Day 4 - Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas - Phuket, Thailand

On the 4th day of our cruise we docked at Phuket. In Phuket, there is no port for the boat to dock at, so it dropped anchor not too far from the shore. In order to get off the ship we had to get a tender ticket. It's a free ticket that basically gives you the timing of when you're allowed to disembark using the tender boats. Priority is given to those people who have booked a tour with the cruise tour group.

Disembarkation was relatively easy and hassle free, and it only takes about 10minutes from the boat to the jetty which is right on Patong Beach.

The tender boats that brings us to Patong Beach.

As soon as you get off the jetty, there are touts everywhere asking (more like hassling) you if you want to go on a tour etc. If you're not interested just ignore and move along.

I was so happy to walk on Patong Beach. Why? I guess coz the last time we went to Phuket, also on a cruise (with Starcruise), we never stepped on the beach!! And Patong Beach is kind of the famous beach in Phuket isn't it? The water was clean and clear and it was just really nice.

There were a few beach activities you could do like Parasailing or Jetskiing. We really didn't plan on it, but we decided to try Jetskiing! I was excited and afraid at the same time. Excited coz we had never been Jetskiing before and afraid because well, we had never been Jetskiing before! Haha. Plus Caelyn was with us so I was a bit scared that she'd fall off. But it was actually quite fun, tho I was shrieking to hubby to slow down like every few seconds...hehehe. Next time maybe I'll have a go driving it on my own. The whole thing only lasted 30mins though.

After we finished we went to the area where every one was swimming in the water. It was a special roped off area where you are safe to swim, where you won't be knocked down by a jetski or boat, or whatever. We really loved swimming at the beach....however, afterwards we realised that there was no rinse off or bathing area!! Unlike Sentosa in Singapore or beaches on the Gold Coast in Australia, there was no where we could change. I was so disappointed, so we had to walk around in our soggy bathing suits. Luckily there were hotels around, and we just went into one and used their bathroom to change out of our wet clothes.

Next we wondered around with the aim of getting to the main shopping centre called Jungceylon. From Patong Beach it's about a 15minute walk to the mall and from the mall it was another 10-15 minutes walk to the jetty. If you like shopping, this place is worth going to, plus there is also a big supermarket there that you can stock up on snacks, etc to bring back home.

After having our meal and a massage and some shopping, we headed back to the boat in time for dinner.

Caelyn enjoying massage

The waters between Phuket and Singapore must be really rough because the boat was swaying a little, made me feel a little giddy during dinner and made me go to sleep earlier since I was afraid I'd get too motion sick. This happened last time too when we went on the Starcruise. I guess we must be going through open waters and the speed must've been quite fast. 

And so that ends our series of Royal Caribbean cruising. Day 5 was at Sea and Day 6 was arrival back to Singapore. On the last day, we had to leave the boat quite early at about 9am, and there was no breakfast available. You could eat at the 24 hour cafe on the Promenade if you wanted to, but that's your only option.

For video of our Day in Phuket, click here:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3