Lilyskittymom

I have an Otterbox Magsafe hard case that's a little finicky, but it works. I checked the reviews before I bought it. Some are definitely better than others. Maria

Let me know if you have any other questions. We really loved the cruise. Maria

If you go back to page 2, post 48, you'll see the review I posted in another thread. Maria

These are the excursions, and prices, from our cruise in April 2023. Hope this helps with your planning. Just a note - we docked in Yokohama, not central Tokyo. Yokohama is a very nice port area, but it took over an hour to drive into Tokyo. Hong Kong Postcards of Hong Kong – Included Hong Kong Walking Tour - $59 Bamboo Monastery & Walled Village - $59 Hong Kong Cultural Discovery - $59 Kowloon Highlights - $59 Taipei (Keelung) Taipei in Brief - Included Best of Taipei - $149 Sky Lantern Ceremony & Old Town of Jiufen - $119 Landscapes & Lanterns - $69 Reflexology & Massage - $99 Highlights of Taipei - $99 Yangmingshan National Park & Hot Springs - $99 Nagasaki Scenic Nagasaki – Included The Atomic Bomb Museum & Peace Park - $109 Historic Highlights of Nagasaki - $159 Arita & Imari Pottery - $149 Glover Garden & Mt. Inasa Observatory - $249 Battleship Island - $99 Kagoshima Kagoshima Scenic Ride – Included Highlights of Kagoshima & Surroundings - $199 Ibusuki Sand Bath Experience - $169 Sakurajima Volcano & Arimura Lava Observatory - $109 Chiran Samurai District & Peace Museum - $129 Beppu Steaming Sights of Beppu – Included Yabakei Gorge - $109 Shinto Shrine & Natural Treasures - $99 Buddhas, Castle & Monkeys - $149 Private Hot Spring Bath - $289 The Hells of Beppu - $99 Hiroshima Postcards of Hiroshima – Included Itsukushima Island & Its Shrine - $99 Ultimate Hiroshima - $149 Kintaikyo Bridge & Iwakuni Castle - $89 Mitaki Temple & Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park - $99 Hiroshima Castle & Shukkei-en Garden - $79 Japanese Dining Experience - $99 Osaka Osaka City Tour – Included Ancient Kyoto - $149 Sights of Kyoto - $169 Best of Kyoto - $159 Timeless Traditions of Kyoto - $259 Osaka Highlights - $99 Shimizu Stunning Vistas of Shimizu - Included Highlights of Mt. Fuji - $159 Kunozan Tosho-gu Shrine & Nihondaira - $99 Shiraito Falls & Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha - $99 Tokaido Hiroshige Art Museum & Miho no Matsubara - $99 Tokyo (Yokohama) Tokyo Panorama – Included Tokyo Highlights - $149 Traditions of Japan - $199 The Temples of Kamakura - $149 Yokohama Highlights - $79 An Evening in Tokyo - $89 Geisha Performance & Dinner - $229

No problem. I'll probably chime in on that page when people have questions. Maria

A little back story on our cruise. We were originally booked for Hong Kong to Vancouver but had to shorten it to Tokyo when my husband started having medical problems and couldn't be gone that long. We had quite a bit of money to spend on a cabin upgrade and excursions. Since we could book our excursions earlier with the upgrade, we had no problem getting what we wanted and there was no need to look for outside tours. But there were local guides meeting people who booked private tours at every port. Clay's suggestion of goodwill guides is something we would have done if it had been necessary. We did a combination of included and paid excursions and generally liked everything, with the exception of the included tour in Kagoshima, the Kagoshima Scenic Ride. It was a rainy day so the stop at the scenic overlook was soggy and the trip to the local museum was ok, but literally something you could find in any city, anywhere in the world. A private tour would have been a better choice. I'm not going to get into a lot of detail on the excursions because the descriptions were accurate. Here's what we did. Hong Kong - we flew into HK a day early, took the ferry across the harbor, and the tram to Victoria Peak, on our own. We enjoyed the views and the walk down one of the hiking trails. The next day we took the Hong Kong Walking Tour, which was a nice representation of the city. Afterwards, we wandered the area near the port, which is home to the largest shopping mall in HK. In Taipei, we did the Highlights of Taipei. Since we didn't have a lot of time in port, this was a good tour for us. In Nagasaki we went on the Atomic Bomb Museum and Park. The museums in Nagasaki and Hiroshima are very different, and I'd recommend going to both of them if that's where your interest lies. It was a very good tour. The Glover Gardens are a short uphill walk from the ship and was definitely worth the visit. In addition to the main house, and the gardens, there was a museum that had costumes and floats used for local festivals - very interesting. In Beppu, we did the Steaming Sites of Beppu, which was very interesting. If you'd like to go to an onsen, look for one close to the port - they're everywhere. The Viking onsen tour is robbery. I wanted to go to an onsen, but would have had to go to one a bit further away because I have large visible tattoos. Yes, there are tattoo friendly onsens in Beppu especially. A Google search will find them. Instead, we took the Viking shuttle bus (most ports had one) to the area near the train station. From there, we wandered through shopping areas and stopped at some small neighborhood shrines and temples (Google maps is your friend). Ultimate Hiroshima was wonderful, with its visit to their Atomic Bomb Museum and Park, and the trip to Miyajima Island. The island was really worth going to - very quaint and lovely. Again, the Atomic Bomb Museum is very different from Nagasaki's. We were in port until noon the next day and went on a walk along the water the morning we left. In Osaka, we were on Sights of Kyoto, another wonderful all day tour. Food on the all day tours was always very good and at local Japanese restaurants. Shimizu took us to Highlights of Mt Fuji, another all day tour that took us to the 5th station of Mt Fuji, the furthest you can go by vehicle up the mountain. Fuji-san wasn't visible when we pulled into port the evening prior, but we were treated to unobstructed views of the mountain the next day - a rare occurrence in April. Tokyo had us docked at the port of Yokohama, and while the port area is very nice, it was a 1+ hour drive to Tokyo, so the Tokyo Panorama tour wasn't as good as it could have been because we spent 2.5 hours driving. We did go back for An Evening in Tokyo, which was very nice. The views from the Skytree and the way the streets are lit up at night was amazing. Viking guides were available to help people navigate the subway system, for anyone who wanted to head out on their own. Hopefully you'll be docked in Tokyo itself, which would put you so much closer to the city. Overall, this was a wonderful cruise and makes me want to go back to Japan. We were warmly welcomed, and sent off, from the all the ports. The port areas themselves are surrounded by parks and are well taken care of. International ATMs can be found at 7-11 and Lawson. Perfectly safe; I got Yen there a couple of times. And the stores are everywhere especially near the ports. If you don't know about the wonders of 7-11, Lawson and Family Mart, look it up before you go. They're not the sad version of 7-11 we have in the US. There's also another page called Everything "Far Eastern Horizons": Hong Kong to Tokyo that is being started back up again. It's worth looking into. Hope this helps. Maria

And the earlier you go, the better. We've been travelling to Hawaii for 25+ years and generally go early and hit the standby line. My comment was mostly to address the comment that Viking offered no tour at the Arizona Memorial, just a drop off at the Visitor's center. That's exactly how it works there for everyone. You can easily spend the entire day at the National Valor in the Pacific National Monument, which includes the USS Arizona and USS Missouri.

In the past, tour groups were able to reserve tickets to go out to the Arizona Memorial. This left very few tickets for people showing up on their own. That isn't the case any more; everyone needs to prepurchase a ticket. Tickets can be purchased online, for a $1 fee per ticket, or you can try your luck in the standby line. They're available 24 hours, starting at 3pm HST, or 8 weeks in advance. There are no private tours of the memorial. The best Viking can do is get you there. The museum is very good, but you really want to go to the memorial.

Under the Notes app on iPhones is the ability to scan a document. It's under the camera icon in Notes. I upgraded from a 7 to a 14, just a little bit of a learning curve! Maria

We did Hong Kong to Tokyo this past April and loved it. If you have any questions, please ask. Maria

Most phones are capable of doing photo to pdf (yes, you have to do each page) and saving it as a single document. Email it to yourself and you're done. Maria

We spend time on Oahu every year and are familiar with the procedure to get tickets to the Arizona. You may have already researched this, but in case you haven't, I'd suggest you go to the USS Arizona website https://www.nps.gov/perl/uss-arizona-memorial-programs.htm Tickets are required to take the boat out to the memorial, but are not needed to enter the museum site. Tickets are available at either 24 hrs prior (at 3pm Hawaii time the day prior) or 8 weeks in advance. If you try to get tickets the day prior, be sure you've setup your account ahead of time and are logged in a couple minutes ahead of time; they go fast. Don't worry if you can't get a ticket, you can walk up to the ranger's desk at the auditorium and get on the wait list - but be aware that you could be waiting a while. My best advice is to get there early to avoid big crowds. There's a lot there to see and occupy your time. Maria

Many people wait until they're onboard to book the Chef's Table so they can look at the menus first. It's very easy to make, change or cancel your reservation. On our latest cruise, we made reservations in advance.. Ended up keeping one and changing the other. Easy process; do it sooner to get a better choice of times. Maria

No.

We actually got one a couple months ago. They're out there. Maria