Asia – 2016 – Day 15 - 16

Day 15 - 

The last of two sea days started out as a partly cloudy day so we did not do out on the deck after Ed had breakfast and was at the gym.

We went to a presentation about our final port, Singapore and heard about the early years of the city/country of Singapore and that used up the morning.

We also saw a very powerful quote as follows:
"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home."  James Michener

Then we went to the buffet and ate and ate, probably too much, but we had fun, just grazing through the food.  It was the first time that we had eaten lunch at the buffet and they selection was very good, with lines of Italian, Mexican and Asian foods and also American food – quite a good selection.  The buffet has changed over the last several years to offer a lot more different foods.

Next we went to the casino where Barb attempted to qualify for the end of the cruise slot tournament.  She was in the final 7 until yesterday and then was bumped out.  She still has a chance to get back in as the final qualifying round is tomorrow before the final.  Ed is so far in the final round and they have only one qualifying round left tomorrow.  The winner in the final round wins a 7 night Caribbean cruise – so wish us luck.

After the casino we had dinner in the specialty restaurant called Quisine with our Casino Host Dee.  She spent a couple of hours and had a lot of fun.

Then we went to the show which was a couple who were aerialist, the female was an Olympic Gymnast and they both are from Moscow.  We have seen them a couple of times before and they are a very successful act.  Towards the end of the act when he was holding her about 15’ above the ground, she fell, he was let right down and carried her off the floor.  The rest of the show was cancelled and we don’t know her status at this point.

The casino was busy tonight as there is only one night to go in the casino as the last night we are docked so the casino is not open.

Barb did very well and Ed lost.  Only one more day for the casino – so wish us luck.

Night

Day 16 -

In the morning, Ed went to the gym, had breakfast and then we went up on the deck for some great sun; however, it only lasted about an hour and then it really rained hard.

So, we went inside and went to a presentation about Singapore.  This is going to be a fun port to visit.

There is virtually no crime, the unemployment rate is 1.6% and they have system that gives health care for everyone at a fraction of the cost in the United States.  They also have a program that everyone belongs to that makes sure that everyone can buy a house and live with a comfortable retirement.

After the presentation, we ate lunch and then went to the casino for the final qualifying round in the slot tournament that was to award a free cruise to the lucky winner.

Ed qualified for the finals on the first sea day, Barb was in it and got knocked out so she tried again today and didn’t make it; however, they drew for the final seat and Barb was able to get into the finals.  That gave us 2 of the 8 seats to win a cruise and guess what –

                ED WON THE TOURNAMENT AND WON A FREE CRUISE!!!

What we won was a free 7 night Caribbean cruise with a balcony cabin.  We get to pick the cruise or we can have $1,200.  It is good for a year from today, so we will decide what to do when we get home.

We also played a session and Barb lost a little and Ed won.

Then we saw a great production show with the Celebrity singers and dancers and had a good dinner.

We had a really nice table and met some nice people.  One of our tablemates lives in Bombay, were we are going next so she gave us some pointers as to what to do.

After dinner, we played our last secession in the casino and Barb won and Ed lost.  All-in-all, it was one of the best casino wins we have every had – the 5^th best cruise in terms of winning – and in addition we won the free cruise.

Tomorrow morning we dock in Singapore; however, the official last day is the next day.  This means that we will spend the day and evening in Singapore, come back to the ship and the next day leave and check into the Singapore Marriott for a few days.

Night for now -

Just a little something extra for lunch

Ed with Dee, our wonderful Casino host

Going out for the evening

Asia – 2016 – Day 14

What an amazing day we had in Bangkok and coupled with the day before, this is one of our favorite ports and we would love to come back sometime.

We had a wonderful night’s sleep at the Bangkok Marriott and had a fast breakfast in order to meet out guide who was to be there at 8:00am.  To our surprise, the guide was actually a husband and wife team and they were very, very good.

Our morning started out by taking the subway to the riverfront where we boarded a boat for the trip up river to the Presidential Palace.  Then we spent the next couple of hours seeing the massive temple area and then the Palace.  The pictures and videos that we took do not even come close to showing how spectacular the place was.

After the tour, we walked a long ways to a market where we ate some great street food, trying out new foods.   Then they took us to a typical Thai restaurant.  Our guides ordered for us and we were served 6 different dishes for lunch.   Lunch plus dessert came to a total of $8.31 in US dollars!!  Amazing!

After lunch we took a cab back to the hotel so we could pack and meet the shuttle bus which was to leave at 2:00pm.  As it had started to rain, it took a few minutes to get a cab and then we hit massive traffic.  We finally arrived at the hotel at 1:15pm, literally threw our clothes in our bag and hurried to the bus which was several blocks away.  We couldn’t take a cab as the traffic was so bad so we had to walk and arrived at the bus with 10 minutes to spare.

By the time we got back to the ship, our country had witnessed the election of a new President – Donald Trump.  Coupled that with of course the Cubs winning and it has been an amazing few weeks.

The show was 3 performers from Australia singing song from Queen and dinner was very good.

Following dinner, Barb lost just a little and Ed had a good win.

A really fun couple of days it has been and now we have two sea days until we get to Singapore.

Check back after we get to Singapore as I will post some great videos.

Night for now.

Our tour guides

In the Temple

More of the Temple

Buying a skirt

Following is all of the food we ate for lunch

Coconut

Port on a stick

Pineapple

All of the courses for lunch

Trying some new fruit

Asia – 2016 – Day 13

It was a beautiful day at the docks of the port leading to Bangkok, Thailand when we woke up.

At 8:45am we boarded a Celebrity shuttle bus to take us to the center of Bangkok and it was a 3 hour drive!

When we arrived, we had a 20 minute walk to the Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprason Hotel – yes that is the correct spelling.  They upgraded us to the Executive Floor and it was a great room.  It even had a glass enclosed bathroom that at night, they pulled the curtain wall to separate the bathroom from the rest of the room.

Then it was down to the lobby meet our tour guide Pat and driver for the trip to ride the elephants. 

The ride took 3 hours to the west and we were only 10 miles from the Burma boarder.  This is one of the few places left in the world where they allow you to ride the elephants bare-back and alone.

We first rode down to the water with a guide on each elephant and we were holding on behind.  Barb rode on the biggest elephant, who weighed 4 tons and was 40 years old!!

Then we went into the river and WOW was that ever fun.  The elephant actually went under water with us also going in all the way and then back up.

Then we got off the elephant and brushed and washed them.  Then they picked us up by their trucks and lifted us out of the water.  After that it was our turn to climb up on the neck of the elephant and we went out of the river and up the hill where we got off.

This was one of the best experiences ever for both of us!!

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a local market and ate a number of things that were being prepared right there in make shift cooking areas.  We ate pork, chicken, coconut, fish and a number of other dishes.

Then we finished our ride back to the hotel where we changed clothes and took the subway to a huge night market, shopped around a bit and then took a cab back to the hotel to go to sleep and be ready for a big day tomorrow.

We have some great videos that I will post when we get to Singapore of this part of our trip.

Going down to the river with a guide

Let's take a bath

It takes two!!

Now that's just fun!!

Simply amazing!!

Asia – 2017 – Day 12

A day at sea – not much to tell.

It was partly cloudy when we woke up and Ed went to the gym first after eating breakfast.

Then we were on the top deck in some nice sun – probably even a little longer than we should have stayed.

We ate healthy for lunch in the Aqua Spa and then went to the casino to play in the blackjack tournament.  Ed made it to the finals, but didn’t win.  Then we both played a session where Barb was even and Ed won.

After the casino, we got a snack from the buffet and got ready for the show and dinner.

The show was a very good violin player and of course the dinner was fine.

Then it was onto the casino where Barb won and Ed lost.  For the day, Barb was up nicely and Ed was down $10!!

Tomorrow we go to Bangkok, Thailand for overnight. 

It should be fun.

Night

Going out for the afternoon

Our afternoon snack

Going out for the evening

Asia – 2017 – Day 11

We awoke to partly cloudy skies and docked at the port leading to Saigon or officially known as Ho Chi Minh City.  Most everyone that we met called it by the old name of Saigon.

It is the largest city in Vietnam and located all the way down at the southern part of the country and is intertwined with a lot of rivers and canals.  This is also where the infamous Mekong Delta is.  There are nine million people in the city.

It took us about 1 ½ hours by Celebrity bus to reach the city and we were dropped off in the heart of the city.  Our impression of the city is that it is not very clean; however, the people were very nice.

We took a taxi to the Presidential Palace.   It took about 20 minutes and only cost $1.30!  Taxis are really cheap in Vietnam.   Most of the people simply walked around and saw the Palace; however, we had found out that for $8 each, we could have a private guide which we did for an hour tour. 

After that tour, we went to the Vietnam War Museum and it was a very emotional experience.  They correctly depicted America’s action in this war and had dreadful pictures and information about Agent Orange, the most deadly chemical ever dropped on a civilization.   It brought home to us once again how wrong the Vietnam War was and how badly America performed.  In all the cities, the people did not blame us for the tragedy of the war, they blame our government at that time.

We had a great lunch at a local restaurant and then went to the big Catholic Church; however, it was closed so our next stop was the huge market that they have in the city.   We could have spent a couple of hours just walking through it – but we didn’t have that much time.  We bought some “stuff” and also a Mango drink.

We also had some great street food including a donut like pastry that was displayed on the head of the vendor – a great taste.

Following the market visit, we walked about 8 blocks to where the bus picked us up to take us back to the ship.  We felt like we were in a movie called “6 hours in Saigon”

We arrived at 6:00pm, took showers and went to the show which was a great performance by the Celebrity singers and dancers and we really enjoyed it.

Then we went to dinner and then to the casino where Barb won nicely and Ed also won.  If this was the last night of the cruise we would gladly take home these winnings – so wish us luck.

Tomorrow we get to relax again with a sea day and we are looking forward to it.

The communications room

Lunch

Buying a snack

Cooking lunch on the street

Barb buying Kahula - very cheap!!

The Presidents bedroom

Night

Asia – 2017 – Day 10

This was a sea day and these days are usually fun if it is sunny; however, it wasn’t, so it was still a good day, but we didn’t get any sun.

In the morning, Ed had breakfast and went to the gym and then worked on catching up on the blog.

Barb was able to sleep in so all-in-all it was a very relaxing morning. 

Lunch was in the Aqua-Spa and we had a grilled chicken and a grilled salmon lunch that we shared.

In the afternoon, we both played a session and Barb lost just a little and Ed had a good session.

The show was a female singer from Jamaica who was working and living in Tokyo and she was really, really good.

Dinner was very good and then we went to the casino where Barb broke even and Ed had a good night.

This is a short blog and few pictures because that’s what happens when you have a sea day.

It was a peaceful day and tomorrow we go to our last Vietnam City, Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City. 

We are doing it on our own so it should be fun.

Night

Going out for they day

A bottle of wine from the Hotel Director - we shared it at our dinner table

Going out for the evening