"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #64 Manila, Philippines March 5, 2018 Monday Partly cloudy & 95 degrees Part #1 Of 3 80 Pictures

Manila, our port of call for today, has a population over 13 million people, all of whom own a car or scooter, according to a giggling port lecturer, Barbara H. There are six districts and twelve cities in the metropolitan area. Who knew it was once part of the Malay Kingdom, a Hindu empire, and a Bruneian sultanate? Eventually Spain ruled for 300 years, until the United States won control in 1898.

Despite extensive damage during WWII with the fighting between the American and Japanese armies, the city is now full of modern sky scrapers, and old neighborhoods. And traffic…unbelievable traffic. Things to see are churches, museums, forts, cathedrals, and parks. One of the largest malls in the world exists here by the name of SM Mall of Asia. The best way to get there is by taxi from the pier.

Pork adobo is the national dish of the Philippines. A delicacy of isaw is pig or chicken intestines barbequed on a stick. Sinanglay is a tilapia fish stuffed with tomato and onion, then simmered in coconut milk. Finally, for breakfast, they start the day with tapsilog – a beef jerky with fried garlic rice and a fried egg.

Shore excursions offered six tours today, ranging from 3 to 8 ½ hours for $100 to $240. There were four city tours that went to the historic part of the city, and some went to the newer modern downtown. One excursion took in Corregidor Island, full of WWII history, and the other tour went to Tagaytay, a summer retreat resort over an hour’s drive into the mountains.

The ship was docked in Manila Bay before 8am and cleared by the authorities by 8:15am. We had been told there would be a total of four ships in port, although we only saw three. Of course, we were one, the Superstar Virgo was the second, and the third was Costa Atlantica. If there was a fourth, it was hidden from sight.

The Star Cruises Virgo is 75,338 gross tons, and was built in 1999. She holds from 1804 to 2800 passengers, mostly Asian. It is described as a large ship for family friendly and casual-style cruising. The Costa Atlantica is 85,700 gross tons, built in 2000. She holds from 2112 to 2680 passengers, and is an Italian ship with “volume” everywhere (loud, we guess). We read that the waiters in the dining room actually dance at their tables – a bit of show business.

After breakfast, we went to deck three to take a few photos. Good thing we did, because the welcome committee of local xylophone players and dancers were putting on a show on the dock. The costumes were colorful and unusual, especially for the fellows. Eventually they packed it up, and left as the tour buses loaded and left.

We have visited Manila on past cruises, and have taken almost every tour. So like many other passengers, we opted to take the complimentary shuttle service to the Robinsons Place Manila shopping mall. Leaving the ship at 10am, we joined the line for the shuttle for the 3o minute drive to the mall. Since the traffic was not too bad this early, it only took 15 minutes. Closer to the mall, the lights took forever to change, and the cars, trucks, jeepneys, and motor scooters blocked the intersections.

It really was not that far from the ship, but walking the distance would have been difficult. The temperature was climbing to over 90 degrees, and there was little shade on the way. Also, we were not too sure how safe it would be walking without a lot of other people around us from the ship. Half way there, we spotted at least 50 well-armed riot police, lined up and facing banks and hotels and a very busy street. Whatever the reason, it did not leave us with a warm and fuzzy feeling. For sure, we will not be walking back this way at all. It would be the bus for us.

Once at the front entrance, we went through the doors and past the armed security guard. No scanning xray machine, but he did have a wand. Although this mall was not the largest one in town, it was still big. And there was no paper map of the place either. Our only hope to get the layout was to find a kiosk that was computerized. There were four levels of this mall, but the deeper we went in, the longer it got. We figured that part of this complex was added on to an older mall.

But we soon learned that we did need their currency, as they did not all take every type of credit card. Mostly Visa and Master Card. No Am Ex. With the help of an info gal at the entrance, we finally located the money changer on the fourth floor. It was well worth waiting in line for 10 or more minutes, since we had leftover Australian and New Zealand dollars. They gladly took the foreign currency, and converted it to pesos. We ended up coming out almost even to what we paid on the ship to buy it. Cashing some US dollars was about the same. Little fee, and no 3% like the ship charges. Now if we turned in the foreign money on the ship, we would have had to go back to the US dollar, then buy pesos. Thus losing on both transactions. If you have no other choice, then it is different. Use the ship’s service.

We ran right into Barb and her dancing buddies, Freddie and Maurice, as they were searching the kiosk for directions also. Funny how many familiar people we saw in this spacious mall. Eventually, as the day advanced, there were thousands of locals and tourists in here. So what are the chances you will see ones that you know?

Not really needing anything, we strolled every floor browsing until it was time for lunch. In the past, we have dined at TGI Fridays. It had moved locations since we were here last. Asking the manager, he said that the new location opened up two years ago. Now there is a multi-level H&M Store there. Anyway, we ordered two appetizers with the local San Miguel draft beer, which was really tasty. The breaded and fried chicken tenders were good with the honey mustard sauce and spicy ranch dip. The chicken quesadilla was the best. Made the way we like it. We saved a little room for dessert, which was classic mud pie. It was the best part of lunch today. The restaurant filled up with customers by the time we left.

The shuttle bus was waiting outside, off- loading more ship guests. Our buddies, Bill and Leta, were just getting off to go for a walk in the mall. They asked if we left them anything to buy, and we assured them we bought nothing but lunch. Due to traffic now, the ride back was twice as long. Making it worse, someone had mistakenly gotten on the wrong bus (ours), and they were dropped off at the front of the Manila Hotel. Took us even longer to get out of the side road. Oh well, the ship was over-nighting here, so there was no hurry to get back.

Of course, our room was so nice and cool, we stayed in and worked on photos. Knowing that the Lido pool area was being set up for the Filipino families coming on board, we went to deck nine to check it out. The staff was setting the tables with purple bowler hats for their dinner buffet. The crowd of up to 1200, we heard, was expected between 6 and 11pm. Tomorrow there will be another event planned for as many people once again.

The sun would be setting by 6:04pm, so we ended up staying up there until it did. It was not a disappointment, as we watched the sun go down behind an island, Just before it did, the Superstar Virgo dropped their lines, and left the bay to the music of a brass band with baton twirlers dancing up a storm. Right before they sailed away, their mandatory muster drill took place. Fun watching somebody else do that for a change.

Dinner found five of us present, as three had eaten earlier. That’s what nice about open seating. Even though we have fixed seating, we also have the option of anytime dining sometimes. And being that we are overnight here, some folks opted for dinner out in the city. The shuttle ran until 7:30pm, but you could take a taxi back.

Just as we sat down, The Costa Atlantica sailed out of the harbor. Sure was a pretty sight as she left with all of her lights on. Then shortly afterwards, that fourth ship appeared. Guess a Silverseas ship was docked near them, but blocked from our view. None of us could see which one it was, but it was nice watching them leave. Now we are wondering if any more ships will arrive tomorrow morning?

Instead of live entertainment, the Queen’s Lounge was converted to the 90^th Annual Academy Awards show. It was treated like Superbowl, with the offer of a paid champagne happy hour, and butler-style service. Since the show was shown on TV this morning at 5:30am, and rerun again at 9am, we wonder how many folks will go tonight? None of us at our table chose to go, since none of us are real movie buffs.

And besides, tomorrow will be another busy, and time to get some rest.

Bill & Mary Ann

Naval vessels and the Costa Atlantica already docked