Star Cruise!!! A dream come true!!

As a teenager, when avertisements for Star Cruises were aplenty, I day dreamt about them. So, indeed, a dream come true.

The things that come to my mind as I think about the trip are the thoughts about the massive ship, the gentle waves that lick the ship, the ship moving effortlessly as though it were merely gliding, the sound of the sea and the cold breeze in the dead of the night, the blue sea and nothing else as far as the eye could reach and ... and.... the insane amounts of food, enough food to last a life time food orgy. Of the three days we spent there, no a single was I not over stuffed.

Remember, ye shall not step on a cruise, if thou art concerned about the extra deposits of fat which will go up by quite a remarkable number . All the fat deposits seem to have an uncanny ability to miraculously find way to my tummy.

It was a three day and three nights trip to Penang, Malaysia and Phuket, Thailand. Well, this post is going to get boring from this point on, as am going to pen down every single detail that I can remember. The essential warnings having been given out and assuming the user clicked on Ignore, I continue.

Star cruise Virgo!! 

Star Virgo

 The journey started on the 3rd of April. No need to say it was after 2 back to back days of celebrations. The 1st being Nephy's and the 2nd, Anto's birthday. Anto's birthday turned out to be quite a thrilling day with India winning the World cup. What better celebration for the cricket crazy husband ;) It turned out lovely. We had friends over at the house watching the match. Anto's friends S & S & S and my friends, the famed love-birds S & S. Seems like the 'S' numerology is working out big time for us.

Dear's 3rd birthday!

Lil princess

Sunday, the 3rd of April witnessed a very quick packing and shopping (a shopping where mommy managed to buy coolers, some t-shirts all under half an hour, that should be a record in itself.)

A very swift checkout, which needs no mention in this country, but deeply saddens me because my home land has none of it. Reminds me of those long queues at the immigration counters in Chennai. In Singapore, the number of counters for citizens is much more than the counters available for other nationals. However, in Chennai, the number of counter for other nationals is much more than the counters for citizens, step motherly treatment in my own home land. Why? :(

 Coming back to my sailing story, we stepped into the cruise without a Thailand Visa. The wise man in the family thought we could apply for an on-arrival visa when we reach Thailand. Looks like matters do not work that way on cruise, we are to submit our passports to the cruise staff before we enter and they apply on our behalf. So, the buggers charged us a royal 100 dollars per head. A thing we could have managed to do under 50$ a head in the comfort of our home. Lessons learnt, you need to have all required visa before you board your cruise and if you intend to count on on-arrival visa, prepare to shell out more bucks.


We entered the ship, all the time struck by its massive body. A very rich lobby serving champagne and juice and staff explaining to us what to do and such. Finally, we checked into our room and the balcony was just amazing , we ooh-aah ed over it and stepped out to check the rest of the ship. 



Lobby



Went to the ship's frontal end , the top deck and the pools and the terrace. Ooh, there was even a library, and we borrowed a couple of books, after all what is bliss if I don't stretch myself on a chair in that balcony, with the seas below and the stars above and nothing else as far as I could see, with a book.



The lil one lazing

Went to the galaxy of stars where there was a dance teaching session in progress. Nope, I didn't join them, lacked the confidence to step up and shake my booty. A rather very curious fellow was the teacher. he would deserve a post unto himself, not here though. Oh, right some of the ladies were showing off quite some moves!!

The top deck

Had dinner at one of the liner's restaurant, the meditteranean . After food, off to the Lido the grand theatre, where we caught up a magic show for Nephy's sake at the end of which, she dozed off. We got back to our room and gazed long and hard into the sea and the sky, those tiny waves that the ship makes, the sky jotted with numerous stars and the never ending quiet sea, a few specs and odd dots of light, a view to behold, and a dive from the balcony into the sea should be a sure shot way to heaven, or is that heaven in itself. I read somewhere that you could fall from upto 200m into the sea(disclaimer, my facts may be wrong)and still not be hurt. The temptation to dive into the sea was surprisingly strong, the peace and the quiet just called out to me. Well, am not suicidal and no, am not going anywhere witout seeing Anto with a mop of white hair and my lil darling walking down the aisle and my grandkids... :)

Day 2 dawned, yet again a heavy breakfast. We spent the morning at the galaxy of stars playing bingo.  Surprisignly I won!! I won, I won, I won!! Won 108$ , and paid 15$ for the ticket. Not bad , I say!

A dip in the swimming pool followed, thereafter an early lunch and we reached Penang at 12 noon. We stepped out and took a taxi around. First stop, chocolate factory, it turned out to be a shop selling chocolates, I wonder why they call it a factory though, gobbled the samples, bought more and headed to the next stop. Third longest reclining Buddha , there were two temples , one housed the reclining which I beleive the Thai people built and another with huge buddhas build by the Burmese. Beautiful temples. A priest there tied holy threads on our hands. 

Buddhist Temple, Penang

Reclining Buddha

chocolate factory, Penang

Final stop to Little India, had tea at Anada Bhavan, and surprisingly this one even served Non-veg. Went back to the ship again, and did another round of Bingo. 15$ down the drain. Off to the roon and I kept watch over the little one, while big darling went out to enjoy the night life.

Day 3 arrived and we reached Phuket. The little boats were eased out of the ship for us to reach the shore, Unlike Penang, where we got down on dry land right off the ship, Phuket was different. From the ship, there were small boats which took us to a wooden rop bridge built on the sea , which led to the shore. We hired a taxi, the taxi driver and we were totally out of sync this time. He had a mind of his own , and pretened not to understand when we insisted on something. He took us to an Animal show park, the first in the line was Monkey show. Next in the line, was a snake show, which I refused outright. Next was an elephant ride, which we skipped due to the long line. we headed off to a pearl factory, again a shop. Next stop was to buy souvenirs and finally sea food. Lobster and prawns... hmm, the Thai have perfected the art of cooking sea food, I must say.

To Phuket

Thai Seafood

Pearls & a miniature of a pearl farm

We returned back to the ship to spend our final night at sea. The dinner happened to be a gala dinner, thankfully the love-birds S & S who had already been on a cruise trip, warned us ahead to carry some formal clothes. The ladies were dresses in lovely cocktail gowns and dresses and the men wore suits. Went back to the room to stare more into the sea and the sky and ended our final night.

Day 4 dawned and we sailed through to reach back Singapore. I wanted to check the Casino, but with Nephy around we weren't allowed inside. So, we left Nephy at the child care for an hour and went down to the Casino. I learnt the game Bacarrat from a dealer and watched for a while and decide to bet 100$. We got all 5$ chips and played at a table which accepted minimum bets of 10$. We won back a 100$, we cashed it and felt quite lucky. Then we checked our the rear end of the ship and the kids swimming pool. In the afternoon, I set out by myself with a 50$ bill, back to the Casino. I played with the 50$ and got a 100 back. I came back singing to myself and I can't wait to go back to a Casino and lose it again. In SG, I have to pay a 100$ as entrance fee, which is rather uninviting. Next trip to Genting I say.... !! Is it true that you only win on your very first day at the casino?

Finally it was time to get down and go home. At 7pm, we stepped on land and set off to home with memories of a lovely trip and a longing for the sea, the quiet and the darkness.