As our amazing Asian voyage draws to a close, we’ve been reflecting on our trip–what we’ve learned and what we’ve enjoyed. It has been a wonderful adventure and we feel quite privileged to have the time and resources to see so many places and cultures. While cruising is not as immersive an experience as land travel, it has given us a taste of many places we would never visit if we weren’t passing by in a cruise ship. Many of those places have been big surprises too.

  One thing that stands out is how each country interprets their history, religion, and culture in their own way. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Taoism have morphed from country to country over time. We’ve also seen how differently countries run based on whether many different religious groups and cultures are allowed to move freely and to have equal access to the resources available. It seems to me that the big economic powerhouses in Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong, and up and comers like Saigon, owe a big part of their success due to their different ethnic and religious groups having the same opportunities and their belief that more people can succeed in a meritocracy.

  I’ve been asked about life aboard the ship over almost a 3-month period. Even some fellow passengers who are only traveling for a portion of our voyage have asked, do you get bored, do you miss home, how do you manage spending all that time together for so long. Well first of all, I can attest that after sharing a stateroom for 82 days Joel and I are not only still in love, but we like each other. So that’s good. I wouldn’t recommend this for everyone and I’m not sure that we would do such a long voyage again, but that’s not because we got bored or on each other’s nerves. We just think a shorter voyage would give us more time to plan in advance and arrange private excursions, plus we would be able to absorb and process what we’re seeing more easily. That’s one reason I’ve been faithful about keeping up this blog. I would never be able to remember all we’ve done and where it happened without this journal and even if no one else ever looks at it, I will enjoy the experience of going through it again and again.

  We’ve never found it hard to enjoy living on a cruise ship. Having this lengthy a cruise gave us more time to make friends among both passengers and crew. Everyone has an interesting story to tell. We’ve loved the comforts cruise ship offers– fine dining, nightly entertainment, a stateroom that’s always kept beautifully for us. There are plenty of onboard activities, most of which we did not participate in, because we treasured our time on sea days or when we were back on board early. There are wonderful places on the ship to chill out and relax and we did plenty of that, as well as using our time to exercise or meet with friends. I’m ending this blog, or at least this portion of it, with some pictures of life aboard the Riviera.

The ship’s atrium with its crystal chandelier and sculpture and marble floor has dramatic views from both above and below.

The Baristas coffee bar was a great place to get a cappuccino and hang out and enjoy the view.

The library, which was right next to Baristas, had thousands of books and some cozy nooks to stretch out and read.

Below is my favorite specialty restaurant, Red Ginger, which had a fusion Asian menu.

Below is Martinis, a favorite bar for many people. It’s where a piano player was often performing and where the ship held its very popular trivia game.

At the beginning of our voyage when the weather was hot and humid, the pool deck was often full. You can see the difference, below, after we got to Korea and Japan and the temperature swiftly dropped.

The ship had its own production team which gave some great shows. We couldn’t take pictures of those. But we were encouraged to take pictures of some local talent they brought on board. This was a dance group from Vietnam.

Our room was a lovely place to hang out, especially when it was warm and we could sit out on the balcony.