Melsea's 1st Half World Cruise, Arcadia 2016 Part 2

Reports about cruises on Arcadia
User avatar

Topic author
melsea
Senior Second Officer
Senior Second Officer
Posts: 576
Joined: February 2013

Melsea's 1st Half World Cruise, Arcadia 2016 Part 2

#1

Post by melsea »

Hello everyone. Sorry my reports are somewhat late. Been very busy and have only just got around to review some of my reports for putting them on here. Bear with be and it might take the same time as the cruise to get all the reports on here. Happy reading and hope you don't fall asleep..

Day 1. Flying to Hong Kong.
14th March 2016

Final preparations for our departure.
Alun our taxi friend arrived at our place at just before 3pm. Bill had put our cases outside the front door. We left the house just after 3 and set off to Heathrow Terminal 3. It was a bright sunny day. The journey went very well even when it looked like we were slowing down due to an incident and then it said there was an obstruction in the road but nothing appeared, so it must have been from earlier and not at the time we got there. So with that out of the way we were moving on again. We were nearing the junction for us to get off when I said to Alun we need terminal 3. He then went off at the turn off for T4 & T5, I thought the slow up of traffic was because we were getting to the area of the other turn offs for the other terminals. But Alun said he knows a back way to get to T3 as the road ahead was getting busy due to an accident.
We were dropped off in plenty of time. We went in search of the Virgin Airlines check in desk which was not too hard to find. We were met by a very friendly lady in red, the Virgin Airlines member of staff. We said we wanted to check in and she very obligingly did this which was not at the usual desk where you would put your luggage through. We were able at the same time to choose our seats, we wanted two aisle seats which we selected. We then had to take our cases over to the actual checkin desk to be put through. Since we had an extra case each there was a charge for this £130 for the two. Having relieved ourselves of our cases we made our way to boarder control and unbelievable both of us had to be checked, me as I beeped through the barrier and so had to have a full body scan, when nothing showed up I was further searched by a woman official. Meanwhile Bill had to have his bag search as he hadn't placed his iPad into the box separately, oops. Once through we went in search for a hot drink. We had our drinks in the Pret n Manager. We stayed there for a while and at the same time we used the free airport wi-fi. I later went to boots to get a couple of things that I needed as I had not sent them onto Arcadia back in January. I also got us a couple of small bottles of water for the flight as it was an eleven hour flight. At 7.20pm, some 20 mins early our gate number came up. We made our long walk to our departure gate, they were boarding when we got there. Our seats were ideal in the sense they seem roomy but the down side was that they were near the toilets, Bills seat was directly in front of it, (you could not see there was a toilet when we were choosing our seats at check-in). On our seats we had a small package of a blanket, toothbrush & paste, eye mast and socks. Also we had a small pillow. The seats seem comfy. It wasn't long before we made our way to the runway for takeoff and at this point we were told our flight will be almost 12 hours long. On the back of the headrest in front of you there is a small screen which is for us to view films. Taking off as always has an air of the impending anticipation and so soon we are were on our way.
During the flight I watched 2 CSI programmes, 3 films Brooklyn, new Bond movie Spectre & Bridge of Spies. All very good films. We had an evening meal, mine was a Chinese meal? Bill wanted the Curry but they ran out so had to have Spaghetti with meat balls. We had plenty to drink with it and it was all very nice. I managed to sleep but found I actually slept better when I was watching/listening to a film as when I tried to sleep not doing this I did not sleep. Bill helped me to tilt my seat back and at the same time the actual seat I am sitting on also moves forward so that you are better aligned.

Day 2. 15th March. Our arrival.

The flight was superb with absolutely no turbulence. Flight was a little longer than I thought it would be for reasons I cannot tell you as I didn't quite catch what was said but whatever it was this was the reason why the flight was to take 12 hours instead of just over 11 hours. At times it seemed never ending but soon we were about to make our descent to land at the newer airport on Lantau Island, I have though flown into the original hair raising airport in Hong Kong harbour. Having said the flight was very good, we did not have the best landing as it was rather bumpy and the plane felt like it lifted from side to side, I had an aisle seat centre of the plane so it felt as it did.
So, there we are from a long flight and about to go through HK immigration which actually didn't take too long. One thing they did do was to look for our Chinese Visas. Mine was easier to find but Bills one was a little harder as he had two other previous visas as well and a rather full passport but still enough pages that is required.
Yippee we are through and now to find our cases. One thing you notice about this fairly new airport compared to others around the world is that it is clean, very clean, spacious and plenty of carousels for our luggage to be thrown about at us. Also plenty of space surrounding the carousel to actually get to your case and lift it onto a trolley. Fortunately for us we are able to spot our cases very easily since we bought nearly 2 years ago new cases that are a pale blue colour and more importantly they have 4 wheels which makes for an easier ride for moving them around.
Cases found then onto to find the travel companies representatives to transport us to our hotel which for us was the City View hotel. There had been three different flights/airlines used by them and there was a lot of us, more about that later. Having established who to speak to and which crowd of people to join with, it seemed all those accounted for on their list were there & then made our way to the coach. In our group it looked like the use of at least 2 coaches were need. Our cases were to remain with the travel staff who will then get them to our hotel, I at this point have absolutely no idea or realise what this will entail. Our cases did have a label on them supplied by them from the hotel. Journey to the hotel was around 40 mins, although I can't actually remember. When we arrived at the hotel the reps on the coach gave out our hotel card key and believe me they had quite a wad of them. This process took about 20 mins. So off we went to find our room. We were to be on the 14th floor and these rooms were the Premier Double Economy type. It was very nice, decor good, layout good, in fact it was all very nice.
We decided to have dinner in the hotel, wish we hadn't as it was a lot of money, we won't make that mistake tomorrow.
Afterwards we went in search of our cases and they were not there and they said there was another lot coming soon. 15 mins later a large van turned up and it was crammed with every type of case you can imagine, ours we saw very easily, they were about 3 cases deep into the lorry with still two more deep of cases to go. With the amount of luggage they were off loading they brought in reinforcements of men in suits from the hotel, all young, one guy actually hurt his back as they were literally hauling them out at speed. The numbering on the labels they gave were numbers that were areas of where they would have placed the luggage as they came off but since there were a few of us passengers there to collect, much of it did not make those areas. With cases in our hands and put into our room, we decided to go out and find the Ladies Night Market which was not that far away. As we were making our way through the narrow passage of a walkway we passed stalls after stall of pretty much tacky things that they want you to buy. However, in amongst all this there is bound to be something of use and as you pass so many you become immune to it all and don't actually see what is there. Bill spotted something and called me. There was a box that was jammed with handbag table hook holders of which I am steadily making a collection. As I was looking the stall holder started telling us how much they were, started with 3 for 100HK$, this being roughly 3 for £8.50 which is very good value and they were rather nice too. As we had only just arrived we didn't have any local money and we told him so and would go and get money, this he clearly didn't believe and then said 4 for 100HK$, we repeated what we said and then he said 5 for 100HK$, it was at this time we had to leave and go and find a cash machine as the market looked like it was coming to an end. We returned and managed to find the stall again and yes I bought 5 for 100HK$. I am always surprised at how many women have not seen these lovely hooks. They come in all sorts of different designs, shapes & colours. What they are, are hooks for us ladies to hang a bag over the edge of the table, instead of placing bag on floor or table. Its a safety thing too as how many women do you know that have had their bags stolen from under their feet or from over the back of a chair. This little device makes it more difficult to loose it but like all things you still need to take a little care, place it near to you etc. They are a nice little accessory and what's more they are small. I try to make sure I have one in each bag I have for when going out. Similarly while on ship I will try to match it up with what I am wearing. Yes I know it sounds extreme, but women like that, don't they? So with purchase in hand it was time to find our way back to the hotel where we crashed into bed. Full day in Hong Kong tomorrow.

User avatar

Raybosailor
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1195
Joined: February 2015
Location: Nottingham

Re: Melsea's 1st Half World Cruise, Arcadia 2016 Part 2

#2

Post by Raybosailor »

Sounds like a decent start to the holiday melsea

Return to “Arcadia Cruise Reports”