and we went to tried the various games available. I had to try the racing simulator which I sucked at, the roller coaster and a zombie game that got me a little dizzy. K was having a blast with his fruit zombie, roller coaster and Star Wars.

After the shenanigans at the VR lab, we went back to Level 6 and sat in front of the big screen for some coffee and popcorn, and this time, there was another game about guessing the logo. Though we weren’t in the game, it was quite fun trying to guess too.

Then we tested our luck with Bingo, and didn’t win anything, for 3 sets of numbers for 30 bucks. More time and money spent at the arcade and the Monopoly game that we suddenly found so fun to play with tickets more easily to be won and then we exchanged 2 really cheap gifts from the tickets. Then we spent some time in front of the giant screen for the 3rd time to watch Croods 2. We didn’t complete the show as we had to go eat dinner which we had at the nearby “food court” equivalent but price wise “restaurant equivalent” just a floor up.

Ordered chicken rice and curry chicken with Prata and although the price was higher than back home, the food was delicious! It took some time for the food to come after delivery but it was worth the wait.

Then we had to go to the fireworks that was booked for at 815pm but the registration started at 745pm. The lifts were all worky as they locked the lifts to prevent access of people to level 17. We had to climb the stairs to our room quickly and then go up a few more floors to check in. Again we saw that there were guests who were trying their luck to enter despite not being able to make a booking. I also empathise with them as they may not have been that tech savvy and even aware of the booking requirements and had to settle for last resort and wait for guests for do not turn up so that they have a chance. I thought this would be something that maybe the cruise can see how it can be done to make it more inclusive.

We were brought to the decks and maintaining social distancing from the other groups, the dispatch was done slowly but effectively. And they set up ropes to split the groups so that we were really 1m apart from each other. I think in this aspect they did really well. After set up was completed, the laser show started. first with the light show moving to the tune of hits from Michael Jackson, and then another one which reminded us of the one we saw the day before. Then the finale was the fireworks after a countdown by the host. The fireworks were thankfully close to where we stood and we probably had one of the best view, and one sight that I have not seen for probably longer than I thought I would. Not too fancy but its still good.

After the event, the dispatch was again in place to maintain orderly return of the guests and before long, we were back in the room. Packed the bags and take our final bathtub bath before preparing for bed. After K went to dreamland, I moved my luggage and placed it outside our doors for collection, scheduled for 10pm-2am collection and went out to enjoy the chilly breeze at the corridor, jotting down the memories for the last few days. 

Day 4

The last day of cruise and I found myself awake with the sun already up above the horizon. To have enjoyed sunrise at the side of where we were facing was such a blessing though I could have got up earlier to see it. Nonetheless, it was cloudy and that provided still a nice view together with the islands as the ship headed back towards Singapore.

After the standard procedure of getting ready in the morning, we headed to the buffet breakfast only to find a long queue at the entrance and it wasn’t moving! As the restaurant was going to close in an hour’s time at 9am, I went to the Dining Room to find that there weren’t any queues there and called my family to join me since they were still queuing.

With quite a standard breakfast selection, we had more than enough with 2 sets of the meal itself which in my opinion was not bad. We returned to the room to wait for disembarkation according to the instructions provided by the ship the day before. This was of course to prevent overcrowded with controlled release of the guests. Since we were at one of the top floors at level 13, it wasn’t long after the 15 floor was cleared that it was our turn to disembark. The staff would knock on our doors and inform us to get ready to leave, in which we would exit the ship at level 7.

Then it was through the gangway, a few check outs/ins and going through immigrations, picking up our luggage that was all lined up for collection and going through security. After that, we can proceed to the carpark to pick up our car which parked there. There was a payment package for 4D3N cruise for $45 and this can be purchased at the automated machine on 2nd level next to the lift of the carpark. The only trouble is there is no way to drive to the pick up point from within the carpark itself – the pick up point can only be accessed when entering the carpark.

While this isn’t the best kind of travel for me, this would still be the only way to escape from Singapore for a getaway without the need to go into quarantine. As my family has done the Royal Caribbean cruise before, the opinion is that there was a much better experience on that cruise compared to this. While a lot of the poorer experience was a result of a combination of more of the experiences requiring more payment, an app that was not as user friendly, staff being more rude, less activities available to participate and mediocre food, I think this is in exchange for a more budget friendly trip, a room with a bathtub and a boat with more kids friendly facilities. Also with the knowledge that a large percentage of the guests on the cruise would be families with kids since it was the school holiday, it can then be expected that the free facilities catered for the kids will be always crowded. We were fortunate enough to get the booked activities for the entire trip with the exception of the kids’ club, we have seen older folks who wanted to see the fireworks but couldn’t as they didn’t have access to the app and didn’t know how to book and had to queue and wait for slots for those who didn’t turn up. In that aspect, the cruise may need to do better.