Photo Report: 7 days in Japan before cruising out of Yokohama to Hong Kong

So interested in your wonderful report. We are taking a cruise from Tokyo to Vancouver next April--and will spend one week in Japan prior to cruise. Our plans are to do just about the same things you are doing--trips to Kamakura, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Mt. Fuji, plus a couple of days sightseeing in Tokyo itself. We too would live to hear where you purchased the wifi. Keep up the good work on your travel report.

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Thank you so much for a great report and tons of useful information! Great pictures and what a wonderful experience!

Would you please post here how/where you purchased WiFi that you used in Japan?

 

Thanks a lot! And please keep posting! :-)

So interested in your wonderful report. We are taking a cruise from Tokyo to Vancouver next April--and will spend one week in Japan prior to cruise. Our plans are to do just about the same things you are doing--trips to Kamakura, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Mt. Fuji, plus a couple of days sightseeing in Tokyo itself. We too would live to hear where you purchased the wifi. Keep up the good work on your travel report.

 

 

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Thank you both for your encouragement and interest in my report. I am glad that travelers are reading it!

I will be happy to tell you more about the pocket wifi. We purchased it through the same company we ordered our JR-pass with. It is called Japan Rail Pass by Japan Experience

https://www.japan-rail-pass.com/

They are based out of France and very, very easy to deal with. Our vouchers for the pass came by Fedex within a few days. The wifi device was delivered to our hotel in Tokyo and was given to us upon arrival. We had it for 15 days and dropped it in the mail in our last Japanese port (Okinawa). The self-addressed, stamped envelope for the return was included as well.

The wifi worked beautifully. It was fast and reliable and also worked on the ship while cruising around Japan, but obviously did not work in Shanghai. The unit supports up to 10 devices.

Hope this helps

Regards

Petra

Thank you both for your encouragement and interest in my report. I am glad that travelers are reading it!

I will be happy to tell you more about the pocket wifi. We purchased it through the same company we ordered our JR-pass with. It is called Japan Rail Pass by Japan Experience

 

https://www.japan-rail-pass.com/

 

 

They are based out of France and very, very easy to deal with. Our vouchers for the pass came by Fedex within a few days. The wifi device was delivered to our hotel in Tokyo and was given to us upon arrival. We had it for 15 days and dropped it in the mail in our last Japanese port (Okinawa). The self-addressed, stamped envelope for the return was included as well.

The wifi worked beautifully. It was fast and reliable and also worked on the ship while cruising around Japan, but obviously did not work in Shanghai. The unit supports up to 10 devices.

Hope this helps

Regards

Petra

Petra,

Thank you so much!

I have another question. Kind of silly question...

I will be doing the same cruise as KYteach and will also stay pre-cruise about 4-5 days in Tokyo. But I am not as adventurous as you or KYteach. :D I will do just Tokyo local tours and one day trip to Mt. Fuji. With that being said: Do I need to purchase JR-pass? Like I said, I will be travelling only around the city and I will have transfers booked from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the port.

Thank you so much for your help!

Tatiana

Petra,

 

Thank you so much!

I have another question. Kind of silly question...

I will be doing the same cruise as KYteach and will also stay pre-cruise about 4-5 days in Tokyo. But I am not as adventurous as you or KYteach. :D I will do just Tokyo local tours and one day trip to Mt. Fuji. With that being said: Do I need to purchase JR-pass? Like I said, I will be travelling only around the city and I will have transfers booked from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the port.

Thank you so much for your help!

 

 

Tatiana

No worries Tatiana, there are no silly questions!

You definitely do not need a JR pass in Tokyo. It only pays for itself if you use the bullet train for longer rides to different cities. We actually did not activate our pass until we were ready to go to Hiroshima and paid for trains and subways in Tokyo separately. It is not very expensive at all!

Tatiana

You might consider getting a Suica Card,

The Suica is a prepaid e-money card for moving around and shopping. There is no more need to buy a ticket from a vending machine. Just touch your Suica to the ticket gate and the fare is automatically deducted from your Suica. The Suica can be used not only for JR East trains, but subways and buses as well.

Here is a link to one of the videos on Youtube on how to purchase the Suica card

Petra, "loeb":

Thank you so much for your input! Really appreciate your advice and experience!

Tatiana

Thanks for this report am totally loving it.

Can you please tell me where your apartment was in Kyoto and who you booked through.

We will be there next April

Thanks

Julie-ann:)

I have just begun to read your blog of your trip. We are taking the same trip on Celebrity in November 2018. We haven't done very much on our own before the cruise and really want to this time. You have given us a lot of encouragement. I hope you don't mind if we ask more questions. We are right down the road in Ponte Vedra Beach Florida!!

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Thanks for this report am totally loving it.

Can you please tell me where your apartment was in Kyoto and who you booked through.

We will be there next April

 

Thanks

Julie-ann:)

Thank you Julie-ann for your interest. I am glad you like my report.

The apartment is called Villa Court Karasuma Nanajo in Shimogyo Ward. I found it through Booking.com, a website I always use for all my accommodation needs. Most of the time they offer free cancelation up to 24hrs before arrival. I have never had any issues.

Hope this helps

Petra

I have just begun to read your blog of your trip. We are taking the same trip on Celebrity in November 2018. We haven't done very much on our own before the cruise and really want to this time. You have given us a lot of encouragement. I hope you don't mind if we ask more questions. We are right down the road in Ponte Vedra Beach Florida!!

 

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Hi there neighbor,

I am so glad that this report is inspiring both of you to do some pre-cruise travel! That's what it is all about! You will have a wonderful time. The Japanese people are so friendly and helpful. We never had any issues.

Please feel free to ask as many questions as you like. Hopefully I will be able to answer and/or recommend websites for research, etc.

I will try to finish up the posting for the pre-cruise part tomorrow and then start on the individual ports of call. We DIY'd them all. I am still editing the photos for Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Regards

Petra

Thanks for posting the trip report and great pictures- very informative and brought back memories of a recent trip. I can't wait to return!

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KAMAKURA and YOKOHAMA

another early morning for us...

We are leaving Kyoto and are visiting Kamakura before embarkation in Yokohama. After a pleasant train ride we arrived at Kamakura station and stored our luggage for a few hours. We then boarded an electric railway (Enoden) to Hase, from where we immediately walked to the large bronze Buddha.

20161015-DSC_0626 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

20161015-DSC_0637 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

For a small fee you can enter the statue and see how the bronze pieces are joined together.

It did not take a long time to explore the temple around the Buddha and we were soon off to see Hase-Dera Temple. It is a beautiful temple located on a hill side overlooking the ocean.

The temple grounds are home to hundreds of small Jizo statues representing the souls of miscarried, stillborn or aborted children.

20161015-DSC_0651 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

20161015-DSC_0647 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

20161015-DSC_0660 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

The temple garden is very pretty. It features ponds

20161015-DSC_0662 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

and hiking paths with lots of steps, which lead you to a terrace with an excellent view over Kamakura and out to sea.

20161015-DSC_0659 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

We left Kamakura in the early afternoon and arrived at Nihon Odori Station in Yokohama around 3 pm. We walked to the pier, where check in was very fast and easy.

By 4 pm we were sitting on our balcony and relaxing with nice cocktails enjoying the view

20161016-DSC_0666 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

and again right before departure later in the evening

20161016-DSC_0667 by Petra Graves, on Flickr

We had an wonderful time exploring Japan on our own and were now looking forward to seeing more in our upcoming ports through DIY shore excursions. I will review the different ports in their own individual threads.

Thank you for following along and I hope you will have an incredible and unforgettable vacation in this beautiful part of our world.

Happy cruising and safe travels

Petra

What a great review, Petra! Thank you for sharing.

Can you share the name of the tour company you used in Kyoto?

Thanks for posting the trip report and great pictures- very informative and brought back memories of a recent trip. I can't wait to return!

 

 

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What a great review, Petra! Thank you for sharing.

 

Can you share the name of the tour company you used in Kyoto?

Thank you both for your kind words and interest. It is very much appreciated!

Here is the link to the tour company that runs the "Geisha experience"

http://www.waraido.com/walking/gion.html

We pre-booked from the US and payed in cash on the evening of the tour. There were only 10 participants on the day we took the tour

Regards

Petra

Thank you both for your kind words and interest. It is very much appreciated!

 

Here is the link to the tour company that runs the "Geisha experience"

 

http://www.waraido.com/walking/gion.html

 

 

We pre-booked from the US and payed in cash on the evening of the tour. There were only 10 participants on the day we took the tour

 

Regards

Petra

Petra,

Thank you for the tour link.

Regarding wifi, do you think it is worth renting the mobile device, or are there enough hotspots, etc throughout the different cities that it's not really needed? My husband and I are DIYers as well, so we are considering this option. Also, was wifi working on the ship only at or near ports?

Thank you both for your encouragement and interest in my report. I am glad that travelers are reading it!

I will be happy to tell you more about the pocket wifi. We purchased it through the same company we ordered our JR-pass with. It is called Japan Rail Pass by Japan Experience

 

https://www.japan-rail-pass.com/

 

 

They are based out of France and very, very easy to deal with. Our vouchers for the pass came by Fedex within a few days. The wifi device was delivered to our hotel in Tokyo and was given to us upon arrival. We had it for 15 days and dropped it in the mail in our last Japanese port (Okinawa). The self-addressed, stamped envelope for the return was included as well.

The wifi worked beautifully. It was fast and reliable and also worked on the ship while cruising around Japan, but obviously did not work in Shanghai. The unit supports up to 10 devices.

Hope this helps

Regards

Petra

can you tell me how you returned them after the ship? sounds great, but I am also going back to Alaska on the ship.....

Petra,

 

Thank you for the tour link.

 

Regarding wifi, do you think it is worth renting the mobile device, or are there enough hotspots, etc throughout the different cities that it's not really needed? My husband and I are DIYers as well, so we are considering this option. Also, was wifi working on the ship only at or near ports?

I definitely think it was worth having the pocket wifi! I really liked being able to access Hyperdia and Google Maps whenever I wanted too. We also enjoyed having Skype available all the time. We are using Skype as our home phone with a Skype number and were able to forward our cellphones to the Skype number. Therefore we could stay in touch with family back in the States and make phone calls for free whenever we needed to and felt like it. I can't really tell you anything about hotspots because I honestly wasn't paying attention. I noticed that the crew was using the free wifi in the ports, but it is usually slow and hard to access. The pocket wifi worked well on the ship as well as in the ports. I think this was mainly the case because we really did not go out to "sea" very far in Japan and could always see land. Compared to the rate of ship wifi ours was a bargain!

Hope this answers your questions

Regards

Petra

can you tell me how you returned them after the ship? sounds great, but I am also going back to Alaska on the ship.....

Hi there laughing husky,

I am sorry that I wasn't clear enough about the return of the pocket wifi. We received a postage prepaid envelope with the device which was also addressed to the rental company itself. Our last Japanese port was Okinawa. We sailed from Yokohama to Shimizu, then 2 days in Kobe, then Nagasaki, Shanghai and back to Okinawa, then Keelung for 2 days, then overnite in Hong Kong. We mailed the wifi back to the rental company from Okinawa. There were several mail boxes close to the pier. I am not really sure about the itinerary of your cruise. As long as you mail the device back from your last Japanese port, you should be in good shape.

Hope this clarifies things

Regards

Petra

Hi Petra,

We are cruising from Vancouver to Yokohama next month. We overnight in Yokohama. I like the sound of a day trip to Kakura, apologies if I have mis spelled the name. How easy is it to get from the station to the big Buddha?

Your review makes it all sound easy and your photos are wonderful. Thanks so much for posting.

Libby

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Thank you so much for explaining about the mailing envelope. sounds very easy and the thing to do. We are also on the Yokohama-Anchorage trans-pacific cruise in April, and I will post that info on the roll call.

Hi Petra,

We are cruising from Vancouver to Yokohama next month. We overnight in Yokohama. I like the sound of a day trip to Kakura, apologies if I have mis spelled the name. How easy is it to get from the station to the big Buddha?

Your review makes it all sound easy and your photos are wonderful. Thanks so much for posting.

Libby

 

 

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Hello Libby,

It is very, very easy to get to Kamakura and to see the temples there. Take the train from Yokohama to Kamakura and then all you have to do is take the electric railway (Enoden) from Kamakura Station to Hase. From there we walked to the Buddha. It was a paved street with no inclines. You can also take a taxi from Kamakura Station, but I don't know how much that would cost.

Thank you for your encouragement!

Have a wonderful cruise

Regards

Petra

Thank you so much for explaining about the mailing envelope. sounds very easy and the thing to do. We are also on the Yokohama-Anchorage trans-pacific cruise in April, and I will post that info on the roll call.

Thank you for following this thread!

Happy cruising

Petra

Thank you very much Petra,

I think we will definitely do the trip now. Always fun to use trains away from home and we would rather walk than take a taxi.

Happy travels,

Libby

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I definitely think it was worth having the pocket wifi! I really liked being able to access Hyperdia and Google Maps whenever I wanted too. We also enjoyed having Skype available all the time. We are using Skype as our home phone with a Skype number and were able to forward our cellphones to the Skype number. Therefore we could stay in touch with family back in the States and make phone calls for free whenever we needed to and felt like it. I can't really tell you anything about hotspots because I honestly wasn't paying attention. I noticed that the crew was using the free wifi in the ports, but it is usually slow and hard to access. The pocket wifi worked well on the ship as well as in the ports. I think this was mainly the case because we really did not go out to "sea" very far in Japan and could always see land. Compared to the rate of ship wifi ours was a bargain!

Hope this answers your questions

Regards

Petra

Petra,

Thank you very much. I was going back and forth about the pocket wifi, but it sounds like it would be well worth it and make our trip easier. All of your information has been invaluable.

I look forward to reading more and seeing more beautiful photos!

What a wonderfully detailed review. Thank you so much. My husband and I have traveled extensively in Japan pre or post cruises and agree that it's a fabulous experience. We haven't been to Hiroshima yet so that may be a future destination.

Your info about the pocket wifi is much appreciated. We used one last year while staying in a Tokyo airbnb, and it was so helpful. I didn't realize that it is also usable onboard the ship. (We'll be on the Diamond Princess in October and am curious if it will work there, too.). For anyone interested, you can rent one at Osanbashi pier, the airport, or beforehand thru the Cruise Port Navigation app. Same thing: it can be delivered to your hotel before the cruise and returned via the prepaid postage envelope. I think the cost is $35 upfront + $1/day.

Outside of the major cities like Tokyo, we found almost no hotspots (although we understand that Japan is installing new towers in anticipation of the 2020 Olympics). We have had the AT&T international phone/text plan for our Japan visits during the last 2 years, and it is touted as having lots of worldwide hot spots, but we never found any in Japan. That's why I'm going to get a mobile hot spot for our upcoming trip.

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