Tuesday, September 26, 2023

How Our Hong Kong Trip turned into a Fly-Cruise Holiday!


Check out Hong Kong Tourism Board booths at the CIQs!

Travel with a family of 7, is really quite a stressful thing. It is often a deliberation between should we spend that kind of money on holidays or should we save it for rainy days. There is never a right or wrong answer. However, after hearing from my colleague about the promotional airfares to Hong Kong on SIA last December, I know I would be wrong not to book! Cost us less than $2.3k return for our family of 7, inclusive of 175kg luggage allowance. One thing though, in the rush to complete my booking, I accidentally booked an 11-days holiday instead of our planned 7 days.

Onboard Resorts World One for 4D3N of comfort, fun and great food!

Hence I had to plan for activities for the family to fill up all the days lor. And the idea of doing a short cruise came to mind as I remembered that Resorts World Cruises are operating off Hong Kong as well. Ended up going for their 4D3N Resorts World One cruise from Hong Kong to Kaohsiung, Penghu and back, making our first family vacation post-Covid a Fly-Cruise holiday instead and we even got to visit Taiwan this time!

Having our lunch at Umi Uma Sushi &Teppanyaki! Love their beef steak!

Yummy beef!!!

Day trip to Kaohsiung and visited Chi Kan Lou!

Ended the tour with shopping at Liuhe Night Market.

But the night is still young and we are back for more games onboard!

Our next shore excursion was to Penghu and we visited Tianhou Temple.

Got to visit an Aqua Farm where we did fishing and had grilled oysters and seafood congee!

The kiddos had fun fishing squids and big fishes.

On our way back to the cruise after the shore visit.

And then we are back to eating again. This time to Silk Road for a sumptuous Chinese lunch cuisine.

The timing was impeccable, as we made our way to the cruise center from the airport once we arrive in Hong Kong and made it in time to be leisurely being brought onboard the cruise ship. From there we started our eat-sleep-play-shop routine for the next 4 days. As with all our prior experiences with Resorts World Cruises, the staff were absolutely fantastic and all the inclusive food were definitely sufficient for our family. But as we had the opportunity to try their specialty restaurants, I must say that they were awesome and I would recommend their Chinese restaurant Silk Road as well as the Teppanyaki! Hot Pot though was so-so we felt.

So this is how the building that we are staying in looks like from inside.

The lift was pretty scary for the kids lah, and they serve either odd / even floors.

Alas we felt that the cruise was so short lor, and it was over before we knew it. Having being pampered onboard for the few days, it was like Heaven and Hell for the family. Ok lah, maybe it's an exaggeration but you know how expensive hotels can be in Hong Kong and that we also need to book 2 rooms for 8 days, I ended up booking a motel named Toronto Motel in Mirador Mansion that is situated beside the infamous Chungking Mansions. Also where the famous Jenny Bakery is located at. Let's just say that for one to be able to stay in the room, one would need to be blind to a lot of things. I for one is okay with it but I thing many Singaporeans, especially the kiddos these days, may have trouble staying that place. What to do? Only $53/night leh.

A random cafe we walked into. I think we ate quite a lot of instant noodles lol.

Visited the peak with the family.

Finally got to visit the rather new Monopoly Dreams. Lots of IG worth backdrops la.

Revisited Temple Street, but it seems like it is not as vibrant as before. In fact all the streets are still recovering I think.

This is Arte M, with visual light projections.

Machiam the Van Gogh Exhibition in Singapore. Same same but different though.

Revisited Ngong Ping and took the crystal cabin with see-through glass bottom!

Looks great with the clouds!

Had a little time at Tai O Village.

A must-visit in Hong Kong, Disneyland!

Visited Ocean Park as well!

The kiddos having fun at the different rides at the park.

It was like an Aquarium, Zoo and amusement park rolled into one. Recommended for the whole family and the queues were all very manageable!

Sigh... gotta return home so soon! 

Wah, to be absolutely honest, the food in Hong Kong really feels more expensive from the last time we visited. I based my observation off the prices of the coke you can get from different establishments lor. The pocket feels so much lighter after every meal sia. Anyways whilst the accommodation was not as good as what we had onboard the cruise, I tried to make up with all the activities for the rest of the trip. We visited The Peak and finally experienced Monopoly Dream, visited Arte M for a few trippy hours, took the cable car to Ngong Ping to visit The Big Buddha and Tai O Fishing Village. And of course, how can miss Hong Kong Disneyland and Ocean Park? It was a whirlwind holiday filled with great food and comfort at first, followed by fun activities with the family that would hopefully be something to reminisce in the years to come!

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