“F” is For Facts About Our Ship

Posted on March 23, 2026March 24, 2026 by Debbie

According to their mission statement “Princess Cruises is The Love Boat, the world’s most iconic cruise brand that delivers dream vacations to millions of guests every year in the most sought-after destinations, on the largest ships that offer elite service personalization and simplicity customary of small, yacht-class ships.”

On this voyage from Singapore to Tokyo, we will cover about 3000 nautical miles.

The Coral Princess took her maiden voyage in 2003, making it one of the oldest in the fleet, second only to the Island Princess, which we sailed on in both 2023 and 2025.. She was refurbished in 2019 and refreshed again in 2024 so she feels fairly current.. Coral Princess is small by cruise standards at just 965 feet long and 203 feet high. Her narrow width of just 122 feet (including the bridge wing) also makes her ideal for getting into unique locations such as the original locks of the Panama Canal. She weighs 91,627 tons and sits with a draft of 26 feet. With 1545 guest cabins (1,105 outside and 440 inside) there is room for about 2000 guests. This segment of the Pacific Circle Tour runs from Singapore to Tokyo and lasts for 25 days. It is one of 5 legs along the entire Pacific Circle Tour, The ship is a full cruise at 2000 passengers. That makes for a hungry group of people, which can choose about 12 locations to find food. There are 16 decks in all. Decks 15-7 host a variety of lounges/ bars and entertainment venues. There are specialized areas for quiet relaxation such as the Sanctuary, the Lotus spa, a stocked library and writing room. For more specialized entertainment, cruisers will find a full range of entertainers from stage productions to musicians, comedians and magic acts. There is never a reason for boredom with Movies and Concerts Under the Stars, a cigar/smoking lounge, a casino, a card room, shops, and a Fine Arts Gallery. When work still has to get done, there is an internet center and there are self-service laundry facilities on each cabin deck. For active minded people there is a Sports Deck complete with basketball courts, pickle ball, ping pong and a full service Fitness Center. Classes like Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates are held in various lounges. To cool off there are 4 pools. To warm up, there are 5 hot tubs. For the unexpected emergencies there is even a full medical facility. The ship carries a crew of 885 to make sure we all have the safest, most satisfying experience while on board. refurbished 2019

The Piazza

Main Dining Room

The Casino

Library

Movies Under the Stars (by night) Concerts Under the Stars (by day)

A full walk around deck

My favorite place to hang out, The Lotus Pool

The Sanctuary

Internet Cafe

Self service laundry facilities

On this voyage from Singapore to Tokyo, we will cover over 2900 nautical miles.

“E is for Embarkation (Asia Tour)

Posted on March 22, 2026March 24, 2026 by Debbie

Today, March 22, 2026 we will embark our cruise ship in Singapore by taking a taxi service from our hotel to the port. Once at the port, we will drop our bags off with the porters then get in line to check in. We always bring our carry on luggage with us. Luggage does occasionally get misplaced on the port and we want to have enough to get by for a couple of days if needed. Also, rooms are often not ready until later in the afternoon which means if we want to swim, or sit in the sun, we may need additional supplies.

We arrived at the port around 12:15 and we were through security and checked in within 30 minutes. Surprisingly, our room was ready immediately after boarding. We like to do a first look photo of our cabin because we know it will never look this way again once we set sail. Our luggage hadn’t arrived by 1 p.m.,so we stowed our carry-ons and completed our “muster” requirements. This is a pretty easy process these days, we simply have to watch a video then report to our lifesaving station to sign in.

Next we made our way to Good Spirits Lounge to listen to some live music and have our custom embarkation day drink, a “Dirty Banana”. This is our favorite cruise drink. We are planning to do a full ABC adventure of drinks while on board, so stay tuned for that update!

Cruising feels like it is synonymous with food. Following our drink, we headed to lunch at the buffet. About 700 people are joining the cruise at this port and most of the remaining 1300 passengers have disembarked for the full day stop in Singapore. As a result, the ship actually feels ghost like! Normally I say to avoid the buffet on embarkation day but the ship was so quiet we headed that way next.

There wasn’t much to do since we were still waiting for our bags, so we decided to disembark to mail some postcards, we had no idea this would result in 7 more miles of walking, bringing our Singapore total to over 35 miles in 5 days!

We were back on board by 5p.m. We found 2 of 4 pieces of our luggage had already arrived, the other 2 pieces had ended up in the “naughty room” so we had to go identify them and have them inspected. The item in question turned out to be nothing more than a jumbled set of cables, so the bag was released. By 6p.m. we finally began unpacking. We have this down to a science and are usually done within an hour, this time it took 2 hours because we started with the wrong cases. Alan is in charge of unpacking and setting up the main cabin, I am in charge of the entrance, closet and bathroom area. Our cases have been specifically packed into different “zones” so we can quickly move through the process. Alan gets entertainment, office/vanity, the food area and our bedsides, while I am in charge of setting up our communication zone, first aid/medical area, emergency items, the bathroom and unpacking of all the clothing. Having finally achieved “elite” status, meant we had a fully stocked mini bar upon arrival. Because this is part of the world cruise, we were also given some very nice swag including 2 umbrellas, a tote, bookmarks, luggage tags and a rubber duck

At around 6 p.m. we met our cabin steward, who is called Rupert, he is from India. He would soon become our morning smile and our evening relaxation guru. We asked, as we always do, for extra hangers, ice in the ice bucket and spare towels. We handed him a beginning tip, hoping to show our gratitude for all that these hard working crew members do. We had also brought a gift from Traverse City…cherries, chocolate covered cherries and cherry sours.

At 8 p.m we finally ate dinner. Tonight was Mongolian night at the buffet. It was amazing! Now we were free to explore the rest of the ship. The Coral Princess is the sister ship to the Island Princess, so it feels very familiar to us.

Our departure from Singapore wasn’t until 11pm. The evening entertainment was typical for most embarkation days, a comedian. They usually tell the same jokes about “too small shower stalls”, so we decided to skip the performance.

World Cruisers tend to be an older crowd. Passengers normally disappear to bedrooms by 9p.m., tonight was no exception! There were only a handful of guests on the top deck to bid goodbye to the beautiful Singapore skyline. As we set sail towards Thailand, the lights of Singapore blinked behind us. I don’t know if or when we will ever be here again but I am satisfied that we have seen most of what we wanted to see. The next two days are sea days so things will go at a slower pace.

“D” is for Different (Singapore)

Posted on March 19, 2026 by Debbie

We are often reluctant to repeat visits to the places we enjoy. We never want to tarnish the experiences we have already had. When we decided to spend extra time in Singapore, before the cruise set sail, we were determined to see new things, to have different adventures, so that those favorite experiences remain unique to the journey we are on..

This is what led to Day 2 of our Asia tour being a full exploration of Marina Bay Park. We hadn’t had time to see this amazing area of the city the last time we were here. This was a very active day for us and I would have preferred it to take place on day 3, due to our long travel days but much research had led me to discover that one of our “different” list experiences, that of riding a Sampan boat at the Marina Bay shopping area, took place only on Thursday, (March 19) of the time we would be in Singapore. So it was, that we had planned the entire day around a $10 boat trip!

The moment we began walking today, I knew it was going to be a challenge. Our feet were still recovering from yesterday, when we had walked 10.5 miles. My back, hips and knees were groaning too. It was a two Aleve type of day! Alan was only moderately impaired after having irritated a toenail yesterday. Our schedule called for another 6.5 miles of walking today. I was a little less enthusiastic to get moving this morning. We only made it to the Fullerton Hotel , which was just a short walk beyond the subway exit when we we spotted boats. Noting they covered a similar path to the one we wanted to walk, we chose to start the day this way, while letting the medicine kick in. . By 11a.m., the weather was already in the high 90’s and humidity was nearly the same. We had to wait for the 12:15 boat which meant we had some time to kill.

The boat docked outside the famous, Fullerton Hotel.Alan’s mom always says if you can’t afford to stay in a high end hotel, have dessert there, so we did! Rooms at this historic hotel start at $1,000 per night! The hotel sits nestled in the hug of skyscrapers among the developing city. The first Governor of the Straits Settlements gave his name to this monument. The current building dates from 1924, though it was built over a fort which once guarded the mouth of the river with a large gun, from 100 years earlier,

After our dessert and coffee, we hopped on the boat where we observed amazing architecture all around the waterfront. First up was The Cavenagh and Anderson Bridges dating from 1869 and 1910 respectively.

The massive Marina Bay Sands Casino towers over the bay. I have always called the structure at the top a boat, but it is more commonly referred to as a spaceship. There is a huge observation deck at the 54th floor and for a cost of $36-$48 you have the privilege of riding an elevator to look out over the bay. Be sure to make reservations in advance, this sells out quickly. There is also an infinity pool at the top but this is a luxury only available to hotel guests.

Next on our boat ride was The Esplanade. This is an arts complex and contains the Theaters on the Bay. The spiky design of the building has led locals to call it the ‘durian’ – a local fruit with a similar spiky skin. When riding on public transportation this fruit is banned to carry as it is nicknamed “the stinky fruit”. Another item on my “different” set of experiences was to actually try this fruit this time, which I will likely do tomorrow when we are in Chinatown.

The boat continued up the Singapore River to reveal the various “Quays”, full of colorful shop houses turned restaurants. At the end of our boat trip I had responded well to the pain meds and was now ready to walk the same path for a more up close and personal look at things. It was now sweltering outside. My hair has become a giant frizz-ball!. For a second day we had forgotten to carry water. My recommendations for a visit to Singapore;…fast drying clothing-,you’re either going to be drenched by sweat or the frequent showers, or both at the same time; bottles of water and sunscreen, oh and good shoes!

I wanted to see the Merlion up close. Surrounded by Instagrammers , it is very difficult to get a photo without people posing, pretending to catch the water flowing from his mouth.but patience and persistence usually pay off.

Next on our walking route was the Helix Bridge which connects the Singapore Flyer with Marina Bay Sands (MBS). The design of the bridge represents the double-helix structure of DNA. There are green and red letters on the floor (c&g, a&t), they represent the four bases that join together to form the helix of DNA.

We stopped for a soft drink then began by boarding the Sampan boat in the lowest level of the hotel/casino, which is also the mall area. Sampan boats are a flat-bottomed boat, traditional in China and Malaysia. The ride itself is meant to be similar to a Venetian Gondola. The ‘canal’ runs along one aisle of the mall. We were actually here for the incredible history of how Singapore recovers its water. The indoor waterfall/vortex was a delight to witness. It only runs every couple of hours. There was no education on the boat tour which ended up being a disappointing tourist trap.

The observation deck at the top of Marina Bay Sands was sold out, so that will wait for another opportunity. By 5p.m. we were simply spent for the day. We chose to skip the light show tonight. We enjoyed a nice meal along the waterfront and went to bed by 8pm. Jet lag is catching up to us!

Day 3 will see us revisit Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam, where we will take a much more immersive dive into the cultural part of this country.

Day 4 in Singapore will be all about exploring the Colonization of Singapore. We will view more amazing architecture as we walk along the waterfront in Clark Quay and finish the day off with a river cruise to see the light show at Marina Bay Sands.

Since we are on an ABC journey I can’t fit fit everything in this post, but don’t worry, you will soon be able to follow the links to learn more about how we explored each location in Singapore.

“C” is for Chinese Gardens (Singapore)

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Debbie

When we travel plan, we make copious lists. We write out the places we want to see, the things we want to do, what and where to eat, how to get there etc. Mostly it is me who is delving into every resource I can find…hence why these trips take a year to plan! However, it was the mister who located today’s adventure. Our goal was to cover gardens today. We would also be revisiting the Bay of Gardens later in the afternoon. It is a place everyone should see at least once in their lifetime. I will cover that part in a different post.

Singapore is like every city: big, loud and filled with people. After our long journey, we needed a respite before delving into it all. Following a great “Western” style breakfast,outside on the patio at the hotel, we set off to find the sanctuary of green space known as “Chinese Gardens”. Alan had found this place like he does so many of our other special locations, simply by giving me a photo off the internet and a mission to track down what it was called and how to get to it. This is how we came to plan our first activity in Singapore.

We loaded the handy backpack we take on most of our adventures. Sunscreen check, umbrellas and raincoats (based on our last experience here) check, sunglasses and good walking shoes, check. As the temperature soared to about 95F by noon, we soon remembered we should also carry water. We won’t forget that again!

We had picked our hotel because it was close to the subway station.. The walk to the subway station is about 10 minutes from our hotel. Along the way we discovered a Chinese temple, the first of our unplanned detours for today.

Chinese Temple near our hotel

Getting to the Chinese Gardens would test our traveler’s skills. It was the first time we had used the Mass Rail Transport system (MRT), which is as easy as tapping a credit card at the entry and exit points of your desired destinations. There are about 5 rail lines but all are color coded and the trains run every 5 minutes. Everything is presented in English here, so it is pretty straight forward.

One station change and a short subway ride later, we got off at the Chinese Garden depot. We knew we were in the correct place because there was a giant, 7 story. cloud piercing pagoda across from the station. As planned, the Chinese Gardens were the perfect place to begin our day. With Singapore being situated just 85 miles from the equator, the morning weather was very comfortable 80 degrees but climbed quickly to about 95F! We will remember to bring our water bottles tomorrow.

Here was the quiet space we craved, a place we could wander, while enjoying the wildlife and nature. Best of all, the gardens and monuments were free to enter! We love free things since we only carry the equivalent of $50 per day in local currency, which is meant to cover all the small expenses such as transportation, tips, market purchases, coffee etc. We would later spend $12 on a cup of ice cream!

There was so much to see at the gardens, before we knew it, a couple hours had passed. We finished our time there with a $12 ice cream. The skies opened up as we made our way back to the MRT station. We were ready with our umbrellas.

We spent the remainder of our 10 hour day in the Gardens by the Bay, where we would explore the Cloud Forest, Floral Fantasy and end the evening by laying on our backs under the metal trees, to watch the famous Garden Rhapsody Light & Sound Show. We are surprisingly energetic for our first day in Singapore! We will see how our feet recover. I estimate we walked 10 miles today. One of us drew blood, the other had her socks meld to her toenails after melting my nail polish.

“B” is for Bucket List (Singapore)

Posted on March 17, 2026March 24, 2026 by Debbie

We have five days in Singapore before heading out on our cruise. We have been here before, when we stopped on our cruise in 2023. Feeling like we had a pretty immersive overview of the city the last time, we wanted to delve deeper into everything with this trip.

If you have ever traveled with me, you know I am a planner! With every city or new country, I set a list of intentions. Some people call them “bucket lists”. They are really just goals and ambitions, purpose to our days, if you will. Isn’t that what an ABC Adventure is all about?

Singapore was no exception to my preparations. To turn a bucket list into an ABC list, I simply map out the possibilities. When we set our intentions, I am always thinking about what kinds of foods I want to try, the must see places I want to visit, the kinds of animals we might see, the photos I want to take and the stories which must be told. On the ABC list, you might see a color, or a verb listed, perhaps a journal question…these are reminders of what I want to document. The ABC list (my bucket list) becomes a huge collection of ways to capture our adventure. Singapore was a very big part of our ASIA exploration, which I will cover in greater detail at a later point on the blog. For now, we are following along in real time. Today, March 18,2026 we landed in Singapore, we are going to get a few hours of rest then begin our exploration.

After much research, we realized we had actually created a pretty comprehensive plan for ourselves in Singapore. Our first day would focus on gardens. Our second day was all about exploring modern Singapore. The third day was going to be filled with culture. The fourth day we would be visiting the Colonial areas and finally the fifth day was about taking it easy, as we boarded our cruise. Within each of our days, in Singapore, there were many things we wanted to see. I wondered if we could complete an entire alphabet adventure while we were here. The next few days will tell. So here is what we have planned to see/do or experience, while in Singapore. Here is our ABC Adventure.

ABC Singapore

Accommodations

Abdul Gaffoor Mosque

Amoy Street

Ann Slang Hill Park

Ann Slang Hill Rd.

Apple Store

Arab Street

Architecture

Art

Art Science Museum

Arthur Bordelo Sculptures

Asian Civilization Museum

Baba House

Best Memory

Biggest Surprise

Boat Quay

Bonsai Garden

Breakfast

Bruce Lee Tributes

Buddha

Buddha Tooth Relic Museum

Bumboat

Cavanaugh Bridge

Challenges faced or expected to face

Chinatown

Chinatown Heritage Center

Chinese Garden

City

Civil Defense Heritage Center

Clark Quay

Cloud Forest

Cocktails

Coffee

Colonization

Colorful houses

Costs

Culture

Cultural differences/cultural misunderstandings

Currency

Distance traveled

Document daily life

Dragons

DREAM sign

Eat

Elevate the view (Marina Bay Sands/ Skybridge & Supertree Grove Skywalk at Gardens by the Bay/ Singapore Flyer)

Famous Streets

Favorite anything

Fears you faced and how you overcame them

Flag

Floral Fantasy

Flower Dome

Flowers

Food

Fort Canning Park

Fullerton Hotel

Funniest Moment

Gardens

Gardens by the Bay

Garden Rhapsody Light and Sound Show

Green spaces

Gelam (a type of eucalyptus tree that grows near Kampong Gelam)

Gopuram (a monumental tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of a Hindu temple, in the South Indian architecture.

Government

Haji Lane

Hawker Center

Helix Bridge

Henna art

Heritage

Hindu

History

How will this trip differ from previous visits

Ice Cream

Indian

Indian Heritage Center

Jewel Change Airport

Kampong Glam (Kampong means “village”)

Kaya Jam/Toast

Keepsakes from our travels

Koon Seng Roaf

Lightshows

Lily pond

Little India

Little India Arcade

Local foods you are excited to try and why

Long Bar (Raffles Hotel)

Majong

Malabar Mosque

March

Marina Bay

Marina Bay Sands Casino and Hotel

Market

Masjid Jamae

Masjid Sultan

Maylay

Maylay Heritage Center

Meadow Garden (See Gardens by the Bay)

Merlion

Mosques

Muffasa Center

Museums

Music

Muslim

Mustafa Center

MRT (Mass Rail Transit) System

Murals

Nature

Nightlife

Nighttime

Observation Deck

Old Hill Police Station

Old Parliament House

Orchard Rd.

Pagoda

Pagoda St.

Palace of the Former Sultan (see also Maylay Heritage Center)

Panadan chiffon cake

Parks

Passport stamp

Peoples Park Complex

People Watch

Perceptions

Picnic

Pineapple Tarts

Planet (Giant Baby Sculpture)

Politics

Quays

Raffles Hotel

Rain Vortex

Recommended sight, event or experience

Red

Religion

Repeat visit

River Cruise

River Quay

Robertson Quay

Rules

Sage St.

Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple

Sampan boat

Satay by the Bay

Sculptures

Serangoon Road

Shophouses

Shopping

Signs

SINGAPORE

Singapore Flyer

Singapore is Spectra (Light show)

Singapore National Museum

Singapore river

Singapore Sling

Skyway Bridge

Skypark Observation Deck

Skypark Sound & Light Show

Smells

Sounds

Souvenirs

Spectra Light & Water Show

Sri Mariamman ahindo Temple

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple

St. Andrews Cathedral

Street Art

Sultan Mosque

Supertree Grove

Supertree Observatory

Tai Chi

Tan Teng Niah House

Telok Ayer St

Tekka Centre

Temple of 1000 lights (see also Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple)

Temples

Temple Street

Textures

Train stations

The Promontory

The Skyway

Thian Hock Keng Temple

Thian Hock Keng Mural

Top Moments of this trip

Traditions

Traditional Trades of Little India Mural

Transportation

Travel Companion

Unexpected (because there is always some of this!)

Unique

Unplanned

Victoria Water Lily Pond

Visas

Vivid memories

Walk

Wander

Weather

White Rabbit Candy

eXcellent view

eXperiences vs. eXpectations

Yen

Yin and Yang

Yong Kee Food Supply Mural

You/Yourself

Yummy/Yucky

Zen

Gardens by the Bay Night Show (March 18,2026)

Marina Bay Sands Casino and Hotel (March 19, 2026)

“A” is for Asia

Posted on March 16, 2026March 23, 2026 by Debbie

After over a year of planning, we are off! Today we set the course for our next adventure. We are embarking on a 25 day cruise, with 10 additional days of land travel. We will have 5 days in Singapore before the cruise and 5 days after, in Tokyo. In between we will visit Thailand, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.

When Alan retired, we made a commitment to see all 7 of the continents before he turned 70 . Asia was the fourth continent on our bucket list. We still have South America and Antarctica to do. Technically Alan had fulfilled the Asia goal the year before he met me. In 1980, he took a 6 week training course in Japan. I too have fulfilled my Asia continent goal, while traveling on a portion of the World Cruise in 2023.

On that trip we met so many widows who hadn’t made it to their 50^th Anniversary, with their spouses. We also met many people who had become infirmed by illness or injury before they turned 70. We decided to do our long distance traveling with as much speed as financial resources and health would allow.

Just six weeks ago we returned home from a trip to England. The known stressors that we would be facing on that journey, had made us move up to business class. If you know anything about us, it is that we are very frugal. Business class is not a luxury we have never indulged in, until recently. As soon as we completed that flight to England, we instantly began to search if we could upgrade for the Asia trip (our longest flight yet). Alan realized we had some unused mileage points and combined with a good flight sale, it made the tickets attainable. These two bodies are not as young as they once were and this extra space and the ability to lay down means that we will hopefully arrive to our destination refreshed and ready to start our vacation.

When going on a long cruise, we don’t travel light, we pack for comfort and convenience, which means we likely bring too many things. On this trip, we have 4 suitcases (2 large and 2 medium) and our carry-ons. For clothing, I have my list pretty well established and I could probably get by with a single suitcase. It is the room organization, which takes up so much space in our luggage (as I said, comfort and convenience). You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you I am carrying laundry pods, paper plates, snacks and a full service first aid and medical kit, but I am! I will share more about our packing lists on another post. Normally we buy these things at our starting port when flying, but they will be a little more difficult to source in Singapore, so we have them in the luggage.

The other benefits to flying business class, are that we are able to take 70lbs per suitcase. I don’t recommend this, as ultimately it will be us who is lugging the cases around. For the benefit of others, we still try to stick to the 50 lb rule. My cases for this trip have all come in around 40-45 pounds and we will be shedding many consumable items as we travel.

We had been so incredibly prepared for this trip. I began packing about six weeks ago, just after we returned from England. Weeding out the things we didn’t need and adding in a few new things we did, such as a snorkel and mask. What I hadn’t counted on was a freak snowstorm to disrupt our plans. When we saw the storm was expected to dump 2-3 feet of snow, Alan changed our flight plan to leave a day early (Sunday). The airline cancelled those plans on Saturday morning and re-booked us on the original Monday flight from Traverse City to Chicago. By then it looked like travel would be impossible, the airline just hadn’t realized it yet. With about 15 minutes notice, Alan decided to hire a rental car in Traverse City and gave me 2 hours to be ready to go. It was the last car available! This was Saturday night, just hours before the storm was due to begin but still nearly forty hours before our connecting flight in Chicago. I’m pleased to say that I had the car loaded in record time! My organization had really paid off. We closed down the house and set off for our six hour commute to Chicago.

In the interest of time, I will detail our journey to Chicago in a different post but needless to say we made our flight bound for Tokyo, roughly on time (Monday morning). We were delayed an hour as they de-iced the plane, twice. It is a 13 hour flight with a 3 hour layover, then we will travel another 7 hours on to Singapore.

The meal on the flight was a choice of Asian or Western cuisine which on All Nippon Air means we still only had a choice of a variety of fish based items. Knowing how fussy we are for “basic” foods, we had stocked up on Subway Sandwiches! Our hope was that we could eat these for our dinner. I think it will be terribly amusing when we pull these out, in Business Class. It gave my mother a chuckle to hear we have a cooler with us. This too is part of our cruise supplies. We love creating impromptu picnics in port (or on a plane).

At 4:30pm local time, we landed at Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan. We were now officially in ASIA!

We will have just a two hour layover, since we are a little late. Once again we will be taking advantage of the International Lounge. While sitting in the lounge, we spent some time dreaming about the countries we would see on this trip…Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

We keep pinching ourselves that we are actually here and beginning this Asia adventure.

By the time we set off for Singapore, our old butts were really beginning to drag. While only 6:30 pm local time, it was now 4:30 am our time. We still had a 7 1/2 hour flight to our final destination. Our only goal on this last leg was to sleep.

We arrived in Singapore at 1am local time. With the 12 hour time difference we were now pushing our 27 hour window. With the stress of the additional travel days, we were ready for our hotel.

When we travel, we take each section in bite size chunks. We still had Customs and Immigration to clear and our past experience with Singapore had not been pleasant, they are notorious for long lines. Three days before we set off, we were required to complete our visa online. With the significant time change this meant we did it in the hotel before setting off for the flight. The new digital entry has now made the whole process relatively stress free and fast.

After picking up our bags (which thankfully had all made it), we were met by our pre-arranged taxi driver and whisked away to our hotel. In 20 minutes we were there. In 45 minutes we were checked into our room and in bed. The time is now nearing 3 a.m., which was 3 p.m. at home. We have a full day of adventures planned “today”, so we need to get a few more hours of sleep before we set off. Goodnight or good morning, depending on where you are in the world! Welcome to our Asian Adventure!

“X” is for What EXcites You About Your Trip? (Pre-travel planning)

Posted on March 13, 2026 by Debbie

Our trip is drawing very near and we are down to just a few days before we leave. I am so excited to experience all the new countries and cultures. I am not sure if I can define what one thing excites me the most. Each city/country will offer us something unique. We have planned our activities with a nice mixture of scenery and city tours so I am hoping we will also enjoy a nice pace.

Architecture always excites me and we are about to be bombarded with that. I am also excited to spend time in Singapore and Tokyo before and after the cruise. There is a unique distinction about being a tourist verses being a traveler. The ability to navigate the transportation systems and communicate in a foreign language are protected and predictable when you are on tours. To be a traveler, one must merge with the society you are visiting.

I am also excited for the learning which will go on, on the cruise. There is a photographer on board who is teaching classes, using our cell phones instead of a camera. It seems like a small thing, but this excites me greatly to learn to trust that I don’t need to lug around my heavy SLR camera around. This is the first trip I am leaving it at home. There is also a historian on board who is lecturing on each of the countries we are visiting. We can never have too much knowledge!

Finally, I am excited to be spending so free much time with Alan. Getting away from the mundane jobs of cooking and cleaning always renews our energy. As our granddaughter would say…just three more sleeps! That is unless we manage to move our flight to Chicago forward by a day. We are currently punting to try to make our challenges as simple as possible. We are expecting a massive snow storm in our area Sunday into Monday. Since it will be measured in feet not inches, we are hoping to get out of here before it hits! If not, this may be the most exciting part of our journey!

“W” is for What’s Worrying You (Pre-travel planning)

Posted on March 12, 2026March 12, 2026 by Debbie

On February 28, 2026, an intercepted drone struck the Burj al Arab, causing a minor fire on the outer facade of the building. The USA was suddenly at war with Iran, which has since quickly escalated to include most of the Middle East becoming involved as either ally or agent. We worried, should we cancel our trip?

It’s easy to let worries prevent you from traveling. Like many places we visit, things change after we have been there. Whether man-made disasters, or caused by nature; the politics, the safety, the infrastructure and/or the landscape may alter quickly.

When we saw the images of the Burj al Arab, shaped like a sailboat, we recalled that we had seen the luxury hotel, while driving through the city of Dubai in 2023. This was just one of the amazing, architecturally interesting structures we would see. The images instantly took me back to why we were there at all.

We had an opportunity to extend our last cruise by an additional segment, for half the regular cost. This would allow us to sail through parts of Asia and ultimately end our trip in Dubai. We decided to jump at the opportunity. Dubai wasn’t a country which I would likely ever have chosen to explore on our own, yet we did just that as we rented a car and so enjoyed the cultural experiences we encountered. This is the beauty of travel, it opens your eyes and challenges your stereotypes and personal biases. I had felt very safe in Dubai, I couldn’t imagine at the time, that the very airport which we had flown out of, would be bombed just a couple of years later. I know I am unlikely to travel through Dubai again in my lifetime, not because I don’t want to (I do) but rather because it is not near any other place I am likely to be visiting.

As I watch the news, I am worried about the challenges which might be created for us on this trip. We will be thousands of miles away from the fighting but terrorist attacks are arising daily. Countries are beginning to hoard their oil reserves, including some which we will be visiting. We may experience fuel shortages which could affect both our air and sea travels.

Stateside our Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is being hampered by a government shut down. Yesterday over 300 agents quit, since they are working without pay. As a result, the lines are getting long at the airports.

To top things off, it looks like we may be hit with 2 snow storms, measuring in feet not inches over the next couple of days. Today is Thursday, we leave Monday. The first storm arrives tomorrow into Saturday and the more serious one arrives overnight on Sunday. Our flight departs at 7a.m., hopefully.

In our last few days of preparation for our Asia trip, I do not have a crystal ball to know how this will play out for us. I accept that I have zero control over any of it. I have travel insurance to handle any change of plans which may come our way. The rest of it I must leave to fate. In the meantime I will try to stay focused on the joy I shared with Alan, as we traveled down a river near old Dubai. I am excited to make new memories and by this time next week we should be in Singapore!

“V” is for Visas (Pre-trip planning)

Posted on March 11, 2026 by Debbie

On our Asian trip we are traveling to Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. We received a notice from our cruise line yesterday (less than a week before we set off) that visas were required for our travel. Thankfully I already knew that.

A travel visa is sometimes required when visiting a foreign country. This is a document which allows you to legally enter and stay in a country for a specified amount of time. Rules and length of stay vary by country. There are many different kinds of visas.

A Transit Visa may be required even if you are just passing through one country to get to another country. It will not matter if you are arriving by car, boat or plane. These visas usually only allow from hours to days to make the transit.

Short Stay Visas, Tourist Visas and Travel Visas usually allow you to stay for about 90 days or less. These are common when you will be staying in the country for a period of time. You may not work in the country you are visiting on most of these types of visas. Visas vary for different nationalities so be sure to check that too, if this is your situation. There are many other kinds of visas but the above two pertain most to travelers so these are the only ones I will mention on this blog.

I used www.ivisa.com to check which of the countries we would need to obtain visas for. I required 4 but Alan only needs 3. All will be a form of a transit visas, which can only be obtained a few days before our arrival at each destination. While on a cruise, the ship often takes care of these, because not all passengers have access to the internet while en-route so doing the 72 hour thing can be challenging. A fee is often charged for the service and convenience. As a result, we are now down to needing to procure just one visa for each of us and that is for Singapore. We will register 72 hours before our arrival, nearly half of that will be spent just trying to get us there!, Let’s hope there will be no delays…so far we only have to worry about a war which is causing fuel to spike, TSA agents quitting after a government shutdown, which has the effect of long security lines and now a big weather system is due into town the night before we set off! No worries, because I can’t control any of this. I did stock up on snacks today though, just in case we get stranded!

“U” is for Upgrades (Pre-trip planning)

Posted on March 11, 2026March 11, 2026 by Debbie

Upgrades are a wonderful thing, they usually mean an opportunity to have a little more comfort. They come at a cost too but here’s the thing, there are a lot of ways to go about getting an upgrade, which can be quite frugal. For example, we booked our cruise as a guaranteed cabin. This is generally a less expensive way of reserving a room but it comes with some restrictions. It means we don’t get to choose our room location but there is “guarantee” of a certain level. I don’t generally like doing this because I am really fussy about where our room is positioned on the ship. We don’t want to be under pools, fitness areas, smoking lounges, teen centers, laundry room or near elevators. We want the middle of the ship because it is more stable when we hit rough seas.

The cruise we are about to sail on, had been nearly sold out when we finally decided to change our plans from a September sailing to a March sailing. As payment dates neared, I was watching the site like a hawk, knowing passengers often cancel around that time. We began to notice that actual cabins were becoming available so we began checking regularly, hoping for a room in our desired location.

As soon as a room was available, I was on the phone to our travel agent, who then locked it down for us. There was no additional cost and we now had a specific room. Sometimes patience is all which is needed. Now we are in a wonderful location. It is on the port side of the ship which will allow us to enjoy sunsets and be able to see every port we sail into and all the land masses as we are sailing by. I couldn’t have picked a better location, even if I had had first choice!

Then came another opportunity. Last week we were offered to upgrade our perfect room to a mini suite or better. We momentarily contemplated it knowing the perks which come with it (such as more space and possibly even a private butler) but we know better than to take these offers, because there is no guarantee about where you will be placed on the ship, so while the cabin might be bigger, with many more amenities, the view, the noise levels etc., might be less than comfortable. We will be sticking with our current cabin. As they say in card games, you have to know when to hold em’. so no more upgrades on the cruise side of things!

As I have mentioned before, we are pretty frugal, some would even call us tight. We spent 30+ years working our butts off to be able to travel like we do now. The airlines have been slowly changing the seating in planes, a little less cushioning, a little less legroom, a narrower seat. It has become almost dangerous to fly economy anymore, We began upgrading to Premium Economy, its now what regular seats use to be. With Alan’s height, this gives him just a little more leg room and has been worth the extra comfort. Business Class is another level altogether. This is not normally the way we fly, as we find it very expensive for the return on investment. We can generally get through about 8 hours before starting to get really uncomfortable and so far, that has been our longest air time in one stretch.

We upgraded to Business Class when we flew back to England recently…there had been a “too good to turn down offer” and we paid the extra money to do it. Sometimes the deals to Europe aren’t very much extra to upgrade, when a flight is full. Perhaps it was a mistake, because now we have realized what we have been missing and the comfort which this class of travel offers. The problem with taking some of these upgrades is that once you experience them, you don’t want to go back.

With the upgrade we could load 70 pounds into our suitcases instead of 50 (which we never recommend because ultimately it is you that has to pull that case). With the Business Class upgrade we were greeted with champagne and served food on real plates. We could lay flat and turn our seat into a bed. During our layovers, we also had access to showers and lounges, hot meals, drinks and alcohol all day. We could use the lounge to charge our phones and enjoy free wi fi. We could sit in oversized cushy chairs as we waited between flights. The lounges were mostly quiet, so we could rest. We were now officially spoiled.

We began to reconsider our trip to ASIA, which involves 29 continuous hours of travel. Even Premium Economy was going to be uncomfortable. We decided to figure out how to make the upgrade to Business Class work for ourselves but we still didn’t want to spend much money. We are not (yet) masters of using mileage points for upgrades etc., but our particular card lets us purchase tickets with our points, 1 mile= $1. When we realized that we still had mileage from our last cruise and we had just used the same card to pay for our current cruise, we also realized we could make this work to our advantage.

After our 2023 trip, we had learned to always book a changeable ticket, so when we asked to upgrade, there was no problem. We had actually booked our Premium Economy seats nearly a year before the trip, but the best international fares generally come out about six weeks before a travel date, so again Alan had been monitoring the fares, always hoping to restructure to save a little more money. The day after we returned from England, the best fare finally hit. It was a couple thousand dollars less than just the day before! The Business Class fare was now within our reach. This is when we knew to make use of our points.

For just a few hundred dollars more, we are now traveling to Singapore, in style! The bench like seats are about twice as wide as normal Premium Economy seats, they convert to a full lay flat bed so we will be able to sleep on the plane. The “room” on All Nippon Air (ANA) allows us to cocoon ourselves completely away from others and is considered one of the most unique features of the airline.

Even as early as today, we are still watching the fares, they have since risen to astonishing rates and have almost doubled from where they were when we booked! Nothing feels better than feeling like we got a super bargain! Our best advice is to consider your “why” when deciding if an upgrade is worth it, then make it work for you. When we arrive at 1am after a 29 hour travel day we hope to be touring just 8 hours later. With the upgrade, we will arrive refreshed and ready to enjoy our adventure, from the first hour we set foot in Singapore.

Once again we are counting our blessings. We are humble enough to recognize this is a luxury. We are wise enough to realize that some opportunities only knock once. We are so grateful to have the opportunity to travel at all. Our Golden Years are about grabbing life by the horns!

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