Great day in Singapore.

No Shore Excursion booked here. Everyone says it is easy with the MRT System located near the dock.

There were lots of shops at the dock so immediately we found the money exchanger to get local currency ($AUS50=$S57) and had a quick look around. We were offered a great deal on a movie camera but decided it was too early in the cruise for major purchases. We obtained a map of the MRT system from the Tourist Information Desk. We had a vague plan of going to Sentossa Island so that Ray could do the Luge ride and to Raffles for a Gin Sling and maybe Bugis Street or Orchard Road. Tourist Information advised us that Orchard Road is full of Designer Shops while Bugis Street is more funky - sounds like us. We could see Sentossa Island and the monorail from the ship so decided it might be better to go there in the afternoon because we would be closer to the ship and less likely to have problems returning on time. We had been told we could purchase an all day pass on the MRT for $8 (you pay $10 dep which is returned to you in exchange for your used ticket). Instead we decided we only wanted to go to Bugis Street (Monorail uses a different ticketing system) so we went to the machines and purchased tickets but they were only one way (more about that later). Machines were incredibly easy to use. You just selected your destination on a screen and the price was displayed with an option for purchasing more tickets. I should mention here that everyone speaks English – and signs are also displayed in English. We noted that the majority of people were young – it is a vibrant city, well worth a visit if only to ride the MRT system and do some great shopping.

About this time we met George and Diane and when we compared notes, we wanted to do the same things and neither of us had been to Singapore before. At this point we revised our plan and decided to go to Sentossa Island straight away. They had already purchased an all day ticket but we needed different tickets for the monorail ($3 each). Sentossa Island is basically just a big fun park. The monorail is fun and reliable. We stopped at the first station and had a quick look. Universal Studios is located here. Hopped back on the monorail and continued to the Beach Stop where the Luge Ride was located. Ray and George rode to the beginning of the Luge on a chairlift and had magnificent views from the top. Diane and I sat and waited – very easy.......
Now we continued our adventure – on the monorail back to the MRT Station. We discovered that Raffles is on the same line as Bugis Street but we needed to change lines on the way. The train system is fantastic. They are fully automated and safe, clean, fast and reliable. In fact they went so fast that at one stage we thought we may end up in a different country.... We didn’t wait more than 2 mins. We managed the change well and hopped off at City Central. Raffles is just as you would expect – a haven within the city. We girls had a Gin Sling while they boys had a very tall glass of beer (probably a pint glass). The Gin Slings did taste like lolly water but we both agreed we felt a bit tipsy afterwards so they must have had a bit of a kick (in any case, the bill gave us a kick - $S96 for four drinks). Oh well, we will only ever be there once so it is one of those things we can tick off our List.
Back to the MRT and on to Bugis Street. But my ticket failed and a guy came up to help. He took us over to the ticket machine. Lodged the ticket in the slot and bingo – out came a dollar – “now you can purchase your ticket to Bugis Street”, he said. So we tried this little trick each time we had a problem, we got a dollar back – so we even did it at the end of the day when we had finished travelling and bingo, it worked again. Seems this is the way they stop tickets littering and I guess they re cycle them. Incidentally we were disappointed with Bugis Street but were happy to return to the ship after a great adventure in unfamiliar territory.
Our departure was delayed because we needed to report to Immigration officials on our return to the ship and then hand our passports back to Princess. But as usual, several people didn’t hand in their passports and after several calls our departure was further delayed because SuperStar Virgo needed to dock beside us and consequently we had to wait. The Captain put over a stern message voicing his annoyance at having been delayed a further 45 mins