Mercifully, we had a late checkout, which gave us plenty of recovery time to prepare for the cross-town trip with suitcases in tow.  With plenty of time, and the MRT being so easy to use with lifts everywhere, we’d decided to travel by train to the cruise terminal.  We broke out our EZ Passes one more time, and successfully navigated to our destination.  Finding your way around huge underground stations with multiple levels and lines, is almost as good as an indoor orienteering competition, and gave us our map reading fix.  From here on in, we’d be leaving the navigating up to the ship’s crew.

This is the first cruise we’ve done that requires entry to multiple countries (previously its all just been Europe pre-Brexit, or Antarctica, where technically you don’t leave Argentina).  Embarkation involved numerous checks of passports, visas, security, passports again, and finally we were on the gangway; the whole process took an hour but was very organised.  There are over 3.5 thousand passengers, and 8000 pieces of luggage – quite an undertaking.

Our ship of choice for this cruise is Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas, launched in 2019 (so it did very little for a couple of years) and designed for the Asian market, as it home ports in Singapore and Yokohama, and will move to Shanghai next year.  We chose it simply because it has an overnight stop in Hong Kong, and was a good way to join the dots between Singapore and Japan.  We’ve hardly travelled in Asia, so a lot of this is new to us. 

It’s also four years since our last cruise of this type (as opposed to the Hurtigruten, which was very different). However so far, it all seems pretty familiar – the basic layout is the same, with the dining room and theatre at either end of Deck 4, the buffet and pool deck on Deck 14, and our cabin on Deck 9.  The big difference between Princess and Royal is that Royal is more geared for families, with lots of activities like climbing walls and dodgem cars; Princess is more traditional.  Both have the usual raft of trivia quizzes, dance classes, theatre shows, and umpteen ways to spend money if you so wish.

Spectrum certainly is more modern in design, and we find it easy enough to get around; the stairs are our means of getting some exercise.  The décor is more colourful and quirky – no dramatic golden staircase or giant atrium, but lots of interesting odds and ends scattered around everywhere. We also like that the casino is off to the side, and you are not forced to walk through it, and the shops are less “in your face”; so far there has been much less upsell than we’ve had on other cruises.  The passengers are also very diverse in background and age, and you hear a really wide range of languages.

The food so far has been similar; the buffet here is better, as it feels more spacious, and it has a gluten free section which means Ian can help himself to lunch without having to ask, or guess.  The cabin layout is also good, with plenty of floor space and enough drawers and cupboards.  We were also happy to see a proper shower screen rather than the dreaded Curtain of Clinginess.

After unpacking and having lunch, we spent some time exploring the ship.  So far, my favourite place is the Solarium, an adults only area which occupies the bow on Deck 14.  It has a clear roof, a small pool and hot tubs, and lots of lounges. It is very relaxed and quiet there.  We found some other nice spaces, and checked out the best vantage points for sailaway views.  An ominous looking storm was gathering over Singapore as we left, but the sea was calm and we’ve barely felt the ship move. 

On Hurtigruten, we always knew we were sailing, as we could always see outside, and there was always a reason to gaze out of a window.  Here, we really are in a giant floating hotel, and you could pretend the outside world doesn’t exist, unless you make an effort to find it.  We get passing glimpses as we walk to breakfast and lunch via the pool deck, but otherwise we could be anywhere, and certainly don’t have any sense of motion.

At 6pm we boarded the “North Star”, best described as a bubble suspended from a giant hoist, dangling above the pool.  You gently rise up way above the top deck, and swing sideways, for a real bird’s eye view.  Quite a bizarre feeling.  Then it was dinner and show time, before an early night.

In an inside cabin there is no daylight to wake you, so we slept till 9am. Today was a “sea day”, as we sail to our first port of call in Vietnam tomorrow.  As is our wont, we filled our schedule with a steady stream of trivia quizzes, and skipped anything that required too much physical exertion.  We got chatting to some couples from the UK, and the morning disappeared before we knew it.  The afternoon passed by in much the same fashion – after 3 days of Singapore heat, we were glad to spend our day largely indoors. Our cabin steward won my heart by leaving a towel elephant on the bed.