ScootBiz (Scoot Airlines) Singapore to Hangzhou & SATS Premier Lounge Terminal 2 Changi, Voted Asia Pac Lounge of the year 2017 Priority Pass

We were going on holiday!  Our destination was Hangzhou, followed by Shanghai.  The plane was as follows:

Day 0 - Depart Singapore to Hangzhou (Scoot Airlines), Arr. Hangzhou 2135hrs
Day 1 - Hangzhou, got a driver, tour the city, including West Lake and Ling Yin Temple
Day 2 - Depart from Hangzhou to Wu Zhen (water town), and then transfer to Shanghai Courtyard Marriot near Disneyland
Day 3 - Shanghai Disneyland! (One full day)
Day 4 - Transfer to Shanghai Marriott City Center
Day 5 - Private day tour to SuZhou
Day 6 - Shanghai Free & Easy
Day 7 - Home sweet Home - Shanghai to Singapore on Singapore Airlines (Business Class)

We would fly from Singapore to Hangzhou, and we were trying out ScootBiz in Scoot Airlines for the first time.  Scoot is a wholly own subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, and it is their low-cost arm.   When Scoot was first launched, we flew with them to Sydney! That was way back in 2012.  Since then, we have flown on Scoot a few times, but this is our first time in ScootBiz.

ScootBiz is Scoot Business Class?
What is ScootBiz? Well, it is NOT the typical Business Class of a full service airline.  It is more akin to Premium Economy.  What attracted us were the seats - full learther with at least 38" of legroom, 22" of width and 6" of recline, with adjustable headrests and legrests.  You also get complimentary meal and drink, but that was less important.

Scoot flies from Terminal 2.  Check-Lines moved quickly.  You had to do self-service check in first, before dropping off your bags.  That's the new trend, self-service.  I didn't see any special check-in line for ScootBiz passengers, so we joined the same queue.

Win A Jaguar E Space!

There was some lucky draw going on, as part of the Changi Millionaire program.  Check out the car on display! 

SATS Premier Lounge Terminal 2

After clearing immigration, we headed to the SATS Premier Lounge to chill out for a while and get some food.  Note that ScootBiz does not provide lounge access with the normal ticket.  We used our Priority Pass cards to gain entry.   Here is the entrance of the SATS Premier Lounge, which was opposite the SilverKris lounge at T2.

Video of Lounge Experience

A video of our lounge experience.  This lounge was voted Asia-Pac lounge of the year, for Priority Pass.  For a Priority Pass lounge, it is decent.  In fact, a good number of airlines use this contract lounge for their Business Class passengers too.  Here are YouTube video links so lounge reviews of  SATS Premier Lounge in Terminal 1 and SATS Premier Lounge in Terminal 3.  Below is the video of SATS Premier Terminal 2.

Lounge of the Year Awards 2017 - Priority Pass
The Lounge in Terminal 2 won the Asia Pacific Lounge of the Year Awards 2017 for Priority Pass. Our credit cards provided us with Priority Pass access to Lounges, which is very nice.  We could bring the entire family in, using my card and my wife's card.

Drinks anybody?
Drink selection was decent free-flow of alcohol, if that is what you like.  The chilled white wine wasn't too bad.  Don't drink too much before you fly!

Signature Laksa, which is pretty good.  Had a bowl, together with some red and white wine.  They also had some Nasi Lemak, yellow curry chicken, pandan chicken and other hot food, plus a soup.  See my video above for what I ate.

Beautiful Orchid Display.

Lounge Buffet Area.   We stayed for over an hour, and soon it was time to head to the gate!

FLIGHT EXPERIENCE

SCOOTBIZ - FlyScoot Singapore to Hangzhou
Flight Number TR 188
Dep: 1635hrs, Arr: 21:35 Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport
No time zone changes

We had wanted to visit Hangzhou and Shanghai.  So it was great that Scoot has a direct flight.  Scoot currently operates the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.  This was our plane at the gate, its nickname was 'Bo Jio'.

BOARDING - A useful perk is that ScootBiz gets to board first.  They had just started boarding for the main cabin when we got there.  We boarded immediately as the video would show.

FlyScoot BizScoot Flight Review Video.
The 7:30 minute video below details our experience on board ScootBiz, showing you the seats and the meals.  Enjoy!


Some photos to whet your appetite.  The ScootBiz cabin was in a 2-3-2 configuration.  We were at the aisle, and I was in a window seat. We were in Row 1 & Row 2.  The seat was comfortable, no doubt about that!

Food wise, ScootBiz ticket comes with food and drink.  For the food package, you have to order in advance (online, when you book).  I didn't realise that there were different types of meals.  The most 'value-for-money' would be the Premium Meal selection, sample below.  This meal comes with 2 deluxe sides and a drink.  But there was no Nasi Lemak here.  I selected Nasi Lemak and that was packaged with a lower value meal (no ice-cream). So, hot tip, if you want a full meal with Ice-Cream, pick from the Premium Selections! 

Waiting for Luggage - Scoot Crew luggage came out first
Landing into Hangzhou was smooth and we got to the gates quickly.  The immigration clearance was fast.  What took some time was the baggage.  See the video below, for pretty much the entire aircraft passengers waiting at the luggage carousel.  Funny thing - the cabin crew luggage came out first! After we collected our bags, the Customs officials made all passengers put every bag through an X-ray machine, i.e. 100% check.  That caused a line to form, but the overall process was orderly and didn't take too long. The video also shows snippets of the taxi ride, and the room service we had.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn Hangzhou City Center, and we ordered room service for supper, as we were tired and hungry.



Room Service - All the Food in the Photo for 177RMB plus 3 drinks (including beer)

Take-off Video
If you like take-off videos, here is the video I took from my window seat of the Scoot Boeing 787.  Check out the huge piece of land being developed for Changi Airport Terminal 5.


Thanks for watching!!

Guitar Singapore Travels

Getting Flamed by Vietnamese on YouTube - Vietnam Airlines Business Class

Now, this is an interesting experience.  In the video below, I review a flight on Vietnam Airlines Airbus A321, Hanoi to Singapore.  As the plane was powering down the runway, I shared my thoughts, saying at 3:37:

"Looks very rural and undeveloped" and then "As a whole, Vietnam is still rather undeveloped, but a country with plenty of potential."



FLAME TIME!

My innocent comments certainly riled up a few people!  Check out their (rude)
responses:

And then,









And that wasn't all.  Check this out:

What can I say?  I leave you, the reader, to come to your own conclusions.

Anyway, since you are reading this, why not watch my other videos on Vietnam Airlines Business Class:


And Part 2:



Have a good day!

Day 4 Malta Mediterranean Cruise MSC Meraviglia 7N Genoa Civitavecchia Palermo La Valletta Barcelona Marseilles

Day 4 of our 7N Cruise on board the MSC Meraviglia out of Genoa.  Today, we arrive at the sunny island of Malta.  It is really an island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea!  The day before, the ship was in Palermo, Italy.

Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km (50 mi) south of Italy, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia,and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya.The country covers just over 316 km2 (122 sq mi), with a population of just under 450,000, making it one of the world's smallest and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta, which at 0.8 km2, is the smallest national capital in the European Union by area. Malta has two official languages, which are Maltese and English. However, the Maltese language is also regarded as the national language of the island.

Malta's location in the middle of the Mediterranean has historically given it great strategic importance as a naval base, and a succession of powers, including the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Sicilians, Spanish, Knights of St. John, French, and British have ruled the islands.

Malta has a long Christian legacy and its Archdiocese of Malta is claimed to be an apostolic see because, according to Acts of the Apostles,[St Paul was shipwrecked on "Melita", now widely taken to be Malta. Catholicism is the official religion in Malta. However, article 40 of the Constitution states that "All persons in Malta shall have full freedom of conscience and enjoy the free exercise of their respective mode of religious worship."

Breakfast
Don't miss the sail i, as you get gorgeous views of the harbour.  As the weather was slightly warmer, we had our breakfast at the Pool area, to enjoy the breeze and the sail in!


There was another MSC ship in port that day, it was the MSC Orchestra!  Here is a wonderful view of the Orchestra, from our cabin.  We were docked behind the MSC Orchestra.

Short video of the MSC Orchestra.



The Plan - Do It Yourself Excursion
This was our second time in Malta, the first was with MSC Preziosa two years before this cruise.  We decided to adopt the same mode of transport.  We would walk off the ship to the waterfront area, and look for a taxi company, and hire a taxi to bring us around for a few hours.

We disembarked and made our way to the waterfront.  As we walked out, I noticed a warship leaving port.  It wasn't big, probably a patrol boat belonging to the Maltese Navy.


MSC Meraviglia looked huge. 170,000 GT thereabouts.  4th largest cruise ship in the world, at time of launch.

Finding the Taxi company was very easy.  Once you get to the waterfront, there are several operators (including HoHo buses) trying to get your business.  We looked for the stand that sold taxi tours, bought ourselves a ticket for a 3 hour tour (70 Euros) and headed to the waiting area to hop onboard the first taxi that was waiting.  The driver spoke basic English, but that was good enough for us.  Don't expect an eloquent driver who can speak to you like a professional tour guide.


Last time round, we wanted to see the Blue Grotto, which we did.  It was a lovely boat ride.  You can see the report from my last trip on this page.

But since we had done the Blue Grotto already, we decided not to do it again.  Hence, we only got a 3-hour taxi booking, instead of 4.  This time round, our first stop, Rotunda of Mosta. The Parish Church of the Assumption (Maltese: Knisja Arċipretali ta' Santa Marija), commonly known as the Rotunda of Mosta (Maltese: Ir-Rotunda tal-Mosta) or the Mosta Dome, is a Roman Catholic parish church in Mosta, Malta, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. It was built between 1833 and the 1860s to neoclassical designs of Giorgio Grognet de Vassé, on the site of an earlier Renaissance church which had been built in around 1614 to designs of Tommaso Dingli.

The design of the present church is based on the Pantheon in Rome, and it is said to have the fourth largest unsupported dome in the world. The church narrowly avoided destruction during World War II, since on 9 April 1942 a German aerial bomb pierced the dome and fell into the church during Mass but failed to explode. This event was interpreted by the Maltese as a miracle.  Here is a short video of the inside of the Rotunda.  Admission was free.

Malta Air Museum
After the Rotunda, at first the taxi driver brought us to this glass museum and souvenir shop, which we had been to before.  So we didn't go in, but instead chose to visit a nearby Malta Air Museum.  I spotted the Air Museum on the last trip, but we didn't have time to go.  But this time round, we shan't miss it!

I made many short clips of the museum.  Here are some of them.  The prized exhibit would be the a Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane.


Also, this Douglas Dakota C-47 Skytrain, which played such a prominent role in the Normandy Invasion. 

You could enter the cockpit of this BAC One Eleven British Short Range Jet liner from the 1960s.  Fascinating stuff, all the analogue equipment.  Reminds you that the digital era is very recent indeed.


To be continued!

Day 3 Palermo Mediterranean Cruise MSC Meraviglia 7N Genoa Civitavecchia Palermo La Valletta Barcelona Marseilles

Day 3 of our cruise!  This morning, the ship would dock in the Italian Port of Palermo.  Where is Palermo?  Good question.  Palermo is a city in southern Italy, and capital of the autonomous region of Sicily.  The city has a long history (more than 2,700 years).  More on wikipedia.  Turns out that Palermo is a common port of call for cruise ships.  We were first here 2 years ago on the Preziosa.  Now we are here again on the Meraviglia.

Here is a video of our ship sailing into port. Thank God that it was a beautiful day and that the seas were calm.


Breakfast - Top Sail and Yacht Club Restaurant
This morning, we headed to the Top Sail lounge for some coffee and pastries first, before going to the Yacht Club restaurant for the mains.  It was very quiet in the Top Sail lounge, and we got our drinks very quickly.  The seas were very calm, what a relief!  Here is a video. You will find me playing with a piece of tart on a small bowl that looks like a ship.  Ok, I like goofing around.


Breakfast - Yacht Club Pool Area
After breakfast, we headed up to the Yacht Club pool area, and discovered that they were serving a breakfast buffet there too! Awesome.


Reserved Cabanas for Royal Suite
While walking around the Yacht Club Pool area, we saw the reserved Cabanas for the Royal Suite passengers.  Pretty cool!  It is a nice perk, but unfortunately the weather wasn't very warm during our cruise, so we didn't use it.  Video below gives you a glimpse of the cabana seats.


The plan today was to take an MSC Shore Excursion - Santa Rosalia Grotto & Modello.  All aboard time for Palermo was 1630hrs.

We Set Off! 
We received our excursion tickets the night before (after booking through the YC Concierge). We were informed by the Yacht Club concierge to wait at the Concierge in the morning at a certain time, and then the butler escorted us off the ship.  We didn't need to assemble at the area for non Yacht-Club passengers.  What was very cool was that we were the first to arrive at the bus, and hence I could snag front row seats (with the best views).  We had to wait on an empty bus for about 10 minutes before the rest of the tour group arrived.

And so, we set off.  The bus was full.  The local guide was a middle-aged lady called Joanna, who conducted the tour in English and German.  Here is the video of the bus leaving the port and heading towards Mt Pellegrino.


Our first stop was to go up Mt Pelligrino.  The views going up were fantastic.  We had a great view from the front row seats on the bus.  Fortunately, the roads were still relatively straight, and we didn't have to go through many bends that would have made us bus-sick.  I noticed many cyclists going up and coming down.  There was a good cycling community here!


St Rosalia Grotto
It didn't take us very long to reach the St Rosalia Grotto, I think max 30 minutes from the cruise ship.  Once we got there, all the passengers got off the bus, and followed our tour guide up to the mountain cave where the shrine was built.  Take note, there is a fairly long flight of stairs, with no lifts.  So if you can't climb stairs, then this excursion may not be suitable.


We didn't spent too long at the St Rosalia Grotto.  The tour group was punctual and all of us were back on the coach on time.  So as the coach headed down, we went to the next stop.  The streets of Palermo was quite crowded as you can see in the video below.  Our 40 seater coach navigating very tight streets. Well, Palermo does have a rustic feel, though the place does look a bit impoverished.  Some call it the 'Old World'.  Sorry if this comment sounded rude, but I can't help get that feeling that this place hasn't been progressing as fast as some other places in the world.  China is one such example of super fast progress.

Congested Streets - Palermo, Italy


Our next stop was a Chinese Palace (Palazzina Cinese).  Didn't do much there, just took some photos.  It did strike me, however, that Chinese influence had spread very far and wide indeed.

Mondello
We also visited Mondello, which is a small borough of the city of Palermo in the autonomous region of Sicily in Southern Italy.  It had a nice beach.  In summer, you could rent a house here for a few weeks, just to chill.  The problem with our tour, however, was that the coach dropped us off very far from the main center.  It took a good 15 minutes just to walk in.  Not sure why the coach couldn't bring us right into the center.  Because we were short of time, we couldn't see the center much. Oh well.  Here is the video.


Last Stop - San Lorenzo Mercato
Our last stop was at some marketplace - San Lorenzo Mercato.  Later on, I checked up its website.
We were given a bit more time to roam around this place.  Some of the tour participants grabbed a quick bite here.  The food looked to be reasonably priced.  Here is the video.


Back to ship
So, it was time to head back to the ship.  I have two more videos of the journey back. The first one shows the bus taking a ride through the central commercial street of Palermo.  This front of bus footage will give you a good idea of what the city of Palermo looks like.


And, we are turning into port.  See how big the MSC Meraviglia was!


Thanks for following along!

Alma by Juan Amador Goodwood Park Hotel Singapore One Michelin Star 2018

Alma by Juan Amador Goodwood Park Hotel Singapore

Dinner.  This was the 6 course de-gustation menu.

We checked out Alma by Juan Amador.   This was a 6-course Degustatiion menu.  The menu is re-printed below. The food was very nicely presented.  All looked like exquisite works of art.  A different experience.  Enjoy!

Hokkaido Scallop
Smoked Onion | Daikon | Lemon Verbena

'Mont Blanc'
Jerusalem Artichoke | Foie Gras | Chestnut

Boston Lobster
Potimarron | Bergamot | Shellfish Jus

Ham & Cheese
Suckling Pork | Brioche | Winter Truffle

'Madagery Creek' Venison
Rutabaga | Beetroot | Plum Wine

Chervil Root
Poached Pear | Mascarpone | Milk Crisps

ALMA’s PETIT FOUR
Coffee or Tea

6 COURSE
$148++


Verdict?
This is an upscale place, suitable for a nice dinner.  Food presentation was superb. All the dishes looked like works of art.  However, portion-wise, there wasn't very much to eat.  Then again, you don't come here for a buffet, but rather to admire the creativity and the culinary skill of the chefs. 

Enjoy!

Preferred Seat (also called Emergency Seat) Airbus A350 Economy SIN to MXP Seat 47J

Flew on SQ's Airbus A350 from Singapore to Milan Malpensa recently. It was a red-eye flight and I decided to pay the additional USD90 for what is called a 'Preferred' Seat, which is more commonly known as Emergency row seat or Bulkhead seat.

Here is the direct marketing video from SQ, trying to get me to snag a preferred seat for my MXP-SIN leg, a USD90.  Alluring picture.  

The plane, Airbus A350 serial number 9V-SMO, was a 6-month old aircraft at the time of my flight. I've flown with SQ many times before, but this experience was still novel because I haven't flown in their Preferred Seat before.

This is what my seat, 47J, looked like. 47J is the left seat in this picture, where the green jacket is resting. For row 47, it is built in a 2-3-2 configuration, due to the aircraft door at both sides of the aircraft.

Location of 47J
This graphic of the seat map gives you a good idea of where my seat was located.

I jump straight to whether the additional USD90 was worth it, given that at time of booking, I already could get an aisle seat.

Verdict? It depends.

The Pros.
No doubt that the legroom was plentiful. I could stretch my entire leg horizontally, with no issues. This allowed me to have a very good sleep. But take note the disadvantages below.

The Cons

Next to toilets
1. Preferred seats are right next to the toilets. Hence, this place could get very busy indeed, especially during peak hours for toilet use (e.g. after meals, before landing).

"Ding, Ding and Ding!"
2. At 47J, you will hear a 'ding', 'ding', 'ding' (see 9:26 of the video below), and a blue light coming on. What was that all about? Turns out that whenever a passenger presses the call button for a flight attendant, the ding sound will happen, and a small blue light will be activated. (9:26). The ding beeper and blue light is located right above the aircraft door, near 47J. You can imagine the 'ding', 'ding', 'ding' throughout the night. Fortunately, they gave me ear plugs, and I managed to sleep through. I think this wasn't an issue for 47B and 47C (i.e. the preferred seats at the other aisle), although I'm not sure.

Backpacks overhead
3. Preferred seats have no space to put your backpack under the seat in front of you, since there is no seat in front of you save for the crew seats. Everything must go overhead.

IFE stowed away until airborne
4. The inflight entertainment screen can only be deployed when the aircraft is in the air. So you don’t have access to movies when the plane is on the ground, during take off, and during landing. Other passengers in normal seats have access to the IFE throughout. This can be irritating because you can't watch movies the moment you are seated. Sometimes, it takes a while for the plane to get airborne, with all the taxi-ing.

Overall? Given that I had a good sleep (which was very important to me), the USD90 was worth the money. However, if I flew again, I would try 47A, 47B or 47C next time. (i.e the other side of the aircraft)

Seats-aside, the rest of the flight was good. We were served supper shortly after takeoff from Singapore Changi. I chose the Beef with Noodles option. I found the beef a bit tough, but it didn't bother me too much as I wasn't hungry. We were given a Magnum mini as dessert - that was nice. I slept a lot and woke up about 3 hours before landing. Breakfast was ok. I chose the noodles again. Everything went like clockwork and we landed in Milan safely.

Here is a video review of my flight.

Happy Flying!

Mediterranean Cruise MSC Meraviglia 7N Genoa Civitavecchia Palermo La Valletta Barcelona Marseilles Day 2 Bad Weather & Cirque De Soleil

Day 2 of our cruise!  #MSCMeraviglia Today, the ship was scheduled to arrive at 0800hrs, and depart 1800hrs.  It was designed to be a relatively long port of call, as some pax would want to take a day trip to Rome, and that would take 9 hours (according to the excursion booklet).  Simple reason, Rome was about 80km from Civitavecchia.

For our last cruise (on the MSC Preziosa back in 2015), we were far more adventourous.  We decided to rent a car from a nearby Avis/Budget, and drive ourselves to the Castel Romano Shopping Outlets.  Looking back at my video from 2 years ago brought back fond memories.  Here it is again (gosh, the weather looked good then!).


This time round, the plan was to take a shore excursion organized by MSC, to Tuscania and Tarquina.  So we woke up in good time, to have breakfast in the YC restaurant, and were all ready to go.  This was my MSC Express breakfast.

And some of the finger food available in the Top Sail.  I enjoyed a small cup of Bircher Muesli.

However, something was amiss.  When we were having breakfast at about 0715hrs, I noticed that we were nowhere near the port.  In fact, the ship was still quite some distance from the land.  When we asked the staff, we were told that there were high winds at Civitavecchia, and our ship was waiting for the winds to die down.

In the video below, we had some breakfast and then waited in the Top Sail lounge.  After about 30 minutes, we had enough to eat, and the ship still didn't look like it was headed to the port.  Anyway, the seas were rather rocky, and we all decided to head back to our cabins to lie down.  Yes, it was really quite rocky.


And as we were lazing in our cabins, suddenly the announcements came on, in many languages.  Before it got to the English announcement, we figured that the ship would not be docking at Civitavecchia.  Instead, we were headed for some place us.  I managed to record the entire english announcement.  It is not everyday that one hears such an announcement.  We were now heading towards Naples!


True enough, when I turned on the cabin interactive TV, this was what I found.  We were not scheduled to arrive at 1700hrs.  All aboard time was 2230hrs.  There would be no shore excursions.

Wow, this was certainly unexpected.  Anyway, the rocking got so bad, that I had to lie down.  I ended up skipping lunch because I slept through lunch till mid afternoon!  (Yes, the rocking was not a joke)

By the time I woke up from my morning sleep(due to rocky seas), it was mid-afternoon.  Thankfully, by now, the ship was less rocky.  I assume we had fled from the storm brewing near Civitavecchia.  I still felt a bit woozy.  So I decided to head out to the balcony to get some fresh air, and to eat a green apple in the process.

Here is the video.  Compared to our cruise 2 years ago on the MSC Preziosa (also in December), this cruise was turning out to be much more rocky!  By now, I had puked once already.  But the cruise must go on! Nothing was going to stop us having fun.   Fortunately, my parents were most resilient.  They had a hearty lunch (in the YC restaurant) and subsequently spent a fun afternoon roaming the ship (it was their first time on an MSC ship), and patronising the casino.  Glad that they were ok.  Do you get less sea-sick when you get older?


These days, with mobile phones and roaming plans, we can monitor the ship's location right from our own mobile devices.  Glad to say that from our phones, we could see that the ship was making good progress towards Naples, and the weather looked to be calm enough for docking. As the sun set early, it was dark as the ship approached Naples port.  Here was my kid looking out for the port. Land ahoy!

Well, we were now feeling hungry (since we skipped lunch), and it wasn't time for dinner yet.  So we headed to the Top Sail lounge to get some drinks and food.  We were all feeling much better, since the ship was not rocking anymore, and we all had a good sleep.  It was time for some more bonding over food and drink!

In this video, while the ship was docking in Naples, we were in the Top Sail lounge, for drinks and some finger food before dinner.  It was father and son bonding time! I had the Long Island Iced Tea, and he also had the Long Island Iced Tea sans Alcohol.  Later on, we did the same with the Mojito. It was good fun! Not everyday you can bring a kid to a lounge and enjoy great drinks.  Happy sailing!

Day 2 Dinner - Yacht Club Restaurant

As usual, we headed to the dinner venue at around 6:30pm.  We liked to eat early. The House White for this evening - Tenuta Di Blasig Chardonnay.  All was good.

And this was the House Red. Regale.

Some pictures of the food we enjoyed.  This was the Bauletti pasta filled with lobster.

Speciality Dining Experience - Tex Mex.  Lamb chop, Beef Sirloin, Chorizo Sausage. (From Tex Mex restaurants aboard MSC Fantasia and MSC Splendida)  This was awesome!

Here is a video of our Day 2 dining experience in the Yacht Club restaurant.  Everything tasted wonderful.  It helped that we were hungry. (Remember, I skipped lunch)


Post Dinner & Cirque Du Soleil At Sea Show 
You may have figured out by now that we decided not to leave the ship for Naples.  A few reasons.  It was already dark outside, and there were no shore excursions running.  We didn't want to be wandering around the streets of Naples in the dark, since we were not familiar with the place.  Anyway, we had been to Naples before, so it wasn't new to us.  All that said, at dinner, our waiter told us that a good number of pax had disembarked to walk around Naples.  So the YC restaurant was a lot quieter that evening.

After dinner, the plan was to go for the Cirque Du Soleil at Sea show.  We had purchased our tickets in advance (from travel agent).  I think it cost 15 Euro per person, with a drink.  You can also have dinner plus show, that would be more expensive.  As our show only started at 2200hrs, we had plenty of time to walk around the ship.

Looking across the atrium towards Plaza Meraviglia.  It is designed to remind you of an upscale shopping mall.

One of the bars, which I recall was next to Kaito.  This place was quite happening, i.e. I heard a lot of music coming out during the evenings.  People were dancing too.

I like the sign - Galleria Meraviglia.

I thought these packages were of good value. And I think if you purchase them in advance (from your travel agent), you may even be able to get further discounts.  At 26 Euros for 15 cappuccinos, that works out to be just 1.7Euro per serving.  At 59 Euros for 14 Beers, that is 4.2Euro per beer.

And some live music to add to the atmosphere.

And check out this video compilation of our walk in the Galleria Meraviglia. See how the LCD Dome changed, from a fresco to pillars which made it look like a Cathedral.  There were people boarding the ship at Naples (whom I told were bussed from Civitavecchia). We also looked at the menu of Kaito Sushi bar.  Geisha set menu for 19 Euros. Looked reasonable.  We also checked out the Chocolate Shop (Jean Philippe). Chocolates were 1.2 Euros per piece.  Macarons were 1 Euro per piece.  We saw a Chocolate Octopus (display only), Chocolate Shoes, as well as dark and white chocolate on tap!  Fascinating.


Entrance to the Main Dining Room, full of bottles.  I thought this concept was cool.  They had to store many bottles of wine, and that required space.  Why not use some of these bottles as a display of sorts?  All these unopened wine bottles made for a very impressive display before you entered their Main Dining Room.

Another perspective of this passageway.

So, tonight, the plan was to go to the Cirque Du Soleil show.  This show had a dedicated theatre, which we found.  The setting is relatively small, which makes for a more intimate setting.  So here is a video showing you excerts of the show, which lasted about 40 minutes.  This was our first time watching any Cirque production.  It was an interesting experience.  Plenty of sound effects, lighting effects, acrobatics, dancing, all very well put-together.  Experience Cirque Du Soleil @ Sea on the MSC Meraviglia!

Well, this about sums up Day 2 of our cruise. Tomorrow, we arrive in Palermo, Italy.