TANKS Travel Tales - a travelogue.......

This was my fifth cruise overall on Royal Caribbean's (RCL) ships and my first time cruising onboard Ovation of the Seas . The ship was on its re-positioning cruise from Brisbane and I boarded it in Singapore as it continued on its way to Vietnam , Hong Kong and Okinawa . My cruise was only from Singapore to Hong Kong in April 2025. It was a 5-night cruise with a single stopover in Vietnam's Chân Mây Port . Ovation of the Seas at port,  Chân Mây,  Huế Province, Vietnam (2025) On boarding day in Singapore, we boarded the ship on time at 11am as scheduled. This being my fifth time onboard a RCL ship, I was rather familiar with the embarkation day procedures, including heading straight for the safety briefing before taking the elevator to Deck 14 for my lunch at Windjammer .  Since it was only 11am, Windjammer was still not really crowded. It usually got really crowded around 12pm onwards when one could start to see folks walking around looking for tables. Rooms were usu...

Another cruise upcoming.....  My first trip of 2025 was a 8-nights cruise from Singapore to Bali and Lombok and back to Singapore onboard Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas in February and March. My next trip will commence in slightly more than a week from today, and it is another cruise. This time, I will be sailing one-way from Singapore to Hong Kong on a 5-nights cruise with a single Port Day in Vietnam's Chan May . One-way cruise entails a lot more logistics planning, including the booking of one-way air ticket to return home. As we all know, purchasing one-way tickets do not make much economical sense because it is usually a lot more expensive than paying for a pair of return air tickets; based on cost per flight mile. This is when my air miles , accrued over the years from my credit card usage and other flights come into play. When redeeming air miles for flight tickets, airlines typically charge based on per flight. Therefore, if I am to redeem a pair of return ...

On a recent cruise onboard Royal Caribbean's Spectrum of the Seas , I visited Hong Kong for the first time via a port visit. While I had traveled to Hong Kong many times previously, all these visits were by air via either Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airlines . This was the first time I visited Hong Kong by sea! View of Hong Kong's water from onboard Spectrum of the Seas berthed at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal , Hong Kong SAR, China (2023) The cruise ship was already berthed at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal by the time I woke up lazily in my cabin at about 8am. After a quick breakfast at the Windjammer cafe at Deck 14, I disembarked from the ship and was soon onboard the free shuttle bus that ferried cruise passengers from the cruise terminal to different areas of the city. I chose to take the shuttle to Mong Kok and had a great time relaxing over aromatic coffee and delicious waffles whilst people watching at Langham Place . I also found time to shop at the many and varied reta...