Sunday, September 23, 2018

My 3 days on Genting Dream Cruise - All inclusive Dream Palace Suite experience

I took the opportunity to go on a cruise with my family. This was my first cruise experience and it was on the Genting Dream Cruise. Many of you may have went on Star Cruise before which is also by the Genting group. Dream cruise is the new addition to their cruise fleet.

Dream cruise has the all inclusive dream palace suite experience. I booked the Palace deluxe suite and was entitled to the special suite experience which includes 24 hour butler service, exclusive dining at speciality restaurants, premium beverage package and even wifi was provided. Dream palace is a ship within a ship concept where palace suite guests have access to this private area which includes lounges, private pool area, spa and the exclusive palace restaurant. 

The check in was fast at marina bay cruise terminal even though there were many people. Dream palace guests had priority check in and boarding and also a lounge area to enjoy while waiting for boarding. I didn't get to go to the lounge as I was able to board the ship immediately after check in. 



The ship is huge measuring 300m+ in length with 19 decks in total (although there was no deck 4 and 14 because of bad luck reasons)



We found our suite at deck 9. It is made up of a separate living room and bedroom with a huge toilet and a small balcony. 

Living room

Bedroom

Toilet is huge with shower area and bath tub

Bathtub

Shower area with spa facilities
Balcony
There is a phone to call the butler to make reservations for restaurants or any other requests

Nescafe coffee machine with capsules provided

First day mini bar for enjoyment. There are drinks in the fridge too free for consumption including 2 bottles of beer
Everything in the suite was luxurious and of good quality. There was even TWG tea provided. The bathroom was so big its even bigger than most hotel rooms bathroom.

Dinner was provided on the first day even though the ship will only set sail at 9pm. We boarded the ship at around 430pm and booked the silk road restaurant immediately with the butler. Silk road restaurant is a Chinese fine dining restaurant which serves very quality and delicious food.

Palace guests get to redeem a complimentary set menu. It is a 6 course menu with drinks such as red and white wine included.
Set menu for palace guests at silk road restaurant
The fine dining setting at silk road restaurant. Vibrant red colour with comfortable cushion seat at every table

Soup of the day

Sauteed Tiger Prawns with Soya Sauce

Roasted Pork Belly with Jelly Fish - The pork belly was so succulent and tasty, the skin was super crispy

Poached Chicken with onion oil and soya sauce

Braised abalone, shrimp roe and mushroom

Dessert - White fungus with Hashima
After dinner, I went to walk around the huge cruise and took some pictures.

Boutique area in the ship

Zouk club within the ship itself

Outdoor movie theatre at Zouk Beach Club

Main outdoor pool area

View of Marina bay area from room balcony
Every night, there will be performances shown at their 1000 seater Zodiac theatre. For the first night, the performance is a Latin dance.

Waiting for the show to start. Palace guests had priority front row seats which are specially reserved for every performance





If you like dance performance, this is not a bad one though it got boring after awhile as its a 45 mins dance performance.

After the performance, I went to the dream palace area and saw this brochure. There was supper provided at the Palace restaurant and also afternoon high tea. Other passengers do also have high tea served in the morning and afternoon also but no supper is provided.



Supper at Palace restaurant


After supper, went to ordered some drinks which is included in the premium beverage package for suites guests. Ordered one Old fashioned and Negroni drink. Old fashioned was good while Negroni was not to my liking

Ordered additional margarita to try
Went back to the room thereafter to rest. That's the end of the first day.

On the second day, the ship was docked near to Bintan island. Those who do not want to stay on the ship can choose to go on the island for other activities. My family and I wanted to fully experience the ship so we did not disembark.

This was the view from the balcony inside the suite room when I woke up:

For today's breakfast, I chose to dine at Mark Best Bistro which is a celebrity restaurant helm by celebrity chef Mark Best himself. The breakfast venue was provided to Palace guest as an alternative to the Palace restaurant.

At 8am, the restaurant was quite empty. Its actually a very high class restaurant with superb service.


The buffet spread was quite decent, not the ordinary buffet which I had before. There were chefs who whip up made to order eggs in this restaurant itself.

Different selection of cheese and smoked salmon

Bread station

Open concept kitchen



After breakfast, we went to the main pool deck area for swimming and I wanted to try the slides, which was the main attraction on this ship. There are 5 levels of slide, each with a higher intensity. It was quite fun actually. I've not done this for many years already.

After that, I went to the Palace private pool deck where we soaked in the sea salt Jacuzzi, swam in the private pool and used the steam room. Time pass so fast when you're relaxing, the whole morning was spent at the pool area and soon it was time for lunch.

Lunch was at the Palace restaurant. It was buffet again. The spread was quite good I would say with large delicious prawns and lamb shank. The sashimi provided was very fresh as well.

Entrance leading to The Palace

Cold dishes

Dedicated kitchen for the Palace restaurant

Good buffet spread


First of the many plates of lunch I ate
At the Palace restaurant, you can see even the utensils were crafted so nicely. The fork and knife had golden and silver coloured patterns on it like what was used in the Palace in the olden days.

After lunch, I went to explore the ship again. By this time around 2pm in the afternoon, the main pool deck was filled with people enjoying the afternoon swim.



There was a bridge viewing room where we can see the ship captains doing their job.


Ship captains in the bridge control room

Time pass quite fast while on the ship. There was lots of walking because the ship is so huge. There was tea break provided at The Lido, which is the buffet area where all guests can enjoy their meals. Tea break is provided at 10am and 3:30pm each day. I took the opportunity to take a look at The Lido during their afternoon tea break.

The dining place was huge with lots of seating area with good views of the sea. If you're hungry, the food definitely will fill your stomach so there's nothing to worry about being hungry on this ship.

Lots of people came for the afternoon tea break


Some buns and bread


Sandwiches


Some traditional cakes

Main pool area again
I decided to forgo the tea break at Lido and went to the Palace lounge for high tea instead. You might be wondering how different it is? Let the picture do the talking.

High tea provided at the Palace lounge
The portion although small, but is of better quality. Its just enough for us as we had a rather heavy lunch. It was much more quieter and comfortable in the lounge as well

After tea break, I decided to get some exercise at the gym. Good equipment and good views of the sea as well.



Soon, its dinner time again. Before dinner, I did get some rest in the room before coming for dinner. Was just too tired walking around the whole day.

Dinner was at Mark Best Restaurant. For dinner, they provide a 4 course fine dining meal for Palace guest to enjoy. It was the best meal I had on this ship. Luxurious was at its best here.

Set menu provided complimentary for Palace guests

Other stuff which can be ordered

Some bread


Selection of cold cuts as appetizer

Roast pumpkin soup

Grilled Australian Wagyu Steak

Black Cod

My steak with red wine 

Dessert - Vanilla Panacotta
The dinner here was great. Every dish was made to perfection. I even saw celebrity chef Mark Best himself in the restaurant. No wonder the food was of such high quality.

In the evening, there are 2 shows being lined up. One is China's got talent and the other is their exclusive show, Voyage of a lovers dream.







The show was acted out but the people performing are actually the actual ones who went up to participate in the program some time back. Their skills are really amazing.

Next up is voyage of a lovers dream:






The story is beautiful with nice touching music. The pictures can't really show how good the show is. If you're on the cruise next time, be sure to catch this voyage of a lover's dream show.


The night is still young on the cruise. As its the last night, we didn't want to sleep too early so continued walking around and there was party everywhere, even for kids.

Zouk beach club had party for kids

Zouk club on the cruise was blasting with live music

We went for supper and more drinks, taking full advantage of the inclusive premium beverage package. Ordered Johnny walker red and more cocktails. It was midnight before we knew it and we were tired from the whole day of activities.

The next morning, the cruise was on the way back to Singapore, scheduled to reach at 10am.

The view from the balcony in the morning

Breakfast again at Mark Best Bistro

Last breakfast for this cruise

The cruise docking at Marina Bay Cruise centre

View of marina bay area from the cruise

That's the end of the short 3 day 2 nights cruise. The palace suite experience was great, being treated like VIPs for the 3 days and having suites own private pool and restaurant was a plus point. Being on a cruise is quite different from taking a plane and going overseas. I didn't feel like I had travelled overseas actually. The ship was so sturdy that I do not feel any movement at all. Its like being in a mega shopping centre while its moving around.

Will I go on a cruise again? Maybe I will try Royal Caribbean cruise next as I heard quite good stuff about them. A longer cruise with disembarkation to land may be better for a cruise trip as well to have the feeling of travelling overseas.

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