A lot of people say that cruise trips are not for the young and energetic. I wouldn’t lie and declare that I disagree with them; it can be slow, lazy and full of old people and families with small kids. But just because the majority of your company is not young adults doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, and looking back at my holiday pictures last week, I actually think that I was a lot more active than the past four months sitting in front of my computer at work.

My family and I decided to go on a short trip to Malaysia on a Royal Caribbean cruise since we got a very good deal for it. SGD 300 for 5 days 4 nights is a steal considering the price practically includes accommodation, food and transport. So that’s how we found ourselves on our second Royal Caribbean Cruise after more than two years (the first was in Alaska back in 2012). This time, we had the honour to be on board Mariner of the Seas.

Here are some of the highlights from my cruise trip.

1. Right at the start of the trip, my funny colleagues, who were able to jealously watch my cruise leave the harbour from our office, took a video of it. Check out how fast we were moving.
2. The cruise interior was simply amazing. Like how my dad put it, you wouldn’t know that you were on a cruise if someone blindfolded and kidnapped you and only opened your eyes right here.

   

3. Better still, they had parades at the promenade of my favourite cartoon character, Gloria from Madagascar!

   

   

   

4. No mention of cruises is complete without talking about the overflowing supply of food. If I didn’t force myself to look for things to do, I could very well have ended up waking up, having breakfast, taking a nap, going for lunch, getting ice cream, eating dinner and craving for midnight snack. Because that was a very tempting and totally possible way of spending your day on the cruise, thanks to the buffet restaurant, the majestic dining hall and the 24-hour cafe, serving you food free of charge!
   
5. But I chose to be good and tried out most of the cruise’s different sport facilities (after I have savoured all the food). First off, rock climbing.

   

   

6. And of course, football in the middle of the sea!

   

7. Speaking of phobia, I do have a phobia for ice skating as well (I tried googling but couldn’t find a term for it. The closest thing I found was pagophobia, which is the fear of ice, but I’m scared of the blades swishing past me as I try to stay standing, not of the ice). I still went to try it out in the cruise nevertheless. It was scary, but fun!

   

   

8. In case you are wondering, our cruise did end up getting somewhere. Port Klang was nothing to talk about so I will skip that entirely, but when we reached Langkawi, we were greeted by this magnificent sunrise.

   

9. We also went for a mangrove forest tour and got ourselves in touch with the nature, including this very adorable puffer fish!

   

   

10. And finally, there was apparently a very famous Bollywood actor called Karanvir Bohra onboard of our cruise. Sadly, the only reason I noticed him was because he was standing right next to me one time and shouting way too loudly for my liking that I had to cover my ears. Only after I saw some Indians taking pictures with him and clarifying with my Indian assistant waiter at the dining room did I know that he was someone famous.

    

So food, rock climbing, football, ice skating and celebrity appearance. Cruises ain’t so bad after all, eh?