We didn't arrive until around 11am at the port of Surabaya. While I thought the port of Singapore had a lot of ships at anchor, this one easily surpassed it. I also liked the later arrival which gave us ample opportunity to watch the sail in. As we approached the dock, the Captain rotated the ship 180° clockwise and ever so gingerly eased us up to the dock where the cast of dock workers received the mooring lines and tied the Volendam up to the pier. Like the other ports, we were greeted by welcoming dancers in colorful costumes.
Carol scheduled our tour start time for an hour after our projected arrival time and that really helped space out the disembarking guests and allowed us a chance to eat lunch before departing. Once off the ship, we quickly found our guide, Ham, and boarded our coach for the afternoon's tour.
Before I describe our day, I must finally say something about Carol (CJCRUZER on Cruise Critic) and planning shore excursions in general. Carol has done a fabulous job organizing our shore excursions. She worked tirelessly on figuring out the excursions, vetting vendors, logging participants, answering participant questions, coordinating with HAL, and much more. She and I have been coordinating excursion details since last June as I also am an excursion planner. We do this for no monetary compensation; the main benefit is we get to choose specific destinations, enjoy a lesser cost, and smaller group sizes than ship sponsored excursions.
Back to our day in Surabaya. Our tour essentially covered a stop at a tobacco factory where a clove flavored cigarettes are hand rolled. These are only used for domestic consumption. We also visited a cultural celebration at a city hall, a former Russian submarine, a temple and the Hotel Majapahit where were had a full tour as well as some light refreshments. The Majapahit is a vintage high end hotel and the rooms we toured including the Presidential Suite were quite luxurious!! This 5+ hour tour would have been terrific at twice the $25 per person price.
Back on board, our evening was a normal routine of dinner in the Lido followed by entertainment at the Main Stage which was Alana Conway, who is an excellent harpist and vocalist from Melbourne, Australia.
This night was payback time for the hour we gained the other day. The ships clock was advanced by an hour. Tomorrow is a sea day as we make our way to Komodo Island. I wonder if there will be any excitement. Stay tuned.
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