Boarding the Zuiderdam

Boarding gate

March 1, 2025

Jet lag effects people differently but we had a good nights sleep before our boarding day.  Up early we had another Singaporean breakfast and Hilton accommodated us with a late check out at 1:00PM.  Cab to the Cruise Port which was 2 miles away was a breeze, and after leaving our bags to be delivered to our stateroom, we walked right on the ship.  Apparently, there were only 250 new passengers that got on so that’s why things were so quiet.  It sure beats boarding with thousands of people and the resulting chaos that ensues.

We were assigned room 8062 which is a balcony cabin right below the pool and buffet deck on the port (left) side of the ship.  Luckily, we’re very close to the elevators which is quite convenient, and we have found the staff to be lovely, unstressed and accommodating.  This world cruise must be a nice break for them because on 7-14 day sailings they are constantly having to deal with new passengers and their assorted issues every week or two.  Plus, apparently a huge percentage of the staff are from Bali, and they all got to go home and see their families as Bali was the last stop before Singapore.  They were all jovial and happy.

As far as our fellow passengers go, everyone seems quite pleasant but admittedly we feel like the new kids in junior high having to start mid semester. But as I stated before, we’re not joiners anyway.  As far as demographics go, we estimate the average age is about 65 years old, probably 90% Caucasian and primarily from English speaking countries.  That is US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

We completed our mandatory safety tasks in short order and unpacked quickly (we’ll have plenty of days to get more organized). At 7:00PM local time we waved good-bye to Singapore and marveled at how the Captain maneuvered his way out of the harbor. It was so crowded with these giant tankers and container ships it felt like we were trying to get out of the Costco parking lot on Christmas Eve. How they coordinate these throngs of giant 80,000 ton plus vessels with no incidents is beyond me.

We were too exhausted to go to the dining room so got room service and fell into our lovely bed as the gentle rocking of the boat swayed us into a deep sleep as we steamed towards Malaysia.

Bye Singapore!

Taken from the air as we flew in. This only captures about half of the ships we could see.