April 14th, 2025 (Half way point of cruise)

During our sea day, on the way to Jakarta, we visited with destination services to ask them the address of where we would be docked in Jakarta. We knew it was a huge port and mostly industrial and we were trying to find an address to arrange a ride to the embassy. They were not overly helpful and instead of giving us an address they gave us a port name.

Earlier in the cruise we had dinner with the General Manager Claudio and we usually see him on board. Unlike Viking his office is not public and there are no posted hours but we usually see him around the ship. When we saw him on the sea day prior to Jakarta we asked him if he knew our situation and he said he did. He said “I understand you have an appointment in Jakarta” and we said we were trying to arrange a private car but we were having trouble getting an address. He said not to worry he would arrange for the ride and he would get back to us before the end of the sea day. Later that day we got a call from Fabio, the executive concierge, that he had been instructed by Claudio to arrange a ride for us and that the car would be waiting as soon as we docked and would be a charge of 100.00 US and did we want to pay in cash or have it added to our ship board account. We said to add it to the account.

We were downstairs waiting for the ship to set up the gangway before 7am. There was a little delay and at 7:10 the port agent came on board and immediately asked for the 2 people that needed transport to the embassy? We identified ourselves since no one from the ship had come to assist us and once clearance was given we were the first off escorted by the port agent. He led us through the terminal and outside to where there were several taxis waiting. The other reason we had the boat arrange the ride was because we were worried that at 7am there would not be rides waiting. One of the reasons we thought there would not be taxis was because the port guide distributed by the boat said “NO Taxis at the port”. So more misinformation.

Jakarta was a new port for us and we had scheduled a ship’s tour but had to cancel it when we realized we had to the embassy. As a side note the tour ticket said it had to be canceled by 5pm Saturday April 11th and when we went down on Saturday we were told we were a day late in canceling the tour. We pointed at the ticket and explained that it said Saturday and it was Saturday but they had the right date on the ticket but the wrong day of the week. To be honest when you are a day ahead of where you live and trying to keep track of what date/day it is on the boat versus at home it gets confusing and we were concentrating on the day of the week and not the actual date. So not sure if they refunded the tour or not. Another thing to handle before we get off.

We were a little disappointed not to get to see Jakarta besides the taxi rides to and from the embassy. Jakarta is a huge city and 33 million people live in Jakarta. It is the second largest urban area in the world. What that meant for us was tons of traffic even early in the morning. Our taxi driver was not overly aggressive and also not 100% sure where he was going. He finally dropped us off a little after 8am and he wanted to get a picture of us in front of the embassy, we guess as proof he delivered us so he could get paid. Of course he fumbled his camera several times and kept making us wait to get the photo so I can only imagine my facial expression. There was a line at the embassy but when we showed our printed out appointment they had us go right through. They had a box for you to put all your electronics in. This includes phones, watches, power banks and iPads. They write the contents in a notebook and give you a number to retrieve your items. They also give you a visitors badge and point you in the right direction after you go through the metal detector. They also give you numbers which they use to call you up to the various windows when you get to the passport section. We had brought the ship’s itinerary and explained our situation and the women took all the info and had us sit back down while she checked to see what they could offer us. After a few minutes another women called us up to the window to explain about the emergency passport option. We explained that the ship was concerned that the emergency passport would not be accepted by all our remaining ports and she said she would look and see what she could find out. We also asked if there was any way she could call the ship and ask them their concerns about the emergency passport and we gave her the number for the local port agent which is the only number we had. She had us sit back down and after 15 minutes a 3rd person came and spoke with us and said that they could not get a hold of anyone on the ship and from what they could research on-line we would be okay with an emergency passport. She also told us she would e-mail her friend at the South African embassy and see if she could get more info about the emergency passport and she would e-mail us. We gave her both our e-mail addresses and declined the emergency passport until we had more info, knowing that we still had the appointment in Singapore. We went back to security and picked up our belongings. On a side note, on my Apple Watch I have a plastic cover to protect the screen of the watch. I have had this for over a year and it snaps on to the watch face and is very difficult to get off. It has never fallen off and when I take it off to clean the watch face it snaps off. I did not notice it when I picked up the watch but noticed it a few hours later that the cover was no longer on my watch and I am convinced the security at the embassy “borrowed” it. IN total the trip to the embassy took about 3 hours.

We grabbed a taxi from the embassy. The boat had offered to provide a ride back to the port but that would have been another 100 dollars and we had no idea how long the embassy would take. Also the boat was offering a shuttle to a shopping mall which was close to the port. We showed the taxi driver the mall name on google maps and he nodded his head that he knew where it was. It took about 15 minutes to get to the mall and the cost of 100,000 rupiahs or 6 US dollars. Even if you double that we would have been up to 12 dollars and the boat charged us 100.00.

The mall was huge and had several levels.and most importantly it was air-conditioned. With Jakarta being so big it was not like we could walk around on our own and see the city. Kathy was needing a haircut and a pedicure and we were both stressed about our passport predicament that we still had no solution for.. We found a great coffee shop that had frozen drinks and I had a Frappuccino and Kathy had a brown sugar iced latte. They had really great donuts there and they were selling them by the box loads but we had not had lunch yet so we skipped the donuts.

The inside of the mall.

We found a salon that did not seem busy and Kathy went in and asked if they could give her a haircut. They did not speak much English but we managed to communicate. They had 1 guy wash her hair and give her both a scalp massage and a shoulder massage and then another guy cut her hair. He took his time and did a great job. While he was finishing Kathy said she would not mind a pedicure so I went to the desk and asked if they could squeeze that in. I also thought I may as well get my haircut since we were there and had no other plans so I got a scalp and shoulder massage along with my haircut.

Kathy being pampered.

I had a different person cut my hair and he was much more into product than Kathy’s guy. He put powder and vaseline and something else in my hair and styled it and poofed it out that I did not even recognize myself. I would not let Kathy get a picture of me when he was done and while I liked the cut I could not wait to put a hat on to hide the puffiness.

After we both had shampoos and scalp massages and haircuts and blow dires and Kathy had a pedicure I paid the bill and the total charge for everything was 55.00. We walked around and gave everyone 100,000 rupiah tips for their efforts.

We spent most of the afternoon at the mall since we did not want to go back to the ship and we did not know what else to do. We had lunch at a Wendy’s in the mall and I ordered a chicken sandwich and Kathy had a baked potato. When we had arrived at the mall we had asked one of the security guards where the shuttle dropped people off from the cruise ship. He got another person who ran and brought the person over who was helping with the shuttle. She showed us the shuttle schedule and where to pick up the shuttle.

On our way out, while waiting for the shuttle, we stopped back by the donut coffee place and got 2 more of the same drinks and 2 donuts. When Kathy went to pick up the drinks they gave her 2 more donuts, not sure why. He said free today…

Our 5.40 cent treat.

We took the shuttle back to the boat and again disappointed that we did not see more of Jakarta but more important to get answers from the embassy.

Some of the high rises in Jakarta from the bus window.

That evening we went down to talk with Fabio to let him know what we had found out at the embassy. He said he had just left us a message to see how the day went but we had no message when we got back to the room. While we were telling Fabio what we found out the general manager Claudio showed up and they called MiLisa (the women who first told us the passport issue and apparently is the one in charge of making sure all passports are in order). We explained what the embassy had said and that we had not gotten the emergency passport which they were very happy with. We then asked what was the latest we get off and then back on saving enough space for South Africa. We figured we would stay in a resort somewhere in Thailand and then pick the boat back up. They want us to get off in Phuket because the next stop after Phuket is Sri Lanka and we have 2 ports in Sri Lanka and they will add 4 stamps to our passports so if we could avoid Sri Lanka and India we would be able to sqeak by for the rest of the trip. We texted Kris and James to start looking for resorts in Phuket and the Maldives that we could stay in for about 10 days and we started researching flights from Phuket to the Maldives so we could join the ship.

One thing we did mention to the general manager was that if we got off for 10 days could we keep everything in our room and just take off minimal luggage and he said what Kathy already knew and that was no. he said company policy would not allow anyone to get off and keep things like we were coming back because what happened if for some reason we did not come back. So now the idea of getting off for 10 days and carting all our luggage with us and staying in a place in Phuket because it is cheaper than the Maldives and then flying to the Maldives and staying at least 1 night there to be sure we caught the ship was much less appealing.

We had another day at sea to weigh all our options before we hit Singapore and we still had the appointment at the embassy on day 1. Through all of this the boat has offered no suggestions just telling us we have to get off before we hit the first port in India.

Honestly at this point we are ready to just fly home and call it a loss but when we dock in Cape Town we have a safari planned that includes Victoria Falls and Kruger National Park. We planned it independently and at this stage we are not eligible for a refund so we really need to be in Cape Town on May 23rd.

Moon rise in the wake of the boat.