wilkommen: Superstar Virgo

Day1
Boarding was a bit of a hassle compared to boarding a flight as the queue is really long though we came at the 4pm which was the time boarding starts, a long queue was already there. Issued the access card and finally boarded the ship at about 5 plus pm. Took a quick tour around the ship before heading for dinner, buffet dinner. Food wasn't that fantastic but definitely passable, but there was this old indian couple sitting beside us who ate bread with salt, pepper and long beans, wierd. So took another tour around the ship, visiting the observatory, looking into the Captain's Bridge and punctually at 8pm, we set off for Redang. Shortly after setting off the casino was open and of cos we went in to take a look, it was rather interesting looking at others play. Roulette caught our eye cos of the vast number of chips placed on the table during each round and only about 5% of the chips placed won something. A lucky guy got a Full House in poker and won $250 just liddat.

Access card

Day 2
Terrible nite, people were walking around outside and when it finally settled down outside, people were hanky pankying in the next cabin. I finally can relate to those people staying in the hostel, tough on u guys man. Headed to the gym since we ate so much last nite, b'fast was buffet again i think, so-so, we decided to join the snorkelling tour when we get to Redang, that will set us off $35 each. Then we got about playing the many games on board, we first tried the mini golf course after we saw people playing then we went to have a game of table tennis after jon and maybel had b'fast 2 of cos (they have a bottomless pit). After the game we hurriedly proceeded to the chinese restaurant to have an early lunch before going to Redang. I must say the food was rather good, esp the steamed Cod fish, heavenly. As we gathered for the tour briefing we realised we didn't bring any Ringgit, rather we didn't even bring any cash. You can credit payments to ur access card on board so we got used to it, but obviously not on Redang Island but we found out we dun get to even use the cash on the snorkelling tour. The diving tour provided was quite a bargain actually $90 for 2 dives with equipment provided but i didn't want to dive with strangers and i didn't bring along my divelog.

Rescue ship as ferry

At first we started to regret going on the snorkel tour after we realised that we're snorkelling near the beach but we soon realise the $35 was well worth it after we reached the island. Schools of fishes could be seen swimming under the jetty, corals reefs were abundant and large. If u tot only small fishes could be seen, u're damn wrong. We were literally swimming with the fishes, among the marine life seen were clown fish, sea cucumber(live ones) and Moray eel(not manta eel, sorry).

Moray eel

Anyway those who dun wanna to join any tour can go the Laguna Redang resort via the ferry service for free though i have no idea wad u can do there. Rested a while at the cabin before heading to the pool before everyone comes back. Pool was pathetically short, probably 30m in length and 15m in width yet we could amazingly come up with ways to swim in an orderly fashion(swim team, dun play play). Due to the short length, u tend to get dizzy after swimming a few laps cos u kept turning after swimming a short distance. They had 4 Jacuzzis but its always packed, sometimes with babes, but most of the time with people u prob wouldn't want sharing in it. Dinner at the chinese restaurant again, had tiger prawns and sweet and sour fish, both were gd i would say. Then there's the BBQ party at the pool with of cos loads of other food, buffet style.

The most interesting form of entertainment would be the casino though it was opened almost throughout the day, its more interesting and crowded at nite. This time we played. Jon, Eugene and I pooled some money together to change $50 worth of chips. We tried our hand on roulette with a young couple and a friendly croupier. You win some but most of the time u lose since betting using probability doesn't work most the time but beginners' luck were on our side when maybel won $55 using just $5 betting on the winning row. So now we set aside our $50 and played with the rest, it was fun as people started to crowd around our table and more players joined in. We had 'free' fun for over half an hour since there was no losses, gambling is addictive, beware!

Day 3
Woke up early for sunrise but it was way too cloudy to see anything, wad a waste. B'fast at Bella Vista, the western fine dining restaurant. Food was superb since they also had a small buffet bar offering cereals, pastries and fruits. Settled the check out procedure and collect our passports before packing our bags and taking a short nap in the cabin before lunch. Bella Vista for lunch again, this time it ain't so good, at least for the main course. Then we're stuck in the mahjong room playing cards since its the most quiet place and we can't go back into the cabins. When we alighted the ship, some of the crew were singing songs to our farewell, how sweet or maybe they can't wait for us to leave. haha, all in all quite a nice trip, hope to visit redang again, maybe with mi dive buddies this time.