Thursday - March 03, 2005
The Philippines: Subic Bay
Between the time the first brochures advertising the 2005 World Cruise went to press and the time we received our copy of the shore excursions booklet, the stop in Manilla had been changed to Subic Bay. Apparently, during that time period, the powers that be in Manilla had converted the only passenger ship terminal into a terminal for Manilla's ferries, so we couldn't use it. The only other pier in Manilla is used for container ships and the authorities there did not want us tying up use of the pier for a whole day. So Manilla was out and Subic Bay was in. Quite a difference!
It was over 90 degrees in both temperature and humidity level when we stepped ashore in Subic Bay. I could have turned around and stepped right back on board ship, but thought I should at least see what the place had to offer. The short answer is not much! Subic Bay had been the site of a very large American Naval Base for a number of years, but since it has been turned back to the Philippines, the Filipinos are trying to clean up the place and develop more of a resort atmosphere. Mike did more of a walk around town than I did, and said they are making progress with new hotels and restaurants appearing along the waterfront, but they have a ways to go.
I walked around a bit with Mike but soon headed to the huge Duty Free Stores, which seemed to be one of the few games in town if you weren't interesting in going to the beach or visiting the battlefields of Corregidor. I got some great buys on rip-off Fendi and Louis Vuittan handbags and we got a very good deal on a new pull suitcase to replace the one that broke at the airport in Detroit.
I suspect that the only reason we stopped at all in the Philippines is that there are a large number of Filipino crew members on board the ship and they were all looking forward to seeing their families. It was really heart-warming to see all the people camped out waiting for their loved ones to come ashore and we certainly didn't begrudge the crew a chance to spend a day in their homeland when they are at sea for such long periods of time. You should have seen the loads of boxes and crates, etc. that came ashore with the crew - all the goodies they had been buying to take home from various ports around the world! They put me to shame, with my few paltry purchases.