Royal Carribean Cruise

Haven't been blogging for the past 2 weeks, because, well, work has been hell, literally. Been going home near 12 midnight almost everyday last week and the week before. I hate work.. but anyway, now i've got some time i might as well blog everything that i need to.

Quick summary of the cruise!

Day 1: Leaving Harbour front!

oh yes, had steam boat dinner with Joan and her family on thursday night before going home, had an enjoyable time with them, just thought i'd drop that note down first. Joan stayed over at my place on thurs night, so no need to fetch her on friday morning.

we rushed out of the house at about 11.30 am, couldn't get a maxi cab so had to go to harbour front in 2 cabs. mindice came from her sch. boarded the ship at about 1 pm and had lunch at the windjammer. good food! i thought. i ain't seen nothing yet! after lunch we went to our cabins, then went to take part in some lucky draw, which we actually won some stuff! after that we explored the ship, and went line dancing and won some more stuff! dinner was fantastic, watched the show at 10.30 pm, some magician named Charles Bach. no bad, he copied a few tricks from David Copperfield and David Blaine, but he stressed that they're only illusions.

Day 2: Port Klang, Sunway Shopping Centre

breakfast was good, at the romeo and juliet restaurant, then we went ashore at Port Klang, malaysia. we were quite excited, never been to that place before. initially i thought there would be nothing to shop and nothing to do, but oh man, Sunway Shopping Centre is even bigger than Vivo city and takashimaya combined! they have an ice-skating rice at the basement as well! its very nice for shopping, Joan n i literally ran from shop to shop picking out clothes, shoes, etc. we didn't spend very much though. Joan bought a cap and 1 top, i bought 3 tops and 1 jeans. i can't help it, i'm a shoppaholic! hahaha.. ate lunch at about 2 pm at the so-called famous bakut teh, which was really cheap and satisfying! loved the taste and the special chinese tea. malaysia really does have better food than singapore! our version of bakut teh has too much pepper, theirs has more herbs and pig organs and stuff. satisfied with lunch, we made our way back to the ship before 4 pm.

rested in the cabin for a while, went to play othello with Joan, and lost to her 2 games! and she couldn't stop bragging about it for the whole trip. -_- haha! dinner was beef steak, prime rib i think. delicious. can't remember if it was the dress up night, but i remember missing the show because i was annoyed with joan over something, and went to buy a book from the shops to read in the cabin instead. but don't worry, we kissed and made up soon.

went to play midnight mini-golf, i think 9 holes. joan got a hole in one, and the bragging starting again. haha. we went to lie down on the deck chairs and listen to music, the wind, the stars and moon, very romantic. haha!

Day 3: Phuket or as the cruise director calls it, "pu chi dao!"

this time didn't have to wake up early, i think we woke up around 9 am, ate breakfast and then went to play bingo. i thought that was ultimately boring n waste of time, so Joan n i went to check out the rockwall, but there was a rock climbing competition there, so we didn't get to try it out. we went exploring, joan got trapped in the kids game room, i set off some alarm cos we used the wrong door, it was really funny! haha.. but anyway we went ashore at about 2 pm. had to sit on this small ferry, 10 min ride to the shore from the cruise ship.

immediately we were bombarded with touters, tut tut drivers, etc! they really know how to "whack" tourists! my mum insisted on looking for the massage at countryside hotel, but nobody seemed to know where on earth it was. we decided to go jet ski first, quite expensive though, $40+ for 50 min of jet ski, but since it was joan's first time, as well as mindice first time playing the jet ski, i think they had loads of fun! Joan was super daring, she actually went to jet-ski around our cruise ship!! our single jet skis of course were much faster than the double that my bro n mindice rode, it was fun, but i almost got thrown in to the sea when i tried a sharp turn! hahaha.. joan went flying across some rocks with the jetski when she went a bit too close to the shore and didn't see the rocks near the bottom of the jetski! thank God she wasn't hurt and the jetski wasn't damaged! we were totally sun burnt when we came back ashore.

had a drink at macdonalds, went searching for the massage parlour again, took a tut tut to the C&N hotel massage, and each person spend 500 baht, which is about $20, on a one-hour massage each. i didn't really enjoy it, felt it was a waste of money n time, i would've much rather gone shopping instead, but since my parents really wanted to have the massage, i sort of went along with it. the person really rubbed my neck n it was quite painful, didn't really like it much. oh well.. we had a dinner that cost us about 4500baht, is around $200! really expensive, i thought it was quite ex, but divided among 6 pple, each person around $33, and we get lobster, prawns, fresh fish, green curry, sotong, mixed vegetables, thai specialties and giant coconut drinks, i think overall not too bad lah. still cheaper than if we were to eat in singapore.

then the shopping-spree began. we had little over an hour to shop, and had to literally run from shop to shop, buying things almost on impulse! joan bought a top and a shorts, i got a bermudas and a pair of shoes, and a t-shirt. my mum bought a bag, my bro n mindice bought clothes. i think only my dad didn't get to buy anything! oh, and i bought 2 DVDs as well. had a bit of hiccup again, but on the ferry back to the boat, joan n i had a nice time sitting right in front of the ferry, watching fireworks, as the locals celebrated chinese new year eve!

went back to the boat for the show, an impressive performance by Crazy horse! the super muscular guy and girl team who did acrobatics, balancing acts, and the guy could even sing very well! amazing act, i would actually pay good money to see such a performance. the show was probably the best of the 3 that i caught. after the show we had a countdown party which lasted all of one hour (or even less!) which involved many balloons dropping down and pple standing around wishing each other happy new year. haha, so what else is new.

we had a bit of supper and then went to the disco to see some crazy chinese pple dancing. wanted to dance, but joan didn't want to, so nevermind. slept at around 3 am.

Day 4: Day at sea

Think this day was a bit boring, but still it was relaxing. Had breakfast at windjammer until about 11 am, then went to catch Charles Bach magic trick in the pool at noon. after that i can't really remember what else we did, except we had a quick nap in the cabin n then joan wanted to swin n go jacuzzi so i accompanied her to the indoor pool, n met my parents there, n tried to play some card game but the rules were too complicated, so they left to go line dancing n i read my book. actually i was pretty much reading my book will joan, my bro n mindice swan in the pool.

there was a final show before the last dinner on the ship, but it kind of sucked. the pianist was alright, interesting pieces, but the 6 china girls playing traditional instruments was quite bad, to the point of being funny. oh well, at least a few of them were good looking. haha! had dinner n thanked Gary, the columbian waiter, for his excellent service during the cruise. after dinner, we went to sing KTV until midnight, n finally collasped on the bed, exhasuted.

Day 5: Reach SIngapore, went visiting, watched Brideswar with Ian, Millie and Shona

Had a really early breakfast, then had to pack up and leave the ship at about 9 am. Really quite sad to leave the ship, had a lot of fun and relaxing time on the cruise. I remember the fries and the pizza at the pizza bar, the super strong wind, lazing around on deck chairs, taking lots of pictures and oh yes, the marvelous works of art during the art auction. it was a cruise which was really very enjoyable, great food, lots of programs. there was even towel folding lesson, and a ice-sculpture demonstration. really 101 things to do on the ship, too bad i didn't bring my trunks, so didn't join joan in the jacuzzi. now thinking about it, i really do regret not jumping in with my shorts! hahaha.. but overall i really enjoyed the trip. i never ate so much in 4 days in my life! hahaha..

Reached home at about 10 in the morning, took an hour nap, and then went visiting to uncle Andrew's house, then to su-po's house, then auntie Jessie's house. then went to joan's house to drop off her bag, then went to visit her grandma. poor thing, she's all alone on chinese new year! i was wondering why didn't the uncle n aunt bring the grandma along when they went visiting? but we had dinner at the 99 cent sushi place w millie n ian, shona didn't eat. the movie asn't as good as i thought, but anne hathaway is pretty sweet n cute, so yeah. haha!

5 days seems to rush past in a flash, n today i'm back in office wondering why didn't i just take today off as well! really no mood to work, was just playing facebook n updating some emails. i really don't think i'll stay in this line of job too long, sitting down n reading documents all day is really boring. haha.

God, thank you for a really good trip, it took my mind off the hell week i just went through before the cruise, but now i really wish you help me get through another 2 days of work.. i've got so much to do, i don't know where to begin, n worst of all, i don't feel like working AT ALL. i almost cried today when joan called my office to chat with me awhile, even though she wasn't feeling well. She's an angel, i love her.