Royal Caribbean – Mariner of the Seas – JahBella Part 2 (Giovanni’s Table)

Posted in Cruise, Food, Holidays by jahbella

While most meals onboard the cruise are free of charge and pretty decent, we decided to give one of the specialty restaurants a try. Our meal at Giovanni’s Table (Italian Speciality Restaurnt) would be JahBella’s First ‘Fine-Dining’ Experience. The meal cost us an additional US$20 per adult and we were allowed to order any item in any quantity off the menu. We could either order individual portions or dine family style. We chose to dine family style which meant that we could order a few starters, entrees and desserts and they would prepare portions which were just enough for our family. The kids also had their own special kids menu to choose from and non-alcoholic tiramisu to boot! 🙂

What I love about the dining service on the cruise is that they are always ready to accommodate and customize for the kids. Jah was somehow on his fries only diet and they were more than happy to prepare a special portion of handcut fries for him.

Happy as long as there is food

Hmm…do you think I will be able to get these special fries at every meal?

My photos really do not do the food justice but it was awesome! I especially enjoyed the lamb chops and risotto! I have not tasted such good risotto since….since I’m not quite sure when. I was very tempted to return the subsequent days just for another taste of the risotto.

At the end of the meal, there was also a extensive dessert table to select from and you can totally see Bella just eyeing the table very deviously. Again, I apologise for the photo quality as they were taken with my handphone in a romantically lit dining room. 😉

One thing to note, do buffer at least 2 hours for the entire meal. We initially thought that this was a bit of an exaggeration but the entire meal really took 2 hours! In fact we had to rush alittle towards the end as we wanted to make it for the Welcome Show at 730pm. All I can say is don’t rush and just enjoy the meal especially if your kids are doing ok and in no hurry to go anywhere. Ok totally missing the risotto now….;/

Next Up – Dreamworks Breakfast Character Dining….

JahBella’s Mummy

11Jan2015

Royal Caribbean – Mariner of the Seas – JahBella Part 1

Posted in Cruise, Holidays by jahbella

This year we spent our Christmas break on the Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Sea Cruise. You might recall that we had been on a similar Boxing Day cruise 2 years ago when I was pregnant with Bella so I can guess you can consider this our 2^nd cruise as a family? See Post Here

We were especially excited or at least Jah was especially excited because his favourite Madagasar characters were going to be on the cruise. 🙂 There is truly a huge difference cruising with a 1 year old as opposed to a 3 year old.

We arrived at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre at about 11am (check-in process and boarding would start from 1130am). We dropped off our check-in bags at the kerbside, settled our long term parking package at the Info Counter and proceeded through the security check-point. Our check-in process at the counter was fairly seamless and fast as we were allowed to use the Priority Check-in line for Crown and Anchor Members. Note that you are eligible to join the Royal Caribbean loyalty programme as long as you have been on at least 1 cruise. Joel was given a little coloured card and we were told to proceed to the boarding gate once our colour was called which happened less than 5 minutes later. Yay!!!

The cabins were not ready for us yet as most of the pax from the previous cruise would have just disembark between 8am to 11am. We were ushered to the Windjammer café where a buffet spread awaited us. To be honest, I was dreading the Windjammer café after our experience on Legends of the Seas, 2 years ago. However the Windjammer Café on the Mariner of the Seas was a very different experience. I found the café very organized, well air-conditioned and there seemed to be a lot of seating and space available. We found ourselves a window seat and the kids were more than happy to enjoy the view and the food. Joel and I took this time to purchase our drinks package. We chose the middle range package which gave us unlimited soft drinks as well as wine and beer (below US$9) from the menu during meal times and at all the bars. It cost us about US89 per person for the entire 4D3N cruise. Another tip for families would be to pre-purchased their Evian Water package so that you will have bottles of Evian water waiting for you at your cabin. We needed the water to make milk for our kids and to fill their water bottles. (12 bottles of 1L Evian Water for about US$45?) Definitely cheaper than buying ad-hoc but make sure that you really need that many bottles.

Enjoying the view

Very good mood

I’m going to pretend to sleep but I think the cookie is giving me away

We entered our cabin at 1pm and I honestly don’t know how the housekeeping staff do it but they are able to turn around all the cabins in just a few hours. For this trip, we got ourselves two balcony class inter-connecting cabins. The cabins were a lot more spacious than what I remembered from our previous trips. Its almost like everything is upsized in this trip.

Queen sized bed

2/3 of the room – the cupboards, doorway and bathroom was behind me

Our personal view of the ocean

We quickly got the kids to take their naps because we were expecting a compulsory Fire Drill at 430pm. Yes I know, seems like a waste to head onboard and then head straight for bed but as the Chinese sayings goes rest is needed if you want to go the distance. :p

The kids woke up happy and refreshed in fact Jah was so happy that he was extra sweet to his cranky sister and kept wanting to hug her!

I love you meimei, I want to hug you!

We headed to our assigned fire drill station and I don’t know if it was because of the rain or if the protocol has changed but we were ushered to a lounge area for our fire drill. Definitely a lot more pleasant than our last experience on the deck and one of the reasons I was very apprehensive about attending a fire drill with two young ones.

We still had some time before our 545pm dinner reservation so we decided to take the kids on a short tour of the ship which was essentially a quick photo on the rainy deck and then a quick introduction to the world of old school arcades. We would be spending a lot of time here in the coming days, thanks to Jah. :p

A quick tip for those who want to bring home decent family photos at the end of your cruise. There are many photo opportunities with professional photographers during the entire cruise and you can purchase each photo for S$25 each (yeah pretty pricey I know). However if you purchase the unlimited photo package on the first night, you will receive $50 off the package price which means you only pay $200 for unlimited photos and soft copies. We bought the package on the first night and went crazy taking pictures after that (we took home 56 photos in total!!).

Here are some of the professional photos from the first night..

Our after dinner shot before entering the Savoy’s Theatre for the Welcome Show

When the cat (Bella) goes to sleep, the mouse (Jah) comes out to play (to get a late night photo with his fav character Alex!

Next Up – JahBella’s first ‘fine-dining’ experience at Giovanni’s Table (Mariner of the Seas’ Italian Speciality Restaurant) and more…

JahBella’s Mummy

26Nov2014

Adventure World – Perth (March 2014)

Posted in Holidays, Perth, Travel with Kids by jahbella

Before I start on this post, I have to apologise for the lack of photos as our camera’s battery went dead on us and well handphones and theme park/ water theme park don’t agree. :p

Adventure World is a giant theme park that has a big water park area and a nice rides area suited for the young ones. The place also has huge empty grass patches throughout the park where families can set up shop. I seriously have no idea why we never came to this place in all our years of holidaying in Perth!

Adventure World is really a place for people of all ages. I would recommend coming early so that you can find a good spot especially if you are coming during the weekends. A lot of local families bring their own ice cooler box, little camping chairs etc, but a picnic map, towels and a change of clothing is all you need if you want to travel light.

We parked ourselves in front of the big water play area which was relatively shaded. That area is also closed by to the toilets, lockers and some food kiosk. We attempted the big water play area a few times but chickened out everytime some water hit us as it was simply too cold. Yes our photos seem to suggest that it was warm and sunny but I remember it was approximately 23 degrees or so. The kiddy/ toddler water play area was 100m away and the kids spent some time there but yes it got cold after a while too. I’m guessing all these will be perfect and very popular in summer.

From the kiddy waterplay area, you could see some of the rides available – Old school Viking ship, rickety roller coaster and a spinning tea cup ride to name a few. I will always remember Adventure World as the place where Jah experienced his first roller-coaster ride. I really don’t know what got into him but he wanted to try it and he also wanted to try the Viking Ship. I was petrified during the rides, petrified for him and that he would freak out in the midst of it. He took it well though and endured the rides till the end, but when asked if he wanted to repeat it, he gave politely or not so politely declined ;). The only ride that Jah wanted to go on repeatedly was a ride that took us around the park and it gave us a bird’s eye view of everything from above. The only downside for me and Joel was the fact that we had to pedal it ourselves!!! It was a 2 seater which meant that I had no help from the one sitting next to me (he couldn’t even reach the pedals!). It also doesn’t help if you have someone/ two teenagers in the ‘car’ behind you, going extremely fast and chasing you down. Come on! No fair!

For those after a thrill, the park also has humongous slides and it was very very popular with the teenagers. I really wanted to give it a shot but I doubt Jah would have allowed me. Ok I asked him for permission but he said no. :p

Adventure World will definitely be back on our itinerary again the next time we return to Perth. And while we have never been to Perth in summer, this might be a tempting and good enough reason to.

Next Up – Final post from our Perth Series – Hilary’s

Go to this link for all links to our Perth, Western Australia Trip (March 2014)

Also check out our Perth/ Margaret River, Western Australia Trip (Auguest 2016)

JahBella’s Mummy

19Nov2014

Swan Valley Cuddly Animal Farm – Perth (March 2014)

Posted in Holidays, Perth, Reviews, Travel with Kids, Videos of JahBella by jahbella

After exposing the kids to the Swan Valley Caversham Wildlife Park on Day 1 and the Lansdale Farm school two days ago, I was starting to wonder if another day spent with animals would be wise at all. Wouldn’t the kids be extremely bored of animals by now? Was it going to be worth the drive? I’m pretty sure a lot of people would probably have decided to give it a pass if they were in our position but we decided to go ahead with it.

It was a really really hot day and I was getting alittle irritable with the weather and the potential of it being a disappointing day for the kids. But I can’t tell you how wrong I was.

The Swan Valley Cuddly Animal Farm may not look as polished as some of the other parks. In fact I have heard people describing it as run-down and dirty and therefore discouraging others to visit it on their trip. But honestly, it’s a farm! I don’t expect the farm to be in tip-top spanky clean condition, after all animals live there!

What I liked and enjoyed about the place was really the fact that it stayed ‘true to its roots’ as a farm while still managing to accommodate the little children and make things a little fun and interactive for them. What amazed me about the place was the young girls who were working there and dealing with the animals! It was pure hard back-breaking work but these teenagers didn’t seem to mind it one bit. They took their work very seriously and were not concerned about how hot it was or how dirty/ smelly things were. Definitely something a lot of teenagers could learn from.

The entry cost to the farm included interaction with animals, free tractor rides around the farm, free food to feed the animals and free bottle feeding to name a few.

Continue reading →

10Nov2014

Penang Holiday – Hard Rock Penang Facilities (Oct 2014)

Posted in Holidays, penang, Travel with Kids by jahbella

Apart from impressing us with their rooms and service, Hard Rock Penang wowed us with their ultra child friendly facilities. The main draw of the hotel for families would be their awesome pool area. It’s almost as if the pool was made to cater to every segment of guests that Hard Rock Penang could possibly think of.

Pool and beach view from our room

Sandy area close to the beach

We have the pool with its waterplay area for the little ones and then the slides which were not too thrilling so that the little ones could go on it safely. It also catered to the tweens and the young at heart adults like myself who could ‘pretend’ to use it because my child wanted me to follow him. :p

We also have the pool area which was filled with a sandy bottom (I think this might be a Hard Rock feature) except in this case it is found near the area leading out to the real Batu Ferringhi Beach.

And last but not least we have the pool area where pool side rooms could access directly to and also certain pockets of deeper waters to discourage the younger kids and provide abit more peace for adults who want to lounge around.

Besides the pool, the Hard Rock Penang also has a very good kids club. While we didn’t get to try the kids club programme which included cooking and art classes. We enjoyed the toys and equipment within the kids club and it allowed us to distract Jah when we needed to pack to move rooms. In fact Jah was more than happy to be there and kept asking to go over. I was super surprised by this and he actually allowed me to leave him there for a little while when I had to go back and check up on the packing. Jah is ultra clingy to me and the fact that he could let me go and just hung out with the kids club facilitator, is testament to how comfortable and friendly the environment is.