Leaving Ship

[tcc8v]

I am on a 28 day cruise around Japan (Westerdam, March 13-April 10).  This is actually two 14 day cruises, both roundtrip Yokohama, with a small discount for booking as one combined cruise.  The cruise stops at Kagoshima, at the southern tip of Kyushu, on March 25, then heads north to Yokohama, before returning to Nagasaki, again on Kyushu, on March 30.  I think I would like to see more of Kyushu.  Will HAL object if I get off the boat at Kagoshima and return to it at Nagasaki.  My cabin does not change for the entire 28 days.

[Mary229]

You will need to get permission from HAL.  

[Copper10-8]

16 minutes ago, tcc8v said:

I am on a 28 day cruise around Japan (Westerdam, March 13-April 10).  This is actually two 14 day cruises, both roundtrip Yokohama, with a small discount for booking as one combined cruise.  The cruise stops at Kagoshima, at the southern tip of Kyushu, on March 25, then heads north to Yokohama, before returning to Nagasaki, again on Kyushu, on March 30.  I think I would like to see more of Kyushu.  Will HAL object if I get off the boat at Kagoshima and return to it at Nagasaki.  My cabin does not change for the entire 28 days.

 

Walk on over to the Westerdam's Front Office / Guest services please, ask to speak to a supervisor and/or the guest relations manager him/herself, and present your plan to her/him.

 

As stated, you can't just get off in Kagoshima without getting permission from HAL and the local authorities, only to return in Nagasaki when the ship returns there. Doing that without the permission will result in HAL being forced to inform their port agent, and the local authorities in Kagoshima, incl. the local prefectural police, of your missing status to rule out potential foul play having occurred to you since you did not return at "all aboard" time. They will all be looking for you! Enjoy your journey in the very friendly country of Japan   

[tcc8v]

Thanks for the info.

 

This cruise also has overnight stops in Osaka and Kobe.  I assume that I can spend the overnights in locations besides the ship.  Am I correct that for overnight stops, I am only required to return by the 'all aboard' time on the second day? 

 

I have been looking at hotel prices in Japan.  The high flying US dollar certainly makes Japan very inexpensive.  It is easy to prepay the reservations at today's exchange rates.

[USN59-79]

We have done something similar.  We stopped in Keelung and were scheduled to stop in Hong Kong 3 or  4 days later.  My DW wanted to stay with her family in Taipei a few days and meet the ship in Hong Kong.  We asked permission the day before Keelung.  The front office arranged for Taiwan customs to come aboard to OK what she was taking ashore and she turned in her key card before she debarked the ship.  I then met her at the airport in Hong Kong.  Worked out fine.  They didn't charge her gratuities for the days she was off the ship.

[Copper10-8]

11 hours ago, tcc8v said:

Thanks for the info.

 

This cruise also has overnight stops in Osaka and Kobe.  I assume that I can spend the overnights in locations besides the ship.  Am I correct that for overnight stops, I am only required to return by the 'all aboard' time on the second day? ...........................

 

You are correct! You can do as you please ashore during overnights and only have to be back on the dam ship prior to "All Aboard" time which is always posted on a sign at the gangway (in addition to being posted in the daily program, and being mentioned by the CD in his/her "the ship has been cleared by the local authorities" p/a announcement). Lots of pax take a pic of that sign to have that time with them as they are ashore. Not a bad idea! 😉 

 

  

[tcc8v]

On 11/8/2022 at 12:51 AM, USN59-79 said:

We have done something similar.  We stopped in Keelung and were scheduled to stop in Hong Kong 3 or  4 days later.  My DW wanted to stay with her family in Taipei a few days and meet the ship in Hong Kong.  We asked permission the day before Keelung.  The front office arranged for Taiwan customs to come aboard to OK what she was taking ashore and she turned in her key card before she debarked the ship.  I then met her at the airport in Hong Kong.  Worked out fine.  They didn't charge her gratuities for the days she was off the ship.

Thanks, this post gives me hope that my plans to leave the ship Hualien to Keelung, and also Kagoshima to Nagasaki, should work.  Indeed hopefully customs won't be involved because both land portions are within the same country so maybe customs won't need to be involved.

 

I am inclined to assume it will work and book hotel reservations.  I tend to make such reservations on Expedia.  If I need to change such reservations, is it easy to access them from Japan?  I am afraid I will be directed to an expedia site in Japan that won't know about my reservations.

 

USN59-79 you and I seem to have similar tastes in cruises.  I think you and I will share 14 days of my 28 day cruise and I would enjoy meeting you.  I am a 75 Chinese-American, 6' and 175 lbs, with an athletic build.  My wife is from Taiwan, 5'4" and 105 lbs.  

[USN59-79]

You may be right about whether or not customs agents would have to be involved if you left the ship in one port and joined it again in another, but I recommend checking with the front office to be sure.  There may be different regulations to cover 1000 foreigners who leave the ship and return to it that evening and a single foreigner who leaves the ship and returns to it at a different port.

How do you plan to get from Hualien to Keelung?  I know there is a train but unsure of the schedule and assume there is a bus.  Seems like it would take at least half a day of travel.  

We probably have a lot in common other than our love for cruising in Asia.  Sara and I will celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary shortly after we board the ship.  I was living in Taipei from 1961 to 1963 and wanted to learn Chinese.  Sara worked for the National Taiwan Art Center and wanted to practice English.  We met through her cousin and exchanged language lessons twice a week.  Of course she was a better student than I.  We live near Seattle, so we will be taking the Westerdam back to Seattle on May 7.

Ray

[cruiseaholic78]

8 hours ago, tcc8v said:

 

 

I am inclined to assume it will work and book hotel reservations.  I tend to make such reservations on Expedia.  If I need to change such reservations, is it easy to access them from Japan?  I am afraid I will be directed to an expedia site in Japan that won't know about my reservations.

I always used to use and look at booking sites for pre cruise hotels but soon found that (especially in Asia) booking direct is often much better.

There will of course be no language problem, just always book with the option to cancel and payment on arrival which is understandably a little more expensive. You can then always check if the rate has gone down and 

rebook, we booked pre cruise for Tokyo last February for this month, now rates are more than double.

We are flying to Tokyo pre cruise (Australia) to visit family this month after more than 5 cancellations. So excited.

Happy planning 

Rosalyn

[chengkp75]

While I am not sure of the exact legalities of it, Japan has cabotage laws regarding passenger transportation, similar to the US PVSA.  While the incident reported by a previous poster of getting off in Taiwan and rejoining in Hong Kong, that is between two different countries.  Again, without knowing the specifics of the itinerary, nor the specifics of the way that Japanese Immigration handles back to back cruises, this may run afoul of their cabotage laws, and requires some serious review by the HAL compliance department.

[wandrr]

We just applied for permission to leave the ship in Punta del Este, Uruguay and then rejoin the next day in Montevideo, Uruguay. Permission was denied because (in their words) "... Punta del Este is not an approvable disembark port and the request has been denied."

 

Not all requests to spend overnights ashore are approved. Apply well in advance to HAL.

[tcc8v]

7 hours ago, USN59-79 said:

 

We probably have a lot in common other than our love for cruising in Asia.  Sara and I will celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary shortly after we board the ship.  I was living in Taipei from 1961 to 1963 and wanted to learn Chinese.  Sara worked for the National Taiwan Art Center and wanted to practice English.  We met through her cousin and exchanged language lessons twice a week.  Of course she was a better student than I.  We live near Seattle, so we will be taking the Westerdam back to Seattle on May 7.

Ray

I have a friend in Taipei.  I met him while I was a student at National Taiwan U in 1970.  Anyway, he will meet me in Hualien and, if allowed, take me to Keelung.  Anyway in 1970 the only way to Hualien from Taipei/Keelung involved taking a bus part of the way.  The road was very narrow and only one way.  Military posts on both ends of the road made sure that all the traffic went in one direction at a time.  From the bus, if you were on the ocean side, and looked out the window, you would not be able to see the road!  It was quite frightening, but I am sure that by now, it is much less so.

[tcc8v]

On 11/7/2022 at 6:57 PM, tcc8v said:

I am on a 28 day cruise around Japan (Westerdam, March 13-April 10).  This is actually two 14 day cruises, both roundtrip Yokohama, with a small discount for booking as one combined cruise.  The cruise stops at Kagoshima, at the southern tip of Kyushu, on March 25, then heads north to Yokohama, before returning to Nagasaki, again on Kyushu, on March 30.  I think I would like to see more of Kyushu.  Will HAL object if I get off the boat at Kagoshima and return to it at Nagasaki.  My cabin does not change for the entire 28 days.

 

I called the HAL customer service line with this question, along with many others.  I was on the phone for quite a while and in the end I was told I will get an email from "ship inventory".  (The other questions were handled immediately.)  I had previously sent a message on the HAL website and got a form response that was not to the point, so I was not optimistic that I would, in fact, get a response.

 

Today I got an email response (with a formal letter attached) that approved my request for disembark (at Kagoshima) and embark (at Nagasaki) and, separately, to disembark (at Hualien) and embark (at Keelung).  I am really happy.

 

As others have pointed out, this was not a simple request.  So I am not surprised that this request took a while for response.  But I am very pleased with HAL customer service (at least on the phone).

 

I hope the "inventory" in "ship inventory" does not refer to the guests!

[GeezerCouple]

12 minutes ago, tcc8v said:

 

I called the HAL customer service line with this question, along with many others.  I was on the phone for quite a while and in the end I was told I will get an email from "ship inventory".  (The other questions were handled immediately.)  I had previously sent a message on the HAL website and got a form response that was not to the point, so I was not optimistic that I would, in fact, get a response.

 

Today I got an email response (with a formal letter attached) that approved my request for disembark (at Kagoshima) and embark (at Nagasaki) and, separately, to disembark (at Hualien) and embark (at Keelung).  I am really happy.

 

As others have pointed out, this was not a simple request.  So I am not surprised that this request took a while for response.  But I am very pleased with HAL customer service (at least on the phone).

 

I hope the "inventory" in "ship inventory" does not refer to the guests!

 

Very glad to know that HAL was willing (and able!) to get this request done for you.

 

As for "ship inventory", well... it depends upon ... Are you going to eat enough during the cruise to become "cargo"? 😄

 

GC

[Hlitner]

30 minutes ago, tcc8v said:

 

I called the HAL customer service line with this question, along with many others.  I was on the phone for quite a while and in the end I was told I will get an email from "ship inventory".  (The other questions were handled immediately.)  I had previously sent a message on the HAL website and got a form response that was not to the point, so I was not optimistic that I would, in fact, get a response.

 

Today I got an email response (with a formal letter attached) that approved my request for disembark (at Kagoshima) and embark (at Nagasaki) and, separately, to disembark (at Hualien) and embark (at Keelung).  I am really happy.

 

As others have pointed out, this was not a simple request.  So I am not surprised that this request took a while for response.  But I am very pleased with HAL customer service (at least on the phone).

 

I hope the "inventory" in "ship inventory" does not refer to the guests!

We have, several times, done something similar in Europe (not with HAL) and it was never a problem.  But in all cases we did request, far in advance, permission which was always granted.  

 

33 minutes ago, tcc8v said:

 

I called the HAL customer service line with this question, along with many others.  I was on the phone for quite a while and in the end I was told I will get an email from "ship inventory".  (The other questions were handled immediately.)  I had previously sent a message on the HAL website and got a form response that was not to the point, so I was not optimistic that I would, in fact, get a response.

 

Today I got an email response (with a formal letter attached) that approved my request for disembark (at Kagoshima) and embark (at Nagasaki) and, separately, to disembark (at Hualien) and embark (at Keelung).  I am really happy.

 

As others have pointed out, this was not a simple request.  So I am not surprised that this request took a while for response.  But I am very pleased with HAL customer service (at least on the phone).

 

I hope the "inventory" in "ship inventory" does not refer to the guests!

Great to hear that HAL granted your request.  We have done similar things in Europe and, like you, always made our request well in advance.   Of course the downside is that the ship would miss the port where you return to the ship and this can happen for a multitude of reasons.  When we did this kind of thing we always had a "Plan B" of how we could catch-up to the ship at another port.  But such is the life of adventurous independent travelers :).

 

Hank

[The-Inside-Cabin]

What you are asking for is called a "deviation" in Holland America Lingo.  In the future, if you ask your TA to get you a" deviation" they will be able to do if for and save you the time on hold.  

[tcc8v]

On 12/8/2022 at 6:27 PM, tcc8v said:

More about leaving ship:  In previous posts, I mentioned that I booked back to back cruises in Japan (with stops in Taiwan and Korea).  I contacted Holland America and they approved by disembarking in Kagoshima and boarding 5 days later in Nagasaki and also disembarking in Hualien (Taiwan) and boarding the next day in Keelung (also in Taiwan).  But they pointed out that as I will be disembarking and reembarking, I would have to present recent covid tests in Nagasaki and Keelung. And if my tests were positive, I would not be allowed to reembark.  Their sailings in Japan require covid tests before embarkation.

 

Apparently one does not need to retest if one gets off at a scheduled port stop and returns to the ship the same day.  I am not sure what I want to do.

 

[OlsSalt]

We did this between Papeete and Moorea, in French Polynesia.

 

Ship had an overnight in Papeete. Once docked we we immediately left to take the ferry over to Moorea, where we had booked an over-the-water bungalow. Got permission from the ship ahead of time since it would be leaving Papeete without us.

 

 Best scene from our over-the water bungalow was watching the ship cruise by in the early morning hours to later dock in Moorea, where we then rejoined the ship. 

 

Another time was and overnight in Rotterdam, but that was just leaving the ship and coming back a day later in the same port. No permission needed, while we toured around Holland by train - out to Zutphen and overnight in Maastricht. Wonderful trip with perfect train service connections.