One area that I was not sure about onboard was the food, the photos I found before booking looked great, but you never really know until you try. The food is definitely one of the reasons why I am going to do another couple of the Cruises to Nowhere…
Hope you don’t get too hungry reading this post.
Chops Grille
On the second night we had a booking at the Chops Grille, the steakhouse on board. This was probably the most underwhelming meal of the trip, though not due to the service, it was great. The steak left a bit to be desired.
Entrees
Not a bad start, I had the beef carpaccio, though I would have liked a bit more parmesan…. The other starter was Tuna Tartare.
After a good night’s sleep I went for a wander around the Royal Esplanade on the first morning of the cruise.
The Royal Esplanade runs amidships on decks four and five with the middle of the walkway opening up into an atrium between decks four and five for about a 1/3 of the length of the ship.
After a great dinner at Jamie’s it was time to depart Singapore.
When departing a port it is only right to have a bottle of bubbles. So we grabbed a bottle of Veuve from Vintages and a couple of glasses and headed up to deck 15, the running track.
What was sad or interesting, probably sad, was that we were the only ones on the upper deck with a drink watching the departure.
I was hoping that we would head up the Singapore East Coast past my place, and we did.
The night started in Vintages, the wine bar onboard, with a few cocktails whilst trying to work out where to get dinner.
The service in Vintages is great and the cocktails were pretty good as well. Had a Gin Martini myself. Though the Negronis lack a decent Vermouth, which as we found out at boarding, we are not allowed to brink on board..
I was not really sure what to expect when Boarding a Cruise Ship during Covid. It was not as challenging as I expected
Baggage Drop Off
03 Dec 2020 was the first time I had left Singapore since 06 Mar 2020, this is longest period of time I have spent in Singapore in one block. Definitely needed a change of scenery.
Departure Hall
I am on board the Quantum of the Seas on a Cruise to Nowhere. So far so good, except of a couple of things. Drinking water is not that easy to get, guess I am used to there always being bottles of water available in your cabin and bars that are open most of the time. More on the bars shortly.
The other slight issue was my luggage, it was held due to there being a bottle of wine inside. No issue with that, just that there was no message letting me know, I ended up calling guest relations and finding out that way. One tip that I learnt after checking in is that I could have wheeled my bag on board myself and that way would not have had the issue, would have just shown the bottle at the security checkpoint when the scanned my bags… Will remember this for next time.
What a year 2020 has been, lots of change in everyone’s existence, most not for the good, which has made it difficult to want to post. Time to change that.
On 03 Dec 2020 I am departing Singapore on a Cruise, but to where…. Well nowhere. The Singapore Tourist Bureau and the Singapore Government has team up with a couple of cruise lines, Dream Cruises and Royal Caribbean, to enable Singaporean Residents, like me, to get a few days “out of the country” on a Cruise to Nowhere.
My cruise is a 4 night 3 day long trip around the Straits, apparently we are only allowed to go as far as 6 hours cruising away from Singapore, which is probably around 120 to 150 nautical miles (200 to 280 kms or 140 to 175 miles).
Whilst we are not stopping at any ports, I am still looking forward to seeing the islands and the Straits around Singapore. The last time I sailed into Singapore on a vessel it was a submarine, they don’t have windows, so did not see anything. A very different experience to cruising on-board the Quantum of Seas in a Junior Suite.
It will also be an interesting trip as I get to experience @WineBear007’s first time “at sea”. Though the Straits around Singapore are some the most protected and therefore flat waters around. I doubt there will be any issues other than slow service when it comes to drinks, but even that will probably not an issue considering that the Ship is only allowed 50% occupancy with 100% of the crew.
In order to be passed fit to board the Ship all passengers and Crew have to have been in Singapore for at least 14 days prior to sailing and also have passed a Covid rtPCR SARS-CoV-2 test no more than 3 days prior. I am going in for mine on 30 Nov 2020. Fingers crossed I pass that.
