SE Asia and China Cruise—Day 1 (Embarkation)

March 14, 2012—Embarkation

This morning we would start the embarkation process for boarding the Diamond Princess.  Since we had already checked in the previous night, we simply needed to get the checked luggage ready and have it just inside the door of our hotel room by 8:00am. 

I woke up early (of course), and was packed and had my suitcases ready for pickup by 6:00am.  Then it was time to get some coffee.  It had been raining steadily since the night before, so we didn’t plan to do anything or go sightseeing anywhere that morning.  From the little I’ve seen, I really like Singapore and would like to come back someday and spend more time here.  The architecture of the buildings is incredible—there were so many unusual building designs. 

My parents and I had breakfast next door at McDonalds—just couldn’t see spending almost $40 (Singapore dollars—which would be about $36 US dollars) for breakfast at the hotel and opted instead for the $5 value meal.  When we returned to our rooms, our luggage had been picked up—now I just hoped it would be delivered.  By 10:00am we were checked out of the hotel and took our carry on bags to the designated area to wait for our bus to the container dock. 

The Diamond isn’t able to dock at the main docks due to her size, so she had to dock at the container dock, about a 40 minute drive from our hotel.  At 11:30am, we boarded the bus.  The drive was pretty easy until we got to the container docks, where the bus had to wind its way through a maze of large shipping containers that were stacked six high.  When we finally caught sight of the Diamond moored at her berth, you could hear the comments from those folks on the bus who had never seen her before.  She is a very large ship (116,000 gross tons), and many people who had either never cruised before, or had cruised on much smaller ships, ooh’d and ahh’d about her size.  Since she is the sister ship of the Sapphire, I knew exactly what she would look like.  The only difference between the Diamond and the Sapphire, at least from the outside, was the name written on her hull. 

There was no cruise terminal building for the passengers to go through for the final boarding process.  Instead there were tables set up outside (luckily these were covered by large tents since the rain had continued unabated throughout the morning).  We presented our passports, check-in verification card, debarkation from Singapore card, and our embarkation to Thailand card (which we had filled out the previous night), and were given our cruise/cabin card.  It was a little disconcerting handing over our passports, but I had already expected the ship would keep them since they would need all the passports to present to all the immigration officials at the various ports when we arrived.  All the passengers were assured the ship would keep them safe. 

Once we received our cruise card (which is used as our ID, cabin key, and on-board charge card all in one), we walked up the gangway and onto the Diamond.  We were finally on board! 

We went straight to our suite cabin.  Wow—was it nice!  There was a foyer, a living room area, a separate bedroom, and a very large bathroom with both a shower and a separate tub.  The walk-in closet was more like a step-in closet, but there was still plenty of storage and drawer space for all three of us.

Our cabin was on Caribe deck and the balcony was twice the depth and width of a standard balcony cabin.  It was partially covered (by the balcony above us) and partially uncovered and open.  This is perfect since we would have both shade (and protection from the rain) as well as sun.

The living room sofa turned into a bed, so I had a place to sleep separate from my parents.  Sharing a suite would work fine for us and taking the "double-up" offer was worth it!

Since our luggage would be delivered later, we left the cabin—my parents headed toward the buffet and I wandered around the ship.  Since I was so familiar with the Sapphire, I knew my way around and simply walked around and enjoyed the feeling of being back “at home” on a ship.  It was so familiar I kept looking for crewmembers I knew and had to remind myself that this was the Diamond and not the Sapphire. 

I delivered the invitations for the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet to the Passenger Services Desk.  Since we had a suite, I was able to go to the designated Suite line instead of the longer line.  When I handed over the invitations, Russell assured me they would be delivered and then handed me his card and said that if I needed anything at all, to please let him know—the service has always been excellent on board, but having a suite takes it to an even higher level.

I stopped by the cabin to see if any of the luggage had arrived and some of it had been delivered.  Gerald, our cabin steward, stopped by to deliver our excursion tickets as well as vouchers for any travel agent gifts, and introduced himself.  He offered me a welcome aboard Champaign, but I declined—just too early to start drinking now (I knew with the jet lag, I wouldn’t be able to stay awake all day if I started drinking now!).  Gerald told me that this was his first day working suite cabins, and said that if there was anything at all that I needed to please let him know.  He also informed me of all the suite amenities that we would be entitled to (breakfast in Sabatini’s, canapés every afternoon in our suite, etc.)  After he left, I headed out to find my parents and let them know the luggage had started to arrive.

Although I didn’t expect to see Paolo, the staff captain I had met on my previous cruises, I ran into him while I was out walking around.  He welcomed me on board, and apologized for the embarkation process.  I told him that I thought it went very smoothly and he said that embarkation in Singapore was always a problem since DI (ship’s designation for the Diamond Princess) had to berth in the container port.  He also apologized for the slight list in the ship—when they had first docked, the tide was out so the gangways were very low; since then, the tide had come in and the ship had raised, but the lower gangways were causing the ship to list slightly, so he was on his way to order and oversee the change in the gangways to correct the ship’s listing.  He said he had been on duty since 2:30 that morning due to the weather and the Singapore approach.  He had told me previously that the Asia run was always very busy due to both weather and traffic intensive waters.  We chatted a little more, then I headed to the buffet to find my parents. 

They had just finished up eating, and we all headed back to the cabin to see if the rest of our luggage had arrived.  We spent a couple of hours unpacking, dividing up the closet and dresser drawers and setting some “ground rules” so we wouldn’t get on each other’s nerves.  Luckily, I get along great with my parents, so sharing a suite wouldn’t be a problem.

After unpacking, we agreed to meet back at the cabin at 5:00 so we could head to the muster training at 5:15.  I headed to Crooners Lounge and finally gave in and had a Bailey’s and coffee (I figured the coffee would keep me going).  At a little after 5:00, we headed to our muster station which was in the Explorers Lounge.  Once that was done, we went to the cabin to dress for dinner.  I called the Bonner’s cabin and we arranged to meet a little before 7:00 at the Pacific Moon Dining Room.

Dinner was good—I ordered the lobster and shrimp pate, tortellini and spinach soup, and prime rib; dessert was, of course, just cappuccino for me.  Our waiter was Jerry (he’s from the Philippines), and the service was, of course, very good. 

After dinner, my parents headed to the casino and I went to my favorite lounge.  I talked with the bartender, Angelo, and with a couple of the other bar waiters, exchanging the usual, “how many contracts they had worked, and how long they had been on Diamond, how many cruises I had been on, etc.”  Turns out that a couple of them know Nigel as well as Dennis (the bartenders I had gotten to know on the Sapphire).  Churchill’s looks exactly like Churchill’s on the Sapphire, and I kept expecting to see Devenish or Dennis there, but of course, they weren’t.  Still, the bartenders and waiters on board Diamond were friendly and easy to talk to and I know I’ll get to know them well over the next couple of weeks.

With the jet lag combined with the wine I had for dinner and the after dinner drinks, I called it an early night and headed for my cabin around 10:30.  My parents had just gone to bed, but were not yet asleep, so at least I hadn’t disturbed them when I came in.  I was ready for bed and sound asleep before 11:00.