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At Sea Again

I used to never go anywhere for vacation.

I always dreaded those inevitable “what did you do last summer” questions teachers seemed to love to ask at the start of the year (which is June in the Philippines).

But now, I’m this person who went on cruise ships 2 summers in a row.

Last year, we went on a Caribbean cruise ship for a huge family reunion. This year, we skipped the 24 hour transit time to and from the area and went on a cruise ship much closer to home – a Singaporean cruise ship.

I absolutely loved the last cruise. Because I had such high expectations, I actually just assumed that this cruise would pale in comparison.

Surprisingly, though, I loved this one too. I may have even preferred it.

It didn’t have as much to do with the cruise ship itself than it did with the people on this ship, and the person I was on this ship.

This isn’t to say that the people on last year’s ship weren’t nice in general. Most of the people on that ship were Caucasian, some Puerto Rican. I didn’t see any other Filipinos on the ship besides my family. I barely even saw any Asians in general.

In the sort of “teen room” we went to pretty often, mostly to play foosball, sometimes, people kind of stuck to their own race. This wasn’t always the case, but, in general, there weren’t too many people stepping out of their little groups, so we weren’t a very close group of teens as a whole.

I didn’t really care though, because, at the time, the idea of meeting new people scared me anyway. Plus, everyone there probably thought I was the minimum age anyway. That vacation, I was getting half-priced everything, since I assume most people thought I was 12 years old (actually, I was 15).

This year was completely different.

Right off the bat, since this was a Singaporean cruise, you can just imagine that like 99% of the people there were Asian.

It’s not like I have anything against non-Asians, it’s just that, since we were all Asian, even though we were from different countries, we still felt an immediate connection. There were even a few Asian jokes being thrown around in there.

It was fun because everyone there seemed so interested in everyone else’s culture, constantly comparing countries, trying to see what was similar and what was different. It’s like we shared enough in common for us to relate, but were still different enough to seem interesting.

I found myself going to the teen room a lot, even when I was alone, without my cousins or brother, because I knew I’d have friends there anyway. Yes, I did make a lot of new friends!

If I’d gone on this cruise last year, I probably would’ve been too shy to talk to anyone, so this cruise kind of came at the perfect time.

The ship itself was great – the people working there were really nice and friendly, the food was good, the ice cream was amazing. There were lots of things to do too, but, honestly, I didn’t do any of them because my cousins and I were probably in the teen room for maybe half of our stay there.

I’m glad I did because making new friends, playing foosball with people who aren’t my brothers and playing kids ball games with awesome people every night was the best part of my entire summer.

Though the cruise itself was only 4 days long, we stayed in Singapore for a couple of days before it. Because I was gone for a week, the last two posts were actually scheduled, and that’s also why I wasn’t able to return any comments or go online anywhere last week.

Sounds like you had a great time! I’m glad that you enjoyed the cruise ships, because I got seasick when I went on one last summer.

Last summer, I went on a cruise with my family on a ship that left from New York City and headed up to a couple historic sites in Canada. It was quite fun. However, the people on the ship didn’t really interact with one another – everyone was there to relax on their own, taking care not to bother with anyone else. That cruise ship was full of Caucasians, Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians – not a surprise since New York City has all kinds of people. It is interesting to note that cruise ships out of Singapore aren’t like that!

Comment by Stephanie • June 11, 2012 • 2:15 pm

I’ve never been on a cruise before, and if I have, I was probably too young to remember it.

Sometimes I’m scared of meeting new people. It really depends on my first impression of them and their age range, though.

I’m Asian, and I don’t really feel a closer connection to other Asians compared to other races (which doesn’t seem like it since most of my friends are Asian). I’m “whitewashed,” too. All in all, I feel the same around everyone.

Comment by Nugget • June 13, 2012 • 11:17 am

I have never been on a cruise. I’m terribly afraid of large bodies of water. Glad you had fun though!

Comment by Joy • June 14, 2012 • 7:13 am

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