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Luxury on the waves

Spas, discotheque, golf course, cuisines from across the world... Shonali Muthalaly experiences it all on a swanky liner in Malaysia

I left a part of myself in the gorgeous, gregarious South China Sea. My glasses, to be precise, which were knocked off my nose when a particularly effusive wave bore down on the canoe a friend and I were over-confidently piloting around the waters off the Pasir Panjang beach, on Pulau Redang Island, off the coast of Malaysia.

So there we were dangling our arms and legs into the water, soaking in the warm sunshine and smugly snorting at tourists' attempts to navigate their kayaks and cheerfully yellow banana boats, which capsized with a thrilling regularity. One moment later, we were sputtering salt water.

After some dramatic Titanic-style squealing we realised we could stand comfortably in the water, our feet gently sinking into the white-golden sand, peppered liberally with pearly shells in a riot of colours, shapes and sizes. The sea, a mysterious inconstant blue-green in the distance, was so clear we could see our toes.

The Redang archipelago, which is a part of the state of Terengganu, located on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, comprises nine islands, of which Pulau Redang is the largest. It draws diving enthusiasts from all over the world because of its extraordinary variety of sea-creatures, which bustle beneath its deceptively serene waters: marine fishes, turtles and about 500 species of living, breathing coral reefs.

At the pretty Laguna Redang Island Resort, you can charter a boat, take scuba diving classes, or just snorkel to explore the sea. But, after brushing the fine sand off our hair, and a hot cup of strong Malaysian tea, served in a beer mug, we head back to the Super Star Virgo, which brought us to the island.

Star Cruise family

The ship, a member of the popular Star Cruise family, is almost 270 metres long, holds 1960 passengers and is a favourite with people who like action-packed vacations.

Our voyage began in Singapore with a glass of champagne at the grand 7 deck atrium, where families and honeymooners attached at the hip posed and preened at cameras, from its imposing red-carpet stairway. We would reach Pulau Redang by the next afternoon.

There was plenty to do till then. Eat at any of the ship restaurants: the bustling Mediterranean Terrace, a favourite with Indians serving everything from poha to pizza; the South East Asian Blue Lagoon serving steaming bowls of soup and noodles; a snooty Samurai Japanese restaurant complete with the obligatory sushi bar; the trendy Bella Vista with admittedly average food, which you need to dress up for; the Italian Palazzo, serving snails; and the Indian Taj restaurant, with every cliché in place, from incense, to kitschy furnishing and ghee drenched food. Try gelato. The spas. Or the bars: Bellini, the friendly champagne bar with a live band or a karaoke bar, inexplicably called `Out Of Africa,' where a Chinese family hijacked the microphone for most of the trip belting out enthusiastic and off key Cantonese songs.

I wake up looking at the still-grey placid sea, stretching into the horizon, from my huge picture windows and then jog around the sports deck, gaping at the helipad, basketball court, mini-golf and huge swimming pool flanked by four Jacuzzis. I also explore the ship, past a video game parlour, child care unit and saunas and steam rooms, in a quest to find the `Look I'm Flying' point, which turned out to be barred to the public while the ship is sailing. (They probably got sick of honeymooners standing their Rose-and-Jack style post-Titanic.)

Hi-tech operation

At the impressively hi-tech Captain's bridge, the charming Swedish Captain of the ship, dressed in white with an obligatory compass attached to his uniform, tells us to tread carefully. "They're all touch buttons... you touch one, something happens." So, picturing the Virgo spinning like an amusement park ride, I gingerly tuck my elbows in, and listen to him explain how the Global Positioning Satellite they use makes navigation much easier. The steering, to my dismay, is done with a joystick, so much for my image of a sun-baked salty captain at the wheel. And the ship can reverse, move forward, and sideways. "So, it's easier to park than a car," the Captain chuckles. In the midst of all the sophisticated machinery, there's a gleaming bell. "Oh! that's the soul of the ship," he says, quite seriously. "No bell, no ship." "And do you ring it?" I trill. "No," he gasps, his eyes widening in horror, "You have to buy the ship if you do." I don't ring it.

In hindsight, it wasn't the loud and flamboyant shows at the Lido theatre (which included a much-hyped Las Vegas style topless show at midnight, which I fell asleep halfway though, along with all the girls in the group. Sorry!), or the `happening' Celebrity disco (a bhangra joint hijacked by aunties jumping about for their proud husbands' camcorders) that made this voyage so spectacular.

It was the fact that after a hot, bubbly Jacuzzi at 2 a.m., I could sit at the balcony of my delightfully compact cabin, with a hip-high sheet of glass only thing between me and the deliciously murky ocean.

And while a barely palpable, barely salty breeze blew, the only sound was the ship slicing through water, rippling out like cappuccino foam and then melting back into the ocean in a friendly watery whisper.

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