Ottawa traveller

Flights From Haneda Airport Last spring, I flew in to Narita and took the bus. It was easy and comfortable. Going home, I left from Haneda airport. Here are the directions but search Google maps to find the starting metro station. It is a deal at 600Yen or about $5.00 for a 50 minute trip. I used sideways seating on both sections and had no trouble with my suitcase. You have to be aware of which terminal you are using but Terminal 3 seems to be the International one. The change of train lines requires the purchase of a new ticket. at Yokohama Station. Yokohama cruise ship terminal Yokohama Intl, Passenger Terminal, 1 Chome-1-4 Kaigandori, Naka Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 231-0002, Japan Walk About 11 min, 650 m Nihon-Odori Station Minatomirai Linen Minomatori Linee 7 min (4 stops) · Platform 2 · Stop ID: MM05 Yokohama Station Walk About 7 min Yokohama Station Buy a new ticket to change train lines from Minatomirai Line to Keikyū Main Line Airport-KyukoHaneda Airport Terminal 1:2 15 min (5 stops) · Platform 2 · Stop ID: KK37 Continue on the same vehicle Keikyū Airport LineHaneda Airport Terminal 1:2 8 min (5 stops) Haneda Airport Terminal 3 Station Haneda Airport Hanedakuko, Ota City, Tokyo 144-0041, Japan Cost: ¥600

It is actually quick and easy. Last summer we were required to fill out the ArriveCan App before boarding at the beginning of the cruise. Canadian Immigration used this to clear us before arriving back in Vancouver. We were given a Customs card to hand to a border agent after retrieving our luggage. From the time I walked out of the ship to getting my luggage and leaving the terminal was about 10 minutes. Hopefully they still use the same procedure.

The Rotterdam is the newest ship. It will have the up to date TV. You can do almost everything on the TV including booking shore excursios and looking at your account. It is a good idea when first on board to visit the dining room manager's desk and book any specialty dinners that you want. However, you can see if your phone will accept the app right now. Go to the app store and download the Holland America Navigator App. If it downloads , you can sign in and it should show your cruise. Not all functions are available until closer to your cruise but you can start familiarizing yourselves with it. I travel solo so I don't know if you both need the App or not.

I always have gone to the spa and asked what day would be convenient as they like to control the numbers. On at least one occasion, the staff were new and didn't know about the 5 star benefit and I had to have the front office inform them.

I have only been able to use the free spa pass on a port day and not on a sea day.

Shore excursion info is available on the TV. You can also book on the TV.

It is quite quick. You can use the ARRiveCan App to complete your immigration documents before leaving your departure destination. It is only a few miutes at a machine to complete the process on arrival. If you have NEXUS, you can use that also.

Last year, our cruise had to cancel Tracy Arm at the last minute due to a medical emergency. If I remember we got in mid morning. However, the ship sailed at top speed to get the patient in to Juneau as quickly as possible.

I was on the March/April Japan cruise and read the Live From posts every day. I wondered if I was on the same ship. I had different interests from the OP and so his problems were not mine. You have to look at what is being complained about and see if it is something that would be important to you. I found the staff excellent and very friendly. My cabin was exceptionally clean and in excellent repair. I liked the food but I am not fussy. Shore excursions were limited due to lack of Japanese suppliers but the staff posted excellent videos for each port about what to see and how to get there on your own. My primary interest was in visiting the ports and not entertainment and I was very happy. A word of warning about the cruise back to Alaska - the only Japanese port on the cruise was cancelled due to weather which could happen again. I disembarked in Yokohama and I did not take that segment so I can't comment further on it.

From my recent experience on other ships, Fresh sqeezed OJ is an upcharge on all ships but you can get it free if you have the Have It All package.

Before my recent Japan cruise I booked a shore excursion and waitlisted another better one just as you did. On boarding I went to shore excursions who told me that I could now book the waitlisted excursion and cancel the other one, which I did.

I travel a lot on my own before, after and between cruises. I use booking sites for hotels and you can find tours on those sites also. Then, I search, for example, "Amsterdam tourism" and see what there is to see and do. I then use Google maps to find out how to get there. For example, use your hotel as a starting point and the place to be visited as the destination and then search using the walking, public transport and taxi options. You'll find it easy to do - and I am assumig here that you perhaps haven't tried this before. Put Google maps on your phone and get a local sim card so that you can use it while you are out and about. Also, although most people in Europe speak English, it is helpful to put Google Translate on your phone and download the local language. When cruising, I use this same process for touring instead of taking shore excursions all the time. The starting point would be for example, Oslo cruise terminal, and Google maps will find that for you.

As OlsSalt mentions, you have a lot of port days in a row. I was on the Westerdam in April on two back to back cruises around Japan. We had 11 port days in a row in the middle. Shore excursions does not do port talks on port days so they videotaped excellent programs to be watched on the room TV showing what was to be seen in each port, how far away the places were, how to get there on public transportation or how long it would take by taxi. They even had entry costs for some places. The staff made themselves available in the evening for questions. I personally choose my cruises because of the itinerary, and I make the most of being in each port. I was too tired in the evening to worry about entertainment. However, there were some who did want the entertainment and they seemed to be a bit disappointed.

It was done that way in Alaska last summer. Our meeting point was at the bus we were to go on and the local provider scanned the app or room key.

On my recent Japan cruise, the local tour providers scanned your room key or the HAL App at the bus door as you got on the bus. The above suggestion would not have worked.

I was on the Westerdam on cruise around Japan in April. Some places take credit cards but Japanese cash is essential. You can get it easily at ATMs in convenience stores, particularly 7 Eleven stores and at foreign exchange desks in some ports Take some with you, use the ATMs and change any unused other currencies into Yen at the foreign exchange desks or sometimes you will see a foreign exchange machine in stores. I found one in a pharmacy. It has been awhile since I was in the other places you mention but when travelling there before I always used local currency, though credit cards were used more readily. How much you take depends on what you think you will spend it on.

the holding lot for buses was being used last August.

In 2016 I took the B2B Vancouver to Sydney and then the circumnavigation of Australia. At the end I flew to the centre and visited Uluru, King's Canyon and Alice Springs and then flew north to Darwin and then visited Lichfield Park and the Tiwi Islands. I flew home via Shanghai where I stayed for 4 days, breaking up the trip, and was able to get a cheaper business class flight home to Canada. It was one of the best trips I have taken over the last 50 years and it was easy because I didn't have to deal with long flights and jetlag. I did a similar thing when I went to New Zealand doing the Vancouver to Auckland cruise which included the North Island and then stayed in New Zealand for a month. If you have the time and money, it is a wonderful way to see these far away countries.

I've finally decided to add my two cents to this issue. I was on the Westerdam in March-April on a 28 day B2B around Japan. There was a daily blog being posted about the cruise on this page which was mostly complaints and I read it every day and wondered if I was on the same cruise. I will concede his points about shortages of alcohol and issues with charges that needed to be corrected. I don't drink alcohol so I did not have that experience. I know that we did reprovision in Keelung, Taiwan and Busan, Korea where they also picked up a part to repair one of the azipods. This was a port intensive cruise - 20 ports with 11 in a row in the middle of it. I checked the maritime traffic maps from time to time and we were the only large international ship in those waters. I do know that a couple of smaller ones from Oceania and Seabourn (I think) were there. We visited ports that larger ships could not possibly have stopped at due to the small size of the local towns. This is where HAL excels. I found myself so busy touring during the day that I had very little energy for late evening entertainment. The ship had come out of a recent drydock. I was so impressed with the linen and draperies in the cabin that I asked if they were new. Apparently some were and the rest just professionally cleaned. The carpets were cleaned during the cruise. Everything in the cabin (a VA) was in excellent shape. The cabin stewards were excellent. I thought they were maybe the friendliest and most helpful in all my sailing days. I would say the same about my Dining Room stewards. I went to the Front Office a few times with questions and they were quickly and politely dealt with. I have rebooked on the Westerdam for next fall and the Oosterdam for January because I really want to go where they are sailing.

We got them on the Westerdam in Japan last month.

I just came off a 28 day back to back south and north Japan with outside stops in Taiwan and Busan, Korea. If you are going to book this, look first and make sure that there are shore excursions available in Japan that you think you could do and book them right away. There is a shortage of tour guides as many of the former ones found other employment during Covid and never came back to guiding. We had very limited numbers of shore excursions. The ship offered a lot of information about how to get around on public transportation or by taxi. You would likely have difficulty with public transportation as it most often involves long walks to get to a bus or train and then from there to the place you want to visit. Taxis would be your other option. They are probably not much more expensive than shore excursions but people who took them said drivers had limited English. You can get destinations written out in Japanese by the tourist information people in the terminals but you would have to research yourself what you are seeing because the driver is likely not too much help. It was also helpful to have Google translate on your smartphone with Japanese downloaded so it can be used offline. Learn how to use it. It is also very helpful in stores and restaurants.

I was on 28 days of this cruise and just disembarked. I had 3 entries including my original entry to Japan. Each took one half page because they put the exit stamps beside the entry stamp. For 14 days, you would have your original entry to Japan and then an entry after visiting a foreign port. If there was only one foreign port, you would have the two entries taking up one half page each. I hope this makes sense. I have just arrived in Canada after a 12 hour flight.

I am in a Veranda A and there are only USB chargers beside the bed. The outlets are on the desk. There are two dual US/European outlets.

I spoke to a woman who told me that she was part of a group of 30 on the last leg of the cruise. She said they had to book through an American agency. They cannot book in Japan. I met some individual travelers who said the same thing. This was their third HAL cruise. On this leg, I have cabin neighbors who are from Hong Kong. I think there are more Asians on this leg. One night the Lido had a Japanese dinner. Announcements are only in English.

The problem on this cruise is the lack of sea days. There were only three near the beginning. Usually these type of lectures are on sea days and not port days. Shore excursions is available in the evenings for you to ask questions.