Sampoerna 99th anniversary Golden Voyage 2012

Now, 17th November 2012 at 22:09 WIB I'm going to write my experience that I just had from my vacation with Sampoerna which I just finished 7 hours ago. This vacation is brought to me by Sampoerna. The vacation is about 1300++ people containing 990 Sampoerna's customers (I'm included here) and crews from Sampoerna, Genta Tours, and BiruApi (event organizer) in a cruise for 4 days and 1 day in Singapore. This vacation was made to celebrate Sampoerna's 99th anniversary. This is not even special, what made it special is "the whole cruise is booked by Sampoerna" and "the cruise is from the world largest cruise company, Royal Carribean International". The name of the cruise is "The Legend of the Seas", a cruise that weighted about 70.000 tons, capacity up to 1.072 people, 264 meters long, eleven decks(floor), and it's a five stars cruise.
Four days on the ship, doesn't it make everyone got boring to dead? I don't think so, there are a lot of fun activities to do on the ship that just can't end! But Sampoerna won't make such a silly move to make you thinking that way. On that five days tour, we are given chances to visit three countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore.

Day 1, Celebration

Now, let me share my first day on this Golden Voyage with Sampoerna. We arrived at Singapore at 09:30 Singapore time by a ferry on 12th November 2012, proceeding to Marina South Cruise Center and arrived in the cruise at around 13:00 cruise time (that's how they call it in the cruise). First thing I did that moment is going straight to my cabin (room) and took a scene view photo of it using my Galaxy Nexus. First impression of that cabin is "so-so", "small", and "not so special" comparing to my previous experience traveling with Sampoerna. I always given a single room by Sampoerna because our cluster as a customer to them is Premiere (above Grande and below Royal Crown). And I just recently know that only customers at our cluster had a balcony in the cabin.

My cabin, use Android 4.2 to view the 3D mode

After that I had my lunch at Windjummer cafe on deck 9, it's a buffet style restaurant, there are also swimming pool, gym, spa & beauty centre, Solarium cafe, and other sport facilities there.

Deck 9 of the cruise

Next thing is cruise introduction tour by tour leaders to their group members (34 groups in total, I'm in group 32). I skipped the tour, prefer changing my clothes and have a little rest. Next activity was a "must have" activity by the cruise regulation to all guests on the cruise, a safety drill class in case of emergency. After that, sail away party time! The ship set sail off Singapore, the party was great, where crews from the ship dancing on deck 4 & 5 wearing beach wear. That was a great way of welcoming us.

Sail Away Party!!

18:00 cruise time, dinner at Romeo & Juliet (deck 4 & 5). All guests were wearing white formal dress with "angklung" and "trompet" provided by Sampoerna (they provided five shirts for all of us). Ready for the welcoming dinner and some performance shows that night. The show was at "That's Entertainment Theater" (deck 4) after dinner. There were hosted and performed by Indonesian celebrities, like Dewi Sandra, Ari Lasso, etc. We also learned to play some songs with angklung from Saung Angklung Pak Udjo members. Besides that, there was also a lucky draw with 99 great prizes and three "Sampoerna's 99th anniversary gold coins" as grand prize. But I got nothing, so forget it. But all 990 Sampoerna's customers on the cruise got a gold coin each anyway (I got a 18 grams gold, will be sent to home from them soon). The party ended at 00:30 and I went to bed.

Dewi Sandra' performance

Ari Lasso's performance

Day 2, Kuala Lumpur

And here comes the second day, 13th November 2012, Port Klang, Malaysia. I woke up and had my breakfast at quarter to seven, had a very quick breakfast because I needed to arrive and meet my group at Anchor Aweight Lounge on deck 5. We headed to chocolate factory and Sungei Wang at Kuala Lumpur for some shopping. I used RM18 for a glass of mango juice and 2 packs of snack. What a great shop I've made. lol. We were all heading back to the ship at 14:00 and the ship sailed at 16:00. Had my dinner at 19:00 in Romeo & Juliet and then headed to the casino. Watched people playing for about a hour and started to get a little itchy. Got US$100 out of my pocket and played a couple rounds of blackjack and about 15 minutes later I've lost that US$100 away. Sadly went back to my cabin, saw a surprise on my bed. It was a cute pig made by my used towel by the room service. Had a shower, realized that two packs of snack I've bought and regretted for what I did in the casino. Starting to think I should have stayed in cabin and ate my snacks instead of going there. Suddenly missed someone while eating, took my phone from the table, saw a SMS from my dad. He asked where was I, replied the SMS saying I was just back from the casino and lost US$100 there and he never replies the SMS anymore (lol). Missed that someone again, SMSed her about my "tragedy" in the casino, got some replies from her and started to feel like a sleep. Watched TV and went to bed. It was Mission Impossible 3 all day in the TV.

Port Klang, Malaysia

The beautiful cruise from the pier view

It's made from towels, creative!!

Day 3, Thailand

Day 3, Phuket day! Woke up at 09:30, had my lunch at 10:30, going back to cabin, watched a little part of Amazing Spiderman movie, went to Anchor Aweight to join the group and ready to rock the Patong beach!! Crossed the beach by ferry because the cruise can't stop by the pier due to the sea is not deep enough for a cruise. And then headed to a bus and went to Simon Star Cabaret Show. That was a great show, you know what I watched right :)
Got some photos with those "stars", didn't pay anything for it which was supposed to be paid. Maybe it was because of my beauty and that was their luck to have photos with me so they didn't ask for it (lol). Headed for some shoppings, tour leaders money-making places. Waited for almost 3 hours there, supposed to be walking around the Patong beach that time. But because of that tour leaders money-making process, wasted all the time, and ship doesn't wait. I was having a very rough time there, very needed to visit the toilet, held it for almost a hour in the bus, arrived at Patong and searched for toilet. Asked the guides and they said there is toilet in the ferry, rushed immediately to the ferry. Missed my plan to buy some snacks at Seven Eleven there. And what I had after that, was another really bad luck. The first ferry left as I arrived and had to take the second one. And that 2nd one was very small and there was "no toilet" and "no window". That's not all, there was some problems on the checking into the cruise process and I was stuck inside that damned hot ferry for almost half a hour. Rushed to the toilet as soon as I've boarded into the cruise, felt so relaxed. Went back to my cabin and saw another surprise on my bed again, now it's a hippopotamus. Starting to get bored in the cabin and headed to fitness centre on deck 9. Had some workouts for about half a hour and had my dinner. Went back to cabin and had a shower, watched some movies in TV and sleep.

Patong beach behind me

Simon "stars" show time!!

The most beautiful "men" ever

Cruise from the beach view

Another surprise from the room service

Day 4, At the Sea

Now it's at the sea all day long at day 4, It's cruising time! There were a lot of fun activities at this day. Woke up at 09:00 and had my breakfast at Windjammer cafe. Viewed some games held at the poolside. Exciting games by the cruise and Sampoerna. Watched for some time and headed to deck 5 to see the Sale..Sale..Sale (all the shops on the cruise are giving great discounts for their products in this last day on cruise). And then I went to the casino to see people dumping their money (lol). Some people were playing Treasure Hunting game by Sampoerna (it was a funny game where the people divided in groups and had to find something can be everywhere on the ship and the winner team will get US$1500 from Sampoerna). Watched some other great parties like Rock & Roll, couple twisting competition, Holla Hoop competion, etc hosted by cruise director, Dan Dan Mian. And then I went to "That's Entertainment Theater" at 15:00 to see the Magic Revealing Show with Galih Montana, had a great time there. After that another Farewell Show by cruise crews. That was the greatest show I've ever seen in my life. Followed by the gifts exchanging session by President Directors, Managers, and Captain from Sampoerna, Royal Carribean, and Genta Tours. And then all guests went to deck 9 for a photo session. 1300 people in a single photo! Followed by taking photo with cruise captain session. I didn't do it because I don't feel like paying US$19.99 for that photo. Next thing was I go to the gym and had some workouts, had dinner, and went to cabin. Pack my baggage and put it outside my cabin as we needed to do this before 23:00 or we had to take it by ourselves the next day during leaving the cruise. Watched some movies until 22:00 and went to Solarium bar for some pizza, burger, and french fries. Met a friend and he invited for some Martell he bought in the cruise. Had 2 glasses and they went to have some fun with the disco party there. It was a great party for some eye washing there. The hot girls Sampoerna bought along and some sexy Event Organizer crews was having some wild dance there. Went to bed at 01:30 a.m.

Rock n Roll Party!!

Twisting couple championship, the old man couple won it!!

Holla Hoop queen, she made the record of the cruise by twisting 16 at once, no one can break her record ever because the ship only have 16 holla hoop lol

Farewell show, incredible!!

Awesome!!

All crews on the stage, see those cute animals made from towels on the room services hands

Disco time, dazzled :)

Day 5, Singapore

I woke up at 06:00 and had my breakfast at 06.30. Went to Anchor Aweight to meet with my group, and found nobody there. Realized that I must had some mistakes, went back to my cabin to find out . And indeed, my group was supposed to be there at 09:00, not 07:00, the schedule changed and listed on a "compass" (a paper that was put on the table everyday by the cruise) that day. So I watched TV for 2 hours to spend my time. The movie is awful, "Dark Shadow" by Johnny Depp, never know how come he acted in such a stupid meaningless movie. We boarded to Singapore and headed to Michael Hotel to see where to get our luggage later and proceeded to have lunch outside Universal Studio. Sampoerna gave us S$20 of food voucher, S$20 in cash for day 6 lunch, a USS ticket, a Maritime Aquarium and Museum ticket, and a 3 times monorail free pass. That's great, but not great enough if it comes from Sampoerna. S$20 is too small, compared to our previous tour with them. Maybe it's because of too many people now and there were a lot of other small cluster customers with us, so it's acceptable. But, what's not acceptable is "we can't go to our room first, the room will only be ready at 16:00". That means we had to be doing our activities outside for about 5 hours before we could go to have some rest. I just find out that problem was because of our group was too big and the hotel can't afford to prepare those rooms for us before all guests in the hotel leave. Our groups were divided into two that day, some stayed in Michael Hotel (I'm included) and some in Hard Rock Hotel. The hotel is just next to each other, there are three hotels linked to each other there, Hard Rock Hotel, Festive Hotel, and Michael Hotel. About the 5 hours of free activities outside, you can choose what to do, like going to USS, Maritime Aquarium, Vivocity, or casino. That's maybe okay for me, but not for those older people. They were all bored and can't go nowhere but waiting in the hotel lobby, that was a long 5 hours for them. That day was a very hot and crowded day at USS. Played a game and couldn't play anything else because all games waiting time were above 30 minutes and the hot weather made all my moods gone. Went out of USS with a friend and had another meal with the not used voucher and another S$3 from the S$20 given. And then I went back to USS because I couldn't stop thinking to try the roller coaster there. Thought that I will be very regret if I didn't play it. And I managed to play the Human one (they have two of that, blue for Nylon and red for Human), and lost all my mood to proceed to the Nylon, even there were no more long queue. It's because the roller coaster was very bad, too short, not even 5 minutes and game over. 16:00 I went back to hotel and get my key and luggage. Entered the room, and I was fascinated, the room was awesome. But there is no free wifi there, makes me down again (haven't had any connection on the whole trip, the wifi on the cruise was very expensive and no free hotspot). Had a shower and went down to have dinner, watched "Song of the Seas" (show on the Sentosa beach, missed it and only watched the last 5 minutes). Not a very good experience here, caused by the stupid arrangement by Sampoerna and Genta tours. Waited by standing to get into the bus at 18:00 and managed to get into it at 19:30 on the last two bus. All people were fighting and pushing each other, made me who was in the first line became in the last line. Great Indonesian culture, keep it up! And made me late for dinner, late for the show, and late for everything. Got into the hotel room at 21:00 and wrote this article using pen and book from Michael Hotel. Went to my bed and watched a soccer match until I fell asleep.

USS Street show

Took photo with Kungfu Panda the JoJo's way :)

Best picture ever :)

My room in Michael Hotel, Singapore

Merlion from my room's balcony view

The bathroom's door can't be locked, modern hotel way??

Day 6, I Wish I could Rewind

It's the last day of this vacation. I woke up at 08:30, had my breakfast in the hotel and went to Vivocity by the free train. I had already get my ferry ticket from Genta tours as I wanted to go back to Batam by my own. It's because I don't want to follow the schedule of their arrangement, we were asked to leave the hotel room at 11:00 and had a free time until 14:00, can only be at Batam at 15:00 WIB. So I go to the Sindo counter (the ferry service provider) and changed the schedule of departure to the earliest possible at that moment. That was a very crowded day for ferry and the earliest one was 13:20 (it was only 11:00 that time). So I found some place to sit, managed to get a free wifi hotspot, and online there for 2 hours. Managed to upload all of my photos to my Dropbox and Instagram account. Went into the ferry and arrived at Batam at 13:20 Indonesia time, called a taxi and arrived at my home sweet home safely.

And the tour ended here. Anyway, I had a great experience thanks to Sampoerna. Happy 99th birthday Sampoerna, and never stop giving us opportunities to experience better and better moment. :)