Up bright and early to be at the lobby by 8:45 for the tour before we go to the ship. The tour was interesting but unfortunately, the highlight of the tour was riding the tram up Victoria Peak and seeing the magnificent view of Hong Kong and it turned out to be extremely overcast and foggy when we went so we couldn’t see a thing! You could barely see from one end of the platform to the other. This was a freebie tour thrown in as part of the transport to the ship though so that was fine. The other, most interesting stop was at a beach where there was a beautiful view of mountains, people kayaking on the lake (bay?) and a lot of great shrines and statues. There was a huge statue of Kuan Yin and another huge one of Confucius? (it looked like Confucius) and many other beautiful statues and sculpture. I was really glad we got to go there while we were in Hong Kong. Of course, last on the tour was the obligatory stop at the jewelry store. But they did have free drinks and I was thirsty so that hit the spot. Also got in a smoke break, which is always good. I have to confess that I fell in love with a really nice diamond and sapphire ring to replace my wedding band for our 10th anniversary next year. But I’m awfully attached to my plain gold band and really, I couldn’t break down and spend money for something to replace it, even though Sean would have gladly gotten it for me. I’d rather spend the money on something fun, like another great vacation!
Embarkation:
Embarkation was very quick; of course we were lucky that we were on the first bus that left the hotel. (TIP: hang out outside the hotel while waiting for the transports and you’ll get first on and won’t have to wait in a long line in the lobby to board a bus). It was set up a bit unwieldy for checking onto the ship. It was inside a small tent and it was unclear where the lines started and ended so everyone just formed a big clump. Fortunately we’d done all the paperwork and everything the night before in the place they had set up for us in the hotel so we just showed our passports and went on into the ship. Our bags were waiting for us in our rooms (they’d picked them up from the hotel and delivered them while we were on the tour). So we headed off to the lunch buffet. We ate a ton (we were very hungry) and it was all delicious with lots of vegetarian choices for Sean.
They had shuttles running to and from Hong Kong proper all day, but it was a 30+ minute ride each way so we opted to stay on the ship. We were awfully tired from our long travel day and night excursion the night before. I filled out about 10 forms for the immigration info for each port (they really pile on the paperwork here) and we dropped them off at the front desk to get that out of the way. We watched "My Best Friend’s Wedding" on the TV and had a nice nap and then got up and grabbed a bite at the Lido buffet (very good) and then went dancing at the Big Band Night and then after that, in the Hudson Lounge. We were rusty in our ballroom dancing but got all loosened up and had a great time. As always, we plan to dance everyday. We get so few chances to ballroom dance normally and we enjoy it so much. Then we went to the Crow’s Next for a drink and waited for the ship to pull away. It left about midnight and we went to the top deck and watched as we left Hong Kong. It was very beautiful with the coastline of Hong Kong and Victoria’s Peak in the distance. Then to the Lido for some coffee and off to bed.