Jump to content

Pacific Crossing Anchorage to Tokyo


Floridastorm
 Share

Recommended Posts

Had made a Transatlantic on the Star Pride a couple of years ago. Am now considering a Transpacific on the refurbished Star Breeze in August 2020. Would like to hear from folks that have done this 16 day routing and how they found it to be. Seems to have 8 port calls including Anchorage and Tokyo also with quite a few days at sea.

 

Thanks for any info provided. 😎

 

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/28/2019 at 9:13 AM, Floridastorm said:

Had made a Transatlantic on the Star Pride a couple of years ago. Am now considering a Transpacific on the refurbished Star Breeze in August 2020. Would like to hear from folks that have done this 16 day routing and how they found it to be. Seems to have 8 port calls including Anchorage and Tokyo also with quite a few days at sea.

 

Thanks for any info provided. 😎

 

Dave

What information are you looking for?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, patty1955 said:

What information are you looking for?

Basically how were the sea days, I believe there are 8? Were the seas rough and did boredom set in as there are few activities on the Windstar ships. Did you like the ports? I would imagine that when the Breeze comes out of the maintenance yard with the refurbishment that it may make a few more on board activities available and long sea days more enjoyable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, I think you trip looks great. We crossed the Pacific on the Spirit when WS positioned back to Tahiti. 19 days at sea, we loved it. The ship had funny activities, trivia, music, passing the  equator  ceremony, cooking demo, golfing, yes, funny golfing, exercise class etc.,   we did a lot of reading, my husband carved a white line print and I printed. We were never bored. There is something intrinsically beautiful and peaceful about seeing no land. We had glass calm  seas but of course you will be in the Northern Pacific. We gave crossed twice with WS the Atlantic 14 days again loved. I think these crossings are best when you give into the time of the sea. If you decide to do it enjoy. Happy Sailing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We haven't done this itinerary and, in fact, we haven't sailed with Windstar. We did a transpacific on Celebrity from Shanghai to Seward and loved it. Our only problem was losing an hour each day so we thought we'd try the other way. The seas weren't too bad but it was cold. I don't remember being bored. We visited Shanghai, Tokyo, Kobe and Petropavlovsk. We were supposed to visit South Korea but the waves were too rough. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did the other direction - Japan to Seward in May 2018. My cruise was a Star Collector that also included the first Alaska cruise. That cruise didn't include the Aleutian ports - just 3 ports in Japan and of those, only had Hakodate in common with your the one you are considering. 

 

They had info, sometimes food tasting and wifi set up for us on the dock. Japanese ports were great. These small ports really seemed to appreciate getting a ship visit. There was often a dance performance to welcome us or at sail away. One was a bunch of little school children doing the dances, perhaps 5 or 6 year olds - so cute. One town had a shuttle into town some guides and demos set up on a small street. Or trip was in spring so we were trying to catch the cherry blossoms. We did get to see some at the fort in Hakodata - there had been a windstorm a few days before so we didn't get them at peak but still there were some trees with a nice show of blossoms. 

 

Our crossing had 9 sea days in a row. The schedule said 8, but crossing the dateline added another. It was wonderfully relaxing. We had around 70 passengers, IIRC - there were more crew than passengers. There was a lecturer who gave lectures about Japan and Asia twice a day most sea days covering culture, history, art. He had been on doing lectures for most of the Asia season. There was trivia every day with a running contest for the cruise. The ship stopped/slowed mid-sea for some wildlife sightings including some killer whales, sperm whales and humpback whales. The chef gave a cooking demo. Then another day, they had a cooking contest with the captain, chief engineer, hotel director and one other officer attempting competing to make risotto.  One evening we had an expanded version of the talent show with the officers judging the acts to choose acts for the upcoming sailings and the top act one a prize. There was a rope tying class and a navigation talk on the bridge. Anyway, there were plenty of activities. 

 

It helped that the officers were all very personable. It was a very companionable group of passengers. I was sailing solo and had no trouble getting included. One of the best things is if you take the crossing and then the next cruise. We had a full ship for the first Alaska sailing about 30 of the crossers stayed on for the Alaska cruise and it was really nice having those familiar faces aboard and seeing them in town. 

 

The weather for the crossing was cloudy almost all the time and a bit rainy on occasion. The sea was surprisingly calm. We had two meter seas the first couple and last couple of days - that was enough that one could notice some motion but not bothersome. The middle days it was almost dead calm. Possibly that isn't typical - I'd expected more motion. The one rough day I had was the sea day at the start of the Alaska cruise crossing the gulf from Seward to the inland passage. 

 

The fall crossing shows 8 sea days in a row, but that is calendar days - you lose one crossing the date line so it is really 7.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...