20 February 2022

Singapore Day 1

11:21. Arriving at Terminal 1, I headed to the Jewel part of the airport to find my family who had arrived earlier from Jakarta.

I know that I just praised Kualanamu, but this was on another different league. Perhaps any airport in this earth would look pale compared to this one.

It was my first time seeing the famous Rain Vortex, and I was in awe, really. Keren banget! I visited this in June 2019, and it was first opened in April 2019.

Btw, I thought the name of the waterfall was jewel, but apparently not. Jewel Changi Airport (also known as Jewel or Jewel Changi) is a nature-themed entertainment and retail complex on the inside of Changi Airport. Its centrepiece is the Rain Vortex, which is surrounded by a terraced forest setting (which is very cool also)

Rain Vortex is the world's largest and tallest indoor waterfall, standing at 40 metres high. Recirculating rain water is pumped to the roof to free fall through a round hole at up to 37,850 liters per minute to a basement-level pool. It received many awards and accolades for its outstanding design. I think everyone would admit that Singapore is very serious in spending their money to create design marvels.





From the airport, we went to Marina. Nope, not Marina Bay Sands, but the Marina Bay Cruise Center. Since as the hashtag has been hinting in the past few weeks, we were gonna take cruise ship!

I don't know, but I thought taking a cruise ship was like once in a lifetime experience, and actually, it wasn't as expensive as going to Europe, Australia, or even Raja Ampat. and it's less mainstream. And I just want to treat my fam. Alhamdulillah ada rezeki.

So, few weeks before the departure, we already had purchase the tickets. Similar with booking regular hotel rooms. However, booking a room in a cruise, we can, and have to choose, the exact room that we want to stay in.

So they will provide you with the layout of the ship (floor map), so we can choose in which floor that we want to stay in, bagian depan atau belakang, kanan atau kiri, intinya which exact room, and so on. Why? because different floor and location have a different price. I of course searched for the economical one. lol.

so, since we already chose which deck that we would stay in (there are 10 decks in total). Hmm, why it reminds me of PPT deck. lol. Back to the topic, our check-in time was determined by which deck that we chose. Staying in deck 7, our check-in time was on 1:30 pm.

So our Grab Car was nearing in to the cruise center. And I was so ecstatic just by looking at the giant ship.

The Marina Bay Cruise Center was a building specifically built as port for cruise ships, and it's moved there from previous location. The new location at Marina South has deep waters, a large turning basin, and no height restrictions, which enables it to accommodate the largest cruise ships being built now. From inside, the building's design was quite similar from cruise ship's design.

We then dropped our luggage and checked-in. We had to give our passport and they'd keep it during our trip. As the exchange, each of us was given an access card that we should keep during the trip. Since it'd be used as our main card when we want to enter/leave the ship, as well as to enter our room.

After checking in, we were guided to enter the ship. Exciting!



Apakah bahasa Inggrisnya garbarata? Kata wiki jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, airtube, or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)).

I asked since to enter the ship, we used jetbridge-like thingy, kinda. I'm not sure. But it's a nice one for sure.

Prior to entering the ship, we were asked to strike a pose in front of a banner, where the photographer was ready to take a pic. I knew that they would offer the photos later with a price.




13:32. The ship was huge with luxurious hotel-like interior. We went directly to the restaurant since, well, since it's not 24/7 open, and we're running out of time. Well, thanks to someone who posted it in her blog about the tips, so we didn't miss our lunch. I know the photo is kinda blurry, since I snap it from a video. lol.

Lunch! The restaurant was pretty packed with guests. It seemed we were a tad late. Actually, there was still enough, even so many, food. Perhaps since we still brought our bag with us, so it wasn't too convenient.

Oh ya, there were few restaurants that we could choose, and that afternoon we picked this one, a buffet one, where there were loads of varieties of food being served. Will write about it in another post.




So, when we finished our lunch, we then went to our room, a small room. Our luggage would be delivered directly to our room, we just needed to wait.

Then later, apparently one of our luggage got suspended by the ship's authority, since there's unallowed item(s) inside the bag. We're wondering what it was. Apparently, it's a clothes iron that my mom brought with her.

Yes, other than knives, gun, and so on, in a cruise trip, you're not allowed to bring items that were "electrically risky" such as clothes iron, even cable extension. Perhaps to avoid fire. We're also not allowed to bring alcoholic beverages, well, since we supposed to purchase it on board. Not that it's my concern, since we're teetotaler anyway..



16:00. Mandatory Muster Assembly Drill. For you who are working in an office building, this is similar to a fire drill. So, there's a sound of general emergency alarm, and the captain explained what the passengers should do, then the guests should be moving to a specified spot in the ship, determined by which room the guest was staying. For us, our meeting point was in a restaurant on the 5th floor, which our table was also had been specified. The crews were standing by in the alleys and every corner to guide us where we needed to head to.

A muster drill prepares passengers for a safe evacuation, in the event of an emergency on board the ship, and familiarizes the crew and the passengers with escape routes. In a muster drill, the use of life vests and the escape routes from the ship are explained to the passengers.

Apparently the cruise had started moving. The island of Singapore was getting further, the skyscrapers seemed to get smaller and smaller. See you Singapore!

Well, I thought it'd be like in cartoon where people on the shore would be waving to the ship's passengers. Yeah, not like that apparently. Not dramatic at all.





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