A-sailing we will go

Day 1 (Sun, 29 Nov 2009)

As you can probably guess from the picture, we went on a cruise for our family vacation this year. We'd actually gone on the very same ship on the same itinerary two years ago, but since this was a hectic year for everyone, we all felt like we needed a break where we didn't need to plan anything. A cruise is a perfect holiday if you just want to vege out and do nothing - there's no need to plan meals, trips, hotels, etc.

So here we are for the second time, waiting to board Superstar Virgo for the 4-day, 3-night Penang/Phuket cruise.
Immediately on board, we headed for our cabin which was pretty much the same as the one first time round. We had booked a cabin with window.
Andre clammered for the bunk bed - this was his favourite spot as it also directly faces the tv, with the Disney channel on.
Lesley-Anne got the pull-out sofa bed. All in all, it's a small but comfortable cabin.
And this is what the bathroom looks like, it has two partitions for the WC and the shower stall. Again small but functional.












The ship was very prettily decked out in a Christmas theme, giving it a festive atmosphere.

But first, it's time for lunch! Just a short explanation: there are three free restaurants - Bella Vista (western), Pavilion (chinese) and Mediterranean (buffet). There are several other restaurants including Italian, Japanese and Indian but you have to pay for meals there, unless you're in the balcony class where you can utilise food credits allotted to you.

We went to the Mediterranean for lunch. Lots of choices. Cruises are notorious for indulgences of gambling and food. And since we're not gamblers, this holiday was going to be seriously food-focused! (Yes, I brought my fat pants).

The food at Mediterranean is ok but it's always the desserts that tempt me the most. Check out the dessert station - complete with Christmas decor!

After lunch, we explored the ship a little more. I thought it would be interesting to show pics of the kids two years ago (left) and now (right).










The kids went for a swim but it wasn't much fun as it seemed like all the passengers had the same idea and it was one big elbow-fest in the pool. So it was just a short dip and back to the cabin.

Dinner was at Bella Vista. As a family, we love western food and based on our experience at Pavilion during the last cruise, none of us enjoyed the Chinese food there so most of our meals were at Bella Vista or Mediterranean.
Initially, I had intended the posts on this trip to be very food-centric. If you know us, you'll know we are a very food-loving family, Andre especially. It was so comical because the waiters would take one look at his diminutive size and hand him the kids' menu or assume that I would order for him. Andre was terribly insulted when they kept replacing his wine glass with a water tumbler. In actual fact, he often ate more than us adults, sometimes three or four adult courses at every meal, gamely trying every exotic sounding dish.

As it turned out, the lighting at Bella Vista was very dim which made photo-taking a challenge, dang it. Anyway, here are some of the pics from dinner that night.

Sirloin steak

Pan-fried fillet of river trout

Tiramisu