HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE FELLOW! To start off Mike's birthday celebration, he really wanted to take a tour to see the Chinese pink dolphins. With Covid, they were not really doing any tours, but they had one special tour running with HK Greeters at the end of August, and we jumped on it. It was a very hot day, but the trip was successful.
We were really lucky and saw possibly 4 pink dolphins swimming quite close to the Chinese boarder. (There is a dolhin in this photo if you can find it)
The birthday celebration continued with yet another boat trip, but this time was finally getting to take a cruise like the one we had to cancel, only difference was, it was only a day out at sea before turning right back into port in HK again. We booked with Dream Cruise onboard the Genting Dream boat, and honestly did not expect to have as much fun as we did. We had the best time, finally feeling like we were really on vacation. The ship was still a culture experience because the food, the shows, the language in Mandarin, everything was still very traditional Chinese.
The morning of Mike's birthday, we had a birthday breakfast, did some presents, and packed for our trip.
We initially were a little worried about the weather because there were 2 strong typhoons heading for us, but eventually they made a drastic turn and our weather was absolutely perfect the whole time.
Our boarding time was 4:50pm, but we showed up to
Kai Tak Cruise terminal around 3pm and were taken right through. With the Covid precautions, we had to take a PCR test for ($250 HKD each) 48 hours before cruise, fill out a few papers, and use the leave home safe app.
They also gave us a small device called a TRACEY which would blink red if you were standing too close to someone (so ours were always blinking red since we were together).
You also were required to leave your mask on unless on the water slides/pool/eating, but no one was strictly enforcing it upon the ship. You also had to book a time to go to the pool so they could keep it under 20 people per hour, but if there was no one in, you could ask to get in. I really could not say how many people were on the boat, but capacity for Genting Dream is suppose to be 3,348 and the government will only allow it to be half capacity at the moment. I would guess there was under 1,000 total however on the boat as a whole. It was absolutely not crowded.
We were just so exciting to be "traveling" and using our passports again, we basically ran onto the ship.
They were only allowing staterooms to be purchased that were either balcony, suites, or Palace butler serviced suites. Our balacony
stateroom was on the 9th floor, which we were happy with, I only wish we had been on the other side of the boat to see the city view instead of port view for the whole first day we were on board not moving yet. I think we are now a little spoiled though and will always need a balcony on a cruise. The room was great though! This was my second cruise (first being Norwegian) and Mike's first, but we felt the room was quite spacious.
With arrival day being the date of Mike's actual birthday, he was given a complimentary cake as well!
The ship was celebrating with a Wonders of Japan theme, but weirdly this theme was something to do with an astronaut and mermaid falling in love, which felt so incredibly fitting for us. In the elevator at one point a man was talking to his little girl and said "say goodbye to Ariel" as they were getting out, referring to the mermaid sticker on the wall, but I had a small moment of panic.
Outdoor pool movie theater, pool part was closed, but could still watch the films playing (which were mostly Marvel movies in English).
We were incredibly sad that all the hot tubs were closed however.
There were 2 restaurant options to visit for your provided buffet style breakfast, lunch, and dinner, however, with the food being more traditional Chinese dishes, we ended up eating at The Lido instead of the Dream Dining Room for every meal because the options were slightly more Western. The food was a served buffet, where you would often have to be very specific about the number of food items you wanted, or you would end up with 2 tater tots and continually be saying more.char siu, potatos, always so many rolls and bread options, and sweet and sour chicken for dinner night one
roast beef with gravy, salad, and my favorite little baby desserts
sausages, eggs, again a lot of bread, steamed buns, and spring rolls for breakfast
small sandwiches, salad, noodles, Indian curry for lunch
This lunch had my favorite baby carrot cake for desserts, mini jellos, pinapple upside down cake, and raspberry cake.
Dinner second night was pizza, tator tots, aloo chaat, salad, teriyaki chicken, and always lots of seafood options that Mike and I don't eat.
Dinner dessert consisting of bread pudding, lemon cake, cream puff, and green tea tart.
Breakfast the final morning, more sausage and buns, friend rice, and hash browns. Our biggest complaint was there was no ice cream to be found anywhere!
Meals always only included coffee, tea, water, OJ, or apple juice unless you upgraded to their drinks packages. We did not get a drink package, but we tried the speciality mocktail, the lychee and sakura beverage, and it was really yum.
There was lots of opportunity for entertainment on the boat as well. There was a casino in the middle of the ship 3 decks tall, with a constant supply of singers and bands playing.
We also saw the main stage show Yin and Yang that was performing twice a night both evenings. It was a beautiful show geared toward the traditional Chinese Opera, where a man pretends to sing in a womans' voice. There was also a Chinese acrobat and what they called the man with the changing faces.
We also saw a comedian late that evening-
Earlier in the day they had a bubble show-
where after we found and made our own bubble fun-
There was also endless amounts of outdoor entertainment. We did putt-putt golf the first evening-
The rock wall the next day (where the dress code is closed toed shoes, shoulders covered, ankles/knees covered, hair up, no accessories, and it is extremely hot while participating)-
I am in Mike's shirt so you almost can't tell us apart, haha, but I have pants on-
There is also the high ropes course with the same clothing guidelines. This also can get crowded, and it is tricky when you're impatient (like me) to not wanna run around the people who might be going a little slower.
We had to take turns going one at a time so the other could wear the long sleeve shirt (lol), but it worked out since we could watch and help guide the other person.
The best part is the zipline over the ocean at the end though.
Then it was my turn-
Even though these activities were both incredibly hot, luckily we had a pool and six water slides to choose from to cool down with.
and I guess the view from the top wasn't so bad either....
The pool was also a little chilly, so cooling down was no problem.
The sunset our first evening on board was absolutely stunning also (these photos are for you mom)-
We really did have the best time, and it was so nice to celebrate Mike big this year.
We were not ready to go, but I would highly recommend to anyone thinking about it!
Before we left for our cruise, we also celebrated the birthday boy by going to see the new Shang-Chi Marvel film, and it knocked our socks off! It was really exciting to see a movie that celebrated Chinese culture, while living in Asia. Also, fun fact, Mike shot a movie with Tony Leung (the blue guy in the photo below) and met him this past year.
But sorry guys, I have the ten rings now...
When we came home from our cruise, we had a little pizza party with Elinor and Elysia and a beautiful smores cake brought to you by Anna's Backstage Baker with candles that never blow out apparently.
This was not the only sweet treat we had been found eating this past month. Some other mentionable food items from this month include brunch at Baked and their amazing cardamon, pistachio cinnamon roll- really authentic tasting Mexican food from
Taco Chaca in SYP-
Some of the best bbq we have found in HK at
Smoke and Barrel-
In other exciting news, Ariel and I are going to still be spending time together through mid April now! We are thinking lucky contract #8 will probably be our last one, so it's a little bittersweet, but we are ready to go home and see our families soon. Til then you can find me splashin' around HK Disneyland.
Also, one of my favorite people, Elysia will be here to celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas and birthdays with!
I am really sad Elinor has chosen to leave us at the end of October, but I know this girl is on to some big, amazing things, and I am so proud of her for taking hold of her own dream.
But there is plenty of park play time before she goes!
One other surprising announcement is something I feel like I have been waiting forever for... but something wicked is making it's way to HK Disneyland this Halloween.....
Subscribe to be one of the first ones to find out who really does know best....
1 comment
I really miss Hong Kong with my whole heart you are so lucky to be working for Disney miss working there:( but..thank you for sharing this....:)
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