Day-05: Singapore - Boarding Our Ship Nautica

Day-04: Thursday, February 6, 2014

Beginning Location: Singapore
Final Location: Singapore, Aboard M/V Nautica

Our schedules were somewhat normalized this morning, both of us awake sometime after 0600. The plan for the day is simple, get up, have breakfast, check out of the hotel and embark upon the ship.

Our breakfast routine has become just that, routine though we did go down for breakfast earlier today. Once again I tried the "local" breakfast cuisine and today went one step further by attempting to use the chop sticks, a diet plan in and of themselves. Today's local favorites included Potato Curry, Japanese Rice, Fried Bee Hoon, Chicken Yam Dumpling and Fried Rice (Veggie Version) along with a variety of fruits, juices and coffee. Okay, I did have some bacon, a lot of bacon; one must replace the protein lost from eating all of those veggie entrees.

Upon return to our room we finished packing and by 1100 were in the hotel lobby, checked out and ready for a cab ride to the cruise terminal; but just which cruise terminal. Seems that the bellman and taxi driver had different terminals in mind; clearly we were of no help as our Mandarin linguistic skills were lacking. In the end the issue was settled and we were on our way and as one would hope we arrived at the proper terminal for there before us was our home on the water, the M/V Nautica glistening with its shiny white paint and blue trim.

Check-in was easy, token security if it can even be considered that. Not sure the metal scanning machines were even turned on. By noon we were aboard the ship, checked in and had been shown to our "not quite ready stateroom". Our hostess was none other than the Chief Housekeeper, no chief by U.S. Navy standards as she was wearing enough stripes to be a Commander no less. The "Chief" was a stereotypical Bulgarian woman and a person you would want working for you but I'm sure I wouldn't want to work for her, very efficient by Bulgarian standards if you know what I mean.

We found our way to the Terrace Cafe for a light lunch while we waited for notice that our room was ready. Sheila and I had salads and soft drinks and chatted up a couple at an adjacent table. Robin and Doug were from Kansas City so the immediate "cousin" link #1 had been made. They also had a retirement home in, where else but, North Carolina link #2, only three blocks from kids and grand kids in Wilmington. Then there was the Boston University link, the Cornell link, the highway Civil Engineering link, etc. They are serious cruisers, having done one or sometimes two Oceania cruises a year. With their cruise experience, they were able to offer some tips on life at sea.

During lunch the cruise director, Willie Aames made a variety of announcements and upon returning to our stateroom he was on TV giving more details than one can ever remember about life, events, schedules and general safety on board the ship. One alarming statistic was, and I question the veracity of this fact, that on average a passenger will gain one pound/day on a cruise; that is a scary thought.

Soon after entering our room, we were met by our butler, yes I said butler., seems that we have a room stewardess, Veronika and to meet our every other need a room butler, Iljco. All we are missing is the big "gong chain" to pull when we desire service.  We very efficiently unloaded our bags and officially moved in as residents for the next 32 days.

Our next objective was ship familiarization, we traipsed from deck-to-deck, aft-to-stern, port-to-starboard stopping at various points for directions and in a couple of cases to update our tour itineraries. We met with the travel agent's onboard representative Zara, who helped with some adjustments to our tour schedules and offered general cruise info including the fact that for this first segment USNA is outgunned 5-to-1 when paired against USMA. GO NAVY!

Later we attended a lecture on the history of Singapore and the WWII fall of Singapore to the invading Japanese Army.

NOTE: By now we had met a few but seen many of the 500 or so passengers that would be on the cruise. My assessment is that though there are others our age and a few younger, we are helping to lower the average age for this cruise. As I mentioned to Sheila, "I don't feel as old as many of these people look"; she told me, not in these words, that I should occasionally look in a mirror.

Around 2000 we returned to the cafe and again had salads and a few other "lite" bites for dinner. The night was growing long and we were having trouble keeping our eyes open. I took a thirty minute walk around the ship so I could at least extend my day until 10 PM.

Say good night!