Liberty of the Seas - Salivalicious

When planning a vacation, the rigueur du jour is concerting the transportation, accomodation, attractions, and salivations quartet into a harmonic travel experience. For land tours, there are more options. If one hotel isn't right, we can always change another. If some place is not fun, we have the choice to get out and go somewhere else. If the food at a restaurant sucks, there's always Mc D, KFC or Burger King to fall back on.

That's not the case with a cruise holiday. If we boarded a bad cruiseliner, there's no where to run. There's no different hotel to change to, no escape to greener entertainment pastures, and we are at the mercy of the nautical kitchen. If a cruise is bad, that's it. It'll be a floating torture chamber for days. So choose your cruise operator wisely!

Having experienced 2 cruises with Royal Caribbean, I would say this company would be your best bet. But of course, I haven't been on other cruise ships to draw comparisons. However, considering the standards set by RC, it will be very tough to match.

I've shared about the ship's beautiful interior, exciting activities onboard and fabulous nightly shows in my previous post so in this entry, I shall show you the good food that went into my tummy during those 6 days 5 nights.

Windjammer Café - All Day Buffet

Located on Deck 11, Windjammer Café serves up an international buffet spread in a casual dining atmosphere for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is open from 7am to 9pm. A major section of it closes at around 4 pm for the restaurant to refresh itself for dinner but a small portion remains open to serve snacks.



You can design your own burger or sandwich with meat patties, a selection of hams and cheeses, and smoked salmon. Or perhaps plate a personal fusion of tastes that could be Eastern, Western and everything in-between with Japanese sushis, Chinese dumpling noodles, Cantonese congee, English meat steaks, Turkish kebabs, Spanish paella, American potato dishes, etc.

It can get quite crowded during peak meal hours but there are a lot of seats around. I didn't have any problem getting a table during those times as the turnover is pretty fast. The great thing about eating here is the oceanic view!

I had the mixed paella (chicken and seafood) at Windjammer and surprisingly, it's better than the many I had in Barcelona. It's hard to believe that a ship's kitchen turned up a better paella than the restaurants in Barcelona but in my opinion, that's the way it was. My parents agreed the paella here was tastier too.

The roast beef was also amazingly tender and sweet. Meats usually have this dowdy effect (jer lat) after one too many servings but this roast beef made me hungrier the more I ate!

I love sushi so my ears pricked up when our waiter at Windjammer mentioned that it's being served during dinner. As the nightly dinners were a fine-dining affair at the Rembrandt Dining Room (see below), I made a special trip to Windjammer prior to one of our evening meals to have sushi.

It was disappointing though. The rice wasn't sour enough to provide a contrast that compliments the savoury to fruity fillings. But that's my personal preference to have a stronger vinegary hint.

My friends always say I have a huge grudge against prawns and crabs. Because whenever they are available in a buffet, I'll do serious damage to their population. So imagine my thrill when I saw skewered prawns in Windjammer's spread! And they're peeled with the black intestinal thread removed some more. Best!

However, the prawns here were probably of the supermarket frozen variety as their glassy texture, paler colour and taste were unlike the fierce vermillion and rubbery feel redolent of fresh catch. So I held back and gave the prawn population a break. The other thing I didn't do damage on were the herring and olive rings as I only saw them after a full stomach. But they do look pretty appetising.


On top of all the savouries, there is the quinessential dessert spread of cakes, sweet breads, cookies, mousse, jello and other sweet creations.

Rembrandt Dining Room - A La Carte Fine Dining

When it comes to dinner, you have 2 options. You can either have buffet at Windjammer, or sit down for a fine dining experience at one of the many dining rooms assigned to each passenger. Eating at both the Windjammer and dining rooms are free.

We were assigned the Rembrandt Dining Room on Deck 3 and our seating was 7pm. There are 2 seatings every night, 7pm and 9.30pm. The other dining rooms (Michelangelo on Deck 4 and Botticelli on Deck 5) have seatings at 6:30pm and 9pm. To dine at these places, smart casual attire is required and no singlet, shorts and slippers are allowed. On captain's night, formal dressing is recommended.

Not sure how the other 2 dining rooms look like but Rembrandt is grand and b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.! The central table is where the captain will sit when he dines with selected guests on Captain's Night. You can check the Cruise Compass, a daily programme sheet, for the indication of the formal dining occasion.

The best time to shoot the dining room is on the first day after you come onboard. That's when the place is practically empty. The photos above of my parents, with our waiters and the family who shared our table were taken during Captain's Night, which fell on the second night of our cruise.

A nice family portrait at Rembrandt Dining Room although the ship rated me with a 'F'. Is it 'F' for Fabulous / Fantastic or 'F' for Fail / Fat Face? Hmm...

Other than the ambience, the great thing about eating here is the tip-top service... Attentive, Affable, Axcellent, Axceptional... how many aces are there? :o)

The next best thing about eating here is that you can repeat your orders! The dinner consists of a 3-course meal (appetiser, main, dessert) and the menu changes every night. You can order more than one of anything and even seconds or thirds of the same thing!

I ordered sceonds for the baked escargot for it just goes so well with the breads freshly basked onboard and one night, I had 2 main courses so it's like an a la carte buffet. One of the interesting things to try here is the watermelon cold soup. Not to be missed are the Chinese dumplings, grilled prawns with rice and this...

... the gorgeous, gorgeous lamb shank! The meat just wears the bone and can be taken off with a whisk of the fork while in the mouth, it disintegrates like a ballet on the tongue. You can still taste the baa-baa (say it sounding like a sheep) without the overpowering gamey mutton musk. Baa-rific!

While the menu changes every night, some of the items were ported over from Windjammer, just decorated differently. Just like the prawn skewer in the above photo, I've seen it at the buffet but at Rembrandt, it's jazzed up with a sauce topping and came dolled up.

Another must-try is the appetiser pictured above. Cannot recall its name and the photo of the menu came out blur because of low light condition and I didn't check as I was too eager to try it. Anything with garlic is a magnet for me. It consisted of a slice of ham with mushrooms and other stuff that don't just work as decorations, but taste good when combined on the palate.

Accompanying the appetisers and main courses, we finished off dinner with desserts.Of the many I tried in the few nights, my favourite was this cherry pie pictured below. It didn't feel too heavy after a sumptuous meal and the cream sauce lent just a right touch of egg-vanilla aroma.

If you're stumped what to order from the menu, no sweat. The waiters serving your table are always ready with recommendations. Anyway, you can order as many items as you like so basically, you are only limited by your appetite.

During dinner on the third and last night, Rembrandt's waitering team even sang for us! It's really quite a sight having all of them fill up the rotunda's stage. I think this just goes to show the trouble and effort in adding a personal touch for the guests. They sure ended on a high note!

Chops Grille - A Cut Above the Rest

If you fancy a meal that's more private and exquisite, do check out the 2 reservations-only restaurants onboard - Chops Grille (steak house) and Portofino (Italian fine dine). Meals here are chargeable. We booked a dinner at Chops Grille and it costs about S$34 per person.

Located on Deck 11 (to the side of Windjammer Café's entrance), Chops Grille offers a 3-course menu that starts with a selection of appetisers, main courses with choice of side dishes, and desserts. You can place unlimited orders for appetisers, side dishes and desserts, but only one order of the main course. Additional order of main courses incurs a charge.

Again, service at Chops Grille is nothing short of excellent with our waitress appearing and disappearing at all the right moments to serve and clear up. Very intuitive. Bravo!



Our meal at Chops Grille was also the only rare time that my family and I got to catch up with Yee Leong, also a winner of the Royal Caibbean blog contest. Even though we stayed on the same ship just a few doors away from each other, we hardly had the time to spend time together as each of us had different plans to enjoy the vacation.

So it was really nice catching up with him over dinner and exchange experiences on the ship and the land tours we took. All-in-all, we were mostly gushing about the facilities and the shows onboard. It was also a chance for me to admire Yee Leong's photos. This guy has a great eye for photography. Check out his photos of the various restaurants here.

A French loaf with specialty dippings started off our dinner with a blurred photo of this delightfully creamy Forest Mushroom Soup. I finally decided to invest in a flash for photographing food after seeing the large percentage of out-of-focus or grainy photos due to low light and high ISO.

There's a long list of appetisers to choose from and we pretty much went wild. I ordered 2 - Oyster Duet and Shrimp Cocktail. Baked in the dual condiments of Rockefeller and Kilaptrick style, I ordered seconds. As for the Shrimp Cocktail, now, this is what prawns should look and taste like! The size was hwah! and succulently fresh.

For the main course, we ordered a mixture of seafood and what Chops Grille is famous for - steak. I had the Herb-Crusted Jumbo Shrimp (did I menion I'm a prawn king?) while mum ordered the Broiled Veal Chop.

Dad and Yee Leong ordered the Chops-Style Mixed Grill which was the best dinner choice with a combination of grilled lamb chop, apple-chicken sausage, veal tournedos, and bacon. It's a whole lot of meat that're big on taste!

We can accompany our main courses with a choice from 8 side dishes. We particularly liked the Steamed Asparagus as the vegetable provided a balance to all that meat. But mostly because we've not seen such gigantic asparagus stalks! Yet they taste so tender and not fibrous at all.

By now, I'm sure you know what comes next to complete any meal... desserts! I don't really have a sweet tooth but I had so much cakes and sweet what-nots onboard. The portraits of these desserts are still hung on my waistline till this day.

Here's the droolsome Chocolate Mud Pie and the Passionberry Duo which is a circle of delight with a layer of berry gelatin sitting on a mousse of tropical passion fruit.

The highlight was the Crème brûlée with the burning of the sugar crust done at our table! I'm no dessert expert so I'll just say they all provided a sweet ending. Yah, that saying is cheesy... I know!

If you ever cruise with Liberty of the Seas, my advice is to diet before the trip. Eat less 1 week prior to sailing because once you're onboard, you will be overeating for the next 6 days 5 nights. So by eating less 1 week and overeating the next, your total caloric intake for the 2 weeks evens out!

The F&B experience isn't limited to these 3 eating joints but include a few other free and paid eateries such as Sorrento's Pizza, Café Promenade (24-hour free snacks), Cupcake Cupboard, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream (all on Deck 5), and Johnny Rockets (Deck 12).

Oh, here's another piece of advice... leave the tight-fitting clothes at home! Have fun going on a gourmet exploration! :o)

Legend of the Seas – Phuket (Thailand)

'Sabai' is Thai for the state of being well / good / happy; and repeating the word intensifies the expression to describe a wellness beyond words, to mean "not a care in this world"... a state of super chill euphoria!

And that's the degree of chill-out bliss I've come to associate with Phuket after my two previous trips there. But this time round, instead of chilling, I'll be going on a sea cave canoe adventure. How exciting! The great thing about Phuket is that you can choose to just take it easy and relax, or kick off the sand for some serious aquatic adventures.

8 Dec 10 (Day 3). The cluttered coastline of Phuket's Patong Beach signalled the tourism peak for the island from December to February. We couldn't have been here at a better time.

After the eye-opening tour of KL the day before, it's time to ditch my city garb for breezy beachwear on the third day of our Legend of the Seas Isles of Southeast Asia cruise. The balmy shores of Phuket, Thailand, was our final and last port-of-call before heading back to Singapore. I don't wanna go home!

I find it incredibly exciting to be at a radically different place each day. It's like waking up to a huge present to be unwrapped daily. What's more, getting to these places by cruise means there's never a down moment throughout the journey!

Sawasdee Kaa / Khrup! We're all ready to be tom yum-ed by the tropical flavours in one of Asia's best-loved beach paradise, Phuket!

There isn't a deep port for Legend of the Seas to dock so the big ship was parked some distance away while passengers going for the various shore excursions were ferried to land by smaller boats. I think the ship-to-land transfer takes about 20 minutes and there's no need for immigration clearance. This is also the best time to get a great shot of the entire Legend of the Seas ship.

Unlike our Port Klang arrival in the early morning at 7:00 am, we were docked off Phuket's coastal waters at 1:00 pm, which gave us ample time to catch up on rest and have lunch before embarking on another full day of activities.





For Phuket, I'm signed up for the Sea Cave Canoe Adventure tour which costs US$139. It is a very popular shore excursion so do book early with the onboard shore excursion tour desk or you can book it online. The Sea Cave Canoe Adventure lasts from 1:30 pm to 8:30 pm (approx. 7 hours).



There are eight shore excursions offered onboard Legend of the Seas and there's something to suit every preference be it a leisurely eat-shop-massage tours, cultural explorations of the temples in Phuket, or sea adventures to Phang Nga Bay and its surrounding islets.

As with the land tour in KL, we were issued with a group number and once on land, we just need to look for the respective guide holding our corresponding digits. It can be quite chaotic because there isn't a proper holding area for administration so you basically have to look for your group number and stick close to the guide.



Again, I was almost left behind as I was taking pictures and slow to report to my group's guide. Photography can be such a hazard! Thankfully I located them while they were making their way to the coach bus. It'll be an hour's drive to a small jetty where we'll transfer to a boat and take another hour to reach our canoe site.

To get to the sea caves, we took a 1-hour coach ride from Patong Beach to a jetty and took a 1-hour boat ride to a cluster of islets for the canoe adventure.

Basically, our area of exploration will be around a group of islets located off Phang Nga Bay. There are around 120 islets of various sizes littered in that region of the Andaman Sea. According to the guide, we'll visit three islands (Ko Panak, Ko Hong, and Ko Lawa Yai) and two caves (Ko Hong cave and bat cave).

However, the islands and caves we'll ultimately end up visiting is dependent on the tide conditions on site. At times, the tide would be too high and floods the passages leading through the caves or there's not enough water for paddling. What if we are inside the caves and the tide comes in or resides huh?



The hour-long boat ride was comfortable enough although I would think that those suffering from seasickness may want to medicate before boarding. Biscuits, fruits (tangerines, bananas and longans) and an assortment of drinks (mineral water, fizzy drinks and fresh coconut juice) were provided.

All food onboard is included on the tour package so there's no need to pay anything extra except for tips if you like the services of the staff. Personally, I found the service to be really good and the staff friendly. Then again, it's Thailand we're talking about. They're not called the land of smiles for nothing. So time to just sit back, sip a cold drink and feel the constant wind while the distant islands grow from hazy specks in the horizon to towering cliffs.

I haven't basked under the glazing heat of the burning star in a long time but this day, I'm determined to be a sun stalker!

Along the way, there's lots of time to just let your mind unwind. It is one of those occasions where you don't need to consciously tell your mind to quiet but it just does. Even with the hum of the boat's engine and hoo-ing wind, you sort of stop hearing them as you project your vision far into the horizon, thoughts half-forming and released quickly to the scene before you.

I was half dreaming about what's it like inside the secret lagoons I'm about to visit.



Our first stop is Ko Hong, which is shaped like a donut with a crust of limestone hills circling to form a recluse pool within. This unique feature of the island is also what got it its name. 'Hong' means 'room' in Thai. So Ko Hong literally means 'room island' to reflect the reclusive chamber it hides within.

Ko Hong is shaped like a donut. The inner lagoon is accessible by a few sea tunnels but most are usually flooded or too narrow for canoes to pass through except for the one openning that's commonly used.

Intersection between what is most likely Ko Hong (left) and Ko Panak (right). I can't quite recall because we passed by quite a lot of islet ranges to the point I can't tell where one ends and the other starts.

Apparently, there's another much bigger, developed and inhabited island called Koh Hong nearer to the shores of Phuket. It's easy to get these two islands confused. This Ko Hong is much smaller and uninhabited.

Limestone islets are made of dense layers of calcium bicarbonate compacted together and rose out of the sea due to colliding tectonic plates movements. And depending on the other types of minerals trapped with them, these sea hills may be streaked or coloured a rusty red, grey or black.

All eyes on a whole new world inside Ko Hong. It seemed impossible but the stillness here managed to be of sharp contrast to the calm seas outside.

Our sea canoes were really just inflatable kayaks that looked like three bananas stapled together at the ends. I liked the fact that they're open-faced so there's no restriction in movements but sitting on them require skill.

Because there's no backing like the traditional fibreglass-hulled canoe, I had to constantly straighten my back and hold my core muscles to keep balance and sit upright. A great workout for the abs! But at times, I just gave up holding that stance and just lie all the way down and just admire the passing scenery.



Initially I thought we had to paddle our own canoes but thankfully not. Each canoe comes with a 'boatman' and can sit two. I was fortunate to have the canoe all to myself since I was on the tour alone. This allowed me to move around to take videos and photos of the whole experience. And it's good that they came with a paddling guide too because the wooden paddles were really heavy!

Breaking the silhouette. I'm addicted to photographing the sun that day...

We spent about 10 minutes at Ko Hong's inner lagoon to enjoy the otherwordly silence and take photos of rock formations that resembled a sitting buddha and the head of a dog. Waterproof bags were issued onboard the boat for us to bring our cameras onto the canoes.

I was tempted to jump into the jade green lagoon waters a couple of times to have a feel of what's it like but decided not to for fear that my Nikon D90, Canon Ixus 980IS and LG Optimus One decide to join me too. Always try to trap some air in the waterproof bag before sealing it so that if it drops into the water, it'll float.



As we were leaving Ko Hong, my attention was pointed to this huge boulder that really resembled the head of a piranha or some fierce, prehistoric fish. This gallery of nature is astonishingly stocked with prolific promontories, beautiful cascading cliffs and artful stones. What an eyeful! I felt so small and in constant awe coming sooooo close to the power of Gaia.

Nature imitating nature... Watch out for that monster fish! It is exhilarating to encounter such bizarre likeness of beings especially when they are handcrafted by nature herself.

And that was only our first stop. Next up, we're going to explore the bat cave and its internal lagoon. I wonder if it'll be just as breathtaking... To get to it, we had to board our boat again and take a 30 minutes ride there. We'd actually passed by the bat cave earlier before reaching Ko Hong so we were back-tracing.

This is the entrance to the bat cave. Facing the solitude of the sea for the most part of our journey, it's easy to forget that we weren't the only ones exploring the Phang Nga Bay islets.

On hindsight, tunneling through the bat cave was breathtaking alright. It made me breathless because it stank. I thought the smell was only characteristic of bat dwellings on land where their droppings are trapped on cave grounds but since the sea bats have a natural flushing pool below them, the cave shouldn't smell. But the air was pretty foul.

Not only that, it was pitch dark inside and for a moment I felt panicky not knowing when the darkness was going to end. We were given torches but the black was so dense, I could only see the small halo projected onto the cave's ceiling in trying to spot the bats.

The interior of the cave is like a gallery for mangroves. Here you can find the twisted roots of the swamp-dwelling plants forming massive organic sculptures.

As for the bats, well, they kinda blended with the wall so I didn't find looking at them to be of particular interest and it's somewhat eerie when your torch catches their eyes and they glowed. It's as if there's something sinister above staring at you. Oh, and always keep your mouth closed when looking up unless you want your kisses to smell like the cave.



The best part about this tour was seeing light again. Although the total darkness took some mental adjustments, it was a pretty short paddle through the grotto to reach the internal estuary. It must've been low tide during our visit because the water was murky and muddy.

Scenery-wise, the place had a sea-jungle feel with mangroves spearing out of the water amongst a surrounding wall of greens. Eons ago, these islets together with Phuket and Krabi were supposedly traversable by foot but the land was eventually drowned out, creating these sea hills and mountains instead. Their connected past must explain why this species of monkey was found on this island that seem to spring out of nowhere in the middle of the ocean.

Saw this poor monkey with only one arm. Too bad I don't have any bananas to offer it but thankfully someone else did. You can bring bananas and fruits along to feed the island monkeys. There're quite a lot of them.

Following the canoe around the bat cave, we came back onboard and lunch was waiting for us. Well, they call it lunch but having it at around 4:00 pm, it's more like a very early dinner. Food is served late so have a full meal before coming on this tour. So, what's for our lunchner?

I love, love, llllloooooovvvvvveeeee Thai food. I don't remember ever having had a bad meal in Thailand and I'm the kind who loves it just as much at the streetside foodstalls as it is in the restaurants. Carrying on the tradition of tasty food, the yum yums onboard didn't disappoint either.

We had quite a spread with chicken cubes stir-fried with cashew nut in spicy sauce, deep-fried fish and vegetable fritters, prawns, whole fish, fried rice, stir-fry mixed vegetable and the white version of tom yum soup.

While we were having lunch, the boat drove us to the nearby Ko Lawa Yai. The boat was anchored some distance to shore so that we could leap right off the deck and swim or paddle the floating bananas to shore. This time we do our own paddling.

I wanted to see Ko Lawa Yai so I borrowed one of the canoes. Man, these things are heavy! And the paddle carved from a single wooden block might as well have acted as a dumbell in the gym. I've never felt more strenuous paddling that short distance to shore and I'm an ex-dragonboater! The lactic build-up in my shoulders were so extreme using that paddle, I had to rest mid-way and I would like to emphasize again that the boat to shore distance was very short. At most only about 150m.

Ko Lawa Yai is rather desserted with just one main dwelling in sight. If you enjoy watching grass grow, you will like this place.

On shore, there's really nothing much to see. I don't think the island gets many visitors. The beach was nothing to shout about as the surrounding water was brackish without any signs of marine life. The only indication that it is clean was by comparison to the black drift twig flakes floating the length of the shoreline. It's that kind where once you take a dip, they'll cling on to your body like loose tea leaves in a cup.

Just me and the sea. How strangely the mix of fear in not knowing what lies beneath the waters and awe of the scene before me brings about a deep sense of calm.

So I shelved the idea of swimming in it and decided to paddle around a bit more. It was a very different feeling paddling here as compared to Singapore because back home, everywhere we paddle, we're not far from civilisation.

Here, there were no breakwaters, no skyscrapers, no giant ferries wheel, no expressways... just me, my canoe and the stretch of ocean and islands before me. I felt powerless yet very much in control.



By the time we were heading back to Phuket, the sun I was stalking was beginning to assemble his bodyguard of stars with their moon commander preparing a roll call. Our boat was headed in the direction of the sunset and so I chased it some more down its golden path with some parting shots...

I didn't get their names, but this newlywed Singaporean couple were on their honeymoon. When I was about to take their shot, the husband gave his wife a spontaneous kiss! Aww... so sweet! May their marriage be a smooth long sail into the sunset.

Not just the sights, but the people who made this a memorable excursion... Kup khoon khrup to the crew onboard, my canoe guide, and Stephanie and Suzanna form Singapore!

What a beautiful end to a wonderful day of memorable adventures at the sea caves! I'll definitely come back for more in the very near future. In fact, I'm coming to Phuket again from 17 - 21 Feb 2011... Woohoo!

Thank you Royal Caribbean and Omy.sg for the opportunity to sit here and admire this picturesque sunset.

With this account of my amazing experience to explore the oceanic of nature, I've come to the end of my blog series on my 5D4N adventure onboard Legend of the Seas, Isles of Southeast Asia cruise. I hope you've enjoyed the many chapters that showed you what's it like and what you can expect from a luxury cruise holiday.

Although I've not been on other cruises to compare, I would say that nobody could have done it better than Royal Caribbean. The service is just superb and the ship is simply beautiful.

I would like to specially thank Nicole, Phyllis and Stanley from Royal Caribbean International for picking me to be one of the lucky 10 to experience this cruise; Alvin, Weiding and Jack from Omy.sg for capturing our highs during the trip; and all my new blogger friends who added the spice onboard - Calvin Timothy Leong, Catherine Ling, Cherie Lee, Christine Ng, Estelle Kiora, Eunice Khong, Fong Yee Leong, Philip Lim (Keropokman), and Phan Mui Yee.

THANK YOU ALL for making this such an unforgettable and enduring adventure for me! For more photos from the trip, please click here.