Aomori Port, Japan

Regarding Aomori Port, does anyone have any recent experience at this port as to how soon they let people off the ship? We arrive at 9 AM and was wondering if it is usually delayed. Was reading somewhere that Japanese ports are usually delayed by slow customs processing the passengers. Please advise. Thanks.

Is this your first Japanese port coming from the north?

Our first port was in the south. We had to go through immigration one by one like at the airport when returning to the US. No unusual delays but certainly slower than in ports where immigration is completely handled by ship staff without passenger involvement. Our ship was small, so no long lines.

This is the first port actually, boarding in Yokohama. So, it's Yokohama - Aomori - Hakodate - Muroran.. and so on. Is it pretty much on time as far as getting off the ship for the day. (Celebrity Millennium)

Regarding Aomori Port, does anyone have any recent experience at this port as to how soon they let people off the ship? We arrive at 9 AM and was wondering if it is usually delayed. Was reading somewhere that Japanese ports are usually delayed by slow customs processing the passengers. Please advise. Thanks.

In Aomori, you will NOT have slow Customs processing, but you will probably be delayed by slow Immigration processing. The Japanese authorities are very thorough in every port - even if the previous port was Japanese.

On board Diamond Princess - you must take your passport with you to get off the ship if you are not doing a ship's tour. There are inspectors on the ship and they periodically ask to see a person's passport.

Note that if you are going from Yokohama to Aomori and not stopping off in Busan or any other country, you should not have too many issues. We went from hakodate to Aomori and got off the ship at 8am (ship docked and let people off at 7am). No problems - just showed cruise card getting off and again getting on.

Ship shuttle goes to APSAM which is within walking distance of the Train station - most of the independents went to Hirosaki Castle for the Sakura Festival via the trail - JR station in Aomori and Hirosaki were extremely helpful.

On board Diamond Princess - you must take your passport with you to get off the ship if you are not doing a ship's tour. There are inspectors on the ship and they periodically ask to see a person's passport.

You are required by law to have your passport with you at all times in Japan if you are not a resident.