vacations on the go!: Cruisin' @ Manila Bay

It was about a week before our 8th Anniversary, we were not supposed to celebrate it anymore on the exact day since we did it already in advance, I suddenly felt like I wanted to surprise my husband with an anniversary date. So I started researching of what to do on our day. I started thinking of activities we could do together to rekindle the "good old days". One for thing for sure, we have to visit the place where everything started - Intramuros. But I still wanted to do something new. So I thought we could hang around the Manila Bay area and watch the sunset together. We could take pictures there and maybe have dinner after that...

I realized I was dreaming of renting a private yacht a couple of years ago for our Valentine date. But a few years ago, money was never a problem. Now, I could only spend a little amount and I wanted to make sure I won't spend much but it will still come out as a romantic day for the two of us. That's when I started looking for cruises around the bay area. There were a lot but most of them are a bit pricey. I was just lucky to have found Prestige Cruises Inc. on the web. Their price is just right within my budget. And they were very accommodating with my inquiries. So that day I reserved to tickets for 3, 6:15pm schedule because I wanted to watch the sunset.

Dinner is also being offered for just P495 but I opted not to avail of it. I was thinking we could just eat elsewhere after the cruise. So I got the cruise only tickets for only P250 a piece.

1.17.11

We arrived early in the docking area. Prestige's staff were so nice they allowed us to board even before 5:30pm. We took pictures first, of course, before boarding. =)

We started sailing at exactly 6:15pm. Aboard were 6 were Korean tourists , a couple who took their pre-nup pictures while sailing, 3 photographers and an assistant and then us. We were about 15 passengers but it felt like we rented the whole yacht for our anniversary - the Koreans stayed on the 2nd floor(serenaded by the band), the engaged couple and their team occupied the top deck but stayed on the front side of the yacht, and of course we stayed at the top deck too, but we settled at the back part of the yacht. So then it felt like there were the only three of us there... It was cloudy and I almost thought it would rain so we never had the chance to watch the sun set. Though it was the very reason why I wanted to go to Manila Bay, not being to watch it did not made our trip any lesser. The view from the top deck of the yacht was so exhilarating especially when the darkness surrounded the area. It was nice looking at the city from afar. Everything's just so romantic. Our hair flowing freely when the air hit us and it was so cold. Our trip reached until the Mall of Asia before we started going back.