MS AMADEA

THE CONTRACTING COMPANY: Baron Travel and Tours
ITINERARY: Group A Group B
Rizal Park (10 min) Rizal Park (10 min)
Fort Satiago (10 min) Casa Manila (10 min)
Manila Cathedral (10 min) San Agustin (30 min)
Casa Manila (10 min) Manila Cathedral (10 min)
San Agstin (30 min) Fort Santiago (10 min0
University of Santo Tomas Quiapo Market
La Loma (Lechon) Univarsity of Sto Tomas
Chinese Cemetery (30 min) La Loma (Lechon)
Quiapo Market Chinese Cemetery (30 min)
CCP Complex American Cemetery
Ayala Center Fort Bonifacio
American Cemetery Ayala Center
Fort Bonifacio CCP Complex
Back to Pier 13 Back to Pier 13
THE GUIDES:
Dennis Maristany* ** Candie Cobiao
Berna Camus Chito Tayag
William Tan Maria Morena Galvelo
Precy dela Cruz*
* Team Leaders for each group
** Team Head for Mabuhay Guides

GUEST DEMOGRAPHICS: Middle age to Senior Citizens
German Nationals
Little or no English
To be accompanied by Interpreter
BARON COORDINATORS:
Julius Puno
Nats Plata
Grace
Jovy Janapa

MEETING POINT:
Quirino Grandstand
1 April 2010
6:30 a.m.

Tour Details:

This is MS AMADEA's maiden Voyage to Manila and Baron Travel wanted to ensure that everything went as smoothly as possible in order for them to get return business from their client.

Baron Travel called for a meeting on Monday, 29 March, 2010 at 3:00 pm at the Baron travel Head office at Cityland 10, LGF, Valero and Dela Costa Streets, Legaspi Village, Makati City.

Aside from Mabuhay Guides, there were other guides onhand for the out-of-town tours to Pagsanjan and to Tagaytay. Mabuhay Guides in attendance for the meeting were myself and Berna Camus.

After all the details had been ironed out in the meeting, all information was cascaded to the Mabuhay Guides via email. Baron travel was not expecting much traffic in Manila as it was Holy Week and the exodus from Manila had begun and traffic flow would have been extremely light.

The half-day tour would start early morning on 01 April, 2010 with the Mabuhay Guides assigned to a particular bus with at least 30 pax per bus.

The Mabuhay Guides were at the designated meeting point at exactly 6:30 a.m. and we were met by the Baron Travel personnel. Sandwiches and drinks were handed out and we partook of the sandwiches ( which was a good idea).

While in Quirino Grandstand, we met with the other tour guides and my group discussed the route we were to take. William Tan and I decided at the last minute to change the order of our itinerary so as to facilitate the bus ride along "tight" areas where the busses might have difficulty maneuvering.

We thought of changing the order of going to to Quiapo Market first, then La Loma, then Chinese Cemetery after which we drive by University of Santo Tomas. From there we go Roxas Blvd to CCP Complex, then Ayala Center to the American Cemetery, The Fort and then back to Pier 13. We also thought that we could make it easy for everyone on th eteam to follow the route by going on a convoy of three busses. Ms Precy was in charge of Group B. All of us proceeded to Pier 13 on board one bus the other coaches followed.

The good news was Fort Santiago was opened for this tour despite the observance of the Lenten Season.

We reached Pier 13 and the ship was not even docked yet. there was ample time to refine the roads we were to take. Each bus had a guide and an interpreter was to be provided by the ship's crew. Maria was left without a bus assignment so I asked if she can assist on my bus so we can share guide duties.

We were wrong about the convoy. As soon as the busses were filled off they went. WE had 38 passengers, a baron representative, Kim, Maria, myself and the driver. A convoy would not have been possible. On the positive side, it prevented the sites from being over-crowded.

We were assigned a German interpreter who was fluent in English. Maria and I shared the commentaries. However, since Maria was seated beside Kim she had more of the commentaries for Kim to translate. I was still a bit hoarse and seated across the bus aisle from Kim so it was diffficult to give out my comments.

I did act as the sweeper when the guests went down on the sites particularly in Fort Santiago and the Chinese Cemetery. The tour of the Fort went well with Maria doing the ommentaries and myself as sweeper. There were some who were eager to see the collections and the walls at Fort Santiago. Pictures were taken and some lagged behind while taking photos. I bumped into Chito Tayag's group and also that of Ms Precy.

I did the commentaries in Casa Manila and at San Agustin. Casa Manila was closed for Lent. Traffic was particularly heavy near plaza Roma so we took an alternate route to San Agustin. There was a Chrism Mass in Manila Catherdal so the traffic was slow. San Agustin was filled with people doing the Via Crucis and Visita Iglesia.

The Museum was open though, so we did a highlights tour. However, Kim was not listening intently to my commentaries so the guests went aound the church and exited at the main door. I had to lead them in again to see the other collections of the church museum.

We left San Agustin and proceeded to Quiapo. They weren't interested in shopping. Candie Cobiao's group was so into experiencing Quiapo they went around to Plaza Miranda and even listened to a pabasa.

We were met with heavy traffic along Dangwa. Chito Tayag's guests stopped at Dangwa to purchase flowers. Their interpreter felt so good, he bought each guest a long-stemmed rose at 80 pesos pre dozen.

But traffic eased in La Loma and Chinese Cemetery. Our guests were interested in the Chinese Cemetery they were snapping shots of the mauseleums of the wealthy Chinese. It was here where I found out that coinciding with Maundy Thursday, the Chinese were celebratng their All Saint's Day based on the Chinese calendar. It was nearly noon by the time we prepared to leave for the rest of the itinerary.

The driver was instructed to drive a little faster if we were to get back to the pier by 1 p.m. We did go around the CCP Complex for teh guests to get a glimpse of the modern side of Manila. By the time they had seen Ayala Avenue they were mildly surprised at the development that had sprung up.

We reached the American Cemetery. The guests went for photo ops around the site. We were informed that some busses had arrived at Pier 13 (Candie Cobiao's and then Chito Tayag's). We had to wait a while for the driver who went on a bathroom break.
We then proceeded to take EDSA towards the Mall of Asia which was a dead zone as it was closed for Maundy Thursday. From there we went to back to the pier and we reached Pier 13 by 1:30 p.m. Berna had also arrived ahead of our group. We completed our itinerary while they had to adjust their respective routes. Some scrapped the Makati leg of the tour.

We were waiting for Ms Grace of Baron for our fees. She went to lunch so we were treated to a tour of MS AMADEA. This was a welcome treat for us. After the tour of the Cruise ship, we recieved our fees and decided to have lunch as the only meal we had were the sandwiches served early in the day. It was nearly 3 p.m. by then.

Nothing Follows.