Semarang, Java

The ship didn't dock until midday in Semarang that meant we could sleep in and have a late breakfast.  Compass Rose Restaurant had advertised in the ships daily newsletter that they were going to be open for brunch from 9 am to 1 pm.  That was going to be perfect for us as our tour was to depart at 12.15pm.
We arrived at the restaurant around 10.00am only to be told that there was a typo in the newsletter and the restaurant was closed.  What!!!!  Dozens of us had our plans thwarted.  We managed to get a table in La Veranda Restaurant just as it was closing but many more passengers \went without breakfast. It could have been handled a lot better and the question has to be asked as to just how difficult is it to keep a restaurant, that was already open for breakfast, open a couple more hours! The service on Voyager  has been nowhere near as good as we had onboard Navigator earlier this year.  It was THAT service that made us choose this particular cruise.

Our chosen tour today was all about the trains  as we chose the "Steam Train and Plantation tour". We boarded our very comfortable and clean bus at the allocated time and with a police escort, the three buses started to make there way through the busy streets of Semarang to take us to Ambarawa, approximately 40 kilometres from the pier.  Ambarawa is situated in the cool highlands and is lush and green with its many rice paddy fields and so many tropical fruit trees that are very familiar to us.

The steam train was ready for us as we arrived at the railway station and after a comfort stop, we were all loaded quite quickly for our short journey that took us through the paddy fields and past villages with homes built right against the railway track.  The villagers were intrigued by us and all came out of their homes to greet us with smiling faces and big waves.  I asked our tour guide if they had never seen the train before and he replied that the train wasn't the intrigue, we were!  Apparently, they don't get to see many white people in this part of Indonesia.

After our train trip and tour of the railway museum we once again boarded the bus to be taken to the Coffee Plantation and Rubber Plant.  It was very interesting, particularly the harvesting and processing of rubber.  Dinner was included in this tour so we walked the short distance to a large hall where the tables were laden with a smorgasbord of Indonesian dishes. While we ate our dinner we were entertained by two ladies performing the Flower Dance.  It was quite beautiful.

The drive back to the pier seemed to take ages and the police escort was useless when the roads were so very congested, particularly around the area where we were docked.

When we finally arrived back on board the ship we quickly showered and changed and made our way to the Constellation Theatre for tonights dance performance by Voyagers Production Company.  It was called Dance to the Beat and it was a toe tapping performance that we enjoyed very much.

Tomorrow is a day at sea that we always look forward to and will be very relaxing. Oh yes, and it will be Christmas Eve!