Mr Rumor

Bonsoir from the Sofitel Montreal!  It is just shy of six years ago that I wrote the first post of my Montreal-Miami blog from this hotel.  

We loved that cruise and have had a Montreal-New York itinerary on our let’s-do-with-Shauna list for the last several years.  This will be our daughter’s seventh Regent sailing with Ginny and me, and it promises to be as extra-special as she is.  She’ll turn Gold (tier) the moment she walks on the ship—I can’t wait to see her expression when she is presented with her shiny new SSS Gold pin—AND she’ll be celebrating her 38th birthday the day we call on Sydney.  (I know, she doesn’t look a day over 37.)

As you can tell by her official foot-out-the-door-I’m-going-cruising! portrait, Shauna is one excited young lady:

This will be our fifth cruise aboard the Navigator, but our first since 2014, which is a couple of refurbishments ago.  We took a break from Regent’s smallest ship, in part, because of one too many “pitching” episodes for motion-sensitive Ginny, who is convinced the motion on Navigator in rough seas is different from the motion on other Regent ships.  (As many of you know, the Navigator’s hull was originally attached to a Russian research vessel and was designed for ice-breaking.)

But Ginny, armed with “the patch,” plus Stugeron for backup, is game to give the Navigator another go, which makes motion-oblivious me happy.  (Shauna, thankfully, doesn’t get seasick either.)  I like much about the Navigator. . . the scale of the ship, the design of the theater, the forward viewing area on Deck 12, and other features I’ll probably be reminded of when I take my first stroll onboard.  Oh, and I remembered, for Ginny’s sake, not to book an aft cabin (viiiiibraaaatiooon)!

A word about our itinerary:  It’s not the original one.  We had been scheduled to dock at Havre-Saint-Pierre, Quebec Province, a port we’ve not been to, on Day Four.  Instead we’ll have our Cruising the Gulf of Saint Lawrence sea day that day, and Sydney, which was on our Montreal-Miami itinerary, will replace HSP on Day Six, our original sea day.

The reason for this change, to quote the Regent e-mail, is “due to additional speed restrictions implemented by the Canadian government in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to protect right whales.”  That intrigued me so I did a little bit of online research.  As it turns out, the worldwide population of the right whale has dwindled to just over 400, and the threat of extinction is real.  Reportedly, 4% of the population died between April of 2017 and January of 2018, with 12 of those deaths documented in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  Certainly reason enough for Canada to impose new speed restrictions in the Gulf.  

As always, I’m glad to have you along!  But please bear with me in case I don’t post as often as I do when I don’t have Shauna to dote on.  LB (Little Boss) comes first!

Rich

Susan, what a treat it was this morning to do a "cover to cover" catch-up read of your blog.  Your commentary was superb, your photos stunning. Thank you for taking the time to bring this wonderful itinerary alive for us!

Rich

Bob, as always your writing and picture-taking is a delight, no ifs, ands or sortas about it!  I'm happy to know that my Copenhagen-Oslo blog from last year played a role in your booking this cruise, and I hope you and Jeannie will wind up loving it as much as we did.  I'm avidly following along and especially looking forward to your Geiranger/Geirangerfjord account.  Two visits to this spectacular part of the world (the first was a 2012 land trip with our Oslo friend Jess) is not enough for me, so I'll be relishing my third visit through your words and pics!

Rich

Outstanding blog, Roberto--you gave my Z Chuckle Meter another great workout!   Big thanks for taking us along.  Now go have a blast in Dublin with TB!  

Rick, it is always fun and a pleasure to tag along with you and Ron.  Thanks for the great posts and pics!

Rich

Crisy, your first posts have whetted my appetite, literally and figuratively,  for what I know will be another terrific cruisin7 blog.  Delighted to be cruisin with you! 

Hi Rick, thanks for Part 1--great job! Now wishing you and Ron a fantastic cruise.  I'm going to pretend I'm still onboard the Mariner as I armchair along--your descriptive prose and great photos make it easy to do!

Wonderful hearing from my fellow Shanghai-Tokyo mariners Linda (and John), Bob (and Maria) and Sharon (and Steve)—it was a joy getting to know you!

Rickatie, sorry that you were fated to join the “Way of the Emperors’” impressive Coughing Chorus.  By the end of the cruise we had become members of this large ensemble as well.  Ginny got it worse than me and today is on the third day of her five-day Z-pack regimen.  The Z-pack was already on hand, part of our formidable portable pharmacy.

Before starting this post, I did a quick read through most of this blog, spending more time on your posts than mine, and reminding myself how much I appreciate your comments and support.  I commit to a live blog in part because I love sharing the journey with you.  It’s also nice to have a record of our adventure, as well as fun for me to relive my early journalism days and play reporter again.  I humored myself this time by giving myself strict deadlines and time frames with which to put together a post, words and pics. You’d be surprised at how much I accomplished on those long bus rides while others were coughing away!

A couple of you have asked what’s on tap for us next.  The answer:  Montreal-New York aboard the Navigator in early October.  I recall my good buddy Z doing a terrific Montreal-New York blog within the last couple of years, but mine will be angled a little differently, as we’ll be cruising with our daughter Shauna.  Many of you know Shauna, who has Down syndrome and who warms hearts wherever she goes.  This will be Shauna’s seventh Regent cruise with us, and, it’ll be a biggie as she’ll turn Gold!  I’ve already spoken with Cruise Consultant Bea Kessler, who’ll be on the Navigator at that time, about arranging a special Gold pin presentation.  Shauna adores shiny little presents, and is sure to be thrilled!

In closing, I’ve posted a handful of photos of cherry blossoms and a handful of photos of Mt. Fuji.  But I haven’t posted a photo of both, until now.  Enjoy, and thanks again for following along!

“Pink Blossoms for a Shy Lady”  (Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine, Shimizu)

So what am I doing romancing a bottle of sake??

All I can say is our dear friends Yuki and Hozumi really sake-ed it to us tonight on the last night of our Asia adventure!  

The scene was Yuki’s nephew’s subterranean restaurant, Yakitori-Shin, in the Suido-bashi section of Tokyo, where Yuki’s favorite sakes, Dasia and Kagetora, flowed, and we stuffed ourselves on yakitori and great conversation. What a capper to a cruise and two land tours we’ll always treasure.

Thanks again for sharing the journey, and good night from Room 3114 of the Tokyo Hilton.  Rick, Gilly and everyone else who’ll be sharing the Mariner live-blogging baton on the Tokyo-Vancouver cruise, I’m  looking forward to armchairing along!

I guess you could say that after today exceedingly lucky us are going steady with the Lady.  We were on the Hakone Ropeway over the Owakudani Valley this morning when Mt. Fuji suddenly appeared on our right.

We then turned our attention to our left, taking in the sight of a sulphur mine with clouds of steam rising from the earth (the Hakone area was formed by a volcanic eruption 3,000 years ago). 

But the Lady was waiting for us when we looked to our right again.  A few minutes later we saw her watching over the Hakone golf course.

We weren’t in the position to see Mt. Fuji on our short Lake Ashi cruise aboard a “pirate ship,” but once we walked the plank ashore, she caught our eye one last time. 

For our lunchtime entertainment at a nearby hotel, I played Hakone Squares (the food has been soooo good).

The final stop of the day was a visit to the 15th Century Odawara Castle, once the property of a powerful local feudal lord.  (We’re amazed to still be seeing cherry blossoms!)

To answer your question, Flossie, we booked the Tokyo and Hakone post-cruise tour precisely for a shot at a day like this (we paid for this tour after “including” the pre-cruise Shanghai and the Great Wall tour).  But as our guide, Masa, said in so many  words, you roll the dice if you book a tour with potential  Mt. Fuji views, explaining that, statistically speaking, you have a 20% chance of seeing her on any given day (actually a little less than than from April through summer, she added, when humidity results in more cloud cover).

Again, we were so lucky!

Welcome to our view from our room at the Hilton Odawara Resort and Spa!  We are enjoying a gorgeous late afternoon.

We are on the Tokyo & Hakone post-cruise tour, one of two that Regent offered (the other:  Sunrise Over Tokyo), and it is my first chance to thank you for the kind comments.  I appreciate them all!

I’d like to continue with a brief post or three from our tour, which began this morning with a visit to the Hama-rikyu Gardens located alongside Tokyo Bay.  Hama-rikyu once served as the family garden of Tokugawa Shogun and later became a Detached Palace of the Imperial Family.  The family donated the garden to the city of Tokyo in 1945.  It opened to the public the following year.

It was in the tea house on the left that former President Ulysses S. Grant, on a two-year private trip around the world with his wife and one of his sons, met with Emperor Meiji in 1879.

Two dozen gardeners tend to Hama-rikyu, including this gentleman with a push mower:

Our next stop, the 333-meters-tall Tokyo Tower, constructed in 1958, was Tokyo’s tallest structure until the Skytree, about twice its size, opened in 2011.  We couldn’t see Mt. Fuji but we did get a peek at the Mariner.

After a wonderful Japanese lunch at Mimiyu, we had our special moment with the Lady at a comfort stop about twenty minutes from Odawara:

Tonight it’s a buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant.  Tomorrow we’re looking forward to an aerial tram ride, a Lake Ashi cruise, a castle visit and a Kaiseki (multi-course) dinner.

We had quite a view—from the Tokyo Skytree Observation Deck 350 meters up!—of the Lady sleeping in today. (Mt. Fuji is in the distance somewhere, I was assured.)

But I think she was the only to do so in Tokyo on this Sunday.  It was so crowded on the Skytree with locals that it took us 25 minutes to make it back down to the lobby via two escalator rides, and two elevator rides (with waits).

Asakusa Temple was teeming as well.

There was a procession at Asakusa having to do with spring and a prayer for a rich harvest.  Among the costumed participants:

Sprawling markets can be found at important temples such as Asakusa.  Our friend Susan took this photo inside one stall:

At one of the food booths, I watched a baker make one of Japan’s favorite treats, dorayaki, filled with red bean paste.  

As usual, locals were very accommodating regarding having their photo taken. . .

And allowing us to be photographed with them:  

We’re pretty much packed and now counting down the minutes until Hozumi and Yuki arrive for dinner with us in Compass Rose.  How great to end our cruise by hosting our dear Yokohama friends and showing off the Mariner!

Ohayogozaimasu from Table 84 on the veranda of La Veranda—we’ve just arrived in Tokyo!

When clouds obscure much or all of Mt. Fuji, locals like to say, “The Lady got shy.”

The Lady was a little shy at Sengen Taisha Shrine, the first stop on our Mt. Fuji Highlights excursion.  I didn’t mind as I watched a wedding party’s stroll towards their photo shoot. . .

. . . and then photographed a collection of wishes that visitors post on boards surrounding a large tree on the shrine’s grounds.

As we were leaving the shrine I noticed that the Lady was beginning to shed her shyness.

As we drove to our second and final stop, Miho-no-Matsubata, a coastal pine grove with a famous view of Mt. Fuji, I watched her get less shy still from our bus.

But would the Lady retire for the day by the time we made it to the beach for our final photo op? Our guide, Anna, had cautioned us that she had “never” seen Mt. Fuji  completely sans cloud cover by the late afternoon.

Well, welcome to the 13th of Never!

Anna was thrilled for us—and herself!

On the pier. . .

Thank you so much, Jennifer and briar14, for sharing your beautiful memories.  We have been docked in Shimizu for, I think, about an hour (I’ve lost track of time—Mount Fiji has taken me to a different place).

Here is the view from Deck 12, starboard side.  As you can see, we’ve been blessed with a picture-perfect day:

A terrific local high school brass band welcomed us with a short set.

My first view.  I’m humbled. . .

Krew Kapers in today’s program?  Waaaaahhh—our cruise is ending!

Kapers, long a part of the Captain’s Farewell and just about Ginny’s and my favorite Constellation Theater event, is my cue each blog to share some crew stats with you.  Would you believe that our 444 Mariner crew members, 337 males and 107 females, hail from 45 countries?  

As usual, the Philippines leads the way with 182 crew members—127 males and 55 females. India follows with 77 males and four females.  Indonesia is third with 49 males and four females.

Here is the complete Crew Nationality Breakdown for “Way of the Emperors”:

Philippines, 182

India, 81

Indonesia, 53

Ukraine, 12

Bulgaria, 11

United Kingdom, 9

France, 8

Italy, 7

United States, 7

Myanmar, 6

Poland, 5

South Africa, 5

Honduras, 4

Romania, 4

Canada, 3

Germany, 3

Mexico, 3

Serbia, 3

Thailand, 3

Turkey, 3

Brazil, 2

Croatia, 2

Mauritius, 2

Malaysia, 2

Nepal, 2

Panama, 2

Russia, 2

Argentina, 1

Australia, 1

Chile, 1

Cyprus, 1

Czech Republic, 1

Ecuador, 1

Greece, 1

Jamaica, 1

Kyrgyzstan, 1

Malawi, 1

Nicaragua, 1

Peru, 1

Portugal, 1

Spain, 1

Sri Lanka, 1

Sweden, 1 

Slovakia, 1

Venezuela, 1

The look of love:  In the Kobe port terminal last night, Yasuo laid eyes on Ginny for the first time in more than four decades.  Ginny and Yasuo met 50 years ago when Ginny visited Japan as a guest of her then U.S. Navy boyfriend, who was stationed at the time in Sasebo. 

Yasuo and Hiromi have been married almost as long as us, 37 years!

Dinner was in Compass Rose, where things got a little silly when Yasuo and Ginny swapped doo-rags (Yasuo is a Route 66 buff) and our wonderful server Romeo got in on the act.  Romeo worked in Japan for a couple of years, and made a point of brushing up on his Japanese in preparation for meeting and conversing with Yasuo and Hiromi. 

I’d rate our nine-hour Historical Kyoto excursion Five Stars.  I’d also designate it Three Shoehorns, for the number of times we had to take our shoes off—Sanjusangen-do temple; the Kyoto restaurant that we enjoyed lunch at, and Nijo-jo Castle.  

Tours, especially the long ones involving several hours of bus travel, rise or fall for me based on the quality of the guide.  Lucky for us, Kuniko, a Kyoto native, was superb.  

Kuniko personally led us on tours of the temple, castle and our final stop, The Golden Pavilion, where we had to bring our tour-takers’ A game to deal with the swarms on the meandering path.  But the jostling was worth it for photos like this one.

Photos were not allowed at the temple or castle, but it wasn’t a big deal as I couldn’t have done justice to these treasures with my camera.

The sight at Sanjusangen-do of 1001 statues of Kannon, the Buddhist deity of mercy, was especially stunning.  Why so many statues?   Because in the 12th Century, when the temple was built at the request of the emperor, “there was a lot of war,” Kuniko explained, “and people needed help.”  The wooden statues along with statues of 28 guardian deities are housed in a 120-meter-long wooden temple hall, Japan’s largest.

At the Nijo-Jo Castle, completed in 1603 and, today, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we toured various rooms in the sprawling Ninomaru-goten Palace as I ogled the art.  There are 3,600 wall paintings inside the palace that was the residence of the founder and first Shogun of the long-reigning Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1867), with more than 1,000 of them designated by Japan as Important Cultural Properties.

Although our schedule was tight, Kuniko wanted to be sure we had a few minutes to get a peak at Ninomaru’s garden afterwards.  There I spied the single most beautiful cherry tree in full bloom yet.

“You are so lucky!” Kuniko remarked about our nonstop cherry blossom viewing since Kagoshima.  We know, Kuniko!

Good morning, Kobe!  We’ll be seeing Kyoto—and Ginny’s old friend Yasuo (and wife Hiromi)—for the first time in 45 years.  Other than that, nothing special about this day!

A Kochi drum group provided the beat at the Top Tier exclusive event in the Constellation Theater tonight at 6.

Beforehand, Cruise Consultant Bea informed us that there are 258 Gold Tier or higher aboard with a collective 50,075 nights cruised.  That equals 137 years!

Here is the complete breakdown of cruisers by tier:

Silver, 289

Gold, 194

Platinum, 45

Titanium, 14

Diamond, 5

Thanks for the anniversary wishes!

For a 3.5 hour tour, Kochi Castle and Katsurahama Beach sure gave us a workout. It was 200 wide steps up to the castle, the home of a  17th Century samurai, and, once inside, four stories’ worth of steep steps to the very top.  And at Katsurahama, Ginny, not to be denied a beach combing adventure, struck out on her own as her personal photographer tried to catch up after spotting her a couple of hundred yards in the distance.   Several snaps:

The castle. . .

One of four views from the very top. . .

The solitary shell hunter. . .

Hmmm, I’m using the free Kochi port internet and find I can upload some but not all of the larger files in CC. . .  Here is more from my report from yesterday:

April 9, 2019, Hiroshima

Our 7.25-hour Hiroshima and Miyajima Exploration excursion was a very special way—soulful is the way Ginny put it—to spend our anniversary.

Our visit to the Peace Memorial Park culminated with our walk through the Peace Memorial Museum, where we watched videos of survivors’ accounts of the Hiroshima attack and a riveting 60-second animation showing, from a pilot’s vantage point, the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and the resulting devastation.

That afternoon, as we made our way to the famed Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima island, we passed one of the dozens of small deer that are a part of the Miyajima landscape.

Once inside the shrine, which was established in 593, we happened upon a wedding photo shoot.

We decided then that Itsukushima wouldn’t be a bad spot for our anniversary photo op.

Back on the ship, we had an understanding with our Compass Rose waiter, Romeo (Station 10, recommended!), that we’d dine in CR tonight.  We learned why when, after our meal, we were presented with a luscious chocolate mousse cake and Ginny was serenaded with a tuneful rendition of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”  Just the right notes on which to end our day.

Good morning from Kochi.  We’ve just docked on an overcast, damp morning.  We had strong winds—40+ knots—and 10-foot swells overnight.  Our tour, Kochi Castle & Katsurahama Beach, isn’t scheduled to depart until a little past one, about three hours from now.

Alas, I’m suddenly having issues uploading any but my smallest-sized photos (481 kb and smaller) to post in this space.   I had computer consultant Alex have a look this morning and he claims that this is a Cruise Critic website issue.  HostDan, if you’re reading this, I get the message, “You did not select any file to upload.  Please contact us for assistance” while I am attempting to upload my larger files.  Up until last night I was able to easily upload files as large as 6.2 megs.

I’ve saved the illustrated report I’d prepared on Hiroshima, but would like to share the several photos (small files) I was able to upload.  Fingers crossed I’ll be back in full blogging mode with the help of CC!

At Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park yesterday morning  I separated from our tour group long enough to photograph the iconic Hiroshima Prefecture Industrial Promotion Hall, better known as the Atomic Bomb Dome, from under an umbrella of cherry blossoms.

We continued by the Flame of Peace, which, our guide Misato explained, “will burn until there are no more nuclear weapons—which will be a long time,” before pausing at the Memorial Cenotaph, whose shape is said to offer a shelter for the souls of the victims of the two bombs. Its stone chest contains a list of 290,000 who perished.  If you look closely, you can see the Atomic Bomb Dome in the distance.

After our visit to the Peace Memorial Park and then lunch at a nearby hotel, we took the ferry to Miyajima Island.  The island is the home of one of Japan’s best-known shrines, Itsukushima, with its famed red torii gate that, at high tide, appears to rise up from the ocean.