Wednesday April 8, 2026
Hi Folks! Today we were docked in Singapore! In 1819, British statesman Stamford Raffles negotiated a treaty to allow the British to locate a trading port on the island, ultimately leading to the establishment of the Crown colony of Singapore in 1867. In 1965 Singapore gained its independence from Britain.
Our morning tour was called “Capture the Moment” and they took us to cool spots around the city to capture photos. We went to Merlion Park, Arab Street, Little India and Chinatown. It is a very clean city but that’s because of all the fines they levy if you break any rules! They say you can’t even chew gum (and definitely not toss it on the ground!).
While some people call it a “fine city” due to all the fines, the real name is the “Lion City”. The early name of the city was Singapora and in Sanskrit that stands for Lion City. The symbol of the city is the “Merlion”, which is half mermaid and half lion.
Merlion Park is the area that has a large fountain of the Merlion. It sits right across from the Marina Bay Sands Resort and Hotel which has the largest rooftop infinity pool in the world! Right down the street is the famous Raffles Hotel where the Singapore Sling cocktail was first made.
It was a really nice tour but it again was very hot! We got back onboard around 2:00 and chilled for a while. Of course we got our 3:15 PM passenger game of Top Toss in and since we were the only ones who showed up, Russell gave us 4 Regent points!
We then got showered and changed clothes since we have a night tour to see the city all lit up. Should be fun. I’ll do another post late tonight!
The Wandering Italian 