Tigerlily75

Hello everyone, I'm considering a 14 day NZ cruise early next year. Both Royal Princess and Crown Princess have similar itineraries and similar prices. Which one would you choose? I've gone back and forth on what I think might be the pros and cons of each, but I haven't been on either, nor have I sailed Princess at all, so would love to hear some thoughts. I can't decide! Also, while I'm here, how is the food? I just sailed HAL Westerdam in February and the food was incredible. Before that I had only sailed on Carnival and NCL. Carnivals food was fine, some things delicious, some things mediocre but still ok. On my one Norwegian cruise, the food was very forgettable. Just bland and boring. On Holland, I was blown away. Everything was delicious and memorable, from the buffet to the dining room!! Thanks for any thoughts!

Do you want to know what I did this morning? I shipped 5.93 kilograms of clothes home by sea to make room for more shopping 👀. It cost 5500 yen. I’ll see them in a few months! (I hope).

Fukuoka (Hakata) Japan I had written down a few things to do here, and so we decided at the last minute to go to Nanzoin to see the rather huge reclining Buddha. It was a nice little trip to the country side! We got the ships paid shuttle to the train station and promptly got very lost within Hakata station. A very nice man noticed us looking lost and not only offered to help but then escorted us (a good ten minutes) (we were really really lost) to the right place. Not only did he escort us, he did so in a manual wheelchair, all the way to the right gate. People are so kind! Nanzoin and the reclining Buddha: Green tea ice cream. We’ve eaten a lot of ice cream in Japan! It’s on every corner and very good. On our way back to the station, just look at this guy: The train station: Back at Hakata Station, where there was a farmers market going on. Lucky, because I had nearly forgotten to buy the most prized strawberries in Japan, grown in Fukuoka! More cuties: The view from the Westerdam!

We have been so blessed with the weather! I only wore my thermals in Shanghai, most days we’ve ended up in tshirts by the afternoon. I’m sorry you had to miss this trip, and hope you can book again!

A week or two before your trip I would search “latest information IC/transit cards Japan (or first port)”. People are constantly posting updates on blogs and YouTube. You could also ask at the train station. However if you can’t get one, or can’t get one straight away, you won’t be stuck. You can use cash for everything, and many locals do so it won’t be unusual. You can buy train tickets at the ticket machines which have an English option, and you can pay the bus driver directly (upon exiting). For the bus you need exact change, however they have a little change machine on the bus. At shops and restaurants you can also pay cash, or often you can use Mastercard/Visa. The best ATM’s for foreign cards is inside convenience stores, and they are everywhere.

There was a shortage of chips that go in the physical cards, hence the recommendation for Welcome Suica for which there’s a limited supply for tourists. But that’s only if you need a physical card. You don’t need a physical card to add to your Apple Wallet. Just open the wallet, click the plus sign, choose transit cards, and then choose Suica. Then you can add yen to it straight from Apple Pay, wait a few seconds for it to update and you’re good to go. It will automatically be in “express mode”, which means when you want to use it, you don’t need to open the wallet, or double click or use Face ID. You just tap your phone to the machine and it will read/pay automatically. When using it for transit, you’ll tap as you go through the gates (or get on the bus at the rear entrance), and it will say “card read, trip in progress”. Then as you exit the gates (or the bus at the front) you tap again and then you are charged for your trip. For paying in convenience stores etc, just say “Suica”, then tap the machine when it’s ready. In shops and restaurants there’s usually signs showing symbols of what payment methods are accepted, ie visa or Mastercard, if it says “IC Cards” or has the Suica symbol you can use it.

Yes of course! And that cruise (and 53 days!) sounds amazing!

The only place I got cash for in advance was China, because we were going straight to Disneyland and China is tricky when you’re not local. So I also had Alipay etc as back up. For there I got about $150aud worth for a 2 day stop. We ended up using Alipay for a few things, like a dumpling place that didn't accept cash. For the rest I used ATM’s when I got there, and I just guess how much I’ll need and then get out more if I need to. In Korea we used cards to pay for shopping, and I got out I think 40,000 won for street food. We still had 7,000 won when heading back to the shuttle bus, so we just found someone to give it to on the way. Japan is easy, because most of the ports were in Japan plus we have 10 days in Tokyo. So I just withdrew 50000 yen the first go. But I also added Suica to my Apple wallet and it’s amazing how many places you can use it. I don’t need nearly as much cash as I thought, although the ramen restaurant tonight was cash only, so you do need some! You can top up Suica directly in your wallet any time, it takes about two seconds. You can use this for transport, convenience stores, vending machines, some restaurants and some shopping. You don’t have to open the wallet, just tap your phone straight to the machine to pay and you’re good to go. It’s the fastest and easiest method of payment for sure. And some places of course accept visa/mastercard also.

And the Korean shopping haul. More later!

BUSAN SOUTH KOREA Oh my beating heart. I hadn't paid much attention to this port stop. I’ve been to Korea multiple times, and given it was only one day in the country, other places on the itinerary - like Shanghai and Japan had really taken over planning. I had thought we might visit Gamcheon Culture Village (spoiler: we didn’t) but other than that, the only real plan was to visit Olive Young for my daughters shopping spree (I assume you all know about Korean skincare, right?). So it wasn’t until we stepped off the ship that something came over me. like I suddenly just realized OH MY GOD I’M IN KOREA. I was sooo excited. I love Korea. I love the food, the music, the culture, the history, the art. I even love the alphabet and how they just decided to make a whole new one one day, and they based it on science and you can actually learn it in about three hours. And did I mention the food?! The food is SO GOOD! So we shopped, and we ate. And ate. And ate. And then we went back to the ship so happy. if you haven’t been to Korea before, you should! And not just for one day on a cruise ship. Busan! Gimbap for breakfast! But it was only the beginning!

Still in Nagasaki, we left Chinatown and headed to Glover Garden. Both Chinatown and Glover Garden are easy walking distance from the ship. Some nice views there too! some stops along the way Views from the gardens. We then wandered into this surprise little museum:

Nagasaki continued: We then took a public bus back to Chinatown. This was February 10 and the Lunar New Year! Celebrations were in full swing. Public transport is very easy in Japan. And especially easy if you’ve added a Suica card to your Apple wallet. Suica is the best thing since sliced bread.

Nagasaki, Japan Our arrival: We took a cute little street car to the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park. It was very moving. Despite everything behind it, all I could think about was the people there, going about their daily lives, and the moment everything stopped:

Kagoshima continued: We got the shuttle ($25) which dropped us near the ferry port. Here I entered my first konbini and fell in love with Japan: We caught the ferry over to Sakurajima, home to a very active volcano We took the local shuttle bus around the island, which operates like a hop on hop off bus, stopping at various interest/viewpoints along the way: Back at the ferry terminal on Sakurajima, we took a walk (all uphill!) to a dinosaur park, which seemed partly abandoned and/or partly under construction. But it was still fun to visit. For as long as I’ve known her, my daughter has loved dinosaurs Back at the terminal, it was time for some “ash cream” - ice cream dusted with volcanic ash, before heading back to the ship.

Kagoshima, Japan All the horror stories about immigration in Japan fortunately didn’t pan out for us, it went pretty quickly and pretty smoothly. Here is our arrival: