CRUISE 2008

It is that time of the year when we both have a longing to cruise again ( this our fifth time, if we do go ) just as we did almost about the same time last year with the difference that last year we set sail on 30th May and this year it is 23rd May and ironically enough it is back to the Mediterranean but with the difference that this time we sail the opposite way which leads us to Southampton, England , as our final destination.

When we last had our cruise, we put a deposit to secure a booking for South America which would have taken us over the Cape Horn. We felt excited then at the prospects of this new region which we had never been before and had been wanting to see and experience. Thus we brought home with us all the brochures on it. Not wanting to leave out our gin rummy gang of Sabri , Nuruiani and Mahatun on this great trip, we invite them to join us. It is all excitement for quite some time until we look up our travel agent Karen, who tells us that the cost of this cruise would be nearing RM 20,000 each ! That is indeed a staggering figure to all of us. Almost immediately we have second thoughts on it. After some discussion and fact findings we decide to take the Mediterranean route instead since Sabri, Nuruaini and Mahatun have never been on this route.. So as to avoid repeating the former route which we did last year, this time around, the route covers the opposite direction and at a cost we can all more or less afford to. Thus it is finalized.

As usual, words about our intended cruise reach other ears and end up with other friends of Sabri and Nuruani. Thus we now have twelve in number! For the record the friends that come on this cruise include Dr Rahim Omar (Physician) and wife Dr. Zubaidah (Orthodontist ), Dr. Mohamed Bahari ( Surgeon ) and wife Aisyah, Hj Abdul Wahab( Retired Director General ) and wife Nona , Bibi Maria ( retired Headmistress of Sekolah Menengah Petaling ) Mahatun, Sabri and Nuruaini . To get ourselves acquainted prior to the cruise, we invite our new cruise friends to lunch at our house for a simple laksa. The contention is, not to over feed ourselves prior to the cruise which will most certainly fatten us up like it always did in our previous ones. We would have had the company of Zaharah Hashim , Ainul’s cousin, if not for her late withdrawal, even after she had paid the initial deposit, because she had to attend to urgent family matters which required her personal attention. We miss her this time, but we know that someday she will join us in our future cruise. Insyaallah, we might cruise South America next and sail around Cape Horn !

The cruise destinations this time around would cover eleven ports of call amongst which are Livorno (Italy), Cannes (France for Monte Carlo), Barcelona (Spain), Gibraltar, Casablanca ( Morocco for Marrakech), Cadiz / Lisbon (Portugal), Vigo (Spain) for Santiago de Compostela, Le Havre (France) for Paris/ Normandy and Southampton / London( England ) Thus in all we will cover six countries.

So there we are on our first leg of our journey to Rome prior to embarking on the Diamond Princess. Leaving Kuala Lumpur by MAS MH 014 at 2345 hrs, we reach Rome 12 hrs 10 mins later at 0555 hrs and transfer to our Londra Cargill Hotel or better known as Hotel Londra & Cargill Rome. This 4 stars luxury hotel of 95 splendid rooms and 10 executive suites, is located in the historical centre of Rome, at about 400 metres from Via Veneto, within walking distance to Spanish Steps and close to the main Archeological sites such as the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. Despite these attractions nearby, the hotel itself is on a very quiet and safe location. We are on twin sharing rooms with very comfortable king size beds and standard hotel fittings and furniture to provide comfort for the long distance travelers such as ourselves. Indeed after that long flight, the hotel facilities here are heavenly gift indeed !

Our first port of call for embarkation is Civitavecchia in Rome, where we stay for the first two nights at Londra Carhill hotel in Rome, from where we embark on our sight seeing tours. An incidence worthy to note is the exasperating hours of waiting for our transport pick up from the airport to our hotel. Apparently there is a miscommunication on the pick up time and it being a Sunday there is no way to connect to the local agents’ office. Eventually we managed to contact our travel agent Karen to sort out our problem, without which we cannot fathom what would have happened to all of us. Already our group members feel desperate enough to hire taxis on our own, which if that had taken place, the cost could be exorbitant indeed in Rome ! Earlier I try to seek the help of the airport information service as well as local transport counters, but none of them was even willing let us use their phones to connect to our hotel. The attitude they give us is " it’s not our problem" ! When we reflex back, Malaysians have always been hospitable and helpful to strangers and foreigners when it comes to this kind of incidence. Anyway, eventually we are very happy to be at our hotel which is centrally located and within access to eating shops and groceries.

Since some of us have never visited Rome before, we get Karen to arrange for a sight-seeing city tour and the main attractions are the Roman Coliseum and the Roman Forum, where most of our party members get to spend some time there. For Ainul and I as well as Dr. Rahim and Dr. Zubaidah, we just relax at the nearest souvenir shops to await their return after which we all got back to our hotel to spend the rest of the day at our leisure

Back at the hotel we get ourselves organized to get to know the nearest restaurants for our next meals for lunch and dinner. I for one am always concerned about having adequate water to drink and this as usual is phenomenally costly in this part of the world. Through the help of our friends Wahab and wife who arrived a day earlier than us, he shows us the nearest shop to provisions as well as acceptable restaurants to eat . Feeling hungry we just have to have a nice meal and it shocks us that it costs 45 Euros ! A bottle of water costs 1 ½ Euro ! At this juncture there is a need to note just how expensive the meals are in this part of the world in comparison to what they cost in KL. Mentally we are all prepared for this. We treat a Euro as if it is a Ringgit. Only thing is we cannot help counting the depletion to our Euro reserves.

The next day, our tour for the day is Rome’s famous Tivoli Gardens . Like all Tivolis in Europe, this one has almost the same concept of entertainment with the difference being this is more historical in outlooks and kind of quaint place to be at since it is on top of a mountain overlooking a panoramic view of the villages and neighboring towns below it. We all enjoy being there and more especially with the Mediterranean style food, which consists of chicken and salads that they serve us. Earlier on in the bus our Dr. Bahari asked me to make a special request for sea food for us Malaysians or if not an exception for him and his wife. We are not successful there ! Hence for Dr. Bahari especially who does not eat chicken overseas, he has to be content with eating the salads alone. It is one of those things that we all have to bear with when going overseas. This incidence cannot but brings back to my mind the numerous overseas tours we had had in the past when we travel with the majority being Chinese travellers. The Chinese are so concerned about having only their Chinese food as the main meals daily , we get rather fed up and felt deprived of the opportunities to savour and taste the local foods at all these foreign countries.

Anyway, so as not to miss out on the real Italian pizza, on the last night’s stay in Rome, we lavish ourselves by going to a real Italian Pizza restaurant called Cartone Ondulato Riciclabile, which was first opened in March 1973 and situated not very far from our hotel. The pizza we all have is so different from all the pizzas in our country, because ours are all on food chains and hence a generic version of the original here in this restaurant. The pizza here is so delicious and cheese rich in taste. By way of letting everyone enjoys the different pizzas being served, we order according to each other’s choice and later get to exchange these with each other so as to savour the difference. They are just glorioust and later on our trip, we cannot help talking about it . It is indeed a rare experience, true to the saying, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do " which in this case, we sample their pizzas !. As a momento of our visit there, and thinking that little Aisya will certainly appreciate the intricate drawings of the take away pizza box, I manage to persuade the chief waiter to give me this special take away paper box for Aisya. This I now have in my office room back home to send to Aisya later on.

That to a certain extend is why Ainul and I choose to travel by cruise ships, on which it always is a food galore for everyone on board. We only get to embark on the Grand Princess, our cruise ship at noon of 26th May 2008

True to its name, the Grand Princess is a consummate host at sea, rivaling the most luxurious resorts on land. This seventeen storey Grand Princess cruise ship plys to Alaska, Australia, Asia, Hawaii & Tahiti, and Europe. It is the largest and most innovative of the Princess vessel yet - gross tonnage 109,000 , net tonnage 71,763, length overall 951 feet, breadth 118 feet, fuel capacity 2649 tons, fresh water capacity 2731 tons, normal passenger capacity 2,600, 750 cabins , normal crew figure 1150. Built in 1998, with the Official number 10853, its port of registry is Hamilton, Bermuda and it has a cruising speed of 22.5 knots, which is pretty fast for a cruise ship of its size.

On board it has many high-tech features. One of its outstanding features is its environmentally advantageous diesel and gas turbine powered electric propulsion, with gas turbine situated in the funnel. It has four swimming pools as well as children’s splash pool; an aft terrace with bar and pool ; conservatory consisting of a swimming pool and bar, with a balcony deck and sliding glass roof high above ; a central pool with bar where the giant open air cinema screen features movies; Asian-themed Lotus spa with fitness centre and outdoor sunken terraced pool ; multiple main dining rooms featuring Princess’ unique personal choice dining options ; 24-hour dining - buffet/bistro and room service, besides pool side pizzeria, hamburger grill and ice cream bar.; an exclusive Italian restaurant ; large forward theatre for the ship’s original Broadway and Las Vegas-style productions ; sports bar ; casino ; atrium with shops, two bars, art gallery , library and writing room ; nautical-themed wheel house bar ; hearts and minds wedding chapel with cruise industry’s only wedding-at-sea program where passengers can be married by the ship’s captain ( of course this is not applicable to Muslims ) ; Asian and African-themed explorers lounge ; aft show lounge - high tech club fusion features 42 high-definition video screens and spiral staircase leading to Wake View Bar below ; one of the largest Internet cafes at sea with 29 computer stations ; dedicated teen’s and children’s area with a total of 9,686 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, plus a dedicated pool area for teens ; hair saloon, health centre and spa ; nine hole golf putting course and two golf simulators to enable passengers to virtually play the finest courses in the world ; sports deck ; sky walkers disco/lounge plus a 125-foot wide balcony that provides commanding views over the aft end of the ship where passengers can enjoy stargazing. All in all these are areas for explorational experience for the discerning passengers on board.. Indeed even for us who by this time has had five cruising experiences with the Princess’ ships, we never get bored with being there. There is no holiday that is more wholesome and exciting than these cruises. It can only be desribed as Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious !!!

At exactly 1230 noon local Roman time 26th May 2008, our party of twelve eagerly and enthused cruisers at last boarded the Grand Princess for our much anticipated twelve nights cruise adventure.

( TO BE CONTINUED )
Tunku Farid