We did a 3-day Royal Caribbean cruise from Singapore with a stop in Penang, Malaysia. This was my first time cruising in Asia.

Unlike the Caribbean and French Polynesia, most passengers were from Chinese and India. And this reflected well in the activities as well as food choices. The quizzes were geekier, e.g., guess the airport from the codename. Food choices were way more vegetarian friendly including a Jain food counter!

Day 1 - Check-in

We arrived at around 3 PM, 90 minutes before the start of the cruise. We know we are late when we saw absolutely no one in the check-in line!

After putting the stuff in our rooms, we decided to check out rock climbing

And then took visit the glass floor.

In the evening, we saw a show about Showgirls. Among all its glitter and noise, it left a lot to be desired.

The food choices were impressive. Especially, if you are a vegetarian. This is my fourth cruise, and this is the first time, with tons of vegetarian choices, including eggless pastries!

Day 2 - Penang, Malaysia

The day started with the workout.

Then we spotted some dolphins from our balcony.

The cruise ship reaches Penang, Malaysia at 3 PM. This is unusual. This was the first time, I have seen such a weird arrival time. And it was indeed terrible. The sun still sets at around 7 PM. The museums close by 6 PM. The market closes by 8 PM. And the tour stops are also done by 9 PM. So, one has to return to the cruise ship by 9 PM as there is absolutely nothing to do on land.

Our arrival was further hampered by the sudden tropical downpour that happened within 30 minutes of our arrival on the island!

We still continued with our plan to visit funicular at Penang Hills. We took a 40 USD taxi to a 40-minute taxi to Penang Hill Station. If you negotiate well, you should pay 30 USD. Further, try to reach as soon as possible as the queue to go to the top becomes long pretty quickly. The standard ticket is 30 Ringgit per person, to save an hour, we took the priority ticket that cost us 80 Ringgit per person instead. The train ride is fun. Try to sit in the front if possible. We missed that while going up. However, we sat in the front while coming down.

Atypical of south Indian traditions, The Hindu temple for Lord Murugan was carved elaborately both on the inside and outside.

While returning, we took Bus #204 for 2 Ringgit that eventually stopped at the cruise harbor. However, we decided to get down to Hin Bus Depot to explore the local market. Contrary to what Google Maps say, this market is open only from 11 AM - 5 PM on the weekend and not on the weekdays.

Then we visited Little India, not much to see here this late though.

And Chew Jetty. A jetty is a wooden structure built on shallow lands. And in this case, this belongs to the Chew clan. There wasn’t much to see there at 9 PM either. So, feel free to skip it.

Back on the cruise ship, we saw a magic show.

Demonstrated Wine Bottle Magic Trick. One can buy these here.

Spoiler: This trick was very similar to how this is done.

Then there was a glass penetration magic trip. Spoiler: This is the secret behind it.

And there was an awesome demonstration of the assistant’s revenge. Spoiler: This is how it is done.

Day 3

I started the day by riding waves

Followed by Bollywood Dance Lessons

And tried our hands at archery

Then we participated in some fun quizzes like Treasure Hunt and Guess the Airport.

In the afternoon, we attended the most popular show, Silk Road. I would highly recommend it. Since we don’t have a reservation, we queued up an hour in advance. And there were people who queued up even earlier. I came across an old version of it on YouTube. Ours was a few notches better than this one.

Finally, at night, Effectors was the last show, that we saw. Apart from too much of special effects, there wasn’t much to this show.

Note

  1. While citizens of India need a visa to visit Malaysia, no visa is required to visit Penang, Malaysia. The 4-day cruise that stops in Thailand as well, however, requires a visa for Thailand. And Royal Caribbean charges a hefty fee if you don’t already have a Thai visa.
  2. Royal Caribbean has extended its American practice of mandatory tipping to Singapore as well. As far as I know, they cannot legally force one to pay it. So, you can ask them to remove/reduce it and they will have to oblige. I believe it is the onus of all cruise passengers to fight against America’s mandatory tipping culture that tries to mask the original cruise fare.
  3. Penang isn’t that great of a stop, feel free to skip and stay inside the cruise ship.
  4. While there were multiple entertainment shows, there wasn’t a comedy show on the ship.
  5. The pools were small and shallow but still pretty good. And were filled with fresh water, not salt water.