Diary South Australia to Asia Cruise

       15 Day Australia - Asia Cruise

While onboard Majestic Princess in January 2019, we looked at cruises for 2020.  Princess Cruises was still celebrating their 50th Anniversary with a sale which included onboard credits.   We looked at several possible cruises, but hadn't made up our mind.

Our table mates were from Australia, which got us talking about traveling back to that part of the world.  In addition, there was a respositioning cruise which included Southern Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore.  We try to stay current with travel trends so that we can advise our clients based on personal experiences.  Majestic Princess is Princess Cruises newest Royal-class ship, which entered service in 2017.

As usual, we arrived 2 days early so that we could get acclimated to the time change and avoid departure day anxiety should flights be delayed.  Our pre-cruise stay was at Crowne Plaza Melbourne in the Central Business District.  It was 15 minutes away from the airport and 15 minutes away from the cruise terminal.

Bookmark this page - we will be adding day by day reviews as well as links to our photo albums.

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Due to Coronavirus outbreak Princess Cruises modified our cruise itinerary.

Please see Princess Cruises Notices & Advisories for latest Information about all modifications.

February 15, 2020 at 5:20PM PT Our team continues working to finalize itinerary changes and to communicate these changes to you as soon as the details are confirmed. Due to current port restrictions and closures and lack of predictability regarding port availability in our Southeast Asia itineraries going forward, we have made the decision to cancel additional Asia voyages on Sapphire Princess and Majestic Princess. All booked guests will receive a full refund, back to the original form of payment, of their cruise fare, Princess Air, pre- and post-cruise hotel packages, prepaid shore excursions and other prepaid items, and taxes, fees, and port expenses. As these cruises have been cancelled so close to departure, each guest will also receive a Future Cruise Credit. We will provide complete details to all guests booked on impacted voyages via email and Cruise Personalizer. Please continue to consult this Itinerary Modifications page for changes that may impact your voyage. Please minimize calling our Princess call center for itinerary change information as we work through all the travel changes and subsequent impacts on itineraries. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Majestic Princess Voyage Cancellations Voyage Departure Date Departure Port 8005F February 22, 2020 Fremantle (Perth) to Singapore Other voyages cancelled on Majestic Princess: 8007 March 12, 2020 Sinagpore to Hong Kong 8009 March 23, 2020 Roundtrip from Taipei (Keelung) 8009A March 23, 2020 Roundtrip from Taipei (Keelung) 8010 March 28, 2020 Roundtrip from Taipei (Keelung) 8010A March 28, 2020 Roundtrip from Taipei (Keelung) 8011N April 2, 2020 Roundtrip from Taipei (Keelung) 8011B April 2, 2020 Roundtrip from Taipei (Keelung)

Click Image for Photo Albums

	Port	Blog Posts	Photo Albums / Videos
Wed Feb 12	Travel to Melbourne ORD-LAX-MEL	Travel to Melbourne	Flights to MEL
Fri Feb 14	Melbourne Pre-Cruise Crowne Plaza Melbourne	Melbourne Arrival - Know Before You Go Melbourne 19 Hours Later Journey Through Sea Life Melbourne	Crowne Plaza Melbourne SEA Life Melbourne Aquarium Graceful Rays SEA Life Aquarium Melbourne (MP4) Ocean Kingdom SEA Life Aquarium Melbourne (MP4) Oceanarium - Tales of the Sea (MP4) Sea Horse Pier (MP4) Leafy Seadragon (MP4) Coral Atol - Moray Eel & Lionfish (MP4) Jellies SEA Life Aquarium (MP4) Penguin Playground SEA Life Aquarium (MP4)
Sat Feb 15	Melbourne Pre-Cruise Crowne Plaza Melbourne	Go West Phillip Island Brighton Beach Bathing Boxes Wombats Kangaroos and Wallabies Oh My Cape Woolamai Beach Cowes Phillip Island Gem Getting Close to Smallest Penguins Fairy Penguins On Parade	Go West Tours Brighton Beach Boxes Moonlit Sanctuary Drive to Phillip Island Woolamai Beach Cowes Nobbies & Seal Rock Phillip Island Penguin Parade Brighton Bath Boxes Melbourne (MP4) Feeding Two Wallabies (MP4) Wallaby Feeding Moonlit Sanctuary (MP4) Cape Woolamai Phillip Island (MP4)
Sun Feb 16	Melbourne, Australia View general port information Station Pier Cruise Terminal Station Pier Port Melbourne Victoria, Australia Check In 1:00pm-5:00pm	Melbourne Embarkation Greetings From Stanley Bear Welcome Aboard Dinner	Station Pier Cabin A241 Welcome Aboard Lunch Concerto Dining Room
Mon Feb 17	At Sea		Chopsticks Noodle Bar Princess Theater
Tue Feb 18	Adelaide, Australia Adelaide Cruise Terminal 7:00am – 4:00pm Check In 12:30pm-3:00pm Cleland Wildlife Park 11:30AM - 3:30PM | ADL195A | View Excursion Details for Cleland Wildlife Park	Best Peking Duck Salad at Sea	Cleland Wildlife Park Harmony (2019) Harmony (2020)
Wed Feb 19	At Sea		Hollywood Conservatory
Thu Feb 20	At Sea		Bars & Attrium Casino
Fri Feb 21	Margaret River(Busselton), Australia Water Shuttle Required wheelchair Access Limited   8:00am – 6:00pm Ngili Caves & Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse 9:00AM - 1:00PM | BQB210A | View ExcursionDetailsfor Ngili Caves & Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse		Busselton NgILGI Cave Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse International Cafe Bistro Sur La Mar
Sat Feb 22	Perth(Fremantle), Australia Fremantle (Perth) Check In 1:00pm-4:00pm Disembarked 8:45 AM	Dreaming of Malaysia	Country Comfort Perth Barrack Jetty Riverside Cafe Swan River Cruise
Sun Feb 23	Travel to Chicago Air New Zealand PER - AUK - ORD	Returning from Australia Cruise	Flights to ORD

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Soaring Over Malaysia

Rice Museum, Cable Car, Craft & Cultural Complex 
Tour Code:LGK200A

Sapphire Princess arrived in the beautiful port of Langkawi, Malaysia around 8 am. We were already checked in for our shore excursion and waiting in Princess Theater for "Green 2" to be called. Our tour was one of the first to leave after the ship received clearance from local authorities.

click images to enlarge

Our guide, Sarah, met us at the bus and welcomed us to Langkawi. When all 32 passengers were on the motor coach, we departed for a scenic drive southwest to Pantai Cenang, a white-sand beach lined with picturesque chalets and coconut trees, overlooking the waters of the Andaman Sea.

Langkawi Skycab

About 30 minutes later, we arrived at our first stop, Oriental Village, for a cable car ride to the Mount Mat Cincang, Langkawi's second highest peak, soaring over 2,000 feet above sea level.

Tip:  book the earliest excursion or go early if venturing to the skycab on your own, to avoid the long lines.

There can be long lines for the cable car, but since we were the first group from the ship to arrive there, we had no wait. There are three lines to select from for the cable car. The line our guide suggested, was the one that bypassed the middle stopping point and proceeded directly to the highest point. At the top there are several viewing areas, including one that affords a 360 degree view of the archipelago. We had 1.5 hours total time at the sight, which included the ride itself which takes about 15 to 20 minutes each way.

When we got down to ground level there now was a huge queue for the cable car. Whether you go independently or with a ship tour, book the earliest excursion to avoid the lines. It started to mist as we walked to the bus and shortly afterwards there was a downpour. We had certainly timed things perfectly.

Craft Complex

The rain didn't hamper us since our next stop was indoors at Komplex Kraf (Craft Complex) Langkowi. Inside the complex there was a large selection of batik art clothing and wall hangings.  We purchased a scarf as a gift as well as wall hangings for ourselves.  We could have spent more time there exploring all the crafts.

Laman Padi

The final stop was at  Laman Padi. Laman means field and Padi stands for rice in Malay. So Laman Padi essentially means rice field. This vast open complex comprised a number of rice fields, herb gardens and galleries or museums where the process and evolution of rice cultivation & harvesting in Langkawi was exhibited.


We first walked through the fields learning about the cultivation, nurturing and harvesting of rice ("padi") and then went inside the museum for a closer look at the history of rice harvesting.

There were large glass cabinets in the gallery which exhibit the equipment and tools that were once used for cultivation & harvesting of paddy in Langkawi.  The museum is a tribute to the staple diet of rice in almost all of Asia.

This concluded our half day tour in Langkawi, Malaysia.

We really enjoyed this tour and our stay in Langkawi - it was one of our favorite ports of call on this cruise. 

Click on the image to the left for more Blog posts about this trip.

Related Album:

Langkawi Skycab
Craft Complex
Laman Padi
Scenic Langkawi

Additional photos can be found on our Southeast Asia Shutterfly page

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Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat