Day 8

Day 8 – Darwin – Singapore - 23/5/12

Weather – Fine, Sunny, 27C – 31C

Sunrise – 6.36am

Sunset – 6.26pm

Clock set back 30mins during the night at 2am (again, 2 nights in a row)

Thanks for all the comments folks. I understand some people re having trouble posting comments, I will have a check of the settings on the blog when we have internet time without the stopwatch in Singapore on Sunday.

We found out today that we will be berthing at the brand spanking new International Cruise Terminal on Sunday. It opens on Saturday, with its first ship arrival. Sun Princess on Sunday will be it's second. It is about 2km away from the previous Harbourfront terminal used up till now.

Throughout another sea day today, Sun Princess maintained a west-north-westerly course through the Timor Sea. At 7.30pm this evening we passed 20 miles south the Indonesian island called Roti (also Rote) on our starboard side. We continued on a west-north-westerly course passing south of Sumba Island, towards Lombok Strait which we expect to transit tomorrow evening between 7pm and 10pm.

Short blog today, as we really did chill out most of the day. Yay..we saw our first sunrise of the cruise this morning, glorious sight over the stern of the ship, whilst doing an hours laps

Donna also put in a Line Dancing and a Gym session.

Much improved Trivia performance by the team today, but still not good enough to win the fantastic prize on offer.

Some late negotiations saw the NRL State of Origin game televised up on the big outdoor screen tonight, so NSW and QLD folk were happy, though the QLDers were happier at the end.

Many hours just whiled away reading and socialising etc, so sorry not much to report of note today :)

Small pokie win after dinner finished off a nice night. We should get off our butts and go to more of the shows..maybe tomorrow :)

An interesting tale from a couple of ladies we had lunch with. They ( an Aussie and an American) booked onto the cruise just the week before sailing – they decided it was a much more civilised way to get to their destination in Los Angeles than flying, could not agree more :) Because they booked so close to departure there was no time for the American lady to get the Indian visa.

The Indian visa was a compulsory requirement for everyone getting on the ship, regardless of whether or not you were getting off in Mumbai or not. To get the Indian visa one first had to complete an online application on the Indian Visa website which was designed by Bastards Inc. Then print off , take or post into Brisbane office, who sent it to Canberra consulate, who returned it etc etc etc.

So...these ladies were not in a position to do that, and the Indian officialdom were not to be budged. So the ladies were required to make arrangements to get off the ship in Kuala Lumpar (the port before Mumbai), make accommodation bookings for a few days in KL. Then book and pay for flights to Dubai, another few nights accommodation waiting for the ship to arrive there, so they could re-board. They were not happy about the inconvenience and additional expense, but accepted that was their lot given the late booking.

So after all bookings made, and expenses paid that need to be paid up front the plan was set. Upon boarding they ladies (and another 40 people without Indian Visas) were told that Indian officialdom had changed their mind and they could just stay on the ship in Mumbai.

So they were out of pocket, with flight expenses being non-refundable and not covered by insurance. In addition there are hundreds of people who got the visa, because it was 'compulsory' needlessly as they are not wanting to get off the ship in Mumbai.

Which leads me to the quote of the week. A lady from breakfast was discussing her experience when visiting the Indian Visa office in Brisbane...” I was gob-smacked when I entered the Indian Visa Office – it was full of Indians !!!! “

Yep, ya get that.