Today was the day that Jessie and I would end our land
travels and begin our sea travels on our luxury 5 star cruise ship The Diamond
Princess. This was fairly bitter sweet
for me because although I was excited to get on the ship, it meant that a large
portion of our travels were already over.
I had spent so much time planning and getting excited for this trip
(over an entire year), and now it’s going by so fast.
The upgrade to cruise ship living wasn’t something I was
dreading at all. Over the past two
months, Jessie and I have had our share of budget hotel/hostel rooms with
cockroaches, ants, bugs, bad odours, and uncleanliness, so I was really looking
forward to a bit of upscale living. I
was also really excited for the food on the ship. We’ve stuck to a fairly strict budget over
the past 2 months which usually meant we were eating at some of the cheapest
places we could find. Now, these places
weren’t bad, but they definitely weren’t as good as a 5-course meal in a fancy
dining room looking out at the ocean.
Our cruise didn’t start boarding passengers until 1pm, but
Jessie and I decided to aim to be there a bit earlier, at 12:15. This was a really good idea because the
Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre was already quite full when we arrived. It turns out that they do take passengers
before 1pm. Jessie and I made our way in
to the check in procedures quite easily.
All around us, there were old, white people grumbling about how long the
wait was, but I thought that the crew did quite a good job and kept people
moving at a very reasonable pace. Jessie
and I were fully checked in and arrived by shuttle to our ship within one
hour. This is definitely faster than
other cruises I’ve been on.
Yay! We arrived!!
Walking onto the ship was a monumental experience… no more cockroaches
and smelly rooms! Everyone greeted us
warmly and we made our way to our stateroom: C225. We’re near the front of the ship, on the 10th
floor. I’ve learned that it’s best to be
in the middle of the ship when rough seas arise, but so far, so good.
Our stateroom was definitely snug, but quite charming. Jessie and I both had separate beds separated
by two night stands. The room was
furnished with many mirrors to give it a more spacious appearance. We were able to unpack and store our
suitcases under our beds which was so nice… not living out of suitcases was a
luxury we haven’t had in 2 months.
As soon as we arrived in our room, we perused the room
service menu. Of course, we hadn’t eaten
since breakfast and so we were ready to gorge ourselves. Within a short time, we were dining on
chicken ceaser salad, cheeseburgers and nachos followed by crème brulè.
Jessie and I took turns unpacking and showering and soon we
made our stateroom into the home it would be for the next 35 days.
A short while later, we had our mandatory emergency drill,
which was quite well organized. It was
fun watching all of the old people because they behave like such children;
always doing things the crew tells them not to… like blowing the whistles on
their life jackets. I realized that I
could not do this job and handle the passengers on cruise ships… I’d kill
them.
Jessie and I took time to explore the ship after our
drill. It’s a beautiful vessel filled
with many things to do. Due to the fact
that there are quite a few sea days on board, the crew fill up every day with
various activities to keep the passengers entertained. There are 6 pools and 8 hot tubs on
board. There’s also golf and virtual
golf, a movie theater, a nightclub, casino, shops, stage theater and numerous
bars and cafes.
At around 8:15 that night, Jessie and I went for our first dinner
on the ship. Throughout the past 8
weeks, whenever we ate something bad, we would comfort ourselves by the fact
that the cruise food would be outstanding.
It’s fair to say that we had high expectations for this meal. It’s also fair to say that those expectations
were strongly met.
My first meal consisted of a crab meat salad, pina colada
soup and slow roasted beef tenderloin served with a baked potato, corn on the
cob and green beans…. AMAZING!! If that
couldn’t get any better for dessert I had a chocolate mousse torte with berry
coulis. Jessie and I were both throrougly impressed by
the meal and knew that we’d have to pace ourselves over the next month if we
wanted our clothes to still fit by the end of it.
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