Singapore-Grand Hyatt, Harbourfront Terminal, and HAL Volendam

Grand Hyatt and HAL Volendam -- February 16, 2016 (I)

2016 HAL Volendam Asian Adventure 

Itinerary: 2/16 Singapore

                2/17 At Sea

                2/18 Penang, Malaysia

                2/19 Phuket, Thailand

                2/20 At Sea

                2/21 Thilawa (Rangoon), Myanmar

                2/22 Thilawa (Rangoon), Myanmar

                2/23 Thilawa (Rangoon), Myanmar

                2/24 At Sea

                2/25  At Sea

                2/26 Porto Malai, Langkawi, Malaysia

                2/27 Port Kelang (Kuala Lumpur), Malaysia

                2/28 Malacca, Malaysia

                2/29 Singapore

                3/1   Singapore

We woke up to a beautiful morning. I had planned on getting up early and go to the Botanical Garden for a walk but decided to just skip it this time. We are already planning to come back to Singapore next year for another cruise, we can save it for next time. It was nice to be able to sleep in a little bit without rushing to go anywhere.

Watching the morning activities on Scotts Road.

Royal Plaza Hotel right across the street from our room.

Handy walkway between Royal Plaza and Far East Plaza.

Buildings in the neighborhood.

Ya Kun Kaya Toast was on my list for breakfast in Singapore and there is one right next to Grand Hyatt, in the basement of Far East Plaza. We didn't know where it is located and all the stores seemed to be closed at that hour. Fortunately, we found the eatery opened as we walked down through the basement entrance. Here is the story of Ya Kun: http://yakun.com//the-ya-kun-story/history/

We ordered our toast sets ($4.50 S) that came with the soft-boiled eggs, beverage, and...

butter kaya (butter and coconut jam) toasts. We also ordered some cheese kaya toasts on the side. The soft-boiled eggs were pretty raw but it was still interesting to tried it out. 

After our adventurous breakfast, we walked around the mall but saw that most of the stores were still not opened. There was a little currency exchange store right next to the tailor shop that was opened for business. MOR saw that it was a little better than the rate at the airport so he got some more Singapore money, and also some currencies for Malaysia and Thailand. They did not have any for Myanmar though.

The quiet Far East Plaza in the morning.

Money Changer

There was a donut shop next to these tables and I think the entrance to the basement is at the end of this row of tables.

Back to Hyatt

The walkway and Far East Plaza in relations to the Grand Hyatt.

Lobby at Grand Hyatt

Hallway on the 8th floor.

We checked out of the hotel at around 10:30AM, got a taxi and headed out to Harbour Front Cruise Terminal. It was not terribly busy yet when we arrived at the terminal. We dropped off our bags and they handed out forms for us to filled out including the health forms and the forms regarding having HAL handling our visas so they could charge our accounts accordingly. The actual check-in, security, and immigration are upstairs on the second floor and the line was short. As we walked to the gangway, we were stopped at the end of a long line. The line did not move at all for about 20 minutes with us just standing there, not sure if it was because they were just not ready for passengers to board or other issues. While we were waiting, many crew members were debarking with their luggage probably ending their contracts there.

Waiting in line to get on the ship.

Looking behind as we waited. Soon there were a lot more people behind us.

Finally, on the gangway.

Cabin 2532--originally we booked an inside but we were switched to an oceanview when there was a price drop.

space under the sink

After putting down our carry-on luggage, we headed over to the Rotterdam Dining Room for the Mariner Embarkation Lunch.

Menu for the Mariner Embarkation Lunch. Choices were limited but it was good to have a quiet sit-down lunch on the first day.  We asked about our table for dinner and were assured that it was a table just for the three of us. 

Nice view of the interesting buildings.

Calamari Fritti

Cream of Cauliflower

Garden Wedge Salad

Pan-seared salmon filet

Fruits of the Forest Pie--the only piece of pie I had on this ship.

After the 2-hour lunch, we walked up to the upper deck of Rotterdam trying to find our table for dinner.

We couldn't find the table because all the numbers seemed to be randomly placed and not in any particular order. We ended up somewhere at the end on the left side of this picture.

Elevators outside of Upper Rotterdam on deck 5.

To be continued...