position at 9:20 am: N9 04.20 latitude E102 35.46 longitude
(Gulf of Thailand, about 550 miles N of Singapore, our next port)
temperature: 82F, 91% humidity, partly cloudy
distance since FLL: 22,921 miles
It was a smooth ride last night. On deck this morning, it was still very pleasant notwithstanding the 80F temperature. Moving the clock forward last night made the ship very quiet this morning at 6am. There were no other people on deck until 6:45am.
We had an uneventful buffet breakfast in LaVeranda. Debbie was off to aerobics at 9am. Clay took care of reclaiming our passports which are required to go ashore in Singapore. He went to the Reception Desk and had an argument about the $56 bill for visas in Vietnam. The woman at the desk was someone new that he had not encountered before and she told him that when we filled out the visa paperwork, it came with a letter that stated we would be billed. Clay told her he did not remember the letter, but that full World Cruisers had all visas included in our fare. She disagreed. He reiterated that he had already paid, in full, months ago. They were at an impasse and she finally agreed to go ask someone else. She came back and told him that he was right and she did not know about the included visa fees and she would have a corrected bill sent to the cabin. So, we are guessing that all the world cruisers on this segment got billed $56 for the visas in Vietnam which were prepaid as part of the World Cruise package.
In the Vords of Visdom this morning, the Captain said that Radisson Seven Seas Cruise Line was officially renamed Regents Seven Seas Cruise Line yesterday. We also had a letter delivered to our cabin this morning to that effect.
Freddie told us at noon that it is hot and humid and should stay that way in Singapore for the next 2 days. They are having a Rossini steak BBQ on the Pool Deck today. We are NOT going. We ate lunch in the comfort of Compass Rose and had comfort food. Clay had a hamburger and Debbie had a turkey sandwich.
The afternoon was spent catching up and preparing for our Singapore visit. Debbie wants to try to do an elephant ride at the Singapore Zoo at 1pm with our ship scheduled to leave at 4pm according to the written schedule. This is probably doable, but in the Singapore Port Talk today, Roger said we leave at 3 which might make being at the elephant at the zooat 1 a little risky. We will have to see what all-aboard time actually gets posted when we dock. In the past, there have been discrepencies between the port talk and the printed schedule. Sometimes Roger has been correct, and other times the printed schedule has been correct. We'll see.
Debbie went to Circuit Training, Pilates Mat and Stretch and Relax this afternoon. She is still craving that nap, but hates to defer exercise.
Tonight is Formal night and the Captain's Farewell dinner. This segment ends on the 10th. We ate in Compass Rose with Clay getting softshell crab appetizer and a steak, and Debbie ordering the pasta with tomato sauce (off the back of the menu) and a filet mignon. When Debbie's pasta came, it was the wrong pasta dish (from the main menu with shrimp). We called it an early evening and were in bed by 9 to be ready for Singapore tomorrow. The newsletter that was delivered tonight had a third sail away time, 3:30 pm. We will find out which time is correct when we leave the ship.
