Synopsis

It has been 15 months since our last Norwegian cruise and it was time to use those CruiseNext vouchers that we purchased in December 2024.

Summary

• Purpose: Vacation
• Departure Date: February 23rd, 2026 (Monday)
• Departure Location: Mandaue City, Cebu
• Arrival Date: March 10th, 2026 (Wednesday)
• Arrival Location: Mandaue City, Cebu
• Total Cost: ₱

Narrative

February 23, 2026

At 8:15 AM, we were ready to start the day. We left our Mandani Bay Suites condo with our two large suitcases, one small overnight suitcase and two backpacks. We got down to the condo's lobby and waited on a taxi. We needed a taxi that could accomodate our luggage, so the wait for a taxi took longer than normal. Finally, a taxi did arrive. We loaded up and we were on our way to the Mactan-Cebu International (Website, Google Maps) airport at 8:50 AM.

The weather in Mandaue City was partly cloudy.

We arrived at the airport at around 9:15. After unloading and paying our driver, we walked to the airport entrance. Two security guards were present. They were checking to make sure all people entering had some kind of reservation. I tried to bring up our reservation using the EVA app on my iPhone, but the app would not open. After several minutes, I closed the app and phone and grabbed the hard copy of our itinerary and showed the guards our reservation. We were allowed to enter the airport.

We noticed that the EVA Airways check in counter were already open. I had already performed the online check in, so we headed over to the bag drop counter. We were next in line.

After just a few minutes, we approached the counter. Our bags were weighed (both large suitcases were under 45 pounds). We received our boarding passes and baggage tags.

There was a Lulu's Currency Exchange that we had to visit next. I exchanged about ₱8,000(?) for 4,000 NTD (<- check this). We then headed over to Immigration. Arlyn handed over her passports (US and Philippines) and got a stamp in her US passport. I handed over my US passport and ACR-I card. They immediately pulled me aside and had me stand in another line. Arlyn was told to stand past immigration but before the security checkpoint.

I had preregistered our Philippine eTravel documents prior to our arrival at the Mactan-Cebu airport. I had, in my possession, hard-copies of the eTravel registrations. Nobody in the Philippines asked for the documents.

The line I was placed in was for the BI cashier. I had to wait several minutes for the BI agent to arrive. He looked at my passport and ACR-I card. He asked if I had already performed my BI Annual Report. I replied that it was performed in January and I asked him if he wanted to see the QR Code on the receipt. He did not want to see it. He grabbed his calculator and punched some numbers into it. He turned it around and said I owed this amount. It was ₱3,380. This was to pay for the ECC-B and SRC. I handed over ₱4,000 and he returned the change.

I had a couple of questions for the agent. I explained that I had asked two BI agents at the Cebu office in January if I needed to get an ECC-B or SRC for my February cruise. Both agents had replied that it was not necessary and that I would not need one. The BI agent sitting in front of me stated that this was not true. It IS required. The BI agents at the Cebu office were just covering up the need for this paperwork to avoid having to do the work.

Second question: Could I have used the online BI website to do this? The BI agent said 'yes'. He went on to say that although it is allowed, he did not recommend it. Most agents would see the online receipt and assume it was a forgery and not accept it. They would then request a new one, resulting in double paying for the ECC-B and SRC.

With my business concluded with the cashier BI agent, I was placed back in line for the next BI agent, but I was to be the next person. The BI agent looked at my passport, ACR-I card, and ECC-B and SRC receipt and stamped my American passport. I rejoined Arlyn and we proceeded to the security checkpoint.

At the security checkpoint, we placed our backpacks and carry on luggage in the bins provided. We did not need to remove our shoes or belts. I set off the metal detector and the attendent asked me to loosen my belt to see the backside. After that, we were done with security.

Once we cleared security, we found ourselves in the duty free shop. Arlyn found some bite-sized Tobleron and I found some plain M&Ms (there were no peanut butter M&Ms). When it came time to pay for the candies, this is where I discovered my greatest mistake...two of my credit cards were not in my wallet. I had forgotten to place my Edward Jones and Citibank credit cards in my wallet. I only had my BPI Master Card. I started to panic, but realized we had already gone too far to stop. We had to keep going.

Arlyn was starting to get hungry, so we found a tuna cucumber sandwich while I settled for a blueberry danish. After washing it down with water, we headed to our gate sitting area. Our plane had not arrived yet.

Itinerary

Flight Number	Departure Date/Time	Departure Airport	Arrival Date/Time	Arrival Airport	Class	Duration
EVA BR282	February 23rd, 2026 12:30 PM	Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB) Terminal 2	February 23rd, 2026 15:20 PM	Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) Terminal 2	Economy	2h 50m
Total						2h 50m

Our plane finally pulled into the Mactan airport at 11:45 AM. We did not start the boarding process on time. By 1:30 PM, we were finally lifting off for Taipei. Fortunatly, our flight was only 2 hours 20 minutes. After landing, we exited the aircraft and proceeded to immigration. Taiwan's immigration was a breeze, we were in and out of there in minutes. The Taiwanese officer did ask to see our Taiwan Arrival Card, or TWAC, registration sheets that I had already filled out. We found the luggage claim area and found our luggage after a few minutes.

Before looking for a taxi, I wanted to test the BPI debit card to see if there were going to be any issues. I found a MasterCard ATM machine and used it to with $5,000 NTD. No issues.

There was a taxi counter located inside the airport. We talked to the attendent indicating that we needed transportation to the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Taipei.

The attendent took down our information, asked we wanted to pay by card and if we needed a receipt. After writing everything down, she unplugged her phone and helped us with taking our luggage to the taxi stand. After a few minutes, a taxi arrived. She gave the slip of paper to the driver who nodded with understanding. He loaded our luggage and helped us in. We were on our way to the hotel.

The drive through Taipei was during the start of rush hour. We hit some traffic on the way, but we enjoyed a fast drive through the heart of Taipei. The drive took about 50 minutes. We arrived at the hotel with no issue. Then came the real test...will the BPI MasterCard work? Surprisingly, it did!! The charge went through with no issue.

The Courtyard was in a tall building. We had to take an elevator to the seventh floor to the lobby. We did the check in process. Since I used Marriott Bonvoy points for the night, there was no charge. In fact, because of my Titanium Elite Lifetime status, we were automatically upgraded to a deluxe room. Dinner and breakfast were also included.

We took another elevator to the 28th floor. Our room was 2802. We opened the door and we were shocked by what we saw. It was HUGE. It was larger than our Mandani Bay condo (which is 81 square meters). There was a living room with sitting area and desk, a separate bedroom with king-size bed and a huge bathroom. The toilet looked like it had controls to fly and the shower and tube were enormous. There was a walkin closet and another bathroom. We loved the room.

Since we were staying for one night, there was no need to unpack. We headed up to the 30th floor for some dinner. After dinner, we found a 7-Eleven on the ground floor that had some Coke Zero. Arlyn found a bake shop that had chocolate mouchies.

We returned to our room and settled in for the night.

February 24, 2026

The weather in Taipei was completely cloudy. There was no sun to be seen. We got up and headed down to the 7th floor for breakfast. After breakfast, we returned to our room, repacked our gear, replaced the bag tags to the NCL tags. We vacated our room and returned out room card keys at the lobby. We found a taxi attendent on the ground floor that spook English. We communicated our need to get to the Keelung Port to board our ship. Our check in time was 12:00 PM.

We got a taxi and made good time. We arrived 20 minutes later. We paid the drive in cash with a generous tip. We found a line at the terminal building that looked to have many passengers waiting to board. We fell in line. The line wrapped into the building and we dropped our luggage off. We then headed up to the 2nd floor to do the check in process. This is where things fell apart.

There were these slips of paper that everyone needed to get. These slips of paper contained numbers that signified the order to check in and board the ship. But this was not communicated to some people. So, some people just wandered around wasting time and wondering what to do. We had been assigned number 10. So we waited for our number to be called. Eventually, it was called and we got into a queue. We saw many other people who either had no number or numbers that were much larger than '10' with us. The officials were not checking passengers with numbers. This made the wait that much longer and frustrating.

The actual check in was painless. We went to a larger waiting area with most of the other passengers. Every 15 minutes, they would call the next number. Still, some passengers were able to 'complain' their way into the boarding process. There were some people I would classify as Karens. Finally, at 2:00 PM, our number was called. We moved through the walkway and on to immigration where we formally exited Taiwan. We then went through a security check point. Finally, we boarded the Norwegian Sun.

After the security check point, we reached an area where we had to surrender our passports. We both gave them our US passports and we received a receipt that showed that they had our passports. I was not given a reason for the surrending of the passports and when we would see them again.

We were both very hungry and headed straight to the Garden Cafe, the buffet lounge where we will take most of our meals. We ate, waiting to hear any notification that our rooms were ready. At 3:30 PM, with no notification about our rooms, I began to notice some passengers lounging in the pool areas with no luggage. This would indicate that the rooms were, most likely, released and some people were already in their rooms and preparing for the pools. So Arlyn and I found our room and found it to be ready. My luggage was already there, but Arlyn's large suitcase and overnight bag were no where to be seen.

I took the opportunity to unpack and stow my suitcase. The overnight bag showed up at around 4:45 PM. At 5:00 PM, as per the schedule, we began to depart Keelung. Arlyn's large suitcase has not shown up. She found an attendent and asked about her missing bag. He said that she should not worry. All of the bags that were left at the terminal were on board and they were still sorting through the bags and deliverying them. Shortly thereafter, her bag showed up.

After unpacking, we headed back up to the Garden Cafe and had dinner.

That evening, I downloaded all of the pictures and videos onto the laptop and processed them.

That evening, my legs were on fire. I spent two hours on my feet while waiting to board the shop with a heavy backpack. Arlyn did the same. My thighs felt like I had been skiing on them all day and there was no hot tub in site to relieve the pain. The Advil did help.

February 25, 2026

This was designated as a day at sea as we traveled from Taipei, Taiwan to Hong Kong, China. We took our time getting up and having breakfast. The weather was not that great as it was heavy clouds that made the water grey. It was almost like a fog that lasted through out the entire day.

After lunch, we returned to the stateroom and I slept most of the afternoon as my legs had not fully recovered from the previous day.

We had dinner reservations at Cagney's Steakhouse at 7:30 PM. So, I showered up and put on a fresh shirt and had a wonderful dinner with my wife.

That evening, I attempted to use our Internet access to post something on Facebook. This did not go well. The speed was incredibly slow and it made it impossible to post anything on Facebook as it would not stop painting. After 10 minutes, I gave up. Internet access from the ship is horrible.

February 26, 2026

This was the day when we were in Hong Kong. I got up early to have my coffee. Arlyn was up shortly thereafter.

We were already docked in Hong Kong when we got up. We were at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, a location that used to be the Hong Kong airport.

After dressing, we visited the Garden Cafe for breakfast. It was crowded! The weather was again very cloudy with fog like conditions. It was very grey.

We had an excursion for the day. It was the Highlights of Hong Kong tour. We disembarked the ship and found our bus. It must have been a popular tour because we were in group, or bus, 18.

We drove to the Peak Tram for an exciting ascent to the top. Unfortunately, because of the weather, we could not see anything. We then drove to the renowned floating village of Aberdeen for a memorable experience. We boarded small 12 man sampans, or boats, for a quick 15 minute tour around the area. We then stopped at a jewelry shop that was obviously an chance to purchase something. We did not get anything. We then drove to an area called Repulse Bay where there are my statues of gods and a beautiful beach. We returned to the ship at around 1:30 PM.

Arlyn was smart to bring a couple of bananas from the Garden Cafe on our drive. That, along with some cashews and water, was a small snack we had while on the tour. Needless to say, upon arriving at the ship, we were starving.

That evening, we returned to the Garden Cafe for dinner. It was at this time that Arlyn discovered the crepes.

That evening, I processed the pictures and videos and cleared all the devices. I also had to fill out the paperwork for the Philippine's eTravel system. This was a requirement of the Philippine's.

I asked when we would have our passports returned to us. They told us it would be on the last full day of the cruise. I also asked if we needed to fill out a second set of Philippine's eTravel documents for our arrival at Puerto Princesa. The staff stated that this was not needed.

February 27, 2026

Finally, a sunny day!! This was a travel day as we sailed from Hong Kong to Coron, Philippines.

We changed things up for breakfast and ate at the Moderno restaurant. Their buffet was smaller than the Garden Cafe, but there were less passengers to deal with.

After breakfast, we took advantage of the good weather and took some pictures from around the outside of the ship.

We returned to the Garden Cafe for lunch. We heard an announcment that we were required to perform a thermal tempurature check in the Stardust Lounge. This was a requirement of the Philippine goverment. After lunch, we lined up and walked through the Stardust lounge. We had thermal scans performed and our cardkeys were scanned. Painless.

For dinner, we had reservations at the Moderno Churrascaria, a Brazian steakhouse.

February 28, 2026

Another good day for pictures. As we got up for breakfast, we were passing by some islands that are part of the Philippines. Eventually, we headed towards Coron. As we were approaching the island, we attempted to turn on our Globe phones and found we had a weak signal. The signal would get stronger and stronger as we got closer to the island. It was not a great signal, but it was enough to check our email and post a couple of pictures on Facebook.

We were supposed to dock at 11:00 AM. But the dock was occupied by another ship, causing our ship to be delayed with the docking. After waiting 45 minutes, the dock finally cleared and we pulled in.

Thankfully, we did not have any excursions that day. As people began to pour out of the ship, we returned to the Garden Cafe and grabbed lunch. After lunch, we returned to our stateroom, got lathered up with sun block, grapped our cameras. We headed down to Deck 3 to disembark. We wandered around the ship, taking pictures. We finally got a good look at the Norwegian Sun and marveled at the size of the ship. We took some pictures and watched as some passengers boarded water taxis. They were going island hopping at some of the local resorts. After finding the heat to be too oppressive, we boarded this ship and headed back to our air conditioned stateroom.

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Our balcony was situated perfectly for the sunset, so we took some pictures of the sun setting behind the island's mountains. For dinner, we headed back to the Garden Cafe. We completed our meal with some freshly made crepes.

Back at the stateroom, I submitted our Brunei arrival cards for our March 3rd arrival. I also offloaded the pictures and videos from our devices.

March 1, 2026

We docked at Puerto Princesa, Philippines on time. It was a typical Filipino day where you know it is going to be very hot and humid. We had no excursions planned for the day. We did want to get off the ship and wander around the dock and snap some pictures.

We disembarked after breakfast and after the mad rush of passengers that had buses to catch. We wandered around the dock and visited a vendor location that sold jewelry and trinkets. Arlyn fell in love with the fresh water pearls the vendor had available. But the vendor was unwilling to take a credit card for the purchase (a red flag for me). The prices were significantly lower, but it was not enough as we had no way to determine if the pearls were as they claimed them to be. So we did not purchase anything.

We wandered outside the dock area. We were met with a swarm of local vendors that wanted to see us private tours, trike rides into town and more trinkets. I quickly disengaged myself from them as they seemed to be very persistent. The military were there and they attempted to keep the vendors in line. But some would cross a line. They would receive a warning from the authorities. I was very glad they were there.

We walked around for a few minutes. There was a sari-sari store there along with some local eateries. There was nothing to see. We returned back to the port area, passed through the security checkpoint and returned to the ship.

Globe access was significantly better in Puerta Princesa than Coron. I was able to use my phone as a hotspot and connect my computer via wifi to post some pictures on Facebook. It was still kinda slow, but I was able to complete a number of postings.

Globe access was significantly better in Puerta Princesa than Coron. I was able to use my phone as a hotspot and connect my computer via wifi to post some pictures on Facebook. It was still kinda slow, but I was able to complete a number of postings.

We concluded the evening with dinner at the Garden Cafe and crepes.

March 2, 2026

We docked at Kota Kinabali, Malaysia early. Our scheduled docking was supposed to occur at 10 AM, but we were docked and hooked up by 9:15.