Post-Trip Recollections - Bali and Lombok Cruise
I booked this cruise way ahead of the scheduled sailing and thus got quote a good deal because of the early booking.
After almost two years of waiting, I finally boarded the ship on Monday morning of 24th February 2025. This will be an 8-night cruise on a return trip sailing from Singapore to Indonesia's Bali and Lombok before retuning to port in Singapore on 3rd March 2025.
Previously, I had sailed four times onboard Spectrum of the Seas. This was my first sailing onboard Anthem of the Seas. Different ship, different vibes.
The ship left port and departed Singapore's Marina Cruise Centre in the late afternoon, around 4.30pm. Sailing southwards past Indonesia's Riau Island and across the Java Sea to the island of Bali. I am a frequent visitor to Bali for vacations. But this was my first time sailing to Bali instead of traveling there by flight!
After two sunny sea days, we arrived at our first port visit of the cruise, Celukan Bawang. We woke up at about 9am, went for my breakfast at Coastal Kitchen before taking the tender to shore. We did not venture far from the pier but simply walked to a small stretch of beach near the pier to enjoy a quiet swim. In the background there were some commerical ships anchored on the sea. And further back, we can clearly see Anthem of the Sea, also anchored on the sea as tender boats made their way to and from the ship to the pier, ferrying cruise passengers to shore and back to the ship in a constant and gradual pace.
At the beach, I had a nice chat with some local Balineses and took photos together. My basic knowledge of the local Indonesian language does help with my chats with the friendly locals.
The next day, 28th February, was another port day. This time, Anthem was berthed at port in Benoa, also in Bali. As with our first port day, we woke up late to the sounds of traditional Balinese music playing at the port, had breakfast again at Coastal Kitchen and then disembarked. We walked near the port area, arriving at a fishing port where many fishing boats were berthed. My first time at a fishing port. We walked around and I took photos of the fishing boats, they do make for rather photogenic subjects. Some boats had fishermen onboard and we waved to each other cheerily, some even posing for me to take photographs of them onboard their fishing boats.
Fishing port walk over, we returned to the Anthem. It was still early and most of the cruise passengers were away on guided group tours. Seizing the opportunity of the "quiet" period, I posed in front of Anthem for photos. Compared to the huge cruise ship, I looked like a tiny little ant in the photo!
Following the port stops at Celukan Bawang and Benoa in Bali, our next port stop was at Gilimas on the island of Lombok. Unlike Bali, Lombok is less well-known as a tourist destination. For me, that adds to its charms as a travel destination. This was my second visit to Lombok. My first visit was many years ago when I stayed in the area of Senggigi Beach. This visit, I will only be here for a few hours and will depart with Anthem in the evening.
As was the routine for our first two port visits for this cruise, we woke up late, had breakfast (again at Coastal Kitchen) and disembarked the ship to slowly explore the immediate vicinity of the port, not venturing too far off.
As to what we didn't take the guided group tours, the reason being that Singapore is relatively close to both Bali and Lombok, around two hours by flight. And we are frequent visitors to Bali for short vacations. We had also visited Lombok before and it is easy to simply take another short vacation to Lombok from Singapore, Thus, we decided that short walks around he port areas before returning to a relatively empty Anthem to enjoy the pools sans crowds will be a better options. I am not an introvert. But I do prefer pools that are not jam-packed with crowds of humanity!
Anthem left Gilimas around 7pm in the evening and slowly made its way out to the Java Sea, heading northwards, homeward bound for Singapore. I briefly left the Main Dining Room at Deck 3 where I was having dinner that night, just to walked out on deck to view the surrounding islands and their silhouettes in the dusk sky as the cruise ship slowly sailed along on its way.
The next two days were sea days. one up late, had breakfast, enjoyed the facilities onboard the ship, had lunch, laze around, had dinner, watched the entertaining shows in the evenings, had supper, went dancing at the Music Hall and also walking around the Deck 15 to enjoy the sea breeze as the ship sailed across the Java Sea,
On the last sea day before arriving in Singapore, we were invited to the Bridge, the Command Centre of the Ship. It was nice and educational to see for ourselves the views from the Bridge of the Anthem. Unlike the passengers areas, there were no food and no music here at the Bridge. Just dedicated staff working hard to ensure that everything flows along smoothly.
In the night, we packed our stuff in preparation for disembarkation the next day in Singapore. There weren't many things to pack though. We usually travelled light, especially on cruise trips.
The next morning, I woke up at 6.45am to see the skyline of Singapore's Marina Bay Financial Centre as the ship had already berthed at the Marina Cruise Terminal while we were still sleeping. Quick shower and final room checks before we left the cabin at about 7.15am. We headed to Windjammer for a quick breakfast and disembarked at 9am.
This was a great cruise trip. Our wonderful Concierge from the Concierge Lounge made this trip a memorable and enjoyable. And the awesome crew of Anthem of the Seas made me wishing to be back onboard this ship again. 🛳
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