Day 9 and 10 Exalted East Asia Cruise on Oceania Riviera…read more
We cruised into rainy Victoria Harbour in the early afternoon and docked at Kowloon's Tsim Sha Tsui Ocean Terminal. We planned a nighttime shore excursion on an open-top bus and waited to see if the weather would clear before canceling. However, we'd peek outside to see if the rain, lightning, and thunder would lighten up. Still, after several hours, we decided to cancel the excursion because of safety and comfort concerns.
Luckily, before canceling our shore excursion, we disembarked across the covered gangway into the Ocean Terminal/Harbour City Shopping Center. The Ocean Terminal is directly connected to the secure Hong Kong Immigration and Customs Agency and the Harbour City shopping center. The immigration and customs agents checked our Landing Cards (Hong Kong no longer stamps your passport for entry or exit) and did random temperature checks. The agents were polite and kind to direct passengers into the Harbour City Shopping Center or outdoors towards conveniently waiting taxis or transportation. There was free WiFi service, but I used a personal/private mobile hotspot (5G GlocalMe), which I had to register with the Hong Kong Government before leaving the ship during our two-day stay.
The Harbour City shopping center had many high-end retail stores (fashion, beauty, jewelry, electronic, furniture, home, sports, and specialty) featuring popular international and American brands, a supermarket, banks, and various ethnic restaurants. We were impressed with the helpful concierge services that offered maps and shopping recommendations to lost or overwhelmed tourists. There were a lot of residents mixed in with visitors, and seeing the masses of shoppers made me think about the state of Hong Kong's economy and the cost of living.
We wandered around for a few hours after purchasing some snacks at City Super. We considered dining at Reserva Ibérico (Spanish tapas), HEXA, or DUCK Victoria (Cantonese) before returning to our cruise ship to cancel our attendance for the night shore excursion. My husband's friends (husband & wife) joined us on this cruise and wandered Harbour City with us before I suggested the guys return onboard, cancel out from the excursion, and then return to the shopping center to have dinner onshore. After fifteen minutes, I received a frantic text from my husband and his friend asking for directions back to the ship. I laughed because he confidently said he could find his way back but admitted he got confused. After asking which store he was closest to, I knew he had taken a wrong turn and went to another level. He righted himself after I gave him directions. He sent me a text confirming his return onboard and told me to continue browsing before returning. To my surprise, he made reservations at Oceania Riviera's French restaurant, Jacques (Pépin), instead of eating at one of the Chinese restaurants in Harbour City.
I continued browsing with my husband's friend's wife and ran into several other tour group passengers from Hawai'i who shared their discoveries within this gigantic shopping center. The other women and we said we could and would make roaming around the Harbour City Shopping Center as destination they'd return to and the Ocean Terminal serves as the best access for first-time visitors to Hong Kong.