Portolan

A short update: headed to Beppu (Stone Buddha's for us) today. Solid overcast, temperature in the mid-50's, but very low probability of rain. This after 3 days of castles and shrines. In Nagoya, the first day after Tokyo, we went to the Inuyama Castle (oldest surviving castle in Japan) which was interesting in design and you could climb what were essentially ship's ladders (think very steep staircases) with low headroom (I'm 6'-1") to the top. Well worth it to see how these towers were constructed and for the view. Then on to the Noritake China factory. Interesting but the castle was the highlight. Castles in Japan are usually surround ed by moats (Inuyama wasn't) on high ground with a multi-tiered tower for observation. Hard to see how these were useful after th advent of muskets and canons. The next two days were at Kobe (as in beef) with an over night. First day we did the Highlights of Osaka. Two stops: Osaka Castle (much bigger than Inuyama, but rebuilt many times into the mid-20 th century) with again the ability to go to the top aided by an elevator for the first 5 of 8 floors added in 1931 when the tower was rebuilt having totally destroyed much earlier. Museum exhibits and dioramas on many of the interior levels. Second stop was Shitennoji, a large temple compound dominated by a classic 5-story pagoda. All of it rebuild many times over the years since 1) made of wood, and 2) WWII. Overall, a pleasant enough tour. The second day in Kobe, we did Highlights of Kyoto. It was 2-1/2 hours through rush-hour traffic. Likely would be the case any week-day. First stop was the Golden Pavilion, a lake side temple with the upper (wood) stories covered in gilt. Surrounded by formal gardens. Well designed route past the pavilion with many vantage points and then through the gardens which kept the large crowds moving in an orderly manner. Then the included lunch which was a very nice bento box meal with authentic Japanese delicacies including sashimi. Final stop was the Hijo Castle, a very large complex with a sprawling "palace" and elaborate gardens. Despite what the excursion description said, there wasn't time to go into the buildings, but exploring the grounds was still quite interesting. We'd received a letter from Destination Services exposing that there wouldn't be an interior visit. The return to the ship, again during rush-hour, was surprisingly just 90 minutes. And as we are arriving in Beppu, there is a patch of sun directly over the town.

Things are off to a good start. After 4 days of overcast skies and one of those quite rainy in Tokyo, the sun came out as we boarded...a good omen. The pre-cruise program was OK and provided some time to (start to) get over jet lag. The hotel was nice with nicely furnished rooms, but as you'd heard, big and busy. We ate in the hotel which has quite a spectrum of restaurants. We liked Dynasty, the Chinese themed venue. The other nights we weren't very hungry and had drinks and light meals in 2 of the bars: Zatta which we enjoyed and St. Georges which was supposed to be an English pub (it wasn't). Both had live music in the evening. As others have noted, there are restaurants in Shinjuku, but they aren't very obvious from the street, so plan in advance and don't wander around expecting to come across one you'd like. In Nagoya yesterday and appearing likely for the rest of the cruise we had our original passports examined thoroughly and matched to our ship card both getting off and reboarding. They also searched bags going ashore, presumably for food. Both the need to be carrying original passports and no food ashore were stressed by the ship in advance.

When they distributed the results of the on-site testing to the handful who took those tests, they did say that they were all negative.

flossie009 Posted 9 hours ago #139 I understand that government regulations changed yesterday March 13, such that the wearing of masks is no longer mandatory only advisory. That is correct. Noticeable reduction in the number of Japanese we saw indoors and out yesterday wearing masks. No doubt there will still be many who continue to wear masks since that was the norm prior to COVID.

Those regulations that you could never produce evidence of? Regent was conducting the on-site testing the day before. You'd (or at least I would) expect that when explicitly asked about why test results weren't checked, they would have mentioned that the non-existent requirement had changed?

And another thing: I had a bit of a panic attack this morning before boarding because at breakfast some folks were talking about the difficulties they had getting a South Korean Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA) required even for visa-exempt countries (US and pretty much all of the Western World). And that seemed to be the message on all the obvious Korean government sites that I could find. I thought that surely Regent would have told us of such a requirement. After quite a bit of surfing I found that cruise ships are specifically exempt from this requirement when making port calls. And I verified this once on-board. So, don't panic .

Slight correction: at the desk there is one "anything" socket which will take a US grounded plug, European plugs and British plugs. So that's where you can use you laptop if it had a 3-prong plug.

I promised an update about boarding, so as I sit in the Pool Grill awaiting my ritual Ahi tuna teak sandwich: We arrived at the cruise terminal at 1PM as the lead bus of 6 doing the Vibrant Tokyo pre-cruise tour. 1st stop was filling out a pretty standard health form ("have you had...") and filling out another form for our 2 + 1 vaccination dates. Past an immigration officer who checked passports, then directly on-board to a counter in Compass Rose where we produced our boarding passes, passports and the previously mentioned record of vaccinations. We received our room keys at 1:27 with the word that suites were accessible at 1:30. That's it, Notice the lack of a check of testing results. I asked and they said they didn't need them! So, for those that insisted that this was a Japanese government mandate, I guess you have to believe that Regent is flaunting those "regulations.". I imagine that those who opted to do the testing at the hotel that was offered late in the game are wondering why they spent $65/pp. Judging from the thin stack of test results we saw being passed out at the hotel, that may have been 20 or so.

Certainly has to be the case since the on-site test option only appeared in a handout here at the Hilton for. Never mentioned in any of the emails from Regent.

Will do if, as is probably likely, we meet any on-board.

They may or may not tell us the plan when we are together for the first time later this morning for the morning tour. That's also when they said they'd explain the now-offered on-site testing. It'll be interesting to get a sense of how many do this. We won't because we have their required proof of a negative self-test and 1) see no need to spend $130, and 2) while extremely unlikely, we could have been exposed in the day between our self-test and the on-site test (whose results are certainly shared with Regent). The irony is that springing the on-site option so late may drastically reduce the number of takers so they might feel it is unnecessary for the upcoming cruises. I hope (with no basis) that they will have it arranged to provide our self-test results for verification some time before we head to the ship to board, otherwise I fear a lengthy boarding process. I will certainly report on how that goes...

The relative time issue can be confusing, at least until you get here. Japan is 14 hours ahead of the east coast. We board Explorer on Tuesday the 14th, at noonish. We self-tested at 2 PM on Saturday the 11th...70 hours before our nominal boarding time. Bottom line is that everybody no matter where you are are well within 72 hours at this point.

Mark: that would work if you found yourself here with no other option, but a bit draconian. When we travel here again I'll just bring some 3 prong to 2 blade adapters (aka cheaters) since I still have some around though rarely needed at home anymore.

Some updated information: First, the effort to wade through the Visit Japan process was rewarded by not being diverted on arrival by one of a myriad of airport personnel to do it before proceeding. They'll want to see the non-QR document that says your uploaded documents were verified. Then (for us) 30 minutes of zig zagging to get to the immigration officer who'll want your passports and the immigration QR code. After you get to the baggage area you need to go to a kiosk where your passport and customs QR code are read. Then out passed a customs officer with your identity determined by facial recognition (from the picture taken at immigration). A bit complicated, but there was a horde of helpful people at each step to get you through. Then you have arrived. Second: after we self-tested at the 70 hour mark (both negative) we headed to the bar to celebrate and stopped by the Regent Hospitality desk to get our info for the pre-cruise land tour. And it said that COVID-19 testing would be available on-site the second day for $65/pp! So perhaps someone at Regent realized that this would be helpful though it wasn't mentioned in the most recent email from Regent dated yesterday. However, we are $130 ahead with the self-test assuming that the boarding personnel can handle all of the different self-test kit result presentations. Finally, and totally unrelated to the whole testing issue: you may have discovered that Japan uses US standard two-blade electrical plugs (100v, but that won't bother modern power supplies). But, at least at the Hilton, all sockets were just the two-blades with no ability to use a grounded US 3 prong plug. If you have, for instance, a 3 prong plug like on many laptop power cords, you'll need a "cheater" plug adapter to allow use in the 2-blade sockets.

Not mine to explain. Only to point out that you can't find this posted as a requirement of Japan on a government site. That plus the fact that no country has ever had a testing policy which involved self-testing. Ever.

Please cite one Japanese government site (.jp.go) that mandates this. Just one...a government site, not Princess Cruises. The statement you quote from Regent is boilerplate and only means that (of course) they will follow any local government requirements...not that any decision about imposing test will only be because of a government requirement. And, as I've said many times in this thread, I fully understand that Regent or any provider can set their own standards, so we will test ourselves 72 hours out which proves very little since people can/will make mistakes generating false positives and negatives. I expect chaos on boarding with people trying to find their photographic evidence of the self-test. Which may not have the required elements. Or is out of focus. Or has the wrong time stamp because they didn't switch their phone to Japanese time (if not on a cell network). Etc, etc, etc.

I always have printed copies of things. Too much can go wrong with technology when you most need it. I, and probably others, will certainly let future Regent-in-Japan travelers know how this all goes.

Not just you - I'm very adept at these things...and the Japanese site was unnecessarily complicated. At the end, we have (each) a document that says we satisfied the "stay-out-of-quarantine" requirements (proof of vaccination and boosting accepted), a QR code indicating that we qualify for a fast pass for immigration and another for a fast pass at customs. Your advice to not wait until just before you travel is very good.

Can't answer the question about the private dining room. WRT Culinary Kitchen classes: you eat the meal (typically appetizer, main and desert) as you go along preparing it item by item. Sometimes it will also include preparing a cocktail, but there is always wine as well. We usually book the 10 AM sessions and it becomes lunch. It might be a bit light for dinner.

The Pool Grill tuna steak sandwich is the first thing I have on any Regent cruise (having boarded looking for lunch). I think it's very good, but also an indispensable ritual!

Especially if you take your phone off the cell network when traveling, ensure you've changed the time zone to Japan or your date time stamp will be off. But otherwise, as labonnevie notes, easy for any phone with a camera.

My only point was that the article cited about masks on planes flying to Japan (correctly) reported that the end of such a requirement was only on JAL and ANA. I didn't want anyone flying to Japan on another carrier, such as we are on United, to believe that there is a requirement to wear a mask on board. We still routinely will be wearing masks in the airports and congested areas. Once we are on-board and ensconced in our business-class suite, we'll be taking the masks off. I again suggest that people look for their guidance from Japanese government sites (.go.jp) because those are the only definitive source of COVID-related policies in Japan. And, those sites get updated while web searches will pull up old and possibly outdated articles. Anyone traveling to Japan would be well-advised to register at https://vjw-lp.digital.go.jp/en/ (United's "Travel-Ready" Center states it as a requirement for United passengers) before departure. You can save time on arrival by uploading and having your vaccination certificates preapproved, along with fast passes for the landing, customs and immigration steps when you arrive.

To be clear, its only been the Japanese airlines that currently require masks (until the 13th). The US carriers, like United which we are using, do not require masks. It is not (at least recently) a Japanese government requirement.

Read this too. We'll be on Explorer in 2 weeks and hope to see some of these items. But hope they don't replace any of our favorites.

Look, everyone can believe what they wish. But, intensive Google searches have found NO mention of this requirement on any Japanese government web site. Citing a non-governmental post from last November isn't definitive. And, yes, the CoC pretty much allows any cruise line to set their own standards. What many have totally missed in their replies is the issue I have which is not the testing. It's that Regent knows that a (very?) large number of us will arrive and start traveling with Regent, albeit on land, in the time frame the testing will not to be done. A regent-arranged group testing option would be pure logistic efficiency. That's it. That's what I posted about initially and then the replies morphed into saying it was a Japanese government requirement. The evidence appears it isn't, but that's not my complaint. Regent could have made this much simpler for their passengers, but didn't.