Star Cruise Libra - our first cruise! (Part 2)

Thank you for your continued support

in reading such a lengthy post!

Continued on my in depth review of the cruise. Day 2 on the cruise on a comfy queen size bed, but my daughter terrorised  all of our sleeps because she was crying every 2 hours interval due to her nightmares. Seriously, that's when I felt so regret even going for this trip!

We head down to breakfast after everyone was ready.

Tips No.6 - Choose your breakfast venue wisely 

The cruise provided us few breakfast options. Different restaurant serve different kind of menu (that's what we thought la) so happily we choose the oriental restaurant, thinking it's Chinese menu. To much of our despair, they serve Chinese yet western and weird nasi lemak with just sambal egg. I was quite disappointed with the selection because I was expecting some dim sums at least since it's Chinese menu Mah! 

(Picture courtesy from Google image)

Breakfast like this lor at least!

But...they did serve us pau and congee though but...the taste pretty bland. Inner voice quickly reminded myself to set the lowest expectation, so I just remembered to fill up my empty stomach. 

Apologies that the trip was weeks ago I don't remember exactly every details so I tried my best to put down as much information as I can. 

Our package included the city tour which requires you to assemble at a certain area and you are to present your confirmation ticket of the tour. Since we did the room upgrade the ticket went to our old room and we were all running up and down trying to avoid missing this tour. 

It was very drama because this was also the start of my sad story (#ilostmyrings story). And a cranky toddler on a hot sunny day despite being indoor in the cruise. I didn't get much sleep from the night before so, it was really not fun to start with. 

Asked my mom to pose for me, not bad eh


The brightness from the sun makes perfect picture but seriously freaking hot ah


And someone kong as she didn't sleep much due to her nightmares.

Tips No.7 - Get a lanyard and tie the access card to your neck!

Yes, I have to highlight the importance of the card. Because it serves as the key to your cabin (similar to your hotel room access card), also it works like your credit card for purchase on board. So the risk for losing this is someone may swipe it and you gotta pay. Thus, we had drama trying to locate the 'missing access cards'. But, if you are unlucky like me, just go quickly to the customer service and they will reissue another card at no cost. And the lost card will be barred to use. I only know by the time I came back looking for the lost card and one nice cabin crew told me. But the lanyard is pretty good way to keep your access card. So you can buy on board (fancy star cruise version) or you bring one on board. But if you are under a full package from your tour agent, this is usually provided for free!

Tips No.8 - Is city tour worth it?

As my tour provided complimentary city tour to both Phuket and Krabi, we followed as planned. But I personally don't think it's worth to join the city tour if you have been to both places previously. Because going to city tour in Thailand means temple visit and some cashew nuts factory which charge excessively for tourist. If you ask whether I enjoyed the tour, no I did not because of my cranky daughter, hot weather and walking up and down from the bus was painful. So what I suggest is, rather than joining the tour, once you leave the cruise, you can just book a car with a driver to bring you to specific places that you wanna go. That will make your city tour worth while.

However, there are also safe points to join the arranged tour. This is because you need to be back to the cruise on time. Like boarding the plane, the cruise will not wait for you. What the tour guide told us was, the last tour, one of the family was late and hence their luggage from their cabin were packed and left with local staff to wait for them. The cruise left without them! So at your own risk la.

Phuket town is more happening at night. Unless you wanna head towards Patong beach, there is nothing much going on. After many rounds going up and down the bus, our last stop was the famous shopping mall in town. We walked around aimlessly because there was nothing much to do. We ended our Phuket day trip with nice cooling ice cream from Swensen!  

A must group photo at the cashew nut factory

Taking pictures with toddler is always a failure

Instead of Phuket town, we only remember to take pictures at the port!

Either us in focus or the cruise - obviously cruise la


Always someone refuse to look at the same direction!

The whole city tour took almost the whole day of our time so by the time we were back, we head to the restaurant for dinner. Since Chinese breakfast was very disappointing, we opted for western menu that night.

When you have no idea what to it - Mix Grilled is the best

Perfecto~

My daughter portion of fish and chips. She finished the fish!

Here she is trying to open the foil on the butter for her dinner roll. 

The dinner was really good and the wine we bought just make it better! Not sure if because we were starving from the city tour or not, I remembered I finished my plate and BURP.

We retreated back to our cabin for a great shower and rest. My daughter "kong" after her bath and since I still have the energy, I decided to roam around the cruise. Cannot just stuck in the cabin room all the time right?

Most people were either in Phuket - since the cruise only embark at 12 mid night, every where was empty.

And even this:-

The casino!

Not a gambler so I had no idea at first why casino was empty when reviews about this cruise was all about gambling activity. And why all tables were covered with red cloth? Maybe no one was playing so it is close at the moment? Then only we realized, cheh, we were still on shore in Phuket which open gambling is ILLEGAL. That means, casino is only open for you when the cruise is on off shore, which also means, only between midnight to wee morning. No wonder~~LOL. We stumbled upon the live band and spent some time with the live music. Choice of songs not bad.

After the band ended, we quickly move to another lounge for a live show from all of the cabin crews. The whole show was performed by all the crew members that serve us food and some even the housekeeping team. So talented and OMG tiring job. Not only you need to do your day job, you need to rehearse during your time off and perform for the audience at night. No wonder they say cruise crew member earn good pay. Really?

In the middle obviously were two "ladies"

The highlight of the show was the two "ladies" with very great dance move and teasing the front guests. They were fun and really talented. Had a great laugh before retreating back to cabin and call it a day.

So, I have to stress the importance of the Star Navigator. We missed quite a couple of activities on board because we were either resting in the cabin, watching cartoon with my girl or out of the cruise doing the city tour. Therefore, when we were back from the city tour, I hold onto the Star Navigator and insist going to a couple of the show to at least enjoy the amenities available on board. Thus, if you are not a fan of touring the city, you do have loads to do on board. With that thought, I decided to stay on board with my girl the next day and quit the city tour in Krabi. But my mom and best friend go ahead still since it was complimentary.

We will look into 3rd day of the trip in next part. Both my girl and me had a great time resting and chilling on board until an hour before the Gala dinner was when my sad story happened. Sigh. I am still trying my very best to get over it. Damn~