~Cruising on SuperStar Libra... Part I~

Day 1 - Checking in the ship.

The trip began on the 21st of Dec, 2008 when we checked in the ship at about 11.30am. By then, many had already boarded the ship, including my parents friends who were on another tour in the ship as well.

Our first meal was in the Ocean's Palace with a whole set meal and it was filling indeed. Service was no doubt up to par. And the food did, to a certain extent, live up to its expectation. After that, we explored the ship in and out and turned it upside down.

The pool deck.

Us posing at the back of the ship.

And another one.

The dancers performing at the pool deck. There's this really cute guy among them, like really a hunk! And I love to see him dancing.

Our cabin was small, or should I say that all cabins were meant to be small to fit in the number of people on board. Libra could easily take on almost 1,500 guests and about 700++ crew members. So, that's how big the ship was. But... despite the size, it was also that small that we could easily stumble upon the same people on board, including those we know and those that we dislike. Somehow, we just continuously bumped into one another; it could be the restaurant, the pool, the casino or even the performance lounge.

This is the girls' room. The boys' room was next door. I slept on the top bunk. One heck of a messy room. Keep in mind that this was the last night on the ship.

We planned to have dinner in Four Seasons (Western) on the first night but much to our dismay, the queue was ever so long and we had to wait for the second session at 8.30pm. My sis and bro started arguing about how we were late and how we were gonna miss the Bingo game. Rather pathetic, I would say! Well, for those of you who know me, you will understand that I have a certain degree of biasness towards my bro and at that time, it seemed like he was devastated that we might not be able to play bingo and that we would miss out the big jackpot - $7,000 (Sing Dollar). Anyways, we changed the venue to another restaurant near the pool deck - Mariner's Buffet. And not only did we manage to catch Bingo on time, we also had the opportunity to watch "Twice as Nice" in action. The group consists of a man and a woman who are performers in Las Vegas. Whatmore, the guy is actually Diana Ross's brother! Ain't that cool! Their singing was of course, unquestionable. Not to mention their size as well... Oops!

Casino was the next destination but my younger bro was not allowed to enter because it catered only to 18 yrs old and above. In order to not ditch my younger bro, we all decided to leave the casino. The other bro of mine actually changed 100 Sing tokens already and was on the verge of "playing" but thanks to my mom, he was dragged out of the casino. He was trying to convince my mom that he had the touch that day. What touch? The Midas Touch?! Haha...

So, we ended the night playing pictionary... which made me realize what a bad artist my younger bro was. His drawn humans looked just like bloated balloons! Haha...

Day 2 - Disembarking in Phuket.

On our way to Phuket. Yay!

The Black Pearl lookalike.

Phuket was suppose to be fun. Again, I emphasize - Phuket was suppose to be fun! But it turned out negligable. Families tagged along and we had to wait for one another. We deliberately woke up earlier for breakfast but some were later than us. By the time we left, it was already 1pm and we had to come back by 5.30pm! We were stuck with the elderlies and were in the van almost half the time when we only had less than 6 hours off shore. The drivers who had a pack with the locals took us to places where they can earn their commission such as the Monkey School, shooting range, honey farm, cashew nuts shop and the famous Wang Tualang for its jewellery. My younger bro was complaining and mumbling and questioning about how we were wasting our time, which annoyed us even more. Low EQ! Our mission to go for a massage, hairbread (if that's how it's spelled), shopping were all gone! Except for the last hour when we were back at the beach. We should have just stayed at the beach cos there were lots of stalls and shops and massage parlours around. What a waste of the trip! Then again, the uncles and aunts wouldn't be able to take such a tiring walk around and they wouldn't be enjoying... I wanted to get a pair of surf pants but they just wouldn't reduce the price. They started calling at 550Baht and I wanted to buy it only at 200Baht. They only gave me till 250Baht. Not that I'm kiam siap or anything. My sis managed to buy a long surf pants in Langkawi for RM25 and they were selling me a short surf pants at the same price. Of course I wouldn't heed! And I wasn't desperate for one either.

Back on the ship, we rushed for dinner. We were adamant. We wanted to have our dinner in Four Seasons by hook or by crook. And so, we did.

My lamb leg. Tender and juicy!

I think this was chicken with cheese plus other stuff.

Fish with cream sauce.

This was, I think, some vegetarian pasta.

Desert - Chocolate Moist Cake.

We were late for the crew's performance due to our choice of second session dinner. I think we missed a whole lot. By the time we reached, it was already the second last performance of the night which was the "Macho man" song with the male crews wearing firemen uniforms and striping half naked to show how macho they were. The last performance was an interesting one. The ever favorite lady-men. They were hot and darn, they can dance! Shaking their ass and all and they were all wearing tongs! Salute them for their professionalism!

There was Who Wants To Be A Millionaire after the performance but the game show lacked suspense and it looked a little fake, as in staged.

And we ended the night playing Family Twister.

To be continued...