I was invited for the 4th “Technology Senate” – which is a by-invitation-only annual forum for 
for knowledge sharing, peer networking, and showcasing new technologies and trends in IT business, TS offers a good excuse (for free) to be away from the pressures of life. It is an all-paid-for event – where the organizers take care of traveling and stay arrangements. So when you get a call for Technology Senate, there is nothing much you do…you simply pack your bags way in advance and start counting days.
Unlike previous senates which were in Kochi, Colombo and Bangkok, the organizers decided to do something different and some intelligent guy among them must have came up with this brilliant idea of hosting it abroad the luxury liner – Super Star Libra. Now let me confess something - I am highly fascinated by sea. No matter how many times I have been mesmerized by its sheer vastness, or strolled its romantic beaches, a look at it still takes my breath away. My mind, unable to deal with something on this scale, just shuts down in an inexpressible awe that anything on this earth could be so vast, so beautiful, so silent. More-so-ever it was free.
Who’s ever idea it was…believe me, it was brilliant and deserves a big round of applause. I am sure most participants will agree that TS destinations are getting sexier with every passing year. (Excuse me for I have a small prayer to make... O Lord! Let the TS organizers have the wisdom of organizing the next year event to
Star Cruise is world’s third largest cruise liner and Super Star Libra is their latest addi
tion to the Asia Fleet. Their web site says – “SuperStar Libra is designed to meet the changing needs of today’s passengers, challenging the conventional model of cruising by providing a more relaxed, resort-style cruise, complete with flexibility and non-intrusive services of the highest standard”. It further says – “Escape the stress of everyday life, as SuperStar Libra brings you to a world-class exclusive floating resort in the high seas offering you an impressive array of facilities, entertainment, recreational activities and services coupled with warm Asian hospitality, which have become the hallmarks of Star Cruises”. And I completely endorse it.
Star Cruise’s fleets are named after star signs – Superstar Virgo, Superstar Gemini, Superstar Libra, Star Pisces, Megastar Aries and Megastar Taurus.
Superstar Libra is a huge ship. It is 216 meters long, 28 meters wide and weights 42,000 tons. 
Its average cruising speed is 19 knots which can go as high as 21 knots (that is 21.85 and 24.15 miles per hour OR 35.16 and 38.86 kilometer per hour respectively). The number of cabins onboard are 740 and total passenger capacity is of 1480. SuperStar Libra was built in
Day One – 3rd December’ 2006
We must have landed at Mumbai airport at around 12:30 PM and after waiting for almost an hour at the airport, we were taken for Lunch to one of restaurants. I found the restaurant to be friendly with a good ambience, but the food was possibly the worst I have ever had in recent days. Being a north Indian probably I will never be able to understand the fetish people in these parts of the country have for Coconuts. Agreed it is found in abundance in this part of the world, but so is sand. Now you don’t end up putting sand in every edible. Do you? So by the same logic having coconut in each and every dish is unjust. Nowhere else in upper part of
We were then taken to Mumbai port for boarding Superstar Libra.
We were flocked to an area marked “Reception” which was already over crowded. The process of check in was to start in one hour’s time. Soon the whole area became too crowded and I decided to venture into one of the corners which still looked better. I was sharing it with two more people, a grim looking older woman all in white who looked as if she hadn’t smiled since 1959 and who spend the entire time watching me as if she has seen my face on a wanted poster, and by a fastidious older man who I guessed to be her husband and who looked like a retired Bureaucrat and to whom I took an instant dislike. Not only the bureaucrat made me move to a more uncomfortable position thus creating more space for them in process, but also instructed me to transfer all my personal belongings on the other side. The bureaucrat then spend next 45 minutes fussily sorting out his things – extracting a folded newspaper and a small bottle of water from his case, examining his suitcase cover minutely for any unpleasant scratches, arranging and then re-arranging the luggage on the trolley, folding his jacket and half sleeve sweater with ritualistic care, re-adjusting the complete luggage to the other side and in process forcing me to shift my position again (…in consultation with the lady but without reference to me of course), getting his suitcase down again from the trolley for some forgotten item, checking his hankie, readjusting his luggage. How I longed for a Shotgun. And every time I looked round there would be that old duck watching me like the Daughter of Death.
And so an hour and a half passed.
The process of registration had begun and we were required to fill in a form. Promptly the bureaucrat took out pen from his shirt’s front pocket and started completing the formalities. And as usual I had no pen or pencil with me so meekly I asked him if I can borrow the pen when he is finished, but the lady in white found a look of even deeper contempt for me. As everyone was queuing for check in I too decided to be a part of it but not before fixing the old lady with a hard stare that I hoped somehow conveyed to her what pleasure, what deep and lasting pleasure, it would give me to haul her and her arrogant husband off their cabins and push them off the board deep in sea. At least the Sharks would have thanked me for my noble thinking.
After waiting in queue for more than 45 minutes, I was told to show my boarding pass which I didn’t have (but naturally!!). So I went out of the queue to enquire about it with the organizers and I found them to be mugged by more than 200 senates, most of them snatching off the boarding passes from organizers hands. More decent ones begged for it. Thankfully I belong to the majority of the community and I managed to have my boarding pass in flat five minutes time.
Checking in was simple. On submission of my boarding pass I was given a plastic access card with my name and cabin number on it. This multi utility card, as I was explained, was to be used as an access key to the cabin, for making any purchases onboard, to enter any of the restaurants, to purchase Beer and/or to have any of the lively pretty things in small skirts. OK. I made the last one.
One particular think that I liked about Star Cruise is that they have a No-Currency-On-Board policy. You use your access card to make all purchases on board and at the end of the journey while checking out, you clear all your dues. It was pleasure to see an efficient use of technology which is actually being used to make life easier and not otherwise.
I entered the lobby and found it to be awesome. It was…gosh….beautiful and had all the grandeur of a 5 star hotel. I didn’t have any difficulty finding my way to my cabin (3199 on Deck
3, in case if any of you are interested) as it was well directed by placards at every logical steps.
There are 6 kinds of rooms/cabins available on Libra – Executive suite, Junior Suite, Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom, Oceanview Stateroom, Oceanview Stateroom with porthole and Inside Stateroom. I was booked into Inside Stateroom and guess what!!! - It is the only cabin of all six which do not offer a sea-view. I enquired about upgrading my room to Oceanview Stateroom with porthole, but retreated when found it would make me even poorer by Rs. 4490.
T
he cabin was actually not as small as it looked. Rather it proved to be quite cozy and I must say that the designer has done a beautiful job squeezing all the comforts one may seek on a cruise without wasting an inch of precious space. It had two beds side by side, like the one you have in a slipper class in a train. It had a small toilet equipped with a washbasin, shower area, a soap/shampoo dispenser and even a hair-dryer that actually worked.
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