Day 01 01/26/2019 Embarkation Day in Singapore

We enjoyed a leisurely morning at the IBIS and finally left the room close to 10am in order to get a light breakfast at a nearby Burger King. We then checked out of the hotel after 11am; and after waiting for about 15 minutes, we got a cab to the Harbourfront cruise terminal. Our driver was very talkative and quick to explain the nuances of living in Singapore. When we got within 200 yards of the terminal, traffic came to a complete halt. It would take 30-40 minutes to complete those last 200 yards. Our driver even turned off his meter.  

As we approached the luggage drop off point in our terminal, we were handed a letter indicating that the Maasdam arrived at 10am due to unfavorable weather and that check in would be delayed until 1pm. The terminal area was very crowded as passengers were still disembarking. So we walked a loop around the shopping mall and went up to the second floor check in area where we joined a long line of 4-5 star Mariners waiting to check in. We spotted our friends Carol & John who were being escorted on to the ship having checked in earlier. After a wait of 25 minutes we were quickly processed and passed through exit immigration. In Singapore one has to be rescreened going on and off to he ship every time.

On board the ship we left our backpacks in the large outside stateroom before going up to the Lido for lunch. After lunch, we headed back off the ship to purchase sodas at a store in the VivoCity mall. We found that cans are about 80 cents at the store compared to $1.80 on the ship after adding in a 15% surcharge and taking advantage of our 50% discount on mini bar purchases. Of course it was necessary to go through immigration two times during that excursion. We ate a quick dinner as we needed to meet in the Ocean Bar with our small group that was headed to the Zoo for its Night Safari. We quickly met our guide, Raymond, but the van driver was 30 minutes late with no explanation or apology. This frustrated our guide to almost no end,

The Night Safari was pretty cool. We rode a tram for about 40 minutes and observed a number of animals in dimly lit surroundings. Afterwards we did a walk on trails and got to see more animals. Given the darkness, it was tough to photograph them, but a got a few good photos. The drive back to the ship took us by Marina Bay with a chance to see quite pretty lights.

We went back through immigration and arrived in time for the 10:30pm feeding. After all of the walking and then eating, I fell asleep while trying to write my journal account. But sleep was more important especially since we needed to be up by 7am to go on another excursion. Stay tuned for what that excursion is all about.