When we moved to Oman, we made lists of places we would like to visit. Then we quickly realized that there was no way we would see all those countries with limited vacation time during just a few years here. Cruises to the rescue! Cruises are a great way to see many new places with just 1 trip.
Since we are in Oman, there are certain places we would like to go because they are nearby or at least closer than they are from the States. We knew that we wanted to go to some countries in Southeast Asia, but there are a lot to choose from! We did some cruise searches (using sites such as
expedia.com,
cruises.com, and
vacationstogo.com). We then made a spreadsheet to help us compare options. We tracked cruise line, dates, # of nights, ports of call, price per night, and any additional notes such as deals or activities for the kids. With this list, it was much easier to narrow down our options, discuss our favorites, and choose a long Celebrity Cruise Southeast Asia Holidays Cruise that had a very low price per day (we wanted less than $100/person/day, this one was well below that goal).
I can send you our spreadsheet if you'd like a visual. It's nothing special, and it may take some explaining as it is so bare bones. But it works for us because we are both Engineers and love spreadsheets. It really did make it much easier to compare our options.
Before I get to the bullet points of our stops, I'd like to stress how much we loved this cruise. This was our first Celebrity Cruise, and it did not disappoint. The food was amazing. The staff was wonderful. The captain was hilarious. The kid's club had many activities and kept our kids excited to go even though they have a small area. We were scheduled to have 2 "chic" nights for dinner, but we ended up with 3 given the special holidays. They did the holidays right with special foods, Santa coming for a visit, and New Years hats. This was a top vacation. Enjoy!
 |
My family with our waiters. It's fun getting to know them as the days pass.
|
 |
| I found these signs funny. In this day and age, I can see a man with a man bun being offended by this. 😂 |
 |
| They had a movie screen on deck. |
 |
| We didn't go to all the shows, but we enjoyed a number of them. I love when aerials are included! |
 |
| A kid club event: Family Camp Out |
 |
| The gingerbread house display that greeted us when we boarded the ship. |
 |
| The Christmas Day display of the breads. |
 |
| The hats they provided for New Years Eve. There were a few different styles, but this is what we received. |
 |
| Two of my boys looking fancy and goofy in their hats. |
 |
| The beautiful fruit display on New Years Day. |
Singapore:
 |
| Sign in the Singapore airport |
Transportation:
- Shuttle bus from the airport
- Walked from the boat
Sights we saw:
- Gardens by the Bay
- Marina Bay Sands (landmark building)
 |
| Some of the landmark "trees" of Singapore. There are actually a few clusters of these spread about the gardens. |
 |
| About to begin exploring the Gardens by the Bay. |
 |
| The iconic Marina Sands Hotel |
 |
| A view of Singapore from our boat. |
Sights we didn't see:
- Lots! Night Safari was the big one I wanted to do.
Interesting points:
- We arrived on Stephen's birthday. Happy birthday honey!
- Signs were all in English.
- The vegetation reminded me of Kauai.
- We found (and failed to take a picture of) a sign announcing a road closure that began in 2011, I think. Talk about a long road closure!
Ayutthaya, Thailand:
Transportation:
- Boat to Laem Chabang
- Bus from the boat to and around Ayutthaya
Sights we saw:
- Bangkok
- Not a sight, but we didn't take an elephant ride. E would have been over the moon!
Interesting points:
- The cruise terminal is big enough for 1 boat. There was already a boat there. We were docked next to it at a cleared out cargo terminal. We were denied access to the cruise terminal building.
 |
| That is not our boat at the cruise terminal. |
- There is literally nothing around the cruise terminal. You need to stay on the boat, book an excursion, or take a cab to the nearest town.
- It takes 3 hours minimum to get to Bangkok or Ayutthaya from the cruise terminal. Traffic can certainly make it longer.
- Ayutthaya is a previous capital of Thailand.
- Bang Pa-In Royal Palace is an interesting mash up of architecture styles from around the world.
 |
| See what I mean? A Romanesque statue on a bridge in front of a Thai-style building. |
- You need to wear long pants to enter any Thai palaces. My capris were deemed long enough, but another lady was not so lucky.
- Buddha statues are made in pieces with the head as one of the separate pieces. The heads are often stolen to use for worship in homes according to our guide.
 |
| Example of Buddha statues with no heads at Wat Chai Whatthanaram |
- The Buddha head in the tree trunk that you may have seen on Thai tourist images is at Wat Maha That.
 |
| Buddha head in the tree trunk |
- There are scooters everywhere! And people will transport all sorts of crazy things on their scooters. A couple of dining chairs? Sure. A desktop computer and monitor? Why not?
 |
| Did this picture capture just how many scooters there were? |
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam:
Transportation:
- Boat to Phu My
- Bus from the boat to and around Ho Chi Minh City
Sights we saw:
- Lacquerware factory
- Reunification Palace (outside only)
 |
| Reunification Palace... a bit drab, no? |
- Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon (outside only)
 |
| Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon |
- Dong Khoi Street (Shopping area in downtown. Walking distance to Town Hall, Opera House, and the river.)
 |
| My boys in front of a lotus (national flower) fountain in front of Town Hall |
 |
| A statue of Ho Chi Minh in front of Town Hall |
- Ben Thanh Market (Picture a crazy packed market inside an old building with inexpensive souvenirs, cheap knock offs, and food. We made the rounds, but it felt a bit overwhelming to our senses.)
Interesting points:
- Ho Chi Minh City is 1.5 hours from the cruise port, but it could take longer with traffic.
- Locals will still call Ho Chi Minh City Saigon.
- The Vietnamese Dong is valued at around 23,000 Dong = $1. Since the HSBC ATM we found didn't work, we paid with US dollars our entire stay in Vietnam.
 |
| 39,000 Dong is a special deal at McD. Can you imagine paying thousands for a McD meal??? |
- We did need a visa for Vietnam, but the ship handled it for around $6 per person.
- We had our first pho here. Yum!
 |
| Pho! |
- South Vietnamese people don't hide their displeasure to be under North Vietnamese Socialist/Communist rule. I was shocked at their frankness to tourists.
- Bag snatching and picket pockets can be common. We were told by our tour guide to carry our bags in front of us with nothing in our back pockets. And we were also told to not put down anything even if we were sitting eating outside because motorcyclists would just come by and swipe it. I appreciated her honesty.
- This shot from inside our bus (with free wi-fi) made me laugh.
 |
| Why simply sew up a tear when you can cover it with a jeans logo? |
Hoi An, Vietnam:
Transportation:
- Boat to Chan May
- Bus from the boat past Da Nang to Hoi An
- Bike ride in the country near Hoi An
 |
| On our bike ride past rice fields |
Sights we saw:
 |
| Some of the vegetation along our bike ride |
 |
| Rice fields with workers |
- Water buffalo
- Ancient Hoi An
 |
| The boats along the canal |
 |
| Ancient Hoi An - it is a mix of the Chinese and Japanese cultures that settled here. |
 |
| More boats along the canal |
 |
| And more boats... I loved how colorful they all were! |
 |
| I loved all these hanging globes and hats. I even used this pictures as inspiration for a watercolor painting I did on the cruise. |
- Japanese covered bridge (in Hoi An)
 |
| Japanese covered bridge - an icon of Hoi An |
- Chinese assembly hall (in Hoi An)
- Dragon Bridge (but only from afar while on the bus)
Sights we didn't see:
- Da Nang
- Golden Bridge (It is an iconic bridge with the two hands holding it up.)
Interesting points:
- It takes around 2 hours to get to Hoi An.
- Traffic can be bad here. There is a two lane, 4 mile tunnel through the mountain between the port and Da Nang. It was slow going to get back to the boat. One of the excursions was caught in so much traffic that they were 2 hours late getting back.
- We had a really amazing family-style meal in Hoi An at the Cargo Club.
- We were told that there are 3 types of food in Vietnam: Local food for locals (unknown meats), local food for tourists (safe to eat), and tourist food (KFC).
- Our trip had a restroom break on the way out at a statuary. Odd place to stop for a restroom in my opinion. Though it did provide for viewing many rather humorous statues including this set of monkeys:
 |
| Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil, do no evil? |
Ha Long Bay, Vietnam:
 |
| Ha Long Bay at night |
Transportation:
- Boat to Ha Long Bay
- Smaller boat in and around Ha Long Bay
- Running along a main road
 |
| Check out this wide running path! |
Sights we saw:
 |
| First island sightings upon nearing the bay |
 |
| First sighting of Ha Long |
 |
| The islands got bigger and more frequent as you near Ha Long. They also begin to have vegetation (and a mini light house). |
 |
| My family in front of the islands |
 |
| What we are calling the Vietnamese Nativity in the cave. |
 |
| The Fighting Cocks or Kissing Hens - the iconic representation of Ha Long. |
Sights we didn't see:
- Sun World amusement park
- Kayak tour of islands
- Hanoi, Vietnam
Interesting points:
- The boat opened up the helipad for viewing coming into the bay.
 |
| Viewing from the helipad |
- There are thousands of islands, but only a handful of them are named. Dog Rock is a named rock. The second picture is names that we gave to some islands to keep the boys entertained.
 |
| Dog Rock |
 |
| Our attempts at naming some islands. I don't even remember why the one was Voldemort. |
- The government allows too many junk boats to travel to their tourist attractions at once. Our boat hit others while backing out of our spot to leave the cave, and 3 boats were battling for our 1 vacated spot. There were also too many people inside the cave at once.
 |
| The junk boats at the pick up port from the cave. |
- Not all nationalities understand lines. We were packed in like cattle moving through the cave, yet other tour guides were hurrying and squeezing through our group to their next point of interest.
- Our tour guides here knew the least amount of English, which did make certain aspects of the trip eye-roll worthy. They had one joke about going to heaven (the name of one of the cave formations) that they beat like a dead horse.
- The Vietnamese lady who stayed on the boat was relentless in her attempts to sell us knick-knacks. Another aspect I could have done without.
- This is where we found Carmen Sandiego!
 |
| We found Carmen Sandiego! |
- Coconut coffee is amazing!
 |
| Enjoying a coconut coffee from the shop in the cruise terminal. |
- Ha Long was very clean and well-planned. Stephen and I ran at least 10 miles by heading 5 miles away from the boat in one direction along wide, tree-lined pedestrian paths.
 |
| A beautiful mural along our running route. |
- Near the boat (and Sun World), the trash cans along the street were shaped like animals, which I kind of loved.
 |
| A bear trash can |
Hong Kong:
Transportation:
- Boat to Hong Kong
- Bus to a mall in Hong Kong one day and the airport the next
- MRT from the mall to Disney Land
 |
| On the special Disney Land line of the MRT! |
 |
| The train station at Disney Land. It may not be Platform 9 3/4, but it is still magical! |
- Taxi from the airport to Disney Land
Sights we saw:
 |
| Entering Disney Land Hong Kong! |
 |
| With the Chinese New Year approaching, they had some cool, seasonal decorations. |
- A massively packed graveyard on the side of a hill as we passed by on our way to Disney.
Sights we didn't see:
- Anything that wasn't Disney Land
Interesting points:
- Thanks to the protests earlier in 2019, Disney Land was fairly empty. On day 2, we were able to walk straight on most of the rides we wanted to ride.
- I'm so glad our trip happened when it did because Disney Land had to close down just a couple weeks after we left thanks to the Coronavirus outbreak.
- Hong Kong is a massive city with skyscrapers every direction you look. But the skyscrapers aren't pretty like in Dubai. In fact, many were quite ugly or at best boring and identical to the 3 or 4 next to it.
- The castle is currently under construction. I probably would have known this if I had done any amount of research. It made for a funny photo op, though!
 |
| My boys posing in front of the under-construction castle. |
- We only did one character meeting as it is mostly adults in line who want to take way too many pictures.
 |
| Posing with Chip & Dale |
- The Toy Story section of Disney was amazing! Even the grass is selected to make you feel miniaturized. And the best ride (RC Racer) is in this section.
 |
| Woody welcoming you to Toy Story Land. |
 |
| A photo spot probably used for character photos, but my monkeys enjoyed it alone. |
 |
| Rex welcoming you to Toy Story Land from the other side compared to Woody. |
 |
| A big hit of a ride: RC Racer |
- Mystic Manor was a surprisingly hit of a ride for our family. Think Haunted Mansion but without ghosts. Instead, it's a music box that makes artifacts come to life.
- Big Grizzly Mountain was a really fun roller coaster that goes forward as well as backwards. One of the few restaurants with western food was in this area of the park.
- Fantasyland was the only packed place on day 2, so we avoided it. This is where you find Dumbo, It's a Small World (closed for renovations... I wasn't sad), the Tea Cups, and Fairy Tale Forest (another hit for us where you just walk around and turn cranks to make the Fairy Tale stories and castles come to life).
 |
| My boys riding the tea cups! |
 |
| Inside Fairy Tale Forest with Cinderella's Castle. |
 |
| A favorite castle of mine: Beauty and the Beast |
- Tomorrowland has Marvel rides: Ant-Man and the Wasp that was a major hit for our family and Stark Expo that is the Marvel version of Star Tours. This area also had a restaurant with western food and Hyperspace Mountain (a Star Wars version of Space Mountain).
 |
| Hyperspace Mountain |
 |
| The Marvel section of Tomorrowland |
- You can easily do this Disney Land in one day, but adding a second day scored us a free meal that was valued higher than our second day ticket added to the bill.
No comments:
Post a Comment