April 16th, 2025
We spent the day at sea researching flights and realizing that flying to the Maldives to join the ship was not going to be easy or cheap or a short flight. Plus as mentioned before we would be taking everything out of room to then bring it all back for a few weeks and then packing it all back up in Cape Town. Plus 1 thing we did not mention was that on safari you are allowed minimal luggage on the regional flights so were going to have the safari company meet us in Cape Town, weight what luggage we did not want or need to take with us on safari and ship it to Johannesburg to meet us when we are to fly home on May 29th. We have no idea what that is going to cost and we have concerns over the safety of the luggage and will we actually see it again. With all of these concerns and barriers we are now leaning towards going home and getting an expedited renewed passport and then flying back to Cape Town and forget rejoining the ship. I want to reiterate that the passports and having enough pages in them was our responsibility BUT if we had been informed earlier we could have flown home from Tahiti or even New Zealand and dealt with it and re-joined the ship but now our options are more limited and since the majority of our remaining destinations are remote it is more expensive to fly out of and into. When we docked in Singapore we called Kris & James to discuss options and at that point they told us that we needed 3 blank pages for Zimbabawe via for the safari. Another oversight on our part since we had not even considered or been sent anything about the safari passport requirements. This was another blow to our planning and making it look more and more like we just need to go home and deal with this.
We decided that there was no point in going to the embassy. We did have another thought of applying for a renewed passport in Singapore and asking if we could pick it up in Cape Town but we decided there was too many chances for a disconnect with that plan.
So we were just going to enjoy Singapore while we still were figuring out what we would do. I would like to add that no one from the boat has ever checked on us, asked us if they could help in any way or how we were doing. Maybe we are spoiled by Viking but we would like to think that they would have done a much better job with this. Also compared to the majority of the boat we are mobile and flexible full mental capabilities and we cannot imagine how we would be feeling if we were older and not quite as independent . in addition this is not our first Oceania cruise. They have several levels as we have mentioned before and we are pretty far up the food chain and still not being offered any help. We know they want us to take full responsibility for this and as we are aware of liability by admission (working in healthcare) but still they could check on us.
As we were leaving the boat in Singapore for our first day out the future cruise consultant, Jennifer, did offer us a few sympathetic words to our predicament and ask if the embassy was any help. We told her that we had no solution but thanked her for at least asking.
Attached to the Singapore cruise terminal is a huge mall and we decided we needed some retail therapy to take our mind off our issues. Thanks to Kris & James we had dinner reservations at a well known restaurant in Singapore called Jumbo Seafood where they were treating us to dinner. So we had no plans until 7pm. We wandered the mall and hit several of our favorite stores. I scored 2 new pairs of pants and a great light weight sun jacket and Kathy got a shirt at Uni Glo and Kathy got 2 pairs of shorts and 2 t-shirts at Muji and then we both got a pair of UV lightweight sun pants and Kathy got a new sun hat at Oh Sunny which is known for their sun protection clothes. I also bought a new pair of glass frames and will have my lenses put in when we get home. One of the reasons we were willing to go on a little bit of a shopping spree was by now we had pretty much decided the best course of action was to fly home and not try to meet the boat at a later date. One of the positives of this was that we could pack differently for the safari and just take the minimal amount of supplies needed and not need to worry about extra luggage.
We had lunch in the mall at a vegetarian place and Kathy had a tofu dish and I had spring rolls. It was excellent. We then went back to the boat and dropped off all our purchases and while we were out and about and since we had pretty much decided to just go home we wanted to ask if we could stay on the boat until Colombo, Sri Lanka which would be 5 extra days past Phuket. Our thinking was that if we did not need the 2 blank pages for South Africa what did it matter if Sri Lanka stamped the passport 4 times using up more of our blank spaces. Plus I had checked flights and cheaper and quicker to leave from Sri Lanka than Phuket. Plus one of the excursions I was most excited about was in the first port in Sri Lanka where we had the opportunity to go to YaLa National Park which is known for leopards. We were supposed to go there last year on the Viking world cruise but the port time got shortened so we did not make it.
We found Fabio and as soon as we sat down to explain to him our new idea Claudio the General manager showed up. It is almost like Fabio had a hidden button to alert Claudio that we were asking questions. I think they keep waiting for us to cause a scene or something. They were both surprised that we were now thinking of not rejoining the ship and said they had to check with MiLisa but they thought it was doable and Fabio would get back with us that evening.
We headed out for dinner around 4pm and we were thinking we would walk to the restaurant even though it said it was an hour and 15 minute walk. We thought we had plenty of time and we could take walk leisurely and not get too sweaty even though 90 degrees outside. We ended up turning around when the directions were taking us up hill and through private property. We headed to the metro station instead and as we were trying to figure out what line we needed to take a nice gentleman stopped and asked us where we were trying to go. We told him Orchard road which is a very famous shopping street in town and he told us which line to take, where to get off and pick up another line. He made sure we understood before he headed off. We were grateful for his kindness. The metro in Singapore is very robust and like Sydney, Australia you tap your credit card when you get on and then when you get off and it charges you the proper amount.
One of the underground walkways in the metro connecting one station to another. Very clean and no loitering.
We got off on Orchard street with 90 minutes to spare before our reservation and because Singapore is so hot they have a very robust underground with tons of malls and eateries and one shopping plaza connects into another and before you know it you have walked a mile underground.
The building where our dinner reservations were. You can see all the high end shops. Prada, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Hermes, Cartier and Dior.
The restaurant is Jumbo Seafood and while the dress is casual they are famous for their chili crab.. When they seat you they show you what time they expect you to finish your meal by. So we had a sign on our table saying 7pm for 2 people departing by 8:30. We thought that was brilliant and more restaurants should do that.
We had a table just like this by the window.
We had a table right by the window looking down on Orchard street. We were looking over the menu, trying to decide what to order and knowing that our friends had been very generous and given us vouchers for 250 singapore dollars that we needed to spend or it would be wasted. A lot of items on the menu had no prices and were sold by the kilograms including the famous chili crab. We decided on a bottle of wine and some garlic broccoli and Malaysian noodles and chili crab and black pepper crab. When you are ready to order you push a button at the table and the server comes. While we were waiting the table right next to us, who had just been seated, overheard us talking and the gentleman asked us if we would like some recommendations. We told him what we were thinking and he was surprised at both the chili crab and the black pepper crab. he said you know that that is a kilo each so that is a lot of crab”. He told us the chili crab was the best and that the Malaysian noodles was something everyone got. We thanked him and when no one showed up after hitting our button twice he stopped someone and helped us get our order placed. Once you place the order they bring you a print out of what you ordered and as they bring the items to the table you they scratch them off the order sheet. It was a little weird as the broccoli came first and then the crab and lastly the noodles. We also got a bottle of wine. When you first sit down they have a basket. like a laundry hamper for any items you have with you like a purse, shopping bag or back pack.
When our crab showed up our friendly helpful neighbor reminded us to put on our bibs and our gloves provided to us. Of course I was wearing a white t-shirt.
Kathy at our table with her bib on.
A picture of the whole kilo of chili crab and Kathy with her bib and gloves on. We also got 2 buns to soak up the sauce from the chili crab.
The aftermath. How they keep the table cloths clean we have no idea. amazingly we stayed clean and we were stuffed and could not finish the noodles. It was also nice to have fresh broccoli as the boat has not had any.
I was thinking we had not spent the whole 250 so asked them to give me a total and we were at 281. That was good since neither one of us could have eaten another bite. I did ask about helpful table mate, before they left, about tipping and he said absolutely not so that was good information.
We walked back to the metro and it was a quick and easy ride back to the ship. The metro lets you out in the mall next to the port and much to our surprise there was a Shake Shack right there. Of course we had to stop and get a shake to cap off our wonderful meal. When we got back to the ship we did have a message from Fabio saying he had checked with MiLisa and that we could stay on until Sri Lanka and then fly home if we were not planning on rejoining the ship with the same passport. That was actually some good news finally. That gives us another week on the ship so we only miss out on the last 3 weeks and Turkish air has a very reasonable business class flight from Sri Lanka, with one quick stop in Istanbul and then non-stop to Atlanta. We wanted to check one more time with Kris and James in the morning before we made the final arrangements.
We have 1 more day in Singapore and most of the passengers are getting off in the morning and only about 40 are staying on for the next leg. So tomorrow we will have tons of new people. Also to add insult to injury our room steward who has been excellent and we just got on the 2nd leg in Auckland is being reassigned to the 8th floor because they need an experienced person up there.