Ship Unloading Devices seen at sunrise.
Phu My is the port nearest Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam. We pulled into the Makong Delta about 7 am and chose to be up on deck 12 to see the sights (it looks like mangroves on one side and industry on the other side of the waterway. This port is about a two hour commute to get to Ho Chi Min. In order to leave the port, you must take an approved shuttle (free) to navigate safely to the public area about 2.5 km away.
In this picture above you can see crowds moving onto the shuttle buses and a little market out in front. This is easily seen from our window of our stateroom port side.
Since we are fortunate enough to visit this port again on our next cruise, and we overnight that time, we made the decision to stay on the ship today and do a two day excursion svisit next time.
I used the opportunity today to make 3 facetime calls – one to my Mom early in the morning, one to my sister a bit later, and one to our youngest son after lunch. It actually is really tough to physically talk to them back home with such a huge time zone change – that has us on different days too. I appreciate having the Airalo eSIM card for Asia on my phone – but the SIM card only works when we are in port, not at sea. And when we are in port, we are often rushing to catch transportation to see the sights. In the same breath we are conserving phone battery power to take pictures while taking in all these amazing sights! So today was a perfect day to find out what was happening back home in Canada!
With most guests off the ship – only deck 11 buffet was open for lunch. We had soup, a slice of pizza and a salad. It is 30 C today so we sat by the pool with our fair white skin. We visited guest services to ask about our day in Singapore when one cruise ends and the other begins. The staff member printed us a new card that had us getting off the ship January 30th, instead of January 17th – so that was progress! No other details about B2B (back to back) cruise guests are known at this time.
I did venture up to the Bliss Lounge for trivia game time – there were four teams – and I placed a close fourth! I wanted J to come to increase the odds that I got more questions correct, but I was pleased with a few answers that I did come up with on my own. It was fun.
We know that Uber was bought out by Grab (Taxi) so upon Wes and Lisa’s recommendation, I downloaded the Grab app on my phone so when we return – we will have a preferred way to get to Ho Chi Min City. Haggling with taxi drivers will occur here – and guides suggested a person get the price in writing before you get in the car. That is where the Grab app is great – you pre-order your car telling them exactly where you want to go and you pay for the ride through your credit card stored on the app. W & L used the app in Malaysia yesterday. They paid $1.80 for the drive. Taxi drivers standing by were charging $10. One less challenge to face in a foreign country where we don’t speak the language.
We both worked out in the fitness centre this morning. I spent time in the afternoon investigating what we will do in Singapore on turnaround day and writing my blog.
Tonight’s dinner is at the specialty restaurant, Le Bistro. We are looking forward to that!
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