Happily Going Nowhere!

Like most people in Singapore, after a year of no overseas travel, I’ve really been keen for that feeling of packing a suitcase and dusting off my passport for a trip – something a little further away than a staycation.

- Jacqui Young

There has been plenty of “cruise to nowhere” buzz lately, but I had always dissed the idea. What could I possibly get out of sleeping on a cruise ship that didn’t go to another destination? Wouldn’t we get bored being stuck on a ship in the ocean? Would it be safe amidst a global pandemic? And how would I cope with having to take that dreaded PCR test before sailing?

In a normal year, Royal Caribbean operates 24 cruise ships around the world; until recently, though, they’ve all been idle. However, thanks to Singapore’s fabulous safety measures around COVID-19, the company has come up with a way of taking passengers on one of its fleet, the Quantum of the Seas.

It’s called the Ocean Getaway, and it’s available for two, three or four nights. We went for the four-night option – easily our longest holiday in a year! After booking, I downloaded the Royal Caribbean app and created an account.

The ship sets sail from Singapore at around 9pm (boarding is from 2pm). At the end of the cruise, it returns in the morning, docking at around 6am. Check-out is staggered from 6.30am to 10.30am.

Safety measures

A full PCR test is needed for the cruise – it was the part we were all dreading! A couple of weeks before our scheduled departure, the invitation came to arrange a time at a testing centre in Raffles City for our swab test. You need to take the test a couple of days before sailing. It was uncomfortable, but better than I expected – a little like the “nose freeze” you get after eating too much wasabi! The results came back within 24 hours by email; certificates are accessed via a weblink or app.