Private shore excursions

[mike35]

We are booked on the 3/16/06 Oceania Nautica Asia cruise, which includes ports in Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Okinawa, Ishigaki, Taipei, and Hong Kong. We welcome recommendations for private tour guides in any of these locations.

 

Many thanks

 

Mike Brill

[greatam]

Hiroshima and Kyoto are easily done on your own. Cabs are plentiful (although kind of pricey), trains are easily negotiated. You will definitely want to see the old imperial palace (the royal family now lives in Tokyo). You must register for the tour of the palace in Kyoto on site before you go on the tour. Make sure you have your passport.

 

It is a wonderful tour-the guides are at the palace, you must just get to the palace-very easy in a cab from the train station. You will pass the largest, oldest wooden structure in Japan and some say the world (it is a temple) on your way to the palace.

 

Hiroshima-Atom bomb museum and all that is around there (bombed buildings, the gardens, etc.) are all in English/Japanese and easily negotiated on your own. No need to pay for a tour/tour guide. You just need to get in a cab and tell them atom bomb museum.

 

HKG-if you are flying from the airport-they have a great "in transit" tour for $15.00. Just go to the tourist info booth and they will tell you where to meet the tour. You go to a temple, take a cruise on the Starline ferry, go to the top of the tramway, and wander around downtown HKG. It was one of the best tours without planning a tour I have ever done. And certainly the cheapest.

 

Do some research and let us know what you would like to see. Then we will all try to help.

[mike35]

Thanks so much for the info! The HKG tour is just what we're looking for there, since we disembark in the a.m. and don't fly out until late that evening. We're in Kyoto for two days, and from your input, I'm sure we'll negotiate the sights on our own (with the help of some guide books, I'm sure).

 

Mike

[greatam]

Mike,

 

The "in-transit" tour is set up just for occasions you mentioned. Seems like all the overseas flights arrive early AM and the onward flights all leave late afternoon/early evening. So everyone has 8-12 hours waiting for flights. My tour was comprised of Brits, Germans, Aussies, Irish, and Americans. It was truly a spur of the moment tour after I got restless sitting in the Cathay lounge.

 

The long layovers are probably one reason the HKG airport is a VERY large shopping center, with a hotel in the same building, tours, lots of different food options, etc. You will NOT be bored in the airport.

 

When you get to Kyoto, make sure you go to the Gion (sp?) early evening. The geisha's may be walking around and it is truly an interesting and fascinating sight, especially now that "Memoirs of a Geisha" has been published.