s/v Charabia

05 September 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
04 September 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
03 September 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
02 September 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
01 September 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
31 August 2019 | Fredericksburg, Virginia
31 August 2019 | Madison, Connecticut
29 August 2019 | Park Ridge, New Jersey
28 August 2019 | Annapolis, Maryland
28 August 2019 | Huddleton, Virginia
26 August 2019 | Charlotte, North Carolina
25 August 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
24 August 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
23 August 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
22 August 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
21 August 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
20 August 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
19 August 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
18 August 2019 | Jacksonville, Florida
17 August 2019 | Fairmont, West Virginia

Singapore!

29 May 2019 | Singapore
Helen
Up around 7 am and our Sea Princess was close to the dock in Singapore. It took a bit longer for them to tie up and start the passengers exiting. Everyone had to take their passports thru Customs & Immigration. First off, our toilet would not flush. Or when you flushed, it took several seconds before it would flush. Mark went to the purser's desk and complained, yet again. They promised to send out the plumber. We both got dressed. Mark let our room steward know that he would have to let the plumber in. I was not a happy passenger. We walked up to Deck 14, Lido deck for breakfast today. Neither of us ate that much. We took some water back to the cabin and the plumber was still there. He was actually replacing something this time. We headed up to the top deck and took some pictures of Singapore. We could see a huge amount of cargo ships anchored off in the bay. What a sight. Then by the time we got back to our room, the plumber was gone. We ended up watching the news as the passengers with tours, were the first to get off. Then they announced a few times, that the lineups went faster than planned, so it was around 9 am, we headed to the Vesta Theater to get a number in order to get off the ship. There was no lineup, just some slow people in walkers. The crew had to help them up the ramp to get them off the ship. We both went thru the Customs and Immigration. We changed Aussie money to Singapore money in the port terminal building. Then we wandered out to get a taxi and ran into a couple from the ship that was heading to the Bay Gardens. We shared a cab ride with them. Our cab was only $10 in Singapore money which was around the same value as the Aussie dollar. We toured the Gardens, which were incredible. Lots of sculptures of animals, lots of flowers and trees as well as several birds. There was one tiny bird with a yellow breast and brown wings, that was a humming bird. We did pay $8 to ride up in the elevator to an elevated walk way with a great view of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. This hotel had three separate towers but a top floor joined to the other two towers. Being higher up on our walk way, gave us a breeze, on an extremely hot and humid day. We were both sweating a lot. Thankfully, we had packed a bottle of water. The sun was almost too much for me. We walked thru the hotel lobbies, with many shops in-between each tower. It was nice and air conditioned which gave us an opportunity to cool off some. Then we walked outside and then down under the street, in order to get to the Shoppes of Marina Bay Sands. The huge mall had many high end stores and one of the biggest casinos I have ever seen. They had roulette wheels, but the minimum was $5 with $5 chips. We selected a couple of slot machines and I cashed out $20 up. So, I decided to try boxing my numbers on the $5 roulette wheel. This wheel not only had zero and double zero, but it also had a third zero slot. No luck on the wheel as the numbers were in different order than our US roulette wheels. We had some good fun. Then we walked out of the mall and found a row of taxi cabs. We caught one just leaving the parking lot without a fare, so we asked if he would take us to Chinatown. He deposited us in front of a beautiful temple that was just finishing their service. Everyone inside had left their shoes out on the sidewalk. We enjoyed exploring the Chinatown shops. We bought a few things including a new Canon camera. It was almost 2 pm before we grabbed another cab and headed back to the port terminal. Mark bought a bottle of wine and no one took it away from us on embarkation. We had to surrender our passports to the ship's staff on re-entry. Headed back to our cabin to drop off our purchases. Then walked up to Deck 14 to get some late lunch. Thankfully, they were still serving. We tried a variety of things off the buffet. Then headed back to our room. Took a nap and watched some tv. We don't have any wifi and didn't think about finding any while we were in Singapore. We will try to find a place tomorrow in Port Kelang, Malaysia. Then decided to head up to the hot tub and pool. Apparently, the other passengers had the same idea as they were pretty full. We squeezed into the pool first and then got into a hot tub that was out in the direct sunlight. I wanted to get a massage from the jets, but we didn't last very long. Headed back into the pool to cool off. Then headed back to our room and showered. It didn't seem to be as hot outside as when we were on shore. Eventually, we got dressed and headed to dinner at our usual table. Our dinner steward departed the ship, so we now had a lady from Peru as our head waiter. She was very good. Caught up with our dinner mates on what everyone did today. Food was very good, although I found the sirloin main meal was much too salty. We watched some tv in our cabin before joining our fellow passengers on Deck 12 for fun & games. There were four challenges set up. We both satisfied them and received a medallion that we wore around our necks. I also got a free mini collagen treatment as the spa was doing some volunteering to promote their treatments. Then we climbed up to the Lido deck to get a fresh glass of water to take to the room. Met up with someone from the crew and I asked where he worked. He said he was in the Guest Services and I told him about the issues with our toilet and he asked for my cabin number. We'll see if we get some satisfaction. We are watching some tv movie as the Movie Under the Stars was not showing tonight. Thanks for the messages received today! Enjoy the American long weekend!!
Comments
Vessel Name: Charabia
Vessel Make/Model: Fountaine Pajot / Athena
Hailing Port: Jacksonville, FL
Crew: Mark &Helen
About:
We are both computer folks that were live aboard cruisers back in the 90s. We settled in Jacksonville Florida after escaping the great white north and cruising the Bahamas, T&C, DR and points south down to Trinidad. [...]
Extra: Charabia is a French slang word for nonsense or gibberish. It derives from Arabic "sharab" which means alcohol.When you drink (too much) alcohol, you start talking Charabia. The original owners named her and Mark liked the name so it stuck.
Charabia's Photos - Main
Photos 1 to 20 of 20
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Nov 2017 trip south from Jacksonville
9 Photos
Created 23 August 2018
Upgrades and maintenance to Charabia
79 Photos
Created 27 June 2017
72 Photos
Created 16 May 2015
46 Photos
Created 15 May 2015
72 Photos
Created 7 April 2015
95 Photos
Created 4 April 2015
106 Photos
Created 31 March 2015
Get the boat ready to cruise.
10 Photos
Created 14 March 2015