ATW Day 48 - Surely It's Surabaya

We are back in Surabaya, Indonesia.  Surabaya, a city of 3 million people, is a major port as evidenced by the number of cargo ships anchored off shore as we sailed in.  

And the big guy guarding the port.

If you check out my post from a year ago, you'll see that we did not have a very good experience:

https://lindaandlarryontheroad.blogspot.com/2025/03/trowulan-torture.html.  

Today it was hot.  How hot?

So, rather than doing something like exploring the old town or Chinatown, we did the unthinkable - we went to the Tunjungan Plaza Mall!  Yes, it was air conditioned!  Since the shuttle bus was full, we grabbed a Grab to get there.  Driving from the port to the city provided quite a contrast.  The old parts of the city seem to us spoiled Americans as quite third world in nature.

And then you get to the more modern part of the city with a guy guarding it.

As for the mall, let's just say that it is huge.  It's either the largest or second largest in Surabaya with well over 500 stores many of which seemed to be restaurants.  Linda concluded that no one in Surabaya eats at home.

We actually did some shopping for a few provisions and I bought 2 locally made shirts for a total of $35.  You have to love how inexpensive Indonesia is.  After our good walk through most of the 6 buildings that made up the mall, we resisted the temptation of going to the rotating sushi restaurant and went back to the ship.  The Grab ride back was interesting, no wait time and fast.  The interesting part was that the driver was quite adamant in telling us that we could not fasten our seat belts!  I have no idea why.

At the port, we stopped at the market and bought some Luwak coffee.  If you don't know what that is I suggest you Google it.

Just to backtrack for a moment, the sail away from Bali provided yet another beautiful sunset with Venus making a grand appearance.

Tomorrow, as we sail to Singapore, there will be a special presentation giving us the details of the complete refurbishment of the Oceania Nautica.  She's even being renamed - Oceania Aurelia.  It should be very interesting.

And now for the latest news regarding the shower on our veranda.  We knew that there had been a good rain storm while we were off of the ship and, sure enough, the work they had done had not fixed the problem.  When we returned, we found that they had plugged up the hole.

GM Evan is not convinced that this will fix the problem.  We are anxiously awaiting another storm to see.

And one last comment for today.  The thing we love most about Oceania is the amazing crew that we know so well.  In Bali, Nyoman, who we  know well and who had been our waiter in the Jacques restaurant when we were on here in December, returned and we had a warm welcome.

And I can't fail to mention one of our favorite Sommelier's, Marija.  She is just so much fun to be with.

And now on to Singapore!  Oh, and before I sign off, look at the latest sunset as we prepare to sail away.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry

ATW Day 47 - Bali Baby

Wednesday we arrived in Bali.  It's always an interesting sail in.

Since this was our 4th time in Bali and we've done most of the tourist highlights, we decided to book a room for an overnight stay at a resort.  The Hotel Nikko Bali Benoa Beach is along the oceanfront in this photo.

Getting to hotel from the port proved to be a bit of a challenge.  I downloaded the GRAB app (the local Uber equivalent) and booked a ride that was supposed to be just a few bucks.  The app directed us to walk outside of the port.  Following the instructions, we arrived at the driver's car only to find no driver there.  I sent him a message telling him we were at his car and, eventually, he phoned me.  I explained again that we were at the car and he ended the call and never showed up.  So, we got a ride from another driver who was right there and paid him a whopping $11 to take us to the hotel.

The hotel was just great.  I had splurged and gotten an Oceanview suite.

The grounds were also quite nice.

There is a spa in the hotel.  Being such an upscale property, I figured that treatments at the spa would be a bit expensive.  Wrong!  That afternoon I got a 1 hour massage and Linda got a 1 hour massage plus a 1 hour facial.  That splurge cost us $82!

The hotel has 2 restaurants for dinner - 1 Japanese and 1 Italian.  We have those types of restaurants on the ship so we decided to go across the street to Coco Bistro which serves Indonesian food.  We had grilled snapper and gado gado (did I ever mention that Linda must have gado gado when we are in Bali?).  It was another splurge.  Including  2 drinks, the bill came to $32!

This morning, we took a short walk along the street in front of the hotel.

We then went and lounged by the beach and swam in the pool for about an hour.

It was then time to check out and head back to the ship, but Linda needed another gado gado before we left.  That lunch cost us another whopping $15.  You have to love how inexpensive Bali is!

Our overnight stay in Bali proved to be a perfect break from the ATW cruise.  Great for an attitude adjustment.

Tonight we sail to Surabaya, Indonesia before a day at sea and then our arrival in Singapore which will mark the end of this segment.  Then it will be off to Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and points beyond.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry