Yokohama - do we need a tour ?

Speaking about Yokohama: is there anything that worth to spend time for ? Our cruise starts with overnight stay in Yokohama port, so second day we may spend in Yokohama only (as we'll have 4 days pre-cruise stay in Tokyo). Cruise ship offers 2.5 hour excursion "Sankeien Garden and

Yokohama City Drive Tour", so not sure if this has to be taken. If not - what to do else in Yokohama ? Thanks to whoever will reply on this

There are a couple of buses that go on 2 different routes.

Each ride being 100 yen.

We had a day after our cruise and just spent it on the bus driving around.

Possibly there is a one day bus but I havent looked into that.

No need for a cruise tour.

Within walking distance of your ship:

* interesting collection of boutique shops and restaurants in red "barns"

* Yokohama Tower for scenic panoramic views

* doll museum

* noodle museum

* historic trans Pacific ship, permanently moored

* sizeable Chinatown

* Motomatchi - main shopping area

* government building housing Governor's offices - rooftop garden open to public

*public gardens along the sea front

* art gallery with good collection of Ukiyoe -traditional woodblock prints

* McDonalds - don't laugh - many countries have a specialty item available nowhere else and the Japanese shrimp burger is well worth a

try.

There are lots to see in Yokohama and you can do it on your own. We spent a couple of nights in Yokohama before our cruise and then a turnaround day there. Here are some photos of what we did on that turnaround day. We fell in love with Yokohama!

Thanks to everybody for informative answers - really appreciate !

Just a quick questions: is a tourist buses stop within walking distance from the pier ?

Thanks again !

Yes, just a couple of blocks away.

BTW, the pier itself is an interesting architectural feature. Looks like a park with rolling hills. Be sure to spend some time out on deck at sailaway. The bands and crowds will give you quite a send-off.

Awesome ! Thanks a lot !

Just a small deviation from my existing question.

We have our cruise ship (Celebrity Millennium) stop in Shimizu from 7:00 am until 3:00 Pm. As time is very limited - we opted for the cruise tour, but still hesitating which one to select (see below). Any recommendation/advise ?

1. Best of Shimizu (Spend a day exploring Shimizu's unforgettable medieval castle ruins, world-heritage-listed ancient pine grove, exquisite traditional gardens, and more)

2. Shizuoka City Highlights Half Day

3. Mt Fuji and Hakone National Park

4. Shiraito Waterfalls and Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine

5. Mt. Fuji and Lake Ashi

You might think about going into Tokyo for a few hours.

Minato Mirai subway line has a station (Nihon Odori) just 2 blocks from the Yokohama Cruise Terminal. If you take a rapid or express train, you can be in Shibuya in 29 minutes for about US$4.

Shibuya is just a few minutes away from many of the most popular tourist destinations in Tokyo.

Thanks Bruce. Tokyo will be our 4 days pre-cruise journey :). So, need to choose a tour in Shimizu port specifically (this is in regards my last question).

I read that Kamakura, a historic city and capital of Japan before Tokyo, is an interesting place to visit. We are going on a small guided tour in October. It is about 30 minutes by train. I'll let you know for sure when I get back. When is your cruise?

Another place to visit is Kamakura, there is a large Buda not to far from the train station, see the visitors site

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2166.html

Our half day trip, Yokohama to Kamakura.

anyone with previous experience, I would appreciate your advice.

We are on the Volendam Asia cruise, with a turnaround day in Yokohama. Apparently we dock at Osanbashi pier at 7 AM. Previous turnaround days in Europe, we have been able to get off when ship is cleared, usually with a separate gangway, so as not to interfere with disembarking and embarking passengers. HAL is offering a tour to Kamakura at 8 AM, so I am pretty confident of the 7 AM docking, barring no unforseen circumstances, weather, etc.

So my question(s):

1- will we have a separate gangway/entrance/exit than the disembarking and embarking passengers?

2- is there any customs that we would need to go through? our previous port would have been Japanese.

3- can I safely book a private guide for 8:30 AM meet time, if we do dock at 7 AM...

The guide seems to have a time of 9 AM arrival, and he says that we will be 2 hours until we get out, because of priority of passengers getting off, and HAL tours first, etc.

Seeing as we are not a tender port, my assumption, after many many HAL cruises, is that once the ship is cleared, we can proceed off the ship! We can mix in with HAL tour people, 4 star, 5 star, whatever!!!!!

We were on Diamond Princess when we did our b2b cruises in Japan with the turnaround port in Yokohama and they did have a separate security line for passengers reboarding the ship. It was a quick and easy process. I would assume HAL have similar set up.

We were on Diamond Princess when we did our b2b cruises in Japan with the turnaround port in Yokohama and they did have a separate security line for passengers reboarding the ship. It was a quick and easy process. I would assume HAL have similar set up.

more concerned with what was involved getting off...did you have to go through a line for customs/immigration?

more concerned with what was involved getting off...did you have to go through a line for customs/immigration?

I have not done this with HAL but did on a Princess cruise in Kobe. We had to pick up a special "in transit" card that we carried to get us off and on that day.

I read that Kamakura, a historic city and capital of Japan before Tokyo, is an interesting place to visit. We are going on a small guided tour in October. It is about 30 minutes by train. I'll let you know for sure when I get back. When is your cruise?

We had a great to that included Kamakura. Also, did a Tokyo city tour and a tour of Nikko, which was fantastic. Nikko is north of Tokyo and I highly recommend it.

I have not done this with HAL but did on a Princess cruise in Kobe. We had to pick up a special "in transit" card that we carried to get us off and on that day.

thanks Tamara, my basic question and need to know is : how long until we can get off? do the disembarking passengers get priority and i. transit passengers wait? the guide mentioned we could well be 2 hours or more, being able to get off. He said he has worked there as staff, and also has previous experience about this delay as a guide. Also the HAL tour(s) - there is only one listed - will also have priority in getting off.

more concerned with what was involved getting off...did you have to go through a line for customs/immigration?

I had to check my blog page regarding that day here. We did not need to go through immigration etc. to get off, as I have stated. It was a quick process. Hope it works out for you.

There are a couple of buses that go on 2 different routes.

Each ride being 100 yen.

We had a day after our cruise and just spent it on the bus driving around.

Possibly there is a one day bus but I havent looked into that.

No need for a cruise tour.

They have now revamped this bus offering a 1 day ¥500 hop-on, hop-off ticket and additional routes that include Sankeien. There is a "Osanbashi Kyakusen Terminal" bus stop to the left of the circular drop-off as you exit the terminal building. You can find details here.

We were on Diamond Princess when we did our b2b cruises in Japan with the turnaround port in Yokohama and they did have a separate security line for passengers reboarding the ship. It was a quick and easy process. I would assume HAL have similar set up.

We will be in Yokohama, b2b cruises in April. Does Princess offer tours for the day? Nothing showing on either cruises in cruise excursion lists.

I sailed from Yokohama. Got in early am a couple days before. I was solo and just walked Yokohama myself. Felt very safe and easy to just tour on your own.

One thing I found rather humorous was the sail-a-way day I wanted a cup of coffee. Things there open pretty late in the am! I finally ended up at a Starbucks in China town in Japan :-)

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I don't see any mention of Sankeien Garden above. That's a really nice place to go in Yokohama.

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Within walking distance of your ship:

* interesting collection of boutique shops and restaurants in red "barns"

* Yokohama Tower for scenic panoramic views

* doll museum

* noodle museum

* historic trans Pacific ship, permanently moored

* sizeable Chinatown

* Motomatchi - main shopping area

* government building housing Governor's offices - rooftop garden open to public

*public gardens along the sea front

* art gallery with good collection of Ukiyoe -traditional woodblock prints

* McDonalds - don't laugh - many countries have a specialty item available nowhere else and the Japanese shrimp burger is well worth a

try.

Great information, thanks for sharing.

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