Jplanetx

100% agree with you on both these points, really. Thinking of my fellow sailors travelling to Xian, I thought the same, why pay for the full board accommodation and then pay further to leave that behind. My thoughts are that these voyages are once in a lifetime. It might be seeing the terracotta warriors was so culturally significant it was worth paying the extra amount to leave the cruise behind and tour the area while they are there. Since it was a cruise line excursion, they had a guarantee to join the ship. What I'm suggesting here, you would not have that guarantee. I am really unsure of the data for port cancellations in Japan. Do you know if it is common for Yokohama and Osaka? Are they less likely to happen because these ports are in a sort of bay? I do feel comfortable saying that in Japan self-exploring is incredibly easy. The trains are beyond anything on this planet for reliability and pricing.(There's not much dynamic pricing as far as I can see, the same ticket tomorrow vs. a few weeks from now is the same.) Taking a weekender—packing lightly, mid-cruise, could be worth it if you know what you want to see.

I would not miss Tokyo Disneyland and Sea as a significant theme parks and Disney fan so i would like to propose something crazy inspired by something I saw on a previous cruise. The cruise line offered 5 night land tours during the cruise for the land locked attraction; Terracotta Army of Xian China as the cruise was STILL going people got off at one port (Shanghai) and the ship + the rest of their luggage.(presumably) visited 2 other ports and had a sea day without them. Before they returned to the ship at Beijing. You might think of doing the same on your own if it is within budget and the cruise line says it is OK. I would get off in Tokyo and go to the Uraysu resort to stay for 2 nights, then get a bullet train to rejoin the ship.

This is great. We got caught in a local train strike that completely threw the end of a great trip. I was thinking we would be smart, meeting the fast train at Ferrara with Belogna being the bigger hub the only trains running from Ravenna went to Bologna