~Cruising on SuperStar Libra... Part II~

Day 3 (23/12/08) - On Libra

A whole day spent on the ship. Sun-bathing day! Just right after breakfast, we immediately head to the pool deck - my sis clad in her new bikini and dress and my mom in her long-time unworn swimsuit and my beach sarong.

Does my mom's colorful sarong look familiar? Got it when I went for a holiday with hc in Langkawi. My sis's bikini was bought from Phuket and it was darn cheap, just about 300 Baht. I would have gotten one if I didn't already have.

My younger bro (in brown) participated in a mini marathon along with other younger kids.

The dumpling making demonstration, where my bro took the advantage to show off some of his culinary skills. Of course, he's not in the picture. Those are my mom's friend, with her daughter and mother. And beside is the Guest Service Crew (I don't think this is how they call it) who is incharge of entertainment and all sorts - Harry from India.

Once the sun got too bright that it started to burn my skin, I suggested that we participate in their indoor games. And we moved on to playing Cluedo in our cabin. It was a slow moving game because thanks to my smart bro, we had to play it the tough way. It took forever for just 1 game to end, approximately 30 minutes or so. I knew something was amiss and only did I realize in the end that we were not playing it according to how it should have been played. Time passed and we went back to the pool deck to have tea. The cookies and cakes were good... Immediately after that, we had to rush back to our cabins to prepare for the night's ever important GALA DINNER with the Captain. We so wanted Western dinner but... we ended up eating a Chinese banquet dinner... as we tagged the booking along with other friends of my dad - very Chinese-oriented family. Well, what's done has been done and it was too late for us to change anyway...

Prior to dinner, the Captain gave the guests a warm welcome speech in the lounge and he later introduced the head of each department. The dinner was meant to be a token of appreciation for the crews serving us on the ship. They even served champagne in the reception.

My sis and I in the Chinese restaurant , Ocean's Palace. Camwhoring, as usual...

Studio photo lookalike.

And another... But my face looked flat, like a pancake.

The first dish.

We didn't take pictures of other dishes as we were busy eating. Truthfully, the food was just "ma ma tae". They even had a small presentation towards the end of the dinner, sort of like an introduction to their kitchen crews. After dinner, we went to the lounge to watch that night's performance "Tropicalia", performed by the same bunch at the pool deck. There was a game show before the dance called the "Newly wed, not so newly wed couple" where they invited three different couples - one just married about 20 days, 2nd about 8 years and 3rd, 50 years! They asked questions regarding their partners e.g. sound of their fart, ex-gf, people they hate in the family etc. It was a fun game as the participants were sporting and the audience participated along. The night ended with the Tropicalia dance. I just couldn't take my eyes off that blonde hunk. Not only was he good in dancing, he was the main character in the performance. An instant eye catcher!

There was a special performance that night entitled The Las Vegas Topless Show - Night on Broadway, meaning the dancers dance topless. It catered only to 18 years old and above and the tickets were not cheap - 30 or 40 Sing per person. Curious, we decided to watch it... No pictures or videos were allowed to be taken. At the end of the show, I turned and asked my mom, "What was the objective of the show?" I would say that I wasn't their target audience or maybe I just didn't know how to appreciate their performance. To me, it was just plain dancing by topless girls and guys. Besides their professionalism, I don't see other things worthy of watching. For those of you who may stumble upon this show in the future, do think twice...

Day 4 (24/12/08) - Disembarking in Singapore.

We had to wake up darn early as the disembark time was 8 - 9am. Plus, we had to get our passports and all from the crew. There weren't much places that we could go at that hour. So we decided to go to Gu Chia Zhui/ Ngau Che Kok, in other words, Chinatown. It was raining and without much thought, we just took on a cab and head to our destination. Many shops were still closed. We couldn't do much except to look around in luggage shops and some souvenir shops, selling cheap watches, magnets, paper holder and even CNY decoration ornaments. My mom bought a whole lot of angpau packets from one of the shops. She was worried that Malaysia would run out of red packets. Haha... My dad was interested in buying luggage; I have no idea why. My two brothers bought a bagpack each. It seemed that it was cheaper to buy in Singapore. And... the most surprising thing was that... My dad was super duper eager to buy Wii. After a quite disappointing visit to Chinatown (too early!), we headed towards Bugis Street, the Petaling Street of Singapore. This time we took the ever convenient MRT. Despite my dad being very occupied with his work (on the phone almost the whole time) , he tagged along, walking around with us as we struggled to find our way.

Posing in the MRT. People could easily identify us as tourists.

In Bugis Junction.

Our next destination was Orchard Road. It wasn't as exciting because of the timing; it was daylight. Orchard looked ordinary and we didn't have the chance to appreciate its famous decorations and lighting. We just walked around the streets, taking picture of every decoration we saw, passing by 5 star hotels such as Hyatt and Hilton. By then, my dad's leg was beginning to ache and he could no longer walk as much anymore. The initial plan was for us to have lunch in Geylang, in the famous soya bean & yew cha kuei shop but considering that it peak hour, we gave up that notion. I was trying to find the food court that we had once eaten there before but it somehow just vanished. We searched high and low but it just never came into view. In the midst of the food court quest, we found a shop which sold Wii for 300Sing dollar, with one remote control only! No warranty, no games installed, no 2nd remote control. It was a very tempting offer but we declined anyways because it wasn't worth it with the tax and the risk of buying in another land; whatmore, without warranty! And that marked the end of our trip in Singapore...

Decorations in Orchard.

I think this was in front of Hyatt, or maybe Hilton.

Back in the ship, we prepared for Christmas Eve dinner. We were determined to dine in Four Seasons. Arriving at 6.10pm, we were taken aback when we saw the queue was as long as from my kitchen to my front door. How could we have forgotten?! The Singaporeans just embarked today! Their super kiasu-ness was really quite a scene and... rather unbearable...

Lucky for us, we managed to get a place.

Appetizer: Soft shell crab salad.

One of the main courses: Beef Wellington.

Salmon with honey mustard and mash potato.

Desert: Chocolate Log.

Sugar Santa Clauses.

After dinner was the Eve party at the pool deck. Many people gathered there for countdown including the crews. A few performances here and there.

By the Dance group with members from Brazil and Belaraus.

My hunk! Tall and handsome and darn good in dancing!

Entertainment crews. The corner girl is a Japanese. The rest are mainly from Phillipines.

Singer from Twice as Nice (Red top). And the other is the Crew Director.

Our Captain from Sweden.

The friendly Goldilicious. Remember the he-she performance. He's the one in gold.

Really a very friendly person.

After the pool party ended, my bro "met" an angmoh gal who called him to continue the party in Boomers Disco. We tagged along. There were other lads who were there as well. Most were underage. Knowing me who has never stepped into a club before, it was really not a familiar environment - dancing on the dance floor (soooo not my thing!), drinking alcohol (super a lot!) etc. My bro even asked me was I dancing Latin?! That's like the only dance that I know; what did you expect?! When the disco was closing at 2am, the young lads playfully harrassed the DJ but they gave in in the end and decided to continue their gathering at the pool deck. Only my elder bro went. I suppose he was hoping to get laid. Haha............ But.... his dream didn't come true. He was back sleeping at the cabin by morning.

A picture of our dressing table on the last night on ship.

Day 5 (25/12/08) - Checking out from Libra.

We checked out after breakfast and that marked the end of our cruise. Heard that they were selling Libra. I suppose I'll never have the chance to board it again.... Ciao!

Goodbye and farewell...