asian cruise feb-mar 2010 (nx power-lite)
TRANSCRIPT
Costa Allegra Asia Cruise 2010 - Singapore – Vietnam –
Hong Kong- Philippines - Malaysia – Brunei - Singapore
The Itinerary
Day Details Day Details
1 Brisbane to Singapore 2 Singapore
3 At Sea 4 Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
5 At Sea 6 Da Nang
7 At Sea 8 Hong Kong
9 At Sea 10 Manila
11 At Sea 12 Kota Kinabalu
13 Bandar Seri Begawan 14 At Sea
15 Singapore 16 Arrive Brisbane
Day 1 – Saturday - Brisbane to Singapore
Singapore Airlines, A330-300, aircraft departed
Brisbane at 0930hrs after a stress-free check-in.
7.5hrs flying time. Wonderful flight, superb
service and delicious food. Changi airport
is unbelievable in scale & design.
Embarkation at Singapore Cruise Centre
was very well organised; quite a bit of
walking due to the size of the terminal
Day 2 – Sunday – SingaporeChinese New Year Celebrations
Early breakfast &
a cab ride around
town; visited the
Chinatown area &
VivoCity shopping
centre; return to
ship
The first show in the Folies Bergeres
Theatre was Vito Valente a tenor who badly
needed a haircut, which just about summed
up his performance.
Day 3 – Monday - At Sea
Day 4 - Tuesday– Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam
Docked 7.30am met by girls in national dress
who released 100’s of balloons. Shuttle to city
centre visited markets and museum by pedal
cab; real contrast between old & new areas.
French influence slowly being erased. A very
vibrant, noisy and, except for CBD, a typically
Asian city.
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) – Formerly Saigon
Vietnam
Day 5 – Wednesday – At Sea (the South China Sea)
Restful day at sea; the South
China Sea was calm, the
weather sunny and warm.
Relaxed by the pool, all very
decadent!
Entertainment on board very
professional and varied.
Music in all the lounges and
on the pool deck in addition
to main theatre.
Day 6 – Thursday - Da Nang, Vietnam
Visited ancient town of Hoi An and absorbed the cultural variety of the region and spent. Pedal cab rides again. Well worth the visit! Da Nang is most impressive city with many multi-million international resorts under construction.
Like Saigon the traffic is breathtaking – chaotic by Australian standards!
Hoi An,
Vietnam
Day 7 – Friday - At Sea
Day 8 – Saturday – Hong Kong, China
Amazing
shopping
paradise, the
scale of the
place
overwhelms
the senses.
Clean, modern
and awash with
double deck
buses.
The light
display
throughout
the city as the
ship left port
at night had
to be seen to
be believed;
almost every
building was
alive with
lights of every
colour and
moving
patterns.
Victoria
Peak was
covered in
fog all day.
Missed the
best view
of HK.
Day 9 – Sunday – At Sea
Fellow travellers from
USA, England, Wales,
Canada turned the various
meal times into
entertaining events.
Large number of German,
Swiss and Italian
passengerswho generally
kept to themselves and
did not tend to mix with
the English speakers. All activities on-board were conducted in
Italian, French, German, English & Spanish
Day 10 – Monday – Manila, Philippines
After a most colourful
wharf-side welcome from
dancers & drummers in
national dress we took a
shuttle bus to Robinson
Mall which even dwarfed
those of Singapore. Very
westernised. Prices best
yet! Didn’t spend too much.
Cars & ‘Jeepneys’ replaced the
bicycles of Vietnam but the
traffic was equally terrifying.
(Victory to the bravest).
Day 11 – Tuesday – At Sea Again!
Day 12 – Wednesday – Kota Kinabalu,
Borneo MalaysiaTook the City
sights tour which
included the city
centre, the Sabah
Foundation
Building & City
Mosque then a
visit to Toh Poh
Tze Temple,
Heritage Village &
Sabah Museum.
Reminded us of
Penang in many
ways.
Kota Kinabalu,
Sabah,Malaysia
Day 13 – Thursday
– Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Best destination of the cruise! The city is beautiful, clean
and a feast of experiences. The sultans have built palaces,
mosques and public buildings which reflect their enormous
oil produced wealth.
The population of 400,000 own 1.2 million cars with fuel
below $A0.50 a litre.
Free education, health services & subsidised housing.
Kampung Ayer – Water Village
Kampung Ayer – Water Village
Amazing water village houses over
13,000 people in the heart of the
city with schools, mosque, police, all
utilities & water taxi service.
Day 14 – Friday
Our Last Day At Sea
Leisurely breakfast in the
Yacht Club followed by a stroll
around the deck. Much cooler
day today about 25°C.
‘Last supper’ with our new
friends at Table 52.
Table 52 – 1st Sitting
Montmartre Restaurant
Our new friends from Table 52.
Left: The Girls’ , Hunter Valley NSW
Right: Gary & Sue, Mandurah WA
Missing: Margaret, Bundaberg QLD
Thanks for your great company!
After a final breakfast in
the Montmartre
Restaurant we
disembarked with the
minimum of delay
through the highly
regimented Singapore
Customs & Immigration
officials.
A late model, fully air-
conditioned coach
awaited us for a day of
touring through 36°C &
90℅ humidity
Day 15 – Back in
Singapore!
Heritage of Singapore tour took us to Little
India with shopping time & lunch. Then on to, Arab Street, Kampong Glam & sights galore
& more shopping before we arrived back
at Changi.
Singapore
a city of
contrasts
Day 16 – Back Home
Return Flight departed
Singapore at 9.10pm – a
long day!
7.30 am local - Bron & the
boys met us at Brisbane
where we all had breakfast
and talked non-stop.
The trip exceeded our
expectations in every way!