Cebu, Philippines – 23 to 26 April, 2007
After successfully fighting the crowds at the port in Manila and arriving on board, we were greeted at an area similar to the reception desk at a hotel. We were given a key and escorted to our suite, and after settling in we decided to check out the rest of the ship.
After walking around, we were extremely glad we had splurged for a suite. There were only four on the ship, and along with an entrance to our suite from an inner hallway, each of the four suites had a door to a small deck at the front of the ship just below the driver’s house (or whatever you call it). It turned out this wasn’t a private deck for the suites, but not many other people knew about it and it was fairly quiet for the entire trip. When we walked to the back of the ship, we saw the “green zone” of the ship which is very economical to travel in, but it is basically an open sided deck at least as big as a gymnasium with rows of bunk beds three high. In this area there is no privacy or security, and only the sea breeze for air conditioning. There were some other areas between the suite and the gym with prices varying by the number of amenities and number of people sharing the space, but we were happy campers where we were. While not a cruise liner, our suite very large and complete with private toilet, bathtub, fridge, table and chairs, queen bed, and satellite TV (with CNN and BBC).
The ship left about an hour and a half late which seems to be normal Filipino time. We stood on our “private” deck as we pulled out of Manila, and spent the next hour or so there watching the lights and waves go by. As we were at the very front of the ship before the wake, we saw what we thought were probably squid shooting across the top of the water away from the ship as it cut through the waves. The next day we watched small flying fish escaping from the ship. Some of these “flew” several dozen yards skipping on the wave tops a couple of times before diving back into the water.
That night we slept well, and the next day used the time to catch up on some reading, snoozing in the breeze, and even completing a couple of journals. It was a very relaxing time watching many of the 7000+ Philippine islands float by, and we saw the sun set over the north end of Cebu Island. Departing Manila late also meant we would arrive in Cebu late. Instead of arriving by 8:00 PM we arrived around 9:30 PM. Our approach in the Philippines has been to make reservations on the internet a day or two before we travel to a new location, so we had a hotel reserved in the center of Cebu City for two nights.
D had read that Jeepneys for the town wait at the pier and leave when they are full. As we were trekking up the road amongst the other 2,000 passengers who disembarked there, D saw a small truck with an open back that had a few people in the back but still had some open seats. Thinking it was a Jeepney, D asked the driver if he went to our hotel. The driver looked puzzled for a moment, then said OK and to get in. It turned out it wasn’t a Jeepney after all, but was a private vehicle that had come to pick up some family members arriving on the ferry. They were gracious enough to drop us at the door of our hotel and refused to take any payment for the ride.
We only planned on spending a short time there before catching a fast ferry to the island of Bohol, so the next day we caught a Jeepney (a true commercial one this time) from the hotel to the area with the main attractions in Cebu City. We visited Magellan’s Cross, the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino church, and Fort San Pedro. We also found the local Department of Tourism office and once again they proved very helpful in giving us information on getting to Bohol and hotels there. We debated on staying on Cebu or Mactan Island longer, but Mactan was pretty booked and/or expensive because of the upcoming May Day and local Festival, and we had already visited the primary Cebu sights, so we decided to head for Bohol Island the next morning.
Next stop Bohol
