Pickleball & Penang

Mural by Ernest Zacharevic

There is a certain comfort in familiarity. On a cruise ship, that comfort often takes the shape of routine. An early rise, sometimes just in time for sunrise. A session at the gym. Breakfast, preferably Bircher muesli, with an iced latte. Extra points when the kids wander in to join you, a small but satisfying parenting victory.

Sailing through the Strait of Malacca meant calm waters, the ship moving so smoothly it was almost imperceptible. The view, however, was anything but empty. We were surrounded by a steady procession of enormous ships, hulking silhouettes stacked high with shipping containers, the occasional oil tanker drifting past like a floating industrial suburb. Accustomed to cruising through clearer, more pristine stretches of ocean, it was quietly sobering to notice rubbish in the water too, a reminder that these busy arteries of global trade come with a visible cost. It didn’t spoil the moment, but it lingered. Even more sobering when the children noticed.

Usually, I like to squeeze in a quick swim after the gym and before breakfast, that brief window before the crowds wake up and descend on the pool deck, or more accurately, ascend. But today had other priorities...Pickleball.

Mal was delighted. Indoor courts. Three of them. Efficiently run. Groups of four rotating every ten minutes over an hour and a half, which meant plenty of play and very little frustration. Everyone was happy. We found our ducks, won our first trivia, indulged in soft serve on the pool deck, and took a spin on the North Star. Tick, tick, and more ticks. Before we quite realised it, Penang was coming into view.

Watching the sunrise in a/c comfort, with my cut up watermelon, bircher muesli and iced latte

Waiting for our second session. The only minor complaint was that it was difficult to sight the ball!

Oma in full relaxation mode

Trivia time. "I love you" in 20 different languages

Winner winner!

Lara was annoyed that Mal kept finding ducks

When it is 11am and all the deck chairs in the sun are empty you must be in Asia

The ones in the shade however...

We were waiting for our turn on this

North star

Not for those with a fear of heights

What is this sad looking towel art?!?!

Penang is heat and colour, history and hunger, layered tightly together. A place where cultures overlap, stories cling to the walls, and food is never far from the centre of the conversation.

I couldn’t find a ready-made tour that delivered exactly what we wanted, so I went looking and found a locally based travel agent. My brief was straightforward: four hours, air-conditioned van with driver and guide, food-focused, a handful of highlights, and some street art that wouldn’t steal time from eating. They understood the assignment.

The pace was frenetic by design. Highlights were exactly that. Here it is. Take a photo. Move on. Perhaps not for most, but perfect for us in hot, humid conditions and with limited time.. Our guide, Timothy, was excellent. An ex-pharmacist who became a tour guide just a year ago, he navigated the quirks of my parents with impressive grace, including the moment they began telling him what was good in Penang. At this point I was hoping for the Earth to swallow me whole.

Timothy, however, was nobody’s fool. He quickly identified who the real decision-maker was and ended the tour at a durian stall. Checkmate.

We rushed back to the ship because the children had a date with iFly, the ship's skydiving simulator. The complimentary session was short but long enough to be thrilling, slightly chaotic, and full of laughter. And somehow, despite everything we had already eaten, certain members of the family announced they were hungry again. Back to the buffet they go...

As for me, the combination of heat, movement, and cumulative sleep deprivation caught up fast.

Bed 2. Belinda 0

Day 3 – Calm Seas, Fast Tours & Knowing Who’s in Charge

Penang

Street art a plenty. We had no time to come up with creative poses

Thinking of my friend Susan!

Khoo kongsi. A clan house for anyone with the surname Khoo in the community

Ornate artwork on the walls commissioned by the family using artists from China way back when

Carvings to reflect filial piety. In this case, the child tasting the parent's poop to diagnose an illness. Ew

Georgetown UNESCO world heritage listed site

The umbrellas were really faded, as pointed out by our guide, but click and tick!

Bib gourmand Moh Teng Pheow. Entry still through the back door

Coffee Tree. You try all different types of instant coffee then you buy. Simple. So touristy but so much fun

Cendol man

Exploring Chew Jetty. There were 9, each named after a Chinese surname but only 7 are left. The Chinese, ever so good at saving money, built on stilts over water so as not to pay land tax. To this day, they do not pay tax.

More street art

We were here mainly for the nearby Char kway teow

Nutmeg juice. The white is from nutmeg seed, and the red has mace added. Mace is made from the seed covering

Shanzha juice. Or better known as hawthorn. The drink version of childhood favourite, haw flakes!

The 2 durians that we consumed. One Musang King, one Black Thorn

Gloves to avoid stinky hands

Happy Oma

Happy Opa

Ready to fly

Them cheeks 😂

Perfect way to end the food tour!

And...the random 3 photos that somehow keeps ending up here! Our food at Moh Teng Pheow, as well as the cendol.

Lemongrass drink

Timothy picked 4 of the best nonya kueh - pulut taitai (Star looking), kuih talam (green) and kueh bengka. 3 bowls of assam laksa at the back

Cendol

Singapore to Sea

Every crew member asked where Lara's shirt was. She "lost" it

Breakfast this morning took us to Holland Village, with one very clear mission: roti prata, paired with teh tarik and kopi o on the side. Mission accomplished. The children absolutely hoovered their plates. A small personal aside, this was somewhere I used to frequent with my parents during my childhood, yet somehow nothing felt familiar. Time has clearly been busy.

Soft bun set. Bun = essentially Kaya toast on white bread.

This is egg and mushroom prata. Sauce is divine

Teh tarik

Oma and Opa, pros at public transport and affordable taxi drivers

Then it was finally time to board Ovation of the Seas. My parents summoned their trusty driver, who delivered us smoothly to the Marina Bay Cruise Centre.

The last time we sailed with Royal Caribbean we were in a suite. This time, thanks to a late booking (and no thanks to Disney, no I'm not bitter..), our cabin options were limited, so we decided to try The Key. The best description is probably "budget concierge". The real drawcards for us were priority check-in, priority tendering at ports (Phuket looking at you), and onboard internet for each person. We picked it up at 50% off, which made it an easy yes.

For anyone curious, priority check-in essentially gives you a 30-minute head start on the rest of the ship. Our general check-in time was 11:30, but The Key guests could arrive between 11:00 and 11:30. We arrived at 10:46, only to see plenty of people already being processed ahead of us. FOMO arrived immediately.

A brief mishap at immigration added a little drama. The rest of the family sailed through the automated gates, barriers opening effortlessly as their faces were scanned. Mine, however, demanded a passport scan. The officer’s instructions were delivered with increasing enthusiasm: Open your eyes. Keep them open. Don’t close ah. Open bigger. BIGGER. Still no luck. The moment my passport was scanned, the problem disappeared. Meanwhile, Mal had my passport and my family, now well ahead, were loudly calling back, “No need passport! No need passport!” Umm...deeply unhelpful.

That tiny glitch felt like five minutes but probably lasted all of ten seconds. Otherwise the whole process, including security and check-in were lightning fast. There was no time for photos. Crew ushered us along at pace and we were onboard just after 11:00. One notable difference on this sailing was that our passports were collected, something that hasn’t happened to us since cruising the Eastern Mediterranean with a stop in Israel.

Our ship

Even though there were many many people at the port, we were never held up at any line (other than by me lol) and we kept moving...

Finally a brief stop on the gangway to take a photo. Opa still catching up at the back

Onboard and ready to eat!

Lunch was a sit-down affair featuring a Chops Grille menu, served in a main dining room reserved for The Key guests. Our carry-on bags were whisked away to our cabin, rooms opened at 1:00 pm, and we unpacked before heading out to explore the ship.

One of our favourite onboard pastimes is people-watching. At the climbing wall, we spotted a scrawny, bespectacled boy who looked as though his life experience consisted entirely of school and tuition. Barely a metre off the ground, legs splayed frog-like and glued to the wall, he was well and truly stuck. A crew member attempted a gentle assist, nudging him toward the next foothold. The result was a dramatic 10-centimetre shift and panicked cries of “No grip! No grip!” followed by “No more push! No more push!” Half of me felt genuine sympathy. The other half had to actively remind myself that laughing at other people’s misfortune is, technically, not very nice.

None of us won the obligatory spa raffle. Boo.

Dinner was in the main dining room. One thing I still struggle with on Royal Caribbean is the persistent push to upsell specialty dining. I know it’s part of the job, but we were approached at least five times. The food itself was enjoyable and our servers were efficient and friendly. Behind us sat a group of families who appeared to be travelling together, adults at one table, kids at another. After the meal, the children migrated to the table directly behind us and proceeded to play games enthusiastically and loudly, with no parental supervision in sight.

My family physically restrained me from addressing the situation myself. Instead, my parents calmly spoke to the head waiter and we were moved to another table. Problem solved.

I had ambitious plans to watch the evening show, but after several nights of poor sleep, an early morning start to fly to Singapore, and my body loudly insisting it was well past midnight Sydney time, I surrendered. Bed won.

Tomorrow, we dock in Penang, Malaysia. Street food, colour, and chaos await, and I fully intend to be awake for it.

Day 2 – From Holland Village to High Seas

The menu

There was no point resisting

Indoor picklecourt. Happy Mal

Basketball courts. Happy boys

Oma and Opa

Ship built for families. So many activities 

Foosball

Cornhole

Our tiny cabin for 4!

Balcony

Bye bye Singapore!

Practicing for the speed climb competition

Complimentary fruit plate for the cabin

Our lovely peaceful dinner before it was disrupted with kids shouting and climbing everywhere on the table left of us in the photo!

Finally some chill time