Disembarkation Day Singapore

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Sapphire Princess Turnaround Day

For the second time during our 15 day cruise, Sapphire Princess was docked alongside the pier in Singapore.  This time, we would be disembarking the ship and not returning.

Early Morning

For the crew, this is the most dreaded day of the voyage.  They only have a few hours to completely re-make each cabin and get it ready for the next group of passengers to embark on their voyage of discovery.

Since we were staying an extra day in Singapore, we didn't have any pressing need to disembark the vessel.  As Elite members of Princess Cruises Captain Circle Club, we had luggage tags for one of the early disembarkation times. 

Disembarkation Lounge

We arrived at the Disembarkation Lounge, one of the dining rooms on Deck 6, and checked in with the crew member.  She told us that we could disembark if we wanted to because they were running a little ahead of schedule.  We opted to wait because we wanted to have some breakfast before leaving.

After we ate, we took the elevator down one deck to the gangway.  One final scanning of our cabin cards, and we were on our way to pick up our luggage.   Since we had waited a bit, it was pretty easy to find our luggage, which was sorted by color-coded / numbered tags.

Since our luggage is on wheels, we didn't need a porter to assist us.  Next stop was customs / immigration to scan our fingerprints and passports for the final time.   Something didn't read correctly, so I actually had to go to a counter to be processed.   Even with that delay, the process was quite efficient, and we were soon heading to the taxi line to transfer to Crowne Plaza Hotel at Changi Airport.  You may recall we stayed there prior to the cruise as well.  We were directed to a waiting mini-van for the ride to the hotel.

Once at the hotel, we checked in, expecting that we'd be checking our luggage with the bell desk.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that they had a hotel room ready for occupancy.   It had been 8:30 AM when we entered the lounge on the ship and we were already in our hotel room shortly after 9:00 AM.   That has to be record time for disembarkation and transfer for us.  We'll talk about our final day in Singapore in some other posts.

What a great cruise - we were sorry to see it come to an end.  We met some great people, including our table mates and wait staff,  had some awesome excursions, and for the most part the weather cooperated making for an enjoyable voyage.   We would do this again in a heartbeat.

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Crowne Plaza

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Port Call to Singapore

arriving Singapore before sunrise

Port Call to Singapore

When we boarded Sapphire Princess in Singapore on January 9th, we learned that there were passengers "in transit" aboard.   They had begun their voyage on December 30th, or earlier in some cases. January 20th was the termination of the cruise for many of those passengers, including two couples who had been our table mates. Today we became passengers "in transit" along with the other couple at our dining table.   We still had three more ports of call before the conclusion of our voyage.

All passengers that were going ashore, whether disembarking or on tours, needed to clear immigration in Singapore. Since we were on an organized shore excursion, we obtained our passports when we checked in at Princess Theater. We needed to be there by 7:20 am for our 8:00 am tour.

Disembarking passengers either had passports delivered to their stateroom, or they needed to pickup in their assigned meeting area. Everything was organized into groups and meeting times were pre-assigned. It was quite an efficient process from our vantage point.

Landing cards had been completed on our behalf and had been processed. We still needed to have our passport scanned by an immigration officer upon exit from the ship. After clearing immigration, we needed to go through a security screening before being directed to our tour bus. By the time everyone was on the bus, it was 8 am. Read more about the tour in another post.

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Singapore Bay

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Welcome to Laem Chabang Thailand

Immigration Thailand

Local Thai officials decided that all passengers would need to go through a face-to-face immigration process in Laem Chabang.   Our passports were delivered to our cabin by our steward around 9 pm Tuesday, after dinner and the show.   Princess Cruises had completed landing cards and included them with the passports.  We just needed to sign the cards and complete the questions on the reverse side of the landing cards prior to meeting in the morning.

Passengers were assigned meeting times based on their shore excursion schedule or independent plans.  Instructions were also in our cabins the night before.

Our scheduled time to meet at Wheelhouse Lounge was 7:20 am.  When we arrived there, it was packed with passengers.  Princess Theater, which is the tour staging area, was also full.   The staff released passengers from the theater, and our tour was the next called.  We waited until it was time to be escorted to the gangway.  

On the pier, a tented area was setup with several lines. Thai immigration officials were sitting at tables, processing passengers.  We were directed to the first line.  When it wasn't moving, we moved over one, which turned out to be a mistake.   Finally we got to the front, our passports and landing cards were checked and stamped.  They were once again retained by the ship staff, who filed them in bins according to deck.  

We had a short walk to the motor coaches.  Since we'd taken so long, we had to take seats in the very last row, along with another gentleman and his son.   Our view was blocked by emergency sign on the window.   It wasn't the most comfortable ride in the last row on this particular bus. We will talk more about the tour in another post.

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Singapore Embarkation

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As our taxi approached Marina Bay pier, we got our first glimpse of Sapphire Princess which awaited our arrival. Our taxi driver unloaded our luggage and we headed to drop off our checked bags.

Once inside the terminal, we showed our passports and boarding passes and were directed to security. There were only a couple people ahead of us, so we were thru that line quickly and off to the actual check-in line.  Once again, it was just minutes before we were at an agent who completed the paperwork.

As usual, there's the health questionnaire to complete, which we did while he processed our passports and documents.
Princess Cruises would be retaining the passports throughout the voyage, so a label was affixed to the passport and
claim checks presented to us.  We didn't know it then, but they would make copies of our photo page and deliver that to
our staterooms.  That would be needed in Vietnam along with a landing card.

After completing the check-in, there was one more security point - Singapore immigration.  We were directed to one of
the lanes which have a passport scanner.  Once your passport is read, a gate opens and you enter.  There's a second gate
which blocks your progress.  To open the final gate, there's a fingerprint scanner.  You may recall that our fingerprints
were taken upon arrival at the airport immigration checkpoint.  Passing through this gated area, we were now off to the waiting area.

Since we are elite members, we were directed to Group 2 waiting area.   After a brief wait, it was time for our group to board the ship.   There was the usual photo opportunity in front of a green screen, followed by scanning of our cabin card and photo by the ship's security.

This was a very efficient embarkation process.  We'd left our hotel around 11 am and were onboard in our stateroom before noon.  It was time to explore the ship and get some lunch.

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Cabin B227

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