Our Travel Adventures: 2016 - Costa Victoria Cruise

6 Days Cruise from Singapore to Phuket, Langkawi & Penang and back to Singapore

26 Nov - 1 Dec 2016

We booked the 6D5N Costa Victoria cruise through Hwajing Travel and Tours Sdn Bhd in April 2016 for a total fare of about RM1,800 per person(Adult twin sharing) for an Inside Classic Cabin, inclusive of port charges and onboard service charges. The fare was a Matta fair promotion. The trip was a family holiday together with my brother, eldest sister, third sister and some of her children. There are 11 adults and 3 children in our group.

Costa Victoria

Costa Victoria is a 75,000 gross ton cruise ship belonging to Costa Crociere, an Italian cruise line. It was first launched in 1996 and was was refurbished in 2004 and 2013.

Day 1 - 26 Nov 2016

Depart for Singapore from Kuantan by the 9am Transnational bus and arrived at the Singapore bus terminal near Nichol Highway MRT Station at 4:30pm. Took the MRT to harbor front and proceeded to the cruise centre to check into the Costa Victoria cruise ship around 7:30pm in time for our first dinner on board the ship.

Boarding time at Singapore Cruise Centre

My 3rd sister and family having buffet dinner at the Bolero restaurant on deck 11

My eldest sister, brother and Lili with my niece enjoying their dinner

After dinner we have to attend the mandatory safety briefing on Deck 6

Day 2 - 27 Nov 2016

Today we are sailing through the straits of Melaka on the way to Phuket. It is time to enjoy the activities on board and also to attend our Gala Dinner tonight.

Morning breakfast was at the Fantasia Restaurant on Deck 5

Dance lesson at Deck 5 after breakfast

Enthusiastic guests dancing away

Enjoying our morning tea at the back of the ship on Deck 11

Pre-Gala Dinner cocktail with Captain

My niece Joey enjoying her champagne

Joey with my wife Lili

My eldest sister and husband

Myself and my wife

My nephew and family

My eldest sister, my brother, myself and our other halfs

My third sister, bro-in-law and Joey

My nephew and family

After dinner we watch the Costa Victoria Dancers performing at the Festival Theatre on Deck 6 and 7 , entitled Feel the Beat.

My grand nephew enjoying himself at the kids corner

My grand nephew and grand niece on the racing machine

Music by The CoCo Trio at the Concorde Plaza, Deck 7

Watching the Dance with Officers with the animation team from Costa Victoria and music by The CoCo Trio

Dance with the officers with the animation team form Costa Victoria

Day 3 - 28 Nov 2016

We arrived at Phuket at 8am local time. The ship will anchor opposite Patong Beach. Disembarkation is by tender boats which will take us to the shore and vice versa. We have a full day in Phuket and need to be on board the ship by 5:30pm. We had booked a 12-seater van online for THB2500 which will take us to some of the popular site seeing spots in Phuket.

Inside the tender boat heading for Patong Beach

Costa Victoria viewing from the tender boat

After stopping at the factory outlet where we bought some souvenir T-shorts we were taken to the famous cashew nut factory in Phuket. Here you can taste the different flavors of cashew nuts before buying them.

We next visited the Wat Chalong (Chalong Temple), the largest of Phuket's temples and the most visited. The local and tourists come to pray and pay respects to several monks who were the founders of Wat Chalong

We had our lunch at a beach front restaurant

Our next stop is the Phromthep Cape for some photo taking

Our last stop before going back to Patong Beach to board the tender boat was at the modern Jungceylon shopping mall where the main stores are Robinson and Big C supermarket.

Food bazaar inside Jungceylon

One of many souvenir stalls at the basement floor of Jungceylon

Pomegranates juice stall opposite Jungcelon

Fried ice cream at roadside stall opposite Jungceylon

We took a stroll along Patong Beach on the way back to the jetty to board our tender boat to our cruise ship.

View of Patong Beach from the tender boat.

We had an early dinner before watching the Michael Jackson impersonator show at the Festival Theatre on Deck 6 and 7

We then joined the Carnival Party that was held at the Main Hall on Deck 5

Day 4 - 29 Dec 2016

We arrived at Langkawi at 8am. The cruise ship will depart at 10:30pm. We have the whole day to tour the island. We managed to rent a 14 seater van for RM300 through a friend who is staying on the island. With the can we have the flexibility to stop anyway we want.

View of the Star Cruises jetty in Langkawi from the cruise ship

Langkawi here we come!

Our first stop was at the The ZON Duty Free shopping complex in Pantai Cenang where we bought many varieties of chocolates and sweets.

We then take a leisure drive to the Oriental Village where the Langkawi cable car station is located. The Skycab is the steepest cable car ride on earth and takes visitors up 708m above sea level to Langkawi's second highest peak of Mt. Machinchang, where the view of the surrounding islands is simply breathtaking. However, due to time constraint we did not take the cable car ride.

The magnificent Sky Bridge on top of Mt. Machinchang

We then drop by Berjaya Langkawi Resort before going back to Kuah town for lunch

After lunch we went to the eagle square to take picture of the famous iconic eagle statue.

The eagle square is one of Langkawi's best known man made attractions. Is has a large sculpture of an eagle poised to take flight. The 12 meter statue is one of the island's most instantly recognizable monuments

We then walked to the nearby Lagenda Park. Lagenda Park (or Taman Lagenda as known in Malay) stands for the Park of Legends. Indeed this beautiful parkland spreading over 20 hectares of area has been themed on folklore and myths from the prehistoric era to the modern times of Langkawi.

The entrance to the park is through a Gondowana stone wall. Gondowana was the ancient southern super-continent that eventually broke up into South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica millions of years ago due to plate tectonic movement of the earth. The wall signifies that the islands of Langkawi were also formed due to such earth movement.

We then went Kuah town and bought more cholates from the Zeno duty free shop.

This trip we have bought at least a year's supply of chocolates!

At about 5;30pm we returned to our cruise ship for an early dinner

Our dinner at the Simfonia fine dining restaurant at Deck 5

After dinner we watch the comedy acrobatic show by the Biasini Duo

The Summerlicius Band performing at the Grand Bar Orpheus at Deck 6

Day 5 - 30 Dec 2016

Costa Victoria arrived at Penang at 8am and will depart at 1;30pm. We have booked a 14 seater van to take us around Penang for 5 hours for RM250. Cost is inclusive of driver and petrol.

View of Penang island as we approach Port Swettenham Cruise Terminal

After disembarkation we walked to the main road where our rental van was waiting. Since we only have about 5 hours we asked the driver to recommend the places that we can cover within the short period. He recommended we visit the upside down museum early in the morning to avoid the crowd later on and that proved to be a good choice.

Upside Down Museum is an interactive museum on Kimberley Street in George Town, Penang. It offers a unique experience where only the humans are right side up! Walking through the museum is like going around an upside down house. Visitors can go from room to room, seeing the upside down living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and there is even cafes and shops that are upside down.

Later we drop by Armenian street and cannon street to see two of the famous street art down by the Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic

Street artist Performing along Armenian Street

Two tourists earning some money for their holiday in Penang

“Reaching Up” Mural, Cannon Street, George Town, Penang

A bicycle for a family of seven in Georgetown area

Penang Street Art, “Little Children on a Bicycle” Mural, Armenian Street, George Town, Penang

Trying out the famous Penang roadside cendol and later the asam laksa

Tonight's dinner was followed by party time with the waiters and waitresses

The restaurant staff performing for us with their dance routine

Waiting for show time at the Festival Theatre

Tonight's performance is a journey throughout Italian history and music cultures starring the Costa Victoria Dancers and the amazing voices of Heather and Thomas and the Tenor Miguel